Tinkling Spring
Dad's people mainly arrived in the South by ship in Jamestown and Charleston , but Mom's came the harder way winding their way down the spine of the Appalachians on foot and horse on the Great Wagon Road.
The Pix
When I was growing up in Rock Hill, S.C. ,there were a number of movie theaters, but the strange one to me was the Pix.
The Power of a Library Card
When I was a ten year old boy, it was an eight block ride on my new orange, banana-seated Schwinn bicycle to the reaches of outer space and to the bottom of the sea.
Learned This One Saturday Afternoon on PBS
This was my childhood church.
The Bleachery
My maternal grandfather lost his store/gas station during the Depression and came to work here with thousands of others.
What Cher and I Have in Common
By April 1666 the city fathers of Edinburgh, Scotland were exporting " lusty beggars, dissolute women , spongers, gypsies , vagabonds and others 'not fitt to stay in the kingdome' ," to Virginia.
Uncle John
I only knew my Uncle John as a grizzled old man with paint-stained overalls and an unfiltered Camel cigarette hanging out of his mouth
Kings Mountain
When I was ten years old, I gathered with my 4th grade class around this monument at Kings Mountain National Military Park numb with boredom.
Williamsburg, Va.
Shortly after Linda and I were married forty one years ago, we traveled to Williamsburg, Virginia.
333
For more years than I can count, I have had a thing about the number 333. Countless times, I have rolled over in the middle of the night to see 333 on the digital clock. Or walked through the kitchen to find 333 on the stove clock. Or have driven down the road to glance down and see 333 glaring back from the clock on the dashboard,
Brunswick Town
Late in elementary school, my oldest brother, Bill, and his first wife took me and my youngest brother to Myrtle Beach for the first time. For some reason, we drove up the coast to the Wilmington area and wandered around for a while among the ruins of St. Phillips Church at Brunswick Town.
Aunt Hennie
A couple of years ago I said something in front of my mom about how I remembered an old butter churn that used to sit out on my Great Aunt Hennie and Minnie's porch at their farmhouse in Peachland, N.C. I then commented about what hard work that must of been.
Walking in the Steps of Your Ancestors
About fifteen years ago, Linda and I were in New Bern and decided to visit Tryon Palace.
The Stone Dropped in a Pool
In a few hours of the 16th of April, 1746, forces were set into motion for my mother's family that would sweep them to another continent.
Difficult Times, Jamestown, Va.
Although Dad's people began arriving in Jamestown in the 1620's,
I can find few details of their lives. Starvation, brutal wars with the native population, fire and plague seem to have erased much of their story. Here is a brief account of the "New World" they encountered:
The Great Wagon Road
Until a few years ago, when I thought about people coming to America, I pictured individuals and single families.
Don't Do It
When I decided to begin research on my ancestors, people warned me, "Don't do it." "Why would you want to dig into stuff like that?" "You better be careful."
I wasn't.
The Other 1776
In retaliation for Cherokee attacks on pioneer settlements in the Carolinas and their alignment with the British, a multi-prong Colonial attack was launched against the Cherokee Nation in 1776. By its end, over fifty Cherokee towns had been burned to the ground and the nation was in large part broken.
Salem, Massachusetts
When I first started driving around the villages of the North Shore of Massachusetts after starting my doctoral studies, I would often pass black wooden houses dating from the 1600's with diamond-paned windows.
North Atlantic to Charleston, South Carolina
For most of my life I had no idea that my mom and dad's families were connected in any way.
