| Author | Message | ||
     Jlnance |
I spent this morning downtown at the Museums. I'm usually there with my kids, and am more focused on keeping up with them than I am on the exhibits. Today it was just me, and I learned a lot. The most interesting tidbit didn't lend itself to pictures. It concerned a man named Carbine Williams. You have perhaps heard of an M1 Carbine rifle? It's named after this guy. He was a prisoner, in jail for 2nd degree murder, committed when the law raided his distillery. He dreamed up several revolutionary advances in gun technology while in solitary confinement. The warden let him manufacture his ideas in the prison shop. Carbine wasn't the only person in North Carolina involved in the illegal distilling of alcohol. In fact it's practitioners spawned an entire industry.  The early days.     I look at that car and all I can think is "I can't believe they made this thing go 175." It still has the factory carpet inside. And the windows are GLASS. A couple of decades later...  Next I wandered into the sports section. Lots of pictures in there. This one of a person I really admire. She is the Woman's basketball coach at NCSU.  Occasionally she does things outside the university.   The Wright brothers flew their plane on the NC coast in 1903. Since then we have had a few other people with interesting aviation ideas.  I walked across the street to the Natural History Museum.  Thats not a prehistoric monster. Rather a whale that washed up on the beach. We do have a few prehistoric monsters though.   On the way back to the car, I stopped at the Capitol building and found this monument.  The US presidents from North Carolina. I was surprised to see that the first president after the Civil War was from NC. I wonder how that came about. | ||
| Unibear12r |
President facts were never my best...but if I remember right... Johnson was a pro-union southerner who was VP under Lincoln when he was killed. It has been often surmised that the South would have had better treatment after the civil war had Lincoln survived. Lincoln had a stronger character, more control of government functions and polices, and a nicer disposition towards the South than Johnson. My memory is a bit fuzzy on Johnson tho. (Message edited by unibear12r on December 22, 2007) | ||
| Jlnance |
Thanks Unibear. I googled, and you're exactly right. I believe he and Clinton share the distinction of being the only two ever impeached. Oddly that's not mentioned on the plaque. | ||
| Rotzaruck |
Jim I thought all those NC presidents were Tennesseans, and would have bet two of them were, but would have lost(that's why I don't bet). They started all their politikin' in TN and all died in TN. One of the school trips was always to Nashville and included a stop at Jacksons Hermitage, a pretty neat place. I'm sure I should have known, and surely did at some time, that they were born in NC. Besides sharing presidents, NC and Tn both had a pretty good moonshine industry. Those old boys learned to haul that stuff pretty fast. The revenuers learned to look for cars with squatting rears, and then learned they couldn't catch them anyway!! Thanks for a good history lesson. | ||
| Jlnance |
Ennie Meanie Miney Moe  Take the Thumper out the door.  Thumpers do have their advantages.  You don't have to get far out of Raleigh to realize North Carolina was carved out of a big pine forest.  It's rained recently, easing the drought.  Things are a bit less cosmopolitan outside the city.  With reminders of the days when Tabacco was king.  | ||
| Jlnance |
Went south to Wilmington for the weekend. Stopped by to see Dad.  I find it ironic how much I learned about my dad at his funeral. One would think you would know everything about your parents after spending your lifetime with them. Dad was a professor at UNCW. He taught Chemistry from something like 1964, back when it was a tiny college, until he got sick in 1996. I was just stunned at the number of former students who turned out for his funeral. I don't even remember many of my college professors. I doubt I'll be at their funerals. He must have touched a lot of peoples lives. Dad grew up in Galivants Ferry, SC. It's truly in the middle of nowhere. It's not even large enough to be called a small town. If you ever drove to Myrtle Beach on highway 501, you went through it, right as you crossed the Pee Dee river. But you probably didn't notice. There isn't even a stop light. After his death, during the visitation, people from Galivants Ferry started showing up. And I stood there wondering, why would someone drive 100 miles, to attend the visitation of a man who hadn't lived in their community for at least 40 years? One of them, a woman probably in her early 70s, was talking to me and asked where I was living. I told her I was in Raleigh now, and she replied that she had done her masters work in Durham. I was stunned. How many farmers sent their daughters off to Duke to get masters degrees in the 1930s? There are the people my dad grew up with. When I was young, Dad said he wanted to be buried in Galivants Ferry. By the time he got cancer in 1996, he had a different wish. He wanted to be buried in Oakwood cemetery, in Wilmington. I guess that makes sense. He lived in Wilmington as it transitioned from a tiny little town, to a fairly large city. He had a role in seeing the university through a similar transition. He and my mom used to take walks through Oakwood, it's a beautiful old cemetery. Of course nothing is simple. Oakwood is full, there were no unsold plots. My mother managed to find a family with an unused plot they did not need. My father got his wish. | ||
| Rotzaruck |
Very nice Jim. We had Becky's Dad's funeral last week. I don't know how much she learned that she didn't know, but it was a lot for me. I never got the chance to really get to know him, and I'll miss that. I stop by and check on my Dad every now and then at the National Cemetery. There are so many new arrivals it changes so much I have to hunt. I still think of him whenever I'm trying to figure something out. I have finally gotten to where I don't actually grab the phone to call him though. I guess we'll miss them until our kids are missing us. Sounds like your Dad was the kind of guy that would make you proud to be his son. Mine was too, and I was fortunate enough to get to tell him so. It took me way too long though. | ||
| Ulywife |
Thanks for sharing Jim. I'm sure you guys will find some interesting photo ops in New Bern as well. Be sure he takes you to the Cedar Grove Cemetery. It's always our last stopping point on the yearly Ghost Walk in New Bern. I've never been there during daylight! | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
nice words about your Dad, Jim - gentle tears in my eyes. Rotz, sorry for your loss. FB | ||
| Court |
Thank you for making Saturday special . . . I love reading things like this. Thanks to your Dad for making sure his lessons continued to be taught . . . | ||
| Jb2 |
Jim and Rotz, Touching stories. I still have days that I haven't grasped the fact my pop is gone. It's nice to know that we are in the company of folks who cherish their parents and value the things they were taught. JB2 | ||
| Jlnance |
Thanks everyone for the comments. You never know if anyone cares when you post stuff like that. I'm glad you all do. | ||
| Mastros2 |
Jim, I'm glad I read your story. Very touching. My mom passed 6 years fighting cancer as well. Like you, I still learn from her. Rotz, condolences friend. Yes, I am very proud to be her son. | ||
| Jlnance |
Thanks Matt. |
