I grew up in a working-class family in Chicago with parents who firmly supported higher education for their children but lacked the financial resources to pay for our college educations. Fortunately, in the 1950s I won a competitive four-year progressive scholarship to Mundelein College, a small, private, independent Roman Catholic women’s liberal arts college on Chicago's North Side with a very good reputation (photo right). The scholarship covered my tuition as long as I maintained a 2.5 average on a 3.0 scale, took a 15-hour load each semester, and completed the BA degree in four years.All other expenses were up to me.
Mundelein was founded and administered by the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and named for Cardinal George Mundelein, Archbishop of Chicago. The 14-story building ("the Skyscraper"), was completed and opened in 1930. In 1991, Mundelein became an affiliated college of Loyola University.
Thanks to my parents, I lived at home, commuting to Mundelein via bus and the El, toting the lunch my mother packed for me. It was a good hour’s trip each way, but you can do a lot of French homework on a bus, once you get used to it. To earn money for books, clothes, and any other incidentals, several of my college friends and I were lucky enough to get summer jobs at one of the warehouses that Sears Roebuck had scattered around the city.
Chicago's Loop in the 1950s.
The company headquarters was in Chicago (Sears Tower, etc.) and it had a large retail presence in the Chicago area. Its warehouses received goods in bulk from manufacturers, processed them, and redistributed them to the branch stores. The warehouse I worked in received and processed women’s clothing. The facility was divided into the offices (air-conditioned with places to sit) and “the floor” (definitely not air-conditioned and also chair less) where we college students spent most of our time with the non-office permanent workers. Large boxes filled with, for example, a particular women’s dress were unloaded from the huge semis which arrived daily. We unpacked the boxes, hung the dresses on hangers, tagged them with price tags, sorted and divided them to be sent to the branch stores, and prepared them for shipping.
Since we were temporary workers, we could be assigned to do any or all of the processing duties. Also because we were temporary, one or another of us would be assigned to take the place of an office worker who went on vacation or who was sick. Over the four summers I spent there, I did all the chores on “the floor,” and most of the jobs in the office. I was especially picked to work at the receiving desk, making sure the metal seal on the truck was intact before it could be unloaded and then processing all the bills of lading. It was a very busy (read hectic) few hours first thing in the morning, because several other departments had little to do until I processed the appropriate paperwork. I also worked in most of the other offices, including Auditing, where I spent the day entering tiny numbers in tinier spaces; I preferred the truck seals and bills of lading.
Photo of Theodora (Teddy) taken for her graduation from Mundelein College.
Overall, it was a very good experience; the work was physically taxing but not difficult, and I met some wonderful people. Everyone was helpful, generally friendly, and welcoming. My friends and I enjoyed going back each summer. At the end of my fourth summer, the personnel director surprised me by inviting me to join Sears’ management training program. I turned down the offer, as I had already been awarded a fellowship to attend graduate school at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. And the rest became ... my own history.
________________________________________________
Dr. Bostick taught at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign before joining the History faculty at Christopher Newport College in 1970. Since retiring as Professor Emerita from Christopher Newport University in 2006, she remains very active with CNU's Lifelong Learning Society.
Our English wordChristmas is named after Jesus Christ (Christ + mass), but our word Easter comes from the name of an Anglo-Saxon goddess of the dawn and springtime. Wikipedia gives as proof of this origin an Anglo-Saxon era treatise written in Medieval Latin by the Roman Catholic monk Bede in the year 725, The Reckoning of Time.
Bede, a major early English historian, wrote that "Ēosturmōnaþ" (Old English, Easter month) "was once called after a goddess of theirs named Ēostre, in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month" (i.e., April). "Theirs" means the early pagan Anglo-Saxons in England. Whereas the Roman Church called Easter by the Latin Pascha (from the Greek "Passover"), Bede noted that many English in his time were still calling the Paschal season "by her (Ēostre's) name, calling the joys of the new rite (Christian festival) by the time-honoured name of the old (pagan) observance."
The picture above right, dated 1884, is by a famous German illustrator of books and magazines, Johannes Gehrts (1855-1921). The ink drawing is titled Ostara, which is Old High German for Ēostre.The Anglo-Saxons who invaded and settled England were descended from ancient Germanic tribes, so their traditions go back to that time.
Easter Bunnies
The Easter Bunny who greets children at stores like Wal-Mart and puts goodies in their Easter baskets the night before Easter is spring's equivalent of Santa Claus and is no more connected with the Resurrection of Jesus Christ than Santa is connected with the Nativity. However, rabbits and their cousins, hares, have been major fertility symbols since before recorded history because of their outstanding reproductive ability. In the drawing above, notice that a rabbit, or hare, is running close to the heels of the goddess. This animal appears in numerous depictions of her. Wikipediaquotes German author Jacob Grimm stating in his Deutsche Mythologie("German Mythology," 1835) that "The Easter Hare is unintelligible to me, but probably the hare was the sacred animal of Ostara" (English, Eostre)--an association repeated by other authors but never proven.
The Easter Bunny tradition originated in Germany in the 17th century and was brought to America by German Lutheran immigrants. According to Wikipedia, Germany's "Easter Hare" judged children's behavior at the beginning of the Easter season (like Santa at Christmas), sometimes wore clothes, and delivered baskets containing colored hard-boiled eggs, candy, and sometimes toys to children's homes the night before Easter. The baskets represented bird nests and were lined with grass or other soft material.
Easter Eggs
Eggs have symbolized birth, fertility, and renewed life for countless ages. In ancient times they were believed to ensure the fertility of crops, animals, and humans. They also represented rebirth of the natural world in spring. Wikipedia tells us that 60,000-years-old "decorated, engraved ostrich eggs" have been found in Africa, and that in the "pre-dynastic period of Egypt and the early cultures of Mesopotamia and Crete, eggs were associated with death and rebirth ... and kingship." Therefore, "decorated ostrich eggs, and representations of ostrich eggs in gold and silver, were commonly placed in graves of the ancient Sumerians and Egyptians as early as 5,000 years ago."
Once they became Christians, the people of Mesopotamia saw the egg as representing the empty tomb of Jesus. Therefore, as Wikipedia records, they stained their Easter eggs with red coloring "in memory of the blood of Christ, shed at His crucifixion." The egg shown left above, with the Christian cross, is from the Saint Kosmas Aitolos Greek Orthodox Monastery. The egg shown right above is Ukrainian, with the Paschal greeting "Christ is Risen!" on it. This custom of the Easter egg as a symbol of the Resurrection spread from Mesopotamia into the Orthodox Church and later into Europe through the Roman Catholic and then Protestant Churches.
The Date of Easter
At the First Council Nicaea (year 325), the Church of Rome established the date of Easter as the first Sunday after the full moon that follows the Spring equinox, so the date varies from year to year. Whatever the date is in any given year, is it not interesting that Easter is always connected with that First Day of Spring, when for thousands of years, ancient (or pagan) religions have celebrated the resurrection of nature and, in many cases, the return also of various deities--some of whom were believed to have died (as does nature, in winter) and then been born again in spring.
My wife and I were again fortunate to be able to take a cruise last month. It was great to get away from the day-to-day routine and relax! The ship was the Anthem of the Seas. Great cruise...great time...highly recommended!
Below are copies of a few pages of the daily "CRUISE COMPASS" and a copy of an evening menu.
The downside of a cruise is the return to reality when it is over. Cooking, cleaning, trips to the grocery store, etc. resume at an unexpected expediency. But in the end, the getaway is a pleasant escape...at least for a few days!
Working Our Way through College:
Introduction
by A. Jane Chambers
A New Feature about and by
CNC's Early Alumni and Faculty,
edited by A. Jane Chambers.
In her essay " Making History: The Genesis of a Department," in Memories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade, Dr. Teddy Bostick, CNC professor emerita of history (photo right) recalled that "the College and I were a good fit. I was delighted, and remained so, to teach at CNC, in part because I could identify with the students ... Like many of them, I had a working class background and was one of the first in my extended family to attend college. I had commuted to school, lived at home, and worked to supplement my scholarship money" (p.51).I expect that many early CNC alumni and faculty can identify with the above passage.
Dr. Bostick at the Civil War battleground in Antietam, MD. Memories book, p. 50.
In its earliest decades, no CNC students lived on the college's campus; the first dormitory, Santoro Hall, was not built until the fourth decade. Most students also had working class backgrounds, with parents employed at the very large shipyard in Newport News or stationed at one of the various military bases in Hampton Roads. Many students were the first in their families to attend college, and the majority of them, especially in the first and second decades, worked their way through CNC in part or completely while attending classes and/or having full time summer jobs. Dr. Bostick's experience not only echoes that of a great many CNC students, but also that of some of the school's early professors and administrators--including Jim Windsor and me.
Young Marine Jim Windsor in Korea.
Born in 1932 in a coal-mining town in West Virginia, Jim Windsor did not want to live like his father, who died at middle age in a coal-mining accident. In his "Oral History," dictated to his grandson Jay Windsor, then-retired CNC President Dr. James Clayton Windsor recalled “When I graduated from high school three friends and I decided to join the Marines ... to see the world and save money for college. It was in June, 1950, about five years after the end of World War II, so it was a time of peace and we did not anticipate that we would be involved in a war" (quoted in my website essay "Marine Sergeant James C. Windsor in the Korean War").
Three weeks after teenager Jim enlisted, North Korea attacked South Korea, beginning the Korean War. Young Jim was then in Basic Training at Parris Island, SC, "in the summer months so it was very hot, frequently 90-100 degrees. The island was covered with sand fleas [with] a hurtful bite which left a red bump which itched." But the fleas were "good preparation for the swarms of large black mosquitoes which populated Korea," where he was stationed "for almost one year, beginning in September, 1951" ("Marine Sergeant"). He left Korea a matured man with a Purple Heart, a citation and medal for extraordinary valor, and a very clear knowledge of the brevity of human life. He also left with sufficient funds to begin his academic studies at The College of William and Mary.
Like Dr. Windsor, many early CNC students, and some faculty, were military veterans. Some also served in combat, mainly in Vietnam; luckier ones served in times of peace. Also like Jim, their military service helped them "work their way" financially into and through CNC and, sometimes, other colleges or universities as well.
Beginning in February, three of us CNC First Decaders will begin this new website feature by sharing with you readers our memories of "Working Our Way through College"--with a hope that our stories will encourage you to share yours. The above logos represent places where we worked. In the 1950's I worked four consecutive summers in four different jobs in three states, beginning with a pre-college job at a Ford dealership in Charlotte, NC, my hometown. In the 1960s, CNC student Charles G. Snead worked two summers at Dy-Dee Diapers on the Virginia Peninsula. Also in the 1960s, young Teddy Bostick worked three summers in a large Sears warehouse in Chicago, the hometown of Sears.
If you too worked your way through college, please contact usvia an email address below. We want to hear--and share in future months, on this website--your memories of your work--when, where, and what you did and what you particularly liked and/or disliked about it. You'll hear back from us soon, by phone if possible. We especially hope to hear from CNC First and early Second Decade students, but we welcome also the accounts of CNC faculty of those early years.
If you or someone you know attended, taught at, coached at, or was a staff member or an administrator at Christopher Newport at some time between 1961 (CNC's opening year) and the late 1980's, Trible Library's newest website, CHRIS, is a resource you probably will want to explore ASAP--and perhaps often. Why? Because almost all CNC publications from the 1960s through the early 1990s are available there, except the catalogs, and those plus later publications will be uploaded until all CNC and CNU publications from the 1990s up to the present are also there.
Much of your CNC history is probably on this website--individual and group photos of you, your professors, your classmates, your campus, your clubs, sports teams and more. Anything about you, or by you, that was published in one or more yearbooks or the student newspapers or other CNC publications is now or will be soon on CHRIS. Currently there for example, are the Trident yearbooks from 1964 through 1970 (every single page, even the ads), every issue of CNC's first newspaper, Chris's Crier (mimeographed, 1961 - 63), and every issue of The Captain's Log (printed professionally, 1964 - 1991/92).
Using CHRIS is easy. The link is chris.cnu.edu, which opens the header shown above. In the upper right corner of the header is a SEARCH feature. Just type into it the subject you are looking for--e.g., the name of a PERSON you know (or believe) was at CNC in its first three decades (or just type in your name) or the name of a SPORT, CLUB, or ORGANIZATION at CNC then. Up will pop small photos (thumbnails) of CNC publications containing photos of and/or information about that subject. Click any thumbnail to enlarge it and then start enjoying what you have discovered. Although the search box is very accurate, it is not perfect. Occasionally an error has occurred because of technical difficulties.
CHRIS was created by Matthew Shelley, who has been working on this exciting new project for several years and expects to continue doing so. Head of Instruction for the Paul and Rosemary Trible Library, Matt is a CNU alumnus who graduated in 2006 with a B.A. degree in History. In 2011 he received his master's degree in Library and Information Science from the University of South Carolina at Columbia. He joined the Trible Library staff in 2016. His main responsibility is teaching CNU students how to use the library's resources. However, Matt also works in the library's archives, the source of the material he is continuing to research for CHRIS.
Photo provided by Matt Shelley.
You can contact him atmatt.shelley@cnu.edu or (757) 594-7245 to ask questions or report any error(s) you noticed while using CHRIS.
January
January (Latin Januarius: “of” or “pertaining to” Janus) was named in honor of the mythological Roman god Janus, whose festival month was January. He was greatly revered by the Romans, who erected a major temple to him. Janus literally means “gate” or “passageway.” Janus was often depicted (left photo) holding a large key signifying his role as gate-keeper and guardian of portals. Janitor (Latin, "doorkeeper") is from the word Janus; janitors traditionally were citizens entrusted with the keys to important buildings. Janus was also the patron of all beginnings and endings, from those of time (especially new years) to those of events like voyages, marriages, and crop plantings.
Janus's two faces--one looking forward; the other, backward--did not represent the idea of being "two-faced," or hypocritical. Instead, they symbolized this god's ability to see the past and the future, day and night, beginnings and endings. The 18th century statue in Vienna by Johann Wilhelm Beyer (photo right) depicts Janus with a youthful face looking forward as he speaks to the war goddess Bellona and an older face looking backward. I believe the one face beardless and the other bearded might also have signified the human progression from youth to maturity, innocence to experience, ignorance to knowledge.
Material from
Deities, Rulers, and Wrong Numbers: Our Latin Calendar, Part 1
by A. Jane Chambers
published January 3, 2018
Revised short version published January 25, 2022.
Native American and British
Place Names in Hampton Roads
Part 3: The Eight Shires
COMPLETED
Southside Elizabeth City Shire (now Suffolk, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, & Virginia Beach)
Although not shown on the multi-colored Shire Map of 1634 shown previously, Elizabeth City Shire included the South Hampton Roads area now occupied by the five independent cities named above (map right). In 1636, King Charles I granted the request of Adam Thoroughgood, an immigrant from Norfolk, England, to name the entire area after his English home. The king named it New Norfolk County. Thoroughgood had started a colony with 105 people along the Lynnhaven River (Wikipedia). The next year, New Norfolk was divided into Upper Norfolk County and Lower Norfolk (map left below). Upper Norfolk County became Nansemond County in 1646, named after the Nansemond tribe living there.
Half a century later, in 1691, with significantly increased population, Lower Norfolk was split into two parts (map right above)--Norfolk County (the western half--now Norfolk, Chesapeake, and Portsmouth) and Princess Anne County(the eastern half--now Virginia Beach). Princess Anne County was named for the daughter of King James II, Anne Stuart, who was later Queen of Great Britain and Ireland from 1702 until her death in 1714 (Wikipedia).
The Anglo-Saxon Place Names (Norfolk, Suffolk, Kent, and those Sex Places)
Some of our Tidewater place names are over a thousand years old, going back to the Anglo-Saxon era in England (450 - 1066)-- the time when Germanic tribes from the northeast of Europe--the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes--invaded the British island from the North Sea and over a long period settled in what is now England and lower Scotland. They killed, drove out, and bred with many of the natives, the Celts (except in upper Scotland, Wales, and Cornwall). The invaders shared a common history, culture, and language (with variations in dialects) which we call Old Engish, or Anglo-Saxon, and over time created independent kingdoms.
From 757 to 1066 (the Norman Conquest) there was an informal confederation of seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the place the conquerors named Engla land ("land of the Angles")--Wessex, Sussex, Kent, Mercia, Essex, East Anglia, and Northumbria (map above left). The Jutes founded the kingdom of Kent ; prominent Virginia colonist William Claiborne, born there, established New Kent County in 1654, in territory annexed from York County. One kingdom of the Angles, East Anglia (map above right) had two parts: the North Folk ("people of the north") and the South Folk ("people of the south"). These became the place names Norfolk and Suffolk.
Virginia's House of Burgesses established the "Towne of Lower Norfolk County" in 1680; it was incorporated as the City of Norfolk in 1705. Portsmouth, located directly across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk, was founded by House of Burgesses member Colonel William Crawford and established as a town in 1752 by an act of the Virginia General Assembly. It was named for Portsmouth, England (Wikipedia).
Suffolk was originally just a small port town on the Nansemond River in Nansemond County called Constant's Warehouse, for settler John Constant. It was renamed Suffolk in 1742 after Royal Governor William Gooch's English home. The Native American Nansemond tribe that has lived in villages along Suffolk's Nansemond River since at least 1584 continues to live there as one of Virginia's federally recognized tribes (Wikipedia). West of the Nansemond River, forming the border between Suffolk and Isle of Wight County, is Chuckatuck Creek. It is a short distance from my house and actually a wide river, not a creek. Like the much wider Nansemond River, it empties into the James. Chuckatuck is an Algonquin word meaning "crooked creek." The Suffolk community also called Chuckatuck dates back to the 19th century.
The Saxons established the kingdoms of Essex,SussexandWessex--located in the east, south (suth), and west below Mercia and East Anglia (see map left above). The names have no connection with sex. The Old English forms of them were Eastseaxen, Suthseaxen, and Wesseaxen--seaxen meaning "Saxon." Each name means "the land of the Saxons in the place that is east" (or south, or west). Not on that map is Middlesex (Old English Middelseaxen)--originally an area in Essex between Essex and Wessex, very close to London. Much of London is still in Middlesex. On the Southside of the James, south of Surry, there is a Sussex County. And Virginia's Middle Peninsula (map below) has Essex county and a Middlesex county--all named after these Saxon kingdoms.
Middle Peninsula Place Names
Other British county names on the Middle Peninsula are King and Queen County, established in 1691 from New Kent County and named for King William III and Queen Mary II (as was The College of William and Mary); King William County, formed by English colonists from the above in 1702 and named for the same king; and Gloucester County , founded in 1651 and named for Henry Stuart, Duke of Gloucester, third son of King Charles I. Mathews County was part of Gloucester County until 1791, when the Virginia General Assembly split Gloucester, creating Mathews from it. The new county was named for the new American nation's Brigadier General Thomas Mathews (Wikipedia).
The Middle Peninsula's southern border is the York River; its northern border is the Rappahannock River, from the Algonquian word lappihanne (or toppehannock), meaning "river of quick, rising water" or "where the tide ebbs and flows," the name used by the local Rappahannock tribe (Wikipedia).
Accomac Shire (Virginia's Eastern Shore)
Virginia's Eastern Shore, the 70-mile long end of the Delmarva Peninsula, is not technically considered part of Hampton Roads. However, under the orders of King Charles l it was made one of the eight shires of the Virginia Colony in 1634 and named Accomac, from the Native American word Accawmack, meaning "the other shore" (Wikipedia). The Accawmack tribe belonged to the Powhatan Confederacy (map right), but befriended the English colonists, especially as relationships between the English and the mainland Indians continued to worsen. The English changed the name of Accomac County to Northhampton Countyin 1642, wanting to eliminate "heathen" names in the Virginia Colony. In 1663, the county was split, the northern two thirds becoming Accomac County and the southern third keeping the British name Northampton County. In 1940, Virginia's General Assembly added the "k" to Accomack (Wikipedia).
As small as it is (only 70 miles long and extremely narrow), our Eastern Shore has at least nine Native American place names. During my research for this section of this article, I happened upon an article entitled "How Did Places like Machipongo and Wachapreague Get Their Names?" The author, a blogger named Ryan Webb, describes himself as "a sociolinguist ... from Machipongo," with "a Master's degree in applied linguistics, the scientific study of language, from Old Dominion University in 2017." He further states that since 2017 he has "begun to research and preserve the language, culture and history of Virginia's Eastern Shore." I will cite Webb's comments on some of the Algonquian names below.
In discussing the Native American names, I will begin with the first such name on the bottom of the map below and move upward. Kiptopeake is the name of a community and a State Park at the southern end of the Eastern Shore, near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. It was the name of the brother of Debedeavon, the chief ruler of the Accawmack tribe that lived on the Eastern shore when the first English colonists arrived. His title was "Ye Emperor of Ye Easterne Shore and King of Ye Great Nussawattocks." Because he was jovial, he was called "the Laughing King" (Wikipedia).
The village of Machipongo was named after "the Matchipungoes, one of the larger native tribes" on the Eastern Shore that "established several villages.... The word now spelled as Machipongo means fine dust and flies and was the Algonquin name for Hog Island" (Ryan Webb).
The town of Nassawadox "was named after the first church organized on the Eastern Shore in 1623, Nuswattocks Parish .... The Nuswattocks were a small Native American tribe that lived near present-day Nassawadox Creek" (Ryan Webb). [Note the paragraph on Kiptopeake above and "Nussawattocks"].
The name Pungoteague [left on the map] "comes from an Algonquin word meaning sand fly river. Accomack County court sessions were held in the town's two taverns from 1663-1708" (Webb).
This "seaside town in Accomack," Wachapreague, "is named for one of the Machipongo villages that was located at or near present-day Wachapreague. The name roughly translates as little city by the sea" (Webb).
The bayside town ofOnancock "is named for an Algonquin word that means foggy place. It was originally occupied by Native Americans until 1670" (Webb).
The name Accomacwas discussed fully in the opening paragraph of the section.
The name Chincoteague "comes from an Algonquin word that means large inlet. The island is named after the Gingoteague tribe that lived on the northern mainland of the Eastern Shore. As late as 1872, the post office on the island was called Gingotig" (Webb)
The name Assoteague is from the name of the Native American tribe that lived in the upper part of Virginia's Eastern Shore.
I hope you have enjoyed reading this article as much as I have enjoyed writing it and learning from it. I believe it is the longest article for this website that I have ever written. I promise not to write another one this long!
James City Shireis the second of four shires called a "city" (originally spelled "cittie") in 1634--at a time when the entire population of the Virginia Colony was barely 5,000 people. To us, a city is a large town with thousands, if not millions, of inhabitants. However, "originally in early Middle English" the word cittiemeant "a walled town, a capital or cathedral town"(OED). Jamestown was a walled town and the Colonial Capital of Virginia from its beginning (1607) until 1699, when it was replaced by Williamsburg. The word cittie was first given to the Colony's most populated areas in 1619, then kept for four of the eight shires created in 1634--Elizabeth Cittie, James Cittie, Charles Cittie, and Henrico Cittie.
The four "City" shires included land on both the north and south shores of the James River (see above map). The maps below are two of several in this article showing how additional counties were created later from these shires as the Virginia Colony grew. The part of James City Shire located on the south side of the James River, for example, became the county of Surry in 1652. A century later, in 1754, the western part of Surry became the county of Sussex.
SURRY was named for the southern English county of Surrey. The name comes from an Old English word from the 8th century literally meaning "Southerly District." The meaning "two-seated, four-wheeled pleasure carriage" is from 1895, short for Surrey cart, an English pleasure cart first made in Surrey, England (OED). The county seat is the small town of Surry, The name Sussex will be explained later.
Two of the 1634 shires are not located in Hampton Roads: CHARLES CITY and HENRICO CITY. The names were chosen to honor the two sons of King James I--Henry (from the Latin Henricus) and Charles, who became King Charles I because Henry, the first born son, died at age 18 from typhoid fever.
On the Peninsula, the border between James City Shire and Charles City Shire is the Chickahominy River, named for the Chickahominy tribe, which is one of seven tribes in Virginia now recognized by the federal government.
Southside Shires
Warrosquyoake River Shire (now Isle of Wight County)
Only two of the eight shires still had their Algonquin names in 1634, the Accomac Shire (or Accomack)--Virginia's Eastern Shore--and the Warrosquyoake River Shire (spellings vary), named after a river (now the Pagan River) settled by a tribe of that same name that had villages in the area. The tribe was driven away by the English settlers following the Great Massacre of 1622, in which the natives killed about 25% of all Virginia Colony settlers in an attempt to drive them out of the territory. The name Warrosquyoake was replaced in 1637 with the name Isle of Wight. after an island a few miles off England's southern coast in the English Channel (Wikipedia). Below are images of Virginia's (L) and England's (R) Isles of Wight.
Since I have lived in Virginia's Isle of Wight over thirty years, I have read various accounts of why the name was chosen for this county. Our Isle of Wight has little in common with England's. Our county, not an island, is mostly flat and rural, with a population of some 37,000 people in 363 square miles. England's island is filled with high hills and cliffs, has a population of over 140,000 in 146 square miles, and is primarily a resort known for its numerous beaches and sailing clubs. I've concluded that the name must have been chosen by 17th century settlers who once lived in England's Isle of Wight--a theory stated in Wikipedia.
The meaning of the word Wighthas mystified many, with all sorts of theories being offered. My own theory is that the word comes from the Old English wiht ,which does not mean "white" but "person," or "man" in the sense of any human being. This meaning was still very much alive in England in the middle ages and even in early modern English, as used by Lord Byron in his description of Don Juan: "Forsooth, he was a wicked wight."
The decision to replace the name Warrosquyoake with the name Pagan for the river that flows from Smithfield into the James seems strange. When replacing Native American names, the English usually picked names that honored important benefactors or rulers, or lovingly recalled places in Great Britain dear to them (towns, cities, counties). The English word pagan does not do either of those things. In fact, the word has had negative connotations since the 14th century, when it meant non-Christian or non-Jewish people. It came to mean also low class, rustic, uneducated people. Pagan and heathen basically were synonymous by the 17th century. Was the word chosen to insult the Native Americans? Show hatred for them? Relationships between the tribes and the colonists had indeed eroded seriously after a series of wars between them. And many settlers wanted to rid the Virginia Colony of what they considered "heathen" names.
Wikipedia suggests an entirely different meaning of pagan, however, quoting a 1993 Daily Press article by Peninsula author Parke Rouse, who wrote that the Smithfield river's name possibly came from the Algonquin word for pecan, meaning "that which is cracked with a tool," as nuts are. To support his theory, Rouse stated that 17th century English explorers noticed many pecan trees along the banks of that river.
PART 1 of this series gave the histories of the British place names Hampton Roads, Hampton, Cape Henry, Cape Charles, Point Comfort, and the Native American village Kecoughtan. PART 2 covered the British names Virginia, Jamestown, the James and York rivers (and the rivers' Native American names)--plus the native names Chesapeake (the bay) and Werowocomoco (the headquarters of Chief Powhatan). Published in September and October of 2020, both of these articles are now located in the website's ARCHIVES, under the sub tab THIS-N-THAT, about halfway down.
In just 17 years the little Virginia Colony that began in 1607 at Jamestown expanded significantly, with communities springing up in areas north, south, east and west of the Chesapeake Bay, primarily along its banks and rivers. The Algonquian-speaking natives fought to keep their land, but although greatly outnumbering the English, they found their arrows, knives, spears and tomahawks poor matches against bullets and cannon balls. Some tribes, like that in Kecoughtan, just gave up and relocated elsewhere. By 1634, with the Virginia Colony's population at about 5,000, King Charles I, son of James I, ordered a new system of government for the colony, dividing it into eight shires (soon renamed counties), as shown below.
Patterned after county government in England, each shire was governed by a lieutenant and an elected sheriff (from Mid. Eng. shire + reve, or reeve, a law enforcement officer). Discussed here first will be the Peninsula shires: Warwick River, Elizabeth City, Charles River, and James City--three of which (see map) were the smallest.
Peninsula Shires
Warwick River Shire (now the City of Newport News)
Neon green on the Shire map and yellow on the County map above, Warwick River Shire was so named in 1634 because by that time Warwick River had become a major port on the James River. The name Warwick honored Sir Robert Rich, Second Earl of Warwick, a prominent member of the Virginia Company. The shire's first courthouse and jail were at Warwick Towne, the first county seat, abandoned In 1809 (Wikipedia).
The community of Denbigh, now a neighborhood in Newport News, was named for nearby Denbigh Plantation (also called Mathews Manor), home of Captain Samuel Mathews, who came to the Virginia Colony before 1618 and was the father of Colonel Samuel Mathews, royal governor of the Colony from 1656-1660. Denbigh was the county seat of Warwick from 1810 until 1952 (Wikipedia). The name Denbigh goes back to the 13th century. Below is an aerial view of the town of Denbigh in Denbighshire, Wales, and the remains of Denbigh Castle, built in 1282 by order of King Edward I. The Welsh name Denbigh means "little fortress"(Wikipedia). It is pronounced DENbee in the UK, Australia, and the USA.
Warwick County ceased to exist in the 20th century as the town of Newport News grew, largely because of the C&O Railroad and the Shipyard. In 1869, Newport News became an independent city. In 1952, the rest of Warwick County became briefly the City of Warwick, then it became part of the City of Newport News in 1958. The origin of the name Newport News is somewhat debatable, although the settlement was referred to as Newportes Newesas early as 1621 (Wikipedia). Probably the name originated in the "good news" Captain Christopher Newport brought to Jamestown, after the Starving Time (winter of 1609-1610), that a fleet of ships bringing more supplies and men had entered the James River on its way to Jamestown.
Elizabeth City Shire (now the City of Hampton)
Elizabeth City Shire and Norfolk's Elizabeth River were both named for Princess Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of King James I, in honor of her godmother, Queen Elizabeth I. The City of Hampton began In 1610, after the Starving Time in Jamestown. Under the leadership of Colony Governor Sir Thomas Gates, Jamestown colonists seized and settled the village of the Kecoughtan tribe located near Point Comfort on the Chesapeake Bay (map above). The small town they established there they first called Kecoughtan. In 1619, the area including their town was named Elizabeth Cittie. In 1634 it became Elizabeth City Shire. The colonists eventually named their townHamptonto honor Henry Wriothesley, third Earl of Southhampton, a major leader of the Virginia Company of London (Wikipedia). In 1705 Hampton was incorporated as a town and became the seat of Elizabeth City County The native name Kecoughtan remains in Hampton as the name of both a major road and a high school. Most streets in the Wythe neighborhood in Hampton have Algonquin names in memory of the 30 tribes who first owned the Virginia Colony area.
Charles River Shire (now York County)
Native Americans called the river on the north side of the Peninsula the Pamunkey, after a tribe that lived on its banks. In 1634 it was renamed the Charles River to honor England's King Charles I and Charles River Shire was formed. In 1643, after the English Civil War began, the river and shire (then county) and port town were renamed York after a city of that name in northern England. Yorktown, founded in 1691 as a port from which the English colonists could export tobacco, became the county seat in 1696 (Wikipedia). It still is, although Yorktown has never formally been incorporated as a town. It is best known as the place where the American Revolutionary War ended in 1781 with the surrender of General Cornwallis to General George Washington
The map above shows York County with the town of Poquoson to its right. Poquoson was incorporated in 1952 and became an independent city in 1975. Poquoson is an Algonquin word roughly meaning "great marsh." The native Americans used pocosin (spellings varied) to describe low ground, marshy and woody, that was usually covered by water in the winter but dry in the summer (Wikipedia). Salt marshes dominate the area. Poquoson has also long been called "Bull Island" because for centuries farmers let their cattle graze freely in its salt marshes. Today Poquoson residents still call themselves "Bull Islanders" as do the students at Poquoson High School, whose mascot is a bull.
with photos and information from Daily Press Archives
The above picture shows Locomotive 2756 ready to be pulled across Warwick Boulevard into Huntington Park on August 26, 1963. All photos of this 1940s era locomotive that are in this article, except the last one, are from the Daily Press Archives collection titled Look Back: Huntington Park locomotive - Daily Press.
I wish I had been there. were you there? Were any of your friends or relatives there when engine 2756 was moved from C&O's tracks in Newport News to its new home in Huntington Park? Our webmaster Ron Lowder's father-in-law, Donald J. O’Brien, was there. "He was a railroad engineer, " Ron recalls, "and as my wife remembers (Maureen was only 13 then), he was involved, at least behind the scenes, in the train engine's movement."
C&O's locomotive 2756 before being moved to Huntington Park in Newport News.
A caption in the Daily Press Archives summarizes this historical event: Several hundred people gathered on Sunday Aug. 26, 1963, to watch a retired Chesapeake & Ohio steam locomotive be pulled across Warwick Boulevard and set in its resting place in Huntington Park in Newport News. The locomotive was donated to the city as a museum piece - an example of the type of steam engine used to carry million of tons of coal into Newport News piers over several decades. Police blocked traffic at 6 a.m. as a volunteer crew of C&O employees laid a temporary section of track across the road. By nightfall, the train was ready to be shoved into position.
No doubt the most difficult, and most time-consuming, task was that of laying and then removing sections of track. This work was done by C&O volunteers. Of course, heavy equipment was also used, along with human muscle power, but notice that it took three men to lift, carry, and put in place just one railroad tie for connecting two sections of track. The photos above were taken in Huntington Park. The one below, taken on Warwick Boulevard, shows the steam engine and its tender being pulled across the road by a cable attached to a heavy vehicle.
Once in place in Huntington Park, number 2756 instantly became a very popular attraction, drawing people of all ages. Virtually every child living in or visiting Newport News from 1963 until the mid-1970s delighted in fully and freely exploring it--like the unidentified boys in the two 1974 photos below.
Easy access to the beloved "Iron Horse" ended, however, In 1976. A tall chain-linked fence was put around it when authorities discovered that there was asbestos in number 2756 and possibly lead in its paint, which was beginning to peel. The picture below evokes two small children's disappointment as they stare through the fence.
In 1963, no one imagined that C&O locomotive 2756 would ever be moved again. But early in the next century, it would leave Huntington Park for a new home--a renovated Lee Hall Railroad Station further up on Warwick Boulevard (route 60), in the village of Lee Hall. The station, now a railroad museum, is located at the corner of Elmhurst Street and Warwick. Take your children and/or grandchildren there sometime to explore the museum and climb aboard the engine.
Members of the staff of Christopher Newport College's 1968 Trident yearbook chose the engine as a setting for their staff photo in the book. Four decades later, the editors of Memories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade,selected the photo as a chapter illustration, as shown below.
Pictured above are DAN CLARK (very top), Editor-in-Chief of the 1968 yearbook; women (on the left, from top down)--LYNN WALKER, Sports Editor, DENISE ROBERTS, Business Manager, UNIDENTIFIED woman (standing), and LOUISE ELLIS, Layout Editor (seated); and men CHARLIE SILLS, Photographer (seated, middle); and (on the right, top down) BARRY KIEMER, Photo Assistant, and JAY DECH, Copy Writer. Other staff (not shown) were PATTI PHELPS, Art Editor and SUE MULLINS, Copy Writer and possibly the unidentified woman in the photo. The staff's advisor was Professor GRAHAM PILLOW.
` NOTE: If you and/or your children or grandchildren explored Engine 2756 in Huntington Park (or Lee Hall) and you have memories--and maybe photographs--you'd like to share, please send your material to Jane Chambers or Dave Spriggs (email addresses below). We will include your feedback in this website's next FEEDBACK.
Glowing balls like the one dropped in Times Square on New Year's Eve are not the only time markers dropped in America on New Year's Eve. One of the numerous other things dropped then is a 15-foot tall red music note in Nashville, Tennessee--shown above near the top, left of the Music City sign. Previously an 80-foot Guitar Drop took place at Nashville's Hard Rock Cafe, but the cafe's partnership with the city ended in 2011.
Key West, Florida has a Conch Drop on New Year's Eve at Sloppy Joe's Bar, where a six-foot manmade Queen Conch Shell drops 20 feet to the top of the bar as part of the island's official New Year celebration. Increasingly more popular, however, is another Queen drop, held at the 801 Saloon, a Key West gay bar, where a large ruby red high-heel shoe holding drag queen Gary "Sushi" Marion is lowered from a balcony annually. In the above picture "Sushi" is wearing her self-made wedding gown, because following that drop, she legally married her longtime male partner. A third attraction at Key West that same night is the lowering from a high mast on a ship of a Pirate Wench.
Wikipedia's "List of objects dropped on New Year's Eve" gives by time zones and states all of the places in America that have "drops" on New Year's Eve and what those places "drop" (raise and/or lower). Most locales follow the Times Square tradition of using balls, but some use instead objects representing their local culture, geography, or history. Wikipedia's list, described as "dynamic" rather than complete, currently has over 200 entries.
Things to eat or drink are dropped in many places. For example, in Miami, Florida, "Mr. Neon," a 35-foot flat image wearing sunglasses, is raised 400 feet to the top of the Hotel Intercontinental Miami and then dropped at midnight (left above). In 2014, a steel mushroom was dropped in Kennett Square, PA, "The Mushroom Capital of the World" (right above). Mount Olive, N.C., drops a 3-foot pickle from its major industry's flagstaff. Atlanta, GA, drops an 800 pound peach from its 138-foot tower of lights. Other foods so honored include watermelons, popcorn balls, potato chips, cheeses, sausages, drinks alcoholic and non--and even M&M candies.
Animals are favorite things to drop also, especially in rural places. Dropping them alive has gotten a lot of negative press in this century, however, so most places either drop them stuffed (not saying how they died) or just drop manmade likenesses of them. The stuffed possum left above, named Spenser, is dropped every New Year's Eve in the small community of Tallapoosa, GA--a place formerly called "Possum Snout." Princess Anne, MD, drops a stuffed muskrat named Marshall P. Muskrat, who wears a top hat and bow tie. Birds (usually big replicas) are popular drops also--including buzzards and pelicans. And popular seafood reigns in many places. Easton, MD, located on the Chesapeake Bay, drops a giant crab every year (right above); Machias, ME, drops a giant plastic lobster; and various locales drop various fish--mostly large replicas.
Eastover, NC, a town of 3,600 just east of Fayetteville, was once called Flea Hill because a sandy hill there was overrun with fleas. To honor that heritage, Eastover celebrates New Year's Eve by dropping a 3-foot flea named Jasper, which is made of fabric, foam, wire and wood (left photo). On the Eastern Shore of Virginia, Chincoteague honors its nearby herd of wild ponies with a Horseshoe Drop (right photo).
There is apparently no limit to what we Americans might drop to celebrate New Year's Eve. In 2015, Indianapolis began a tradition of dropping an actual Indy race car (photo below).
SOURCES:
Detailscame primarily from WIKIPEDIA-- "List of objects dropped on New Year's Eve." Photos came from various places on the internet. And some content came from my personal knowledge.
We welcome your FEEDBACK. Send to
cncmemories61_71@yahoo.com
or cnc6171@cox.net.
Published first on December 27, 2019 as part of
the article "The Times Square Balls and Other
Things Dropped on New Year's Eve."
Published separately on January 1, 2021
1st DECADE VETERANS
Honoring CNC's First Decade Veterans: Navy and Coast Guard
Part 1
Updated November 27, 2020
by A. Jane Chambers
Parts 1 & 2of this series honored CNC's 61 First Decaders who served in our nation's Army and also the two killed in action (KIA): Ric Bahr (Army) and Pat Giguere (Marines). This article honors the 23 First Decaders who served in the Navy and 2 who served in the Coast Guard, plus our first CNC president--H. Westcott (Scotty) Cunningham (Navy). The last article in the series will honor our Air Force and Marine Corps veterans and CNC's second President--James C. (Jim) Windsor (Marines).
Scotty Cunningham (family photo), a Navy lieutenant in WW2., served two years in the Pacific commanding a PT (Patrol and Torpedo) boat, when John F. Kennedy, whom he knew, was doing the same in his PT 109. It was very hazardous duty; many men and boats were lost. Cunningham served again during the Korean War, but having contracted malaria in the southwest Pacific, he couldn't fight in Korea; instead he served as a military briefer at the Pentagon. From 1953 through 1970, he was also an active member of the Naval Reserve, retiring at the rank of Captain. Our website's tab ARCHIVES, sub tab FIRST DECADE HISTORY, has more information about Scotty's military experience.
Internet drawing of ELCO style PT boat.
Ancient Beliefs and Traditions
Reflected in Old Halloween Cards
Revised 2020
by A. Jane Chambers
When the Roman Catholic Church brought Christianity to the British Isles, the church decided that the best way to convert the pagans was not to ban their religious customs, but to accommodate them. It happened that the Christian holiday All Saints’ Day and the Celtic New Year Samhain (so-wen, so-ween, or saw-win) both occurred on November 1st. Celebration of Samhain (“summer’s end” in Gaelic), like that of All Saints’ Day, began on the previous evening: October 31st.
The evening before All Saints’ Day eventually became the Eve of All Saints, or All Hallows’ Eve—then, centuries later, Halloween (or Hallowe’en): a word combining Hallow (meaning “holy,” “sanctified”)and evening ( even, or e’en). It was for Christians a time to gather in churches to pray and fast before the feast on All Saints’ Day. However, since their Samhain traditions never faded, it was also for the Celtic British a time of superstitious beliefs and fears. They believed that during the transition between summer and winter, the veil between this world and the next was particularly thin, allowing the spirits of the dead to reenter this world, as well as devils.
Immigrants from Great Britain brought Halloween to America in the mid-1800s. The holiday became quite popular by the turn of the century. Halloween greeting cards from about 1890 through the 1920s (primarily postcards) reflect some of the beliefs and traditions once strongly embraced but now rapidly receding if not altogether lost.
The greeting card above reflects the centuries old belief that firelight would scare away ghosts, witches, devils--just as light dispels darkness. Thus the carved pumpkins, their faces illuminated from within by candles, were thought to protect people from evil beings once "got out"—put outside entrances to homes on Halloween or carried by people when they went outside. Americans seldom call them "Jack O’Lanterns" now.
JACK O’ LANTERNS
Jack O’Lanterns originated in Great Britain and were carved from large turnips or, sometimes, potatoes, or even beets (Wikipedia photo below). Such lanterns were used to light paths for people traveling at night as well as to protect them from evil spirits. Native to North America, the pumpkin was unknown in the British Isles. Immigrants were quite delighted to find this large fruit here, which quickly replaced the turnip.
The term Jack O’ Lantern (“Jack of the Lantern”) comes from an Irish legend seldom known in the United States. It is a story (with several different versions) about a scoundrel called Drunk Jack or Stingy Jack, who made a deal with the Devil to give the Devil his soul in exchange for some favor. When the Devil came to collect his soul, Jack tricked him into forgiving the debt. When Jack died, neither Heaven nor Hell would let him in, so he was doomed to wander endlessly in the twilight world of lost souls. Oddly enough, the Devil gave him an ember from the fires of Hell to light his way, which Jack put inside a carved turnip. (Wikipedia gives a fuller history).
Severalold beliefs are evident in the Halloween card on the left. The lady is “guising,” disguising herself, by wearing a white burial shroud to protect her from any ghosts of the dead, who will mistake her as one of their own and leave her alone. Devil and witch disguises were similarly used. She carries a Jack O’ Lantern for light and protection. There is a full moon, associated with both evil (werewolves and lunatics) and good (fertility, sweethearts, and visions of one’s future mate). The owls are a reminder that witches might be around and could mean good or bad luck.
WITCHES
The witches below are quite different: one ugly and old, the other beautiful and young--reminding us of the ancient belief in both good and bad witches, as in the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz, which also popularized the color green for bad witches and black for their clothing. The evil witch here looks longingly at the children inside. It was believed that wicked witches were cannibals who liked to eat children, like the witch in Hansel and Gretel, because eating the young and healthy renewed them, giving them eternal life. Blood drinking is a version this same belief in vampire lore.
The children bobbing for apples are safe from the evil witch because of the tub of water holding the apples. Remember the Wicked Witch of the West dissolving when Dorothy threw water on her? The ancient belief was that water, used for baptism and spiritual purification, was deadly to evil beings. A common test used for centuries at witch trials was to throw or duck the accused into a body of water. If she floated, she was guilty and would be burned at the stake. If she sank and drowned, she was innocent--yet also dead.
Whereas the bad witch above left is accompanied by dark nocturnal creatures associated with evil, a black cat and hovering bat, the good witch is accompanied by an owl, which can represent, depending on the context, either good or evil. Primarily, however, the owl has for ages symbolized wisdom, especially in western world cultures. It was the favorite bird of Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom.
ROMANTIC HALLOWEEN BELIEFS
Bobbing for apples either floating in water or hanging from strings was popular with young adults as a means of discovering their future mates. For example, a young woman who put under her pillow the apple she caught bobbing might dream that night of her future husband. The card left shows another belief--that a complete, unbroken apple peel thrown over a girl's shoulder would fall in the shape of the initial of her intended mate's name. An ancient symbol of love and fertility, as well as hate and discord, the apple is featured in many myths (The Judgment of Paris) and fairy tales (Snow White). Candied apples were once a favorite Halloween treat, but like apple bobbing, seem now disappearing from Halloween traditions.
Beliefs about love potions and signs or visions of one’s future spouse during Halloween used to be popular. The cards below reflect two such beliefs--seeing the future mate at midnight on Halloween in a mirror or in the flames of a fire. Although in Europe and Great Britain most such romantic rituals were performed almost exclusively by young women longing for husbands, in early 1900s America they sometimes were performed by bachelors as well.
TRICK - OR - TREATING
This tradition grew from a Medieval Christian practice called "Souling." On All Souls’ Day (November 2nd, following All Saints’ Eve), Christians gathered in churches to pray for the souls of their deceased loved ones who were believed to be in Purgatory, being cleansed of sins before entering Heaven. Poor people, especially children, would go to the doors of the rich and ask for small “Soul Cakes” or other food in exchange for delivering prayers for the dead in those families. “Souling” evolved over centuries into the practice of children, often dressed in costumes, going to the doors of people and entertaining them by singing, dancing, doing acrobatic tricks, or reciting poems (card right). They would then receive treats such as sweets, fruit, or coins. The words “We make the welkin ring” mean that they make the sky ring with their noisy merrymaking.
The term "Trick-or-Treat" was an American addition to Halloween in the late 1920s-early 1930s. Unfortunately the "Tricks" soon included crimes such as property damage and theft (card left). As a result, a few decades later, to curb such criminal behavior, cities and then states enacted laws restricting Halloween “Trick-or-Treating” to young children accompanied by parents or guardians. This Halloween tradition is now almost entirely commercial, although collecting for charities such as UNICEF retains an element of the original “Souling.”
CONCLUSION
This last card, beautifully executed, reflects the overall light tone of virtually all of these early Halloween cards or postcards, reminding us that in early 20th century America, All Hallows Eve was not being taken very seriously. It had already evolved into a time of mirth more than a time of dread. The goblins hovering behind the bed of the sleeping girl are more comical than scary. Further, they seem unable to pass through the thin veil (the curtain) between their world and this one. In contrast, the three fairies have passed through that veil and are protectively hovering over the sleeping girl like Guardian Angels, one seemingly touching her with her magic wand. Any “good versus evil” struggle seems already won by these three good fairies, who by their number might recall the Christian belief in the Trinity that defeats the host of demons.
Watercolor sketches from 1585 of Outer Banks members of the Secoton Tribe, by Roanoke Colony Governor and artist John White.
PART 1 focused on some of the places that the Jamestown colonists first saw, explored, and in some cases named in late April of 1607, when they first sailed intoHAMPTON ROADS--CAPEHENRY,CAPECHARLES,POINT COMFORT and the Native American village KECOUGHTAN, which would later be a part of the City of HAMPTON. PART 2 focuses primarily on Native American names in the waters of Hampton Roads.
VIRGINIA
The name VIRGINIA was given to this part of the New World in 1584 by Sir Walter Raleigh to honor Queen Elizabeth 1(1558-1603), called "the Virgin Queen" because she never married. The queen gave him permission to sponsor exploration and colonization of this yet unseen territory. He sent two groups to what is now the Outer Banks. The first Roanoke Island colony (1585) failed, with most member returning to England; the second one (1587), governed by John White, became known as the Lost Colony because of the mysterious disappearance of all the people. Since 1937, the historical outdoor drama The Lost Colony , written by Paul Green, has been performed on the Roanoke Island site of the original colony. Actor and Manteo citizen Andy Griffith played various roles in it, including that of Sir Walter Raleigh.
Bust details from full-length portraits of Queen Elizabeth 1 and Sir Walter Raleigh. Internet photos. Artists unknown.
THE CHESAPEAKE BAY
Chesapeake Bay satellite (LANDSAT) picture.
In 1585 or 1586, explorers from the first Roanoke Colony discovered the lower region of the Chesapeake Bay, which the area's natives called Chesepiooc, or Chesepiook (with other variations),an Algonquian word whose meaning is not absolutely certain. It might have referred to a village "at a big river" (located at the Bay's mouth), or referred to the Chesepian tribe who lived in the South Hampton Roads area now occupied by the cities of Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, and Virginia Beach. It might have meant "great water." For a very long time, it was believed that the word meant "great shellfish bay." However, in 2005, Algonquian linguist Blair Rudes argued that the word does not mean that (Wikipedia).The name Chesepiooc for the Bay appeared on John White's 1590 map, and the name Chesapeack Bay on Captain John Smith's map, published in 1612.
THE JAMES RIVER
On May 13, 1607, the English colonists landed at a place they quickly named JAMESTOWNE to honor their king, James 1 (also James VI of Scotland). They would eventually name the river where they landed the James also. During the years 1607-1609, Captain John Smith, their first leader, with a small crew and 30-foot boat, soon began exploring and mapping the lands and waterways of the Bay. Smith created a very detailed map published in 1612 in England. Above is a detail from that map that includes, circled in red, POWHATAN FLU (Latin for "flow" or river) and above it IAMESTOWNE (letters J and I were interchangeable then). The native Americans, Smith had learned, had named this major river to honor their king, Powhatan , chief of the Powhatan Confederacy, ruler of some 30 tribes in tidal Virginia.
Detail (L) of a portrait of King James, ca. 1605, by John I. de Critz; statue (R) of Captain John Smith located in historic Jamestown.
THE YORK RIVER
Like that of the James, the York River area was first settled by the tribal natives of Virginia many centuries before the arrival of the English colonists and was named by them the PAMUNKEY, after a tribe by that name that lived on its banks. On the detail above from Smith's Map of Virginia, that name is at the mouth of the now York River, but hard to read. The Jamestown settlers of 1607 named this river the Charles River, in honor of the second surviving son of King James (later to be King Charles l). A few decades later, after the English Civil War began (1642), pitting King Charles I against Parliament, the Charles River and Charles Shire (county) were renamed YORK. Wikipedia states that "the river, county, and town ... are believed to have been named for York, a city in Northern England." However, the ERD's 50 State Guide states that "York is named for James II of England, created Duke of York in 1644." James II was the son of Charles I, who would be tried for treason and beheaded in 1649.
Also on that section of Smith's map above, circled in red is the name of the headquarters of Chief Powhatan, the village of WEROWOCOMOCO. It was located on what would later be the Gloucester County side of the York River. The word werowocomoco is an Algonquian name combining the words werowans (weroance), meaning "leader" and komakah (-comoco), meaning "settlement" (Wikipedia)--the settlement of the leader. Notice that Jamestown is to the left, relatively close to Powhatan's village, an historically significant fact.
We welcome your FEEDBACK. Send to
cncmemories61_71@yahoo.com
or cnc6171@cox.net.
Published October 2, 2020
Native American and British
Place Names in Hampton Roads
Part 1
by A. Jane Chambers
I've lived in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia since 1963--first in Newport News, while in the English Department at Christopher Newport; then after retirement, in Isle of Wight County, with an expansive view of the lower Hampton Roads from my modest home. In my decades here, I have learned much more about the history of this area than I knew when I first arrived. As a student of the English language, I have found especially interesting the mixture here of native American and British place names tied to Virginia's earliest colonial history.
HAMPTON ROADS
Why does the name of a body of water include the word roads?Because roads is a shortened form of roadstead, a Middle English word combining road (any "open way for traveling between two places" and Old English stede ("place"). The Online Etymology dictionary (OE) uses Hampton Roads as an example of the nautical meaning, since the 14th century, of roadstead (or roads) as a "narrow stretch of sheltered water" where ships may ride safely at anchor near, but not at, a shore. On the map below, the water named Hampton Roads is the part of the Chesapeake Bay largely located between the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel (I-64) and the Monitor-Merrimac Bridge-Tunnel (I-664). It is where Norfolk's Elizabeth River, Suffolk's Nansemond River and Virginia's longest river, the James, converge, forming a safe channel for the largest of ships, commercial and military. The name now includes the lands touching the lower Chesapeake Bay, as shown on the map below.
HAMPTON
The city of Hampton,Hampton Roads, and Hampton River were all named to honor Henry Wriothesley, third Earl of Southampton, a major leader of the Virginia Company of London, which financed the 1607 Jamestown expedition. Southampton County might have been named for the Earl, or for the city of Southampton in England (Wikipedia). The word Hampton comes from the Old Englishhāmtūn--from hām (homestead, home, settlement) plus tūn ("town, yard, enclosure")--i.e., hometown. The word became an English and Scottish place name, and eventually also a surname. Cities, communities, and families in Britain, Canada, Australia and of course America have that name.
CAPE HENRY and CAPE CHARLES
Cape Henry was the first British place name in Hampton Roads. After their very long (144 days) voyage from England, on April 26, 1607, the Englishmen in the three ships sent by the Virginia Company reached a cape at the southern end of the Chesapeake Bay. They anchored and named the place Cape Henry in honor of the heir-apparent to the English throne, Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, then only 13 (he died at 18). They sent some men ashore in a small boat to explore the area for several days. On April 29th, the men raised a wooden cross near the shore and a minister delivered a prayer of gratitude for their safe arrival in the new land. In 1935 a granite cross was placed in this area (photo right), in First Landing State Park, next to Fort Story, location of the old (1792) and new (1881) Cape Henry Lighthouses (photo below).
Cape Charles was named in honor of Charles l, who became heir to the throne of his father, King James 1, after his brother Henry's death--and later the ruler of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Located at the southern tip of Virginia's Eastern Shore, Cape Charles is the northern side of the wide entrance from the Atlantic Ocean into the Chesapeake Bay. Since 1964 the cape has also been the northern end of the 17.6 miles long Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. The two capes, Henry and Charles, are called the Virginia Capes.
POINT COMFORT (now Old Point Comfort)
On April 28, 1607, Christopher Newport sailed the Susan Constant from Cape Henry into the Chesapeake Bay to explore it further. Anchoring her near what would become Fort Monroe, Newport sent crew members out to find the water's depths. They located a channel which "put them in good comfort" and named the land next to it Cape Comfort, which the Virginia Company in 1609 described in its Second Charter as "the pointe of lande called Cape or Pointe Comfort." Exploring the site for a few days, the group found it an ideal defensive location.The lighthouse located there since 1803 (photo left), owned and maintained by the U. S. Coast Guard, is the second oldest lighthouse in the Bay and oldest still in use (Wikipedia).
KECOUGHTAN
This painting, titled Trading with the Indians, was created by artist Stanley King for the National Park Service.
While still in the lower Chesapeake Bay that spring of 1607, the English colonists met some friendly Algonquian-speaking natives living near Point Comfort in their Kecoughtan village. The natives kindly welcomed the travelers, and the relationship remained primarily friendly between the peoples of the two radically different cultures for the first two years of the Jamestown settlement, as reflected in the above painting. Captain John Smith's account of an unplanned visit he and about 40 men spent with the Kecoughtan tribe during the Christmas season of 1608-09 is well known. Trying to get to Chief Powhatan's village to get food for their colony during a starving time that winter, the group encountered violent weather in the Bay--"extreame wind, raine, frost, and snowe"--that forced them for " 6 or 7 daies ... to keepe Christmas amongst the Salvages, where wee were never more merrie, nor fedde on more plentie of good oysters, fish, flesh, wild foule, and good bread, nor never had better fires in England then in the drie warme smokie houses of Kecoughtan."
In the summer of 1609 everything changed for the worse when the English settlers began raiding various native villages, stealing food, burning dwellings, killing even women and children, and building forts in Hampton Roads. A series of wars called the Anglo-Powhatan Wars began in 1610 and the surviving Kecoughtans fled to merge with other Powhatan groups (Wikipedia).
The Algonquian tribal name Kecoughtan survives, however, in today's city of Hampton. PART 2 of this article will focus more on other native American names in Hampton Roads.
If you took or taught classes at CNC between 1964 and 1968, you probably remember the ordeal of being in Newport Hall or Gosnold Hall on hot, sticky days when neither classroom building was air conditioned. Both were designed for air conditioning, but not funded for it for several years. How did we faculty and students survive the often overwhelming and humid heat on the Shoe Lane campus in those years, especially in summer classes?
Glued inside each 1965 CNC yearbook, the Trident, was a copy of this color photo of Christopher Newport Hall--the only picture thus far located showing all of the original Newport Hall.
Notice in the above photograph of CNC's first building, Christopher Newport Hall, that the two separate one-story units on the front had some tall, very narrow louvered windows which opened outward. When cranked straight out, these provided some small relief from the heat, especially on breezy days, for those using the first campus library (left) and/or the lecture hall (right).
Less fortunate were the people using the offices and classrooms in the two-story unit of Newport Hall. The only windows that opened there were the small rectangular transoms below the fixed windows visible in the above Trident photo. Located in all the offices and classrooms, these transoms were essentially useless, because they opened only a few inches. Even worse, there were no shades, blinds, or curtains on most windows to block the sun's heat.
The one area on Newport's first floor that was air conditioned from the beginning was the Computer Center, because, unlike humans, the computers could not tolerate any humidity at all. On extremely hot days, especially during summer sessions, Professor Graham Pillow had more visitors than usual in that Computer Center because some faculty and staff, including me, would create excuses for stopping by there to cool off for a while. The photo on the right, from the 1969Trident, shows Graham Pillow working at a now obsolete machine in his Center.
Hotter than the first floor was, of course, the second floor, which housed faculty offices and classrooms. I don't think classes were ever cancelled there, however, even in extreme heat. During one summer class meeting, English Professor Barry Wood placed a thermometer on a patch of shade on his classroom floor, and it quickly read over 100 degrees!
The above picture of Barry Wood (left) is from the 1969 Trident; that of Steve Sanderlin (right) is from the 1972 Trident.
In his essay "Remembering the English Department's First Decade," Professor Steve Sanderlin wrote: "Teaching under such conditions was a real challenge! Dress rules suddenly changed: in summer sessions, students (but not faculty) could wear Bermuda shorts. Cold beverages, previously forbidden, were allowed in the classrooms. Huge, heavy roll-around fans were brought in, but these only blew the hot air around and made so much noise that one had to scream loudly to be heard. For the first time in my career, I taught without a coat and tie. Some of us longed to be back in the old Daniel building!" (Memories of Christopher Newport College, p. 42). Built in 1914, the Daniel building, although not air conditioned, had excellent ventilation because of its very high ceilings and tall windows that opened wide.
Like Newport Hall, Gosnold Hall (1966 Trident photo above), completed in September of 1965, also had no air conditioning--plus the same style windows as Newport. In his Memories book essay "Marine Biologist Finds CNC His Perfect Port," Professor Ron Mollick (1971 Trident photo left), a San Diego native who joined CNC's Biology Department in the fall of 1968, wrote that initially he thought that his office in Gosnold was "uncomfortably hot" because of "malfunctioning air conditioning equipment," but , he added: "I soon learned that most buildings on campus were not air-conditioned! I immediately purchased a great big box fan that I placed at my door. It blew a gale and required that I weigh down every paper on my desk" (p. 57).
President Cunningham and Registrar Jane Pillow at the reception and mailboxes area inside the newly opened Smith Hall in 1967. Daily Press photo.
Ratcliffe Gymnasium and the combined Captain John Smith Library and Smith Hall Administration Building opened in the fall of 1967. Both had central air conditioning. The hotter the weather, the more time students and faculty spent in those buildings, of course. And faculty also often lingered longer than necessary in Smith Hall, reading their mail posted in the reception area and socializing with colleagues in various offices.
Finally, in 1968, funding was allocated for the much-needed air conditioning of both Newport Hall and Gosnold Hall. Dr. Sanderlin recalled in his Memories book essay that the installing of the central air conditioning system in Newport was "not without some mishaps .... One day as I was walking down the hall on the second floor, I heard a loud noise and anguished cries. The maintenance man installing equipment in the attic had fallen through the ceiling and landed on a student sitting in a classroom! Fortunately, no one was badly hurt. But this incident and others were not uncommon for a while" (p. 43). Accidents aside, what a relief it was for all when we were able to retire our electric fans.
The choice was clear. In an age of segregated schools,
I would integrate every school I attended from tenth grade on.
This was my means of protest. I could never let it be said that no
black person had attended or would ever attend this school or that school
....I had no fear of being the "only" one.
Michael S. Engs (Ed.D)
in "Christopher Newport College 1965:
A Sanctuary from the Draft," p. 197.
As a son of college-educated parents, his father a military officer and his mother a teacher, in the 1950s Michael S. Engs attended racially integrated schools on military bases. Not until his father retired and his family settled in Newport News, Virginia, in the early sixties did he experience school segregation, beginning his high school studies at then all-black George Washington Carver High School. After he finished the ninth grade there, his parents sent him to Walsingham Academy, a private Catholic school in Williamsburg, so that he would be better prepared for college. He was the first African American to attend Walsingham, where his dreams of attending college were encouraged, and where he made the vow quoted above.
Michael Engs as a CNC freshman. 1966 Trident, p.64.
Michael next became the first black student at Christopher Newport College. He completed his freshman and sophomore studies at CNC in 1965-67, when the young college was a two-year branch of The College of William and Mary (W&M). In his above-mentioned essay in Memories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade (2008), he recalled with fondness his two years there: "What struck me...was the ease with which [CNC] accepted people of color....There were no 'special programs' or assumptions that deficiencies in a student's educational background might exist. No suggestion that race was the basis for your being accepted. What Christopher Newport offered was a level playing field, a place where I could succeed or fail on my own merits" (pp. 197-198).
After his success at CNC of W&M, in the fall of 1967 Michael enrolled as a junior at W&M itself, in Williamsburg, where he completed his four-year degree in English in 1969. He is now featured in Building on the Legacy: African Americans at William & Mary, An Illustrated History of 50 Years and Beyond (Donning Publishers, October 2019), written by Jacquelyn Y. McLendon (Ph.D), Emerita Professor of English and Africana Studies at William and Mary. In a July 15, 2020 email to me, Dr. McLendon wrote that Michael "was one of the first group" of black students and "one of the first two black undergraduates to receive a degree."
The photo above shows pages 40 and 41 of Building on the Legacy, with the cover of Memories of Christopher Newport on page 40. On that cover, middle right side, next to the head of Captain Christopher Newport is the CNC freshman portrait of Michael Engs shown at the beginning of this article. Dr. McLendon wrote to me that in her historic book "the discussion of Michael Eng's time at W&M begins on page 41 and continues to 43" and that "according to the index, his name appears on pages 39 - 43" (July 15, 2020).
In 2017, I became aware that the first book about blacks at William and Mary was being written, and that Michael would be included in it. I was contacted then by Dr. McLendon, who had been directed to me and to the Memories book by Michael, with whom she had been corresponding while researching material for her book. I was told then that the book would include the 1966 CNC yearbook photograph of Michael, quotations from his essay in Memories, and other information provided to Dr. McLendon through her correspondence with him and with me. I pointed to additional essays in our book that included material about Michael, such as Barry Wood's discussion of Michael as a student (pp. 243-244) and Kim Lassiter's memory of him as a classmate (178-179). I've not yet had a chance to read Building on the Legacy, however, which has had positive reviews. A hardback, with numerous photographs in color as well as in black and white, it costs $46.95 and is currently available only at W&M's bookstore. I will request that CNU buy several copies of it to be housed in Trible Library and Klich Alumni House.
Professor Emerita Dr. Jacquelyn Y. McLendon earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in English at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio. She was Assistant Professor at Hofstra University, and then at Amherst College, before joining the faculty at William and Mary, where she served as Academic Coordinator for the 50-Year Celebration of African Americans in residence at W&M and as Professor of English for 28 years. She is also Director Emerita of Black Studies at W&M, has publishedscholarly books and articles on African American writers, focusing onwomen and the Harlem Renaissance, and has edited American and African American literature anthologies. She is currently a freelance writer in Hampton, VA.
Photo of Dr. Jacquelyn Y. McLendon courtesy of W&M.
Dr. Michael S. Engs was in ROTC at W&M and afterwards served 3 years in the U.S. Army. Then he moved to Arizona, where he earned an M.A. in Counseling & Guidance at the University of Arizona and an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership at Northern Arizona University. He had a 33-year career as an administrator and faculty member in the Pima County Community College District in Tucson, AZ. After retiring in 2007, he then worked as an educational consultant and also taught graduate-level courses at Northern Arizona University-Tucson and undergraduate-level courses at Pima College.
Every July the Fourth we Americans celebrate Independence Day, the legal separation of the thirteen colonies from Great Britain in 1776. However, much of what we think we know about its history is actually wrong, including the date.
The Famous Painting
Above is a photograph of the very famous, and monumental (12-foot x 18-foot), oil on canvas painting by American artist John Trumbull titled Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson encouraged Trumbull to paint it. Because Trumbell wanted to depict accurately not only the room in Philadelphia's Independence Hall where the Second Continental Congress had met, but also as many of the 56 founders of our nation as he could, it took him 33 years of research, carriage travel to the 13 states, and individual portrait paintings to complete the work, which was placed in the United States Capitol's rotunda in 1826.
As realistic as Trumbull's painting is (Jefferson declared the depictions of the men "admirable likenesses") it is not completely accurate, however. In his Revolutionary War booktitled 1776, published in 2005, famous American historian David McCullough wrote of the painting, "No such scene, with all the delegates present, ever occurred at Philadelphia." The painting shows 42 of the 56 delegates (Trumbull found it too difficult to show all 56) and includes several who participated in the congressional debate but never signed the document.
Trumbull also depicted all 42 men being in the same room at the same time, which never happened, as McCullough wrote.Trumbull's painting has too often been wrongly interpreted as depicting the signing of the Declaration. In fact, it depicts another event entirely: presentation of the draft of the Declaration to the Congress, which happened on June 28, 1776--not July the 4th. The draft was then debated for several days, with various changes being made, before the final version of the document was written and signed.
The Proposal of Independence
The above detail from Trumbull's painting shows the Committee of Five: the five delegates appointed on June 11 to draft and present to the full Congress what would become our Declaration of Independence. The men and the Colonies they represented were (L-R) John Adams (Mass.), later 2nd Pres.; Roger Sherman (Conn.); Robert R. Livingston (NY); Thomas Jefferson (Va.), later 3rd Pres.; and Benjamin Franklin (Penn.). Jefferson agreed to write the document they would create.
The first person to advocate American independence from Great Britain was English born American Thomas Paine, who encouraged the common people to fight for their own government in Common Sense, a 49-page pamphlet first published anonymously on January 10, 1776. On May 15, 1776, in Williamsburg, the Virginia Convention passed a resolution instructing Virginia's delegates in the Continental Congress to propose that Congress "declare the United Colonies free and independent States, absolved from all allegiance to, or dependence upon, the Crown or Parliament of Great Britain."
As instructed during the Virginia Convention, Richard Henry Lee proposed this resolution to Congress in June, and John Adams seconded it. It was named The Lee Resolution, sometimes called "The Resolution for Independence." The Committee of Five was chosen then to work on an Independence document in case the Lee Resolution passed. On July 2nd the Second Continental Congress voted to approve The Lee Resolution. The news was announced that evening in the Pennsylvania Evening Postand the next day, July 3rd, in the Pennsylvania Gazette.
The Date to Celebrate
John Adams felt that July 2nd was the day the new nation should celebrate annually, writing the next day (July 3rd) to his wife Abigail: "The second day of July 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America ... it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival." So strongly did Adams believe July 2nd was the correct date for celebration that for years he refused to attend July 4th events.
The Congress met again on July 4th, to formally adopt the final version of the Declaration that Jefferson had penned--with that date on it. Contrary to the belief of many Americans, the Declaration was not signed by all 56 members on that date however. In fact, only two of the founding fathers signed it on July 4th: John Hancock and Charles Thompson, the group's secretary. Early printed copies of it with just these signatures were quickly distributed to military officers and political committees. Later, Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin all declared that they too had signed it on July 4th. But most historians have concluded that our Declaration was signed by most of the other founding fathers on an engrossed copy on August 2, 1776, with Hamilton signing a second time. Some delegates signed the document even later.
P.S.: Did you know that both Adams and Jefferson died on July 4, 1826--the 50th anniversary of the adoption of (but not signing of) the Declaration of Independence?
SOURCES: Primarily personal knowledge, general knowledge,
and generous use of Wikipedia.
_____________________
We welcome your FEEDBACK. Send to
cncmemories61_71@yahoo.com
or cnc6171@cox.net.
Published July 3, 2020.
Seldom Known Facts about
Our Pledge of Allegiance:
Part 2
Revised June 2020
by A. Jane Chambers
This 1917 painting by American artist Edward Percy Moran depicts Betsy Ross presenting the 1776 American flag to General George Washington (in boots).
There was no pledge of allegiance to our flag or nation in any form until well over a century after Betsy Ross made the first flag in 1776. Then, as the 19th century neared its end, two pledges of allegiance for school children to recite were written within five years. In 1887, Civil War veteran Captain George T. Balch, auditor of the New York City Board of Education, wrote the first one:
"We give our heads and hearts to God and our country;
one country, one language, one flag!"
In 1892, in Boston, Baptist minister and Christian Socialist Francis J. Bellamy, writing for a popular children's magazine, penned the second one, meant primarily to be used in a nation-wide Columbus Day celebration:
" I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands,
one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
Historical and Current Events Affecting the Pledges
GeorgeBalch (1828- 1894) served in the Union Army during our nation's Civil War (1861- 64), whereas Francis Bellamy (1855- 1931) was then just a young schoolboy. However, no doubt this devastating war, often pitting brothers against brothers, and bringing our young nation to the edge of total destruction as a nation, was an event very real to both men when they were writing their respective pledges. Both were also highly educated, with degrees from West Point (Balch) and the University of Rochester (Bellamy); therefore both undoubtedly also knew well our nation's earliest history, including the meaning of the Great Seal.
Used since 1782 to authenticate documents of our federal government, the Great Seal ( photo above) has as its theme the Latin motto E PLURIBUS UNUM ("from many, one," or "out of many, one"). It is echoed visually in the 13 stripes, 13 stars, and 13 arrows--all reminders of the Revolutionary War, our first flag, and the 13 colonies ("the many") that united to form "the one" nation: appropriately named the United States of America.
The Civil War had shattered that unity. In the latter part of the 19th century, it was being restored--but slowly. Balch's pledge called America "one country"; Bellamy's called it "one nation, indivisible"--stressing more fully the unity of it. Though it had been divided, as predicted in Lincoln's "House divided" speech, Bellamy implied that it was again and must continue to be a united nation.
In addition to America's early and then recent history, a major current event also motivated the authors of these two pledges. When Balch wrote his pledge, 1887, there were 38 states in our nation; five years later, when Bellamy wrote his, there were 44 states. The "many" making the "one" was rapidly growing and changing--not only the number of states, but the makeup of the nation's citizenry, adding an additional meaning to the motto E Pluribus Unum. In Colonial times, immigrants to "the New World" were primarily English-speaking Protestants from the United Kingdom. In the latter 19th century, immigrants were largely from a variety of European nations and were predominantly Roman Catholic. America was quickly becoming "the Melting Pot."
The photo above, taken in New York City in 1890, shows a classroom of Italian children reciting the Balch pledge. Because Balch worked for the city's Board of Education, his 1887 pledge was immediately required in all public schools in the city. The motivation behind requiring all American children--especially immigrant children--to recite the pledge daily was to assure their loyalty to our nation, whether or not it was their native land.
By the opening years of the 20th century the two different pledges had been adopted by various adult organizations as well as school systems, but the Balch pledge steadily lost ground to the more popular Bellamy pledge. For example, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) adopted the Balch pledge in 1906, but switched to the Bellamy pledge in 1915.
History of the Bellamy Pledge from 1923 to 1943
By the early 1920s the Bellamy pledge was essentiallythe pledge, although not yet officially adopted by Congress. The chart to the right summarizes changes to the pledge, only one of which was made by Bellamy, who died in 1931. He added only one word ("to"), for balanced syntax. In June of 1923, the first National Flag Conference was held in Washington, D.C. to draw up rules for civilian flag use. During that year, and the following one, the words "the Flag of the United States" and then "of America" were added, primarily to assure the loyalty of immigrants.
Chart from Wikipedia
Two decades later, during World War 2, four major events occurred in the pledge's history, all in the early 1940s. On June 22, 1942 Bellamy's pledge was formally adopted by Congress as the flag pledge; on December 22, 1942, the Bellamy salute (see Part 1 of this article), which had become in Germany the Nazi Party salute, was removed from the pledge and replaced by the hand over heart gesture. In 1945 the official name The Pledge of Allegiance was adopted by Congress.
In 1943, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment protects students from being forced to salute the American flag or say the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools. Some states--Hawaii, Iowa, Vermont and Wyoming--have never required that the pledge be recited in schools. Also, as of 2007, there are no pledge laws or statutes listed for Oregon, Nebraska, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, or Puerto Rico.
1954: The Addition of "Under God"
Baptist minister Francis Bellamy, a strong supporter of our Founders' belief in Separation of Church and State, did not include God in his patriotic pledge. The first person to propose changing that was Louis A. Bowman, chaplain of the Illinois Society of Sons of the American Revolution, who argued in 1948 that because President Lincoln used "under God" in his Gettysburg Address, it should be added to the Pledge. The DAR gave him an award. In 1952, the Catholic fraternal service organization the Knights of Columbus officially added "under God" after "one nation" to its recitation of the Pledge and urged Congress to make this change official. Several Congressional attempts to do so failed (Wikipedia).
Minister George MacPherson Docherty (L) and President Eisenhower (bowing) on Feb. 7, 1954, at the New York Ave. Presbyterian Church.
On February 7, 1954, President Eisenhower, recently baptized a Presbyterian, honored President Abraham Lincoln's birthday by attending Lincoln's church, the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. Sitting in Lincoln's pew, Eisenhower was deeply moved by the sermon delivered by pastor George MacPherson Docherty, which was based on the Gettysburg Address. Docherty argued that "under God" should be included in the Pledge because that was what defined our nation and set us apart. The two men (photo left) had a conversation after the service, and the next day Representative Charles Oakman (R-Mich.) introduced such a Pledge bill in Congress and it passed (Wikipedia).
On Flag Day, June 14, 1954, Eisenhower signed the bill and the controversial phrase "under God" was added to the Pledge of Allegiance. The Cold War provided the impetus for addition of this phrase. At that time in our nation's history, many of our citizens wanted to emphasize the difference between a "godly" nation (the U.S.A.) and an "ungodly" one (the USSR--i.e., Russia). Even before the addition of "under God," federal government requirement or promotion of the Pledge of Allegiance resulted in criticism and legal challenges on various grounds, only one of which has been mentioned here (Separation of Church and State). The history of our Pledge of Allegiance might not yet be finished.
________________________________________________
SOURCES: Personal knowledge, general knowledge, internet photographs, and Wikipedia.
The two artistic renderings and map used in this article were provided to CNU by Glave & Holmes Architecture and are used here courtesy of CNU. All other photos are courtesy of A.J. Jelonek.
CNU alumnus A. J. Jelonek ('15) took advantage of the Covid-19 lockdown to drive down in late April from the DC area to CNU, where he took some pictures of the construction of the Fine Arts Center being built adjacent to Ferguson Center. He has shared these photos with us, plus a You Tube link to a live stream of the construction.
The above first picture taken by A.J. shows the right end of the front of the Ferguson--Fine Arts complex, which faces Warwick Boulevard. Compare this photo with the artist's depiction (top photo) of this same scene. When construction of the Fine Arts Center is completed, the colonnade in front of Ferguson Center will then be extended all the way to the area of the glass domes--hiding the brick part of the art center visible in A.J.'s photo. Notice also, behind the metal skeletons of the domes, one end of the main part of the 3-story Arts Center.
This photo and the next are closer shots of the 4-story high domes and the 3-story building behind them. This first close-up shows also much of Trible library with its two domes and, behind it, the larger gold dome atop the second Christopher Newport Hall. This second close-up, below, shows the side entrance to Trible Library and, beyond it, the rear entrance to Christopher Newport Hall. Visible also on the left is an orange metal workman's platform attached to a crane.
The front of the Fine arts Center faces the campus. Below is an artistic rendering of that front, showing various entrances and the walled-in service area. The large white entrance in front of the domes has a twin facing Warwick Blvd., as shown in the first artistic depiction here.
The photograph below by A.J. shows on the left the point where the large white entrance facing the campus will be. Apparently it and its twin facing Warwick will be entrances into the stacked domes. Visible also is a corner of the Fine Arts Center.
This last photo shows much of the front of the building. It also shows, again, on the left, the framing for the campus-facing entrance into the domes . To the far left are visible an orange crane and one (possibly two) workmen.
Finally, to orient you more fully to the Fine Arts Center project, here is a map showing the complete building, in dark brown, and its campus surroundings. The building replaces the parking lot behind Pope Chapel; however, two new parking areas will be created around the large green space between Ferguson Center and Warwick Blvd.
TO WATCH CONSTRUCTION LIVE:
Click the You Tube link below--day or night, 24/7. Construction is on schedule and expected to be completed by the end of this summer.
MORE INFORMATION about the new Fine Arts Center and the over fifty years relationship between Christopher Newport and the Peninsula Fine Arts Center is in the article The New and the Old Shared Homesof CNC/U and PFAC, published on this website on July 21, 2017. To access that article, open the tab Website Archives on the website's HOME, then open the sub tab Your News and scroll down about 1/4th its length. There are almost 90 articles in this sub tab; the one onCNC/U and PFAC is currently (June 19, 2020) the23rd article. As time passes it will soon be the 24th, then the 25th, etc.
__________________________________________
ANDREW ADRIAN (A.J.) JELONEK is the Venue Coordinator at the prestigious John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. A native of Leesburg, VA, A.J. received his B.A. in Theater from CNU in 2015, with a minor in dance. At CNU, he appeared onstage in various theater productions, was a brother of Alpha Psi Omega, the national theater honors society, and served as the president of Initiative Student Theatre and the secretary of the Film Club. Maybe one day he will also be performing at the Kennedy Center.
We welcome your FEEDBACK. Send to
cncmemories61_71@yahoo.com
or cnc6171@cox.net.
Published June 19, 2020.
The Memorial Day Poppy:
A Tradition Born from a Poem
Revised May 2020
with additional content and photographs
by A. Jane Chambers
Shown above, next to his most famous poem, is Lt. Colonel John McCrae (1872 - 1918), a Canadian poet, soldier, and physician. At age 41, as World War I began, he volunteered to join a Canadian fighting unit as a gunner and medical officer. He had previously fought as a volunteer in the Second Boer War (1899-1902) and considered military service his major duty, having a father as a military leader in Ontario.
While McCrae's unit was fighting in the Second Battle of Ypres, in the Flanders region of Belgium, the German army attacked the French positions north of the Canadians with chlorine gas on April 22, 1915, launching one of the first chemical attacks in the history of war. Luckily, the Germans were unable to break through the Canadian line although fighting for over two weeks in a battle McCrae described in a letter to his mother as "a nightmare" during which "all that time ... gunfire and rifle fire never ceased for sixty seconds....And behind it all was the constant background of the sights of the dead, the wounded, the maimed, and a terrible anxiety lest the line should give way" (Wikipedia).
Lt. Alexis Helmer (photo L), a close friend of McCrea, was killed on May 2 during this fierce battle. There was no chaplain available, so McCrae performed the burial service himself. He noticed with surprise that red poppies were growing quickly around the graves of his dead comrades. As Sarah Pruitt writes in her essay "The Poppy and the Poet," "the brutal clashes between Allied and Axis soldiers tore up fields and forests" in this region, "tearing up trees and plants and wreaking havoc on the soil beneath. But in the warm early spring of 1915, bright red flowers began peeking through the battle-scarred land: Papaver rhoeas, known variously as the Flanders poppy, corn poppy, red poppy and corn rose...classified as a weed" (www.history.com).
The above photo showing poppies growing atop a French trench is the only known color picture that shows poppies on a World War 1 battlefield. Taken in 1915 by an official French war photographer, this photo was published in 2009 in Flanders Fields Music courtesy of www.greatwar.nl.
The sight of the blood-red poppies among the recent graves inspired McCrea to write "In Flanders Fields" the very next day (May 3, 1915). Various friends urged him to publish it, and in late 1915 it was published in the English magazine Punch. The poem was often used at countless memorial ceremonies, and became one of the most famous works of art to emerge from the Great War. Its fame had spread far and wide by the time McCrae himself died, from pneumonia and meningitis, in January 1918 (Wikipedia).
An American woman, Moina Michael (1869 - 1944) initiated the practice of wearing red poppies to remember the deceased military. She read “In Flanders Fields” in the Ladies’ Home Journal two days before the armistice. A professor at the University of Georgia when WWI began, she had taken a leave of absence to volunteer at the New York headquarters of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), which trained and sponsored workers overseas. Inspired by McCrae’s verses, Michael wrote her own poem in response, which she called “We Shall Keep Faith” (copy below).
As a remembrance of the Allied solders' sacrifices in the Great War, professor Michael vowed to always wear a red poppy. Finding a batch of red fabric blooms at a department store, she kept some for herself and gave others to her colleagues. After the war ended (1918), she returned to the university town of Athens, GA, and began making and selling red silk poppies to raise money to support returning American veterans. In the summer of 1920, she managed to get Georgia’s branch of the American Legion to adopt the poppy as its symbol. Soon after that, the National American Legion voted to use the poppy as the official U.S. national emblem of remembrance when its members convened in Cleveland in September, 1920 (Sarah Pruitt, in www.history.com).
The red poppy quickly became a major symbol of both our Memorial Day (celebrated the last Monday of May) and also of Remembrance Day (celebrated November 11) in the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Belgium, Australia and New Zealand. Moina Michael became known worldwide as "The Poppy Lady." In 1948, four years after her death, the U.S. Postal Service issued the above postcard and stamp honoring her, and in 1958 the state of Georgia placed an historical marker near her birthplace.
___________________________________________
We welcome your FEEDBACK. Send to
cncmemories61_71@yahoo.com
or cnc6171@cox.net.
Published May 25, 2018
Revised and published again May 15, 2020
Why the Name Shoe Lane?
Historical Street Names
in the CNC/U Area
Revised April 2020
by A. Jane Chambers
with Thanks to alumnus Mike Coburn for inspiring this article
The occasion was the May 12, 2017 Golden Reunion of CNC's Class of 1967. I had talked briefly to the group about the names of CNC's first buildings. After I then mentioned that our recently opened Alumni House (where we were located) had the mailing address 72 Shoe Lane, someone asked, "Where did the name 'Shoe Lane' come from?" "I have no idea!" I admitted. Then alumnusMike Coburn spoke up, saying he thought the name came from some horse stables in the area long ago.
SHOE LANE
Mike later emailed me to confirm that his memory had been correct. Shoe Lane and two streets that meet it directly across from CNU, BriarPatch Place and Paddock Drive, he wrote," relate to the stables that once occupied that piece of property." He included a link to a Daily Press article of May 24, 1992, " 'Tally-ho' Is A Virginian Tradition," written by Alexander Wiatt, a Hampton veterinarian. It mentions that in 1946, the Hampton Horse Show (dating from the 1920s) moved to Mrs. R.W. Mitchell's Briar Patch Stables on Shoe Lane, in then Warwick County, and was renamed the James River Hunt. So these three names originally honored horse shoes, horse stables, and small enclosed fields for holding horses near stables (paddocks) .
On the 2017 CNU campus map above, Shoe Lane is near the bottom, above the word "ATHLETICS." The mark just right of the word "Lane" indicates the beginning of Paddock Drive. The mark left of the word "Shoe" shows the beginning of Briar Patch Place. The original street address of CNC was 50 Shoe Lane, which originally began at Warwick Blvd.
MOORE'S LANE
Crossing Shoe Lane just past Briar Patch Place (campus map, left) is Moore's Lane, the second residential boundary of Christopher Newport. That name also goes back to the rural days in Warwick County. Les Pendleton, who was at CNC 1965-66, recently wrote to me that his maternal grandparents were "the Moores for whom that lane is named. " They had a farm on that lane, he recalled, and Les's family also lived on Moore's lane, as did many of his "aunts, uncles and cousins."
Les Pendleton's maternal grandparents were among the many people who sold their land between 1961 and 1963 to the City of Newport News once the City decided to provide 72 acres of land in the Shoe Lane area for the "new campus" of CNC. The farm the Moores sold bordered Moore's Lane and included what is now CNU's Parking Lot I (yellow squareon the map).
WARWICK BOULEVARD
Warwick Blvd. (campus map, right), one of the four original boundaries of CNC/U, now splits part of the campus. The name "Warwick" has an interesting history. After the founding of Jamestown (1607), the Virginia Colony was divided in 1634 into eight shires (counties), one of which was called "Warwick River Shire," because that river had become a major port on the James. The area was essentially (with few changes) what is now the City of Newport News (see map below).
Historian Dick Anderson, in A History of Warwick (1953), wrote that the name "Warwick" was "after Sir Robert Rich, Second Earl of Warwick, who was a prominent member of the Virginia Company, though he never visited the [New] World County bearing his name. Patterned after county government in England, Warwick was then governed by a lieutenant and an elected sheriff."*In March of 1643, the Colonial Assembly "outlined the boundaries" and "shortened the name to Warwick County." *[Etymology: Sheriff--from Middle English shire (= county) + reve, or reeve (= a law enforcement officer).
In 1869, the village of Newport News broke from Warwick County to become the independent City of Newport News, having grown considerably after development of the coal piers, the eastern terminus of the C & O Railroad, and Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company. In I952, the remainder of Warwick County became, briefly, the City of Warwick. Then, in 1958, Warwick became part of the city of Newport News (Wikapedia).
J. Clyde Morris Boulevard, which meets Warwick at the entrance to CNU and The Mariners' Museum, was so named in 1958 by the Warwick City Council to honor the only city manager of the City of Warwick. Mr. Morris (1909-87) also was a leader in the funding, building, and operating of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, completed in 1964 (Wikapedia).
The map above is from page 2 of the 1970-71 CNC catalog. In the upper left corner you can see the small corner of Prince Drew Road that was originally the fourth boundary of the campus. The 2017 CNU map (at beginning of article) shows most of that street now as a major boundary. I have found no information about its name.
HIDEN BOULEVARD
In recent years, part of Hiden Blvd. (pronounced HY-den) has become a new boundary of Christopher Newport (upper right on CNU map). This name honors Philip Wallace Hiden (1872-1936), a businessman and mayor of Newport News (1920-24) who owned most of the land in Warwick County in the Nutmeg Quarter area. Hiden also organized and directed the James River Bridge Corporation, which funded and built the original James River Bridge, which opened in 1928, plus two other Southside toll bridges, thus opening travel from Newport News to Portsmouth, and (via the private bridge built by Carl Jordan) to Norfolk, to vehicular traffic rather than ferries (Wikapedia).
Mr. Hiden died in 1936. His wife,Martha Woodroof Hiden, born in 1888, lived until 1959. During 1951-57, the family divided a 200-acre parcel of land in the Nutmeg Quarter area into the residential neighborhood they named Hidenwood--possibly a combination of the name "Hiden" and "Woodroof," Mrs. Hiden maiden name.
Do you have questions and/or information about the early years of Christopher Newport? If so, contact us! You too might inspire an article for this website--or write an article yourself!
______________________________________________
We welcome your FEEDBACK. Send to
cncmemories61_71@yahoo.com.
Published June 23, 2017
Published again April 17, 2020
Photos and Facts about USNS Comfort
and Her Humanitarian Mission
in New York City
by A. Jane Chambers
UPDATED APRIL 17, 2020
(paragraph 2 below)
with some photos and comments by
Marie Boudreau Smith
On Saturday afternoon, March 28, 2020, the U.S. Naval Hospital Ship Comfort left her home port, the Naval Station in Norfolk, on a humanitarian mission--to support New York City in its battle against America's newest foe, a Coronavirus (COVID-19) now rapidly attacking not only Americans but also numerous people in other nations. A fully-equipped floating hospital, with 1000 beds, 12 operating rooms, and 8 Intensive Care Units, the Comfort will care for many New York City patients who do not have COVID-19, thus freeing many beds in the city's hospitals for use by victims of the virus.
MISSION UPDATE
Within one week of its arrival in NYC, USNS Comfort's mission changed from treating only non-COVID trauma and emergency civilians to treating both those patients and up to 500 COVID patients. The major reason for this abrupt change in mission was that the shelter-in-place orders by both the city and the state have resulted in a major decrease in trauma cases such as vehicle accidents and assaults. Vice Admiral Andrew Lewis, in a Pentagon press briefing, said the Comfort now has 500 of its 1000 beds, including 100 ICU beds equipped with ventilators, fully staffed and fully equipped for the COVID patients and that the ship has been reconfigured to keep those patients separated from the non-infected patients and crew. One crew member diagnosed earlier with COVID has been isolated and is being treated. The Vice Admiral stated he was confident that risks of spreading the disease aboard ship have been "mitigated ... to the maximum degree possible." The ship has been divided into 2 zones, which will never interact. ("USNS Comfort Prepared for 500 COVID-19 Patients," USNI NEWS, April 7, 2020).
On March 28, as the Comfort moved north through the Hampton Roads area of the Chesapeake Bay, she sailed past historic Fort Monroe, in Hampton, before turning east, into the Atlantic Ocean. Many people stood on the waterfront to watch the massive ship. Some also photographed it, including Christopher Newport First Decader and alumna Marie Boudreau Smith (AA degree, 1966), who took the full-length picture above of the mammoth ship, plus the bow and stern photos below.
Marie B. Smith's initial comment on her Comfort photos, posted on Facebook, included these words:
"I can not tell you how many times I have seen this hospital ship go in and out of Norfolk over the last few decades. I always stop to watch, but today (March 28) was different ... People cheered, clapped, saluted and waved flags as the ship left our harbor. No matter what is happening ... the American people will rise to meet any challenge. I had tears in my eyes when I left ... I love this country."
Using a long lens,Marie photographed the ship at Point Comfort on Fort Monroe, standing right in front of the famous Chamberlin--once a grand waterfront hotel, now a unique, and expensive, retirement community. This spot, she wrote was "a little less crowded" than the boardwalk and the beach. She noted most people, like her, were observing social distancing. There were also "two women sitting on the wall near me and I could hear them reminding people to stay apart. One was a health care worker."
Below are some very interesting facts about USNS Comfort., in a document provided by the U.S. Navy.
USNS Comfort and her identical sister ship, USNS Mercy, were originally oil tankers. Built in the mid 1970s, they were sold to the Navy and converted to hospital ships in the late 1980s. Mercy, home stationed in San Diego, is currently in Los Angeles, on a mission identical to Comfort's. The Navy photo below, taken March 24, four days before Comfort's departure for NYC, shows supplies and personnel being loaded aboard the ship at Naval Station Norfolk and gives some indication of the size of her.
The next three official Navy pictures, taken inside Comfort, show in order a few of the 1000 beds, a CAT scan in a radiology section, and an operation in progress in one of the 12 operating rooms.
Comfort arrived in New York Harbor on Monday morning, March 30. She was docked at Pier 90, where she was welcomed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Below are two photographs taken by Mike Segar of Reuters International News Organization, based in NYC. I am guessing he shot these from a helicopter. The first shows the ship passing by our well-known Lady Liberty. The second shows Comfort with a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter hovering above her, a reminder that the ship has two helicopters used often for transporting patients.
Our English wordChristmas is named after Jesus Christ (Christ + mass), but our word Easter comes from the name of an Anglo-Saxon goddess of the dawn and springtime. Wikipedia gives as proof of this origin an Anglo-Saxon era treatise written in Medieval Latin by the Roman Catholic monk Bede in the year 725, The Reckoning of Time.
Bede, a major early English historian, wrote that "Ēosturmōnaþ" (Old English, Easter month) "was once called after a goddess of theirs named Ēostre, in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month" (i.e., April). "Theirs" means the early pagan Anglo-Saxons in England. Whereas the Roman Church called Easter by the Latin Pascha (from the Greek "Passover"), Bede noted that many English in his time were still calling the Paschal season "by her (Ēostre's) name, calling the joys of the new rite (Christian festival) by the time-honoured name of the old (pagan) observance."
The picture above right, dated 1884, is by a famous German illustrator of books and magazines, Johannes Gehrts (1855-1921). The ink drawing is titled Ostara, which is Old High German for Ēostre.The Anglo-Saxons who invaded and settled England were descended from ancient Germanic tribes, so their traditions go back to that time.
Easter Bunnies
The Easter Bunny who greets children at stores like Wal-Mart and puts goodies in their Easter baskets the night before Easter is spring's equivalent of Santa Claus and is no more connected with the Resurrection of Jesus Christ than Santa is connected with the Nativity. However, rabbits and their cousins, hares, have been major fertility symbols since before recorded history because of their outstanding reproductive ability.
In the drawing above, notice that a rabbit, or hare, is running close to the heels of the goddess. This animal appears in numerous depictions of her.
Wikipediaquotes German author Jacob Grimm stating in his Deutsche Mythologie("German Mythology," 1835) that "The Easter Hare is unintelligible to me, but probably the hare was the sacred animal of Ostara" (English, Eostre)--an association repeated by other authors but never proven.
The Easter Bunny tradition originated in Germany in the 17th century and was brought to America by German Lutheran immigrants. According to Wikipedia, Germany's "Easter Hare" judged children's behavior at the beginning of the Easter season (like Santa at Christmas), sometimes wore clothes, and delivered baskets containing colored hard-boiled eggs, candy, and sometimes toys to children's homes the night before Easter. The baskets represented bird nests and were lined with grass or other soft material.
Easter Eggs
Eggs have symbolized birth, fertility, and renewed life for countless ages. In ancient times they were believed to ensure the fertility of crops, animals, and humans. They also represented rebirth of the natural world in spring. Wikipedia tells us that 60,000-years-old "decorated, engraved ostrich eggs" have been found in Africa, and that in the "pre-dynastic period of Egypt and the early cultures of Mesopotamia and Crete, eggs were associated with death and rebirth ... and kingship." Therefore, "decorated ostrich eggs, and representations of ostrich eggs in gold and silver, were commonly placed in graves of the ancient Sumerians and Egyptians as early as 5,000 years ago."
Once they became Christians, the people of Mesopotamia saw the egg as representing the empty tomb of Jesus. Therefore, as Wikipedia records, they stained their Easter eggs with red coloring "in memory of the blood of Christ, shed at His crucifixion." The egg shown left above, with the Christian cross, is from the Saint Kosmas Aitolos Greek Orthodox Monastery. The egg shown right above is Ukrainian, with the Paschal greeting "Christ is Risen!" on it. This custom of the Easter egg as a symbol of the Resurrection spread from Mesopotamia into the Orthodox Church and later into Europe through the Roman Catholic and then Protestant Churches.
The Date of Easter
At the First Council Nicaea (year 325), the Church of Rome established the date of Easter as the first Sunday after the full moon that follows the Spring equinox, so the date varies from year to year. Whatever the date is in any given year, is it not interesting that Easter is always connected with that First Day of Spring, when for thousands of years, ancient (or pagan) religions have celebrated the resurrection of nature and, in many cases, the return also of various deities--some of whom were believed to have died (as does nature, in winter) and then been born again in spring.
Mark Twain, born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, is one of America's most famous writers and humorists. Of his own birth and death he wrote: "I came in with Halley's Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year (1910), and I expect to go out with it ... The Almighty has said, no doubt: 'Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together' " (Biography). And he did, at age 74. He lived in and wrote about more parts of America--and the rest of this planet-- than most Americans, even today, have ever seen. He was a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi ("Mark Twain" means safe water, two "marks"--12 feet deep), a typesetter, journalist, popular lecturer, publisher, and creator of boys Tom Sawyer (1876) and Huckleberry Finn (1884). He also greatly enjoyed whiskey and tobacco and wrote about both.
Painting by Susan B. Dukee.
ON WHISKEY
I always take Scotch whiskey at night as a preventive of toothache. I have never had the toothache; and what is more, I never intend to have it.
Twain agreed for his likeness to be used in advertisements like this one.
Twain developed a taste for Bourbon in his riverboat days; later, in England, he also discovered Scotch. He was a regular drinker but not an alcoholic. As a single man of 30, in an 1866 letter to Will Bowen, Twain wrote, "I know better than to get tight oftener than once in 3 months. It sets a man back in the esteem of people whose opinions are worth having." He also wrote at another time, "I love a drink, but I never encouraged drunkenness by harping on the alleged funny side" (quoted in Abroad with Mark Twain and Eugene Field, by Henry W. Fisher). One of his examples of the bad side of drunkenness is in Twain's depiction of the drunken, abusive, worthless father of Huckleberry Finn, is also hates black people, unlike his young son.
ON TOBACCO
I have made it a rule never to smoke more than one cigar at a time.
I have no other restriction as regards smoking.
As an example to others, and not that I care for moderation myself,
it has always been my rule never to smoke when asleep
and never to refrain when awake.
--70th birthday speech at a party in New York City in his honor
Twain's addiction to tobacco began in his childhood; his grandmother once threatened to use a whip on him if she ever caught him chewing tobacco again. He was smoking cigars before puberty. At age 35, in an 1870 letter to Joseph Twichell Twain wrote, "When they used to tell me I would shorten my life ten years by smoking, they little knew the devotee they were wasting their puerile word upon--they little knew how trivial and valueless I would regard a decade that had no smoking in it!"
Twain smoked so many cigars that he purchased them by the barrel--several barrels at a time. In his non-fiction travelogue and social commentary Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World (1897), he wrote about his last failed attempt not to stop his smoking, but to limit it: "I pledged myself to smoke but one cigar a day. I kept the cigar waiting until bedtime, then I had a luxurious time with it. But desire persecuted me every day and all day long; so, within the week I found myself hunting for larger cigars ... and still larger ones ... I was getting cigars made for me ... yet larger ... Within the month my cigar had grown to such proportions that I could have used it as a crutch ... I knocked my pledge on the head and resumed my liberty. "
ON ABSTINENCE
Total abstinence is so excellent a thing
that it cannot be carried to too great an extent.
In my passion for it I even carry it so far as to
totally abstain from total abstinence itself.
The above autographed declaration in an album Mark Twain gave to former First Lady Mrs. Rutherford B. Hayes was published in The Washington Post on June 11, 1881. Twain never gave up what he called his "habits," although he did at least once urge someone else to do so. In Following the Equator, he wrote about an unnamed elderly lady friend of his who was very ill.
Original 1897 copy of Following the Equator. Notice what Twain wrote under the photograph: "Be good and you will be lonesome."
She had run down and down and down, and had at last reached a point where medicines no longer had any helpful effect upon her. I said I knew I could put her upon her feet in a week. It brightened her up, it filled her with hope, and she said she would do everything I told her to do. So I said she must stop swearing and drinking, and smoking ... for four days, and then she would be all right again.
And it would have happened just so, I know it; but she said she could not stop swearing, and smoking and drinking, because she had never done those things. So there it was. She had neglected her habits, and hadn't any ... there were none in stock. She had nothing to fall back on. She was a sinking vessel, with no freight in her to throw overboard ...
Why, even one or two little bad habits could have saved her, but she was just a moral pauper ... it seemed such a pity; but there was no help for it. These things ought to be attended to while a person is young; otherwise, when age and disease come, there is nothing effectual to fight them with (pp. 31-33).
The sixteenth century painting above, by Italian artist Jacopo Bassano, shows Saint Valentine baptizing Saint Lucilla.Hovering above are two cherubim, familiar to Christians and Jews as infant-like angels. They look very much like artistic depictions of the plump, winged Greco-Roman god Cupid-- but without his bows and arrows. The painting is a reminder of the frequent fusion of religious and mythological images in Renaissance Christian art, and the continuing fusion of these symbols in the observance of some holidays.
St. Valentine and February 14
Valentine's Day began hundreds of years ago, in the year 496 AD, when Roman Catholic Pope Gelasius established February 14th as The Feast of St. Valentine (St. Valentine's day), which is still being observed today in the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of England, and the Lutheran Church.
The precise identity of St. Valentine is unclear. The name "Valentine" (Latin, Valentinus), derived from "valens" (worthy, strong, powerful) was popular in antiquity. The Catholic Encyclopedia lists three saints named Valentine connected with February 14, one in Africa. The two who lived during the Roman Empire are probably the same man--a priest or bishop imprisoned, tortured, and then executed for performing weddings for soldiers (then forbidden to marry) and for ministering to Christians being persecuted. The Roman Martyrology, the Catholic Church's official list of saints, lists only one St. Valentine (Wikipedia).
Typical of the time, legends as well as truths soon became associated with his name. It was said that Valentine healed the blind daughter of his jailer while imprisoned and that before his execution (on February 14th) he wrote a farewell letter to her which he signed as "from your Valentine."
The Late Middle Ages and Chaucer
So how did we get from a martyred saint in antiquity to today's boxes of chocolates and Valentine cards (and cartoons) featuring Cupid with his bow and arrows ? Very slowly. And via the medieval tradition of courtly love (knights and their fair ladies)--and (perhaps) a poem written in the early 1380s by English poet Geoffrey Chaucer. Two lines in Chaucer's poem The Parlement of Foules ("Parliament of Fowls," meaning gathering of birds) are considered the first reference in English literature to St. Valentine's Day as a day of romantic courtship (photo left):
"For this was on seynt Volantynys day
Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make."
Modern English:
"For this was on St. Valentine's Day,
When every bird comes there to choose his mate."
In the poem, the speaker falls asleep and dreams he is at an annual gathering (parliament) of birds, where numerous birds of all kinds are having a comical debate to win their mates. The narrator states that the parliament is held on St. Valentine's Day, making the day an occasion for mirth and courtly love, rather than religious observance and heavenly love. Chaucer wrote this poem to honor the marriage engagement of England's King Richard II and Anne of Bohemia. Both were age 15 when engaged and 16 when married. She died, childless, at age 28 (Wikipedia).
Cupid Then and Now
The ancient Greeks called him EROS (physical love, sexual desire); the Romans called him CUPID, from the Latin Cupido, meaning "desire." Though there were various beliefs about his parentage, the Greeks primarily believed he was the son of the adulterous goddess of love, Aphrodite, and her lover Ares, god of war--whom the Romans called Venus and Mars. Ancient artists portrayed him largely as a slender youth; later artists portrayed him as a chubby toddler. Whether youth or baby, the mythological Cupid always had his bow and arrow--generally used in a thoughtless, mischievous, sometimes even cruel manner; and those hit by his arrows, whether humans or deities, suffered uncontrollable erotic desire.
Roman copy of Eros after original statue by 4th century BC Greek sculptor Lysippos.
The portrait above, created in 1630 by Flemish artist Erasmus Quellinus II, shows Cupid riding on a dolphin--an image seldom imagined in modern times but depicted often in ancient and later art. In all ages dolphins have been believed friendly to humans, so why not friendly to deities? The dolphin here could represent affection, and Cupid's riding on it might symbolize how swiftly love moves.
According to Wikipedia,Cupid has wings because lovers are flighty and likely to change their minds, and he is boyish because love is irrational. His symbols are the arrow and torch because love wounds and inflames the heart. The 1909 Valentine card shown left reflects this "inflamed heart" belief. Another interesting belief (which seems to have disappeared now) is that Cupid's arrows (sometimes depicted as darts) are of two kinds; one type has a sharp golden point, the other type has a blunt tip of lead. People wounded by his golden arrows (or darts) are filled with uncontrollable desire, but those struck by his lead arrows (or darts) feel instant aversion and want to flee those attracted to them.
Though Cupid is still a danger to humans in modern cartoons, which frequently show him as stupidly or mischievously misfiring his arrows, Time and Christianity have transformed him into a more likeable little fellow, who draws back his bow to help people rather than harm them. This romantic view is illustrated by the two Victorian-era Valentine cards below, which suggest Cupid's motive is to join people in true love, not to reduce them to misery.
We welcome your FEEDBACK. Send to
cncmemories61_71@yahoo.com
or cnc6171@cox.net.
Published February 7, 2020.
The Times Square Balls and Other Things Dropped on New Year's Eve
by A. Jane Chambers
Glowing balls like the one dropped in Times Square on New Year's Eve are not the only time markers dropped in America on New Year's Eve. One of the numerous other things dropped then is a 15-foot tall red music note in Nashville, Tennessee--shown above near the top, left of the Music City sign. Previously an 80-foot Guitar Drop took place at Nashville's Hard Rock Cafe, but the cafe's partnership with the city ended in 2011.
THE TIMES SQUARE BALLS
The Ball Drop tradition in our nation began in 1907 with Adolph Ochs, owner of the New York Times newspaper, then housed in the tall, narrow 25-stories building numbered One Times Square. Ochs, son of German Jewish immigrants, hired a young immigrant metalworker, Jacob Starr, to build a time ball to drop from a flagpole on top of his newspaper's building on New Year's Eve. This first ball, made of iron and wood, was 5 feet in diameter, weighed 700 pounds, and held one hundred 25-watt light bulbs. After 13 years, it was replaced with a 400 pound ball made of wrought iron.
Some 35 years later, in 1955, the iron ball was replaced by an aluminum ball, which weighed only 150 pounds and had 180 white light bulbs. This is the white ball most of us watched on our home TVs for 40 years. For a period of seven years (1981 - 88) this ball had red light bulbs and the addition of a green stem with a leaf, which made it an image of "The Big Apple." In 1989 it was changed back to a glowing white ball. Then In 1995, aluminum skin, rhinestones, and computer controls were added (photo right).This upgraded aluminum ball's short reign ended, however, with the end of the 20th century.
The Times Square Ball entered the 21st century in a big way. For the Millennium Celebration (2000), the ball was totally redesigned by Waterford Crystal and Philips Lighting (left photo above). Then, in 2007, to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Times Square Ball Drop, Waterford Crystal and Philips Lighting together created a spectacular new ball, with no incandescent or halogen bulbs. Instead it had Luxeon LED lighting, which dramatically increased its brightness and color capabilities (right, above).
In 2008 Waterford and Philips introduced Big Ball, considered the "permanent" Times Square Ball ... for now, at least. The photo above shows Amy Huntington, CEO of Philips Lighting, who was present for the annual testing of the ball on December 30, 2016. Big Ball is 12 feet in diameter and weighs 11,875 pounds. It has 2,688 Waterford Crystal triangular-shaped panels of various sizes that are illuminated by 32,256 Philips Luxeon LEDs. Big Ball is now an all year attraction on top of One Times Square with its light show entertaining the public from January through December as well as on New Year's Eve.
OTHER THINGS DROPPED
Key West, Florida has a Conch Drop on New Year's Eve at Sloppy Joe's Bar, where a six-foot manmade Queen Conch Shell drops 20 feet to the top of the bar as part of the island's official New Year celebration. Increasingly more popular, however, is another Queen drop, held at the 801 Saloon, a Key West gay bar, where a large ruby red high-heel shoe holding drag queen Gary "Sushi" Marion is lowered from a balcony annually. In the above picture "Sushi" is wearing her self-made wedding gown, because following that drop, she legally married her longtime male partner. A third attraction at Key West that same night is the lowering from a high mast on a ship of a Pirate Wench.
Wikipedia's "List of objects dropped on New Year's Eve" gives by time zones and states all of the places in America that have "drops" on New Year's Eve and what those places "drop" (raise and/or lower). Most locales follow the Times Square tradition of using balls, but some use instead objects representing their local culture, geography, or history. Wikipedia's list, described as "dynamic" rather than complete, currently has over 200 entries.
Things to eat or drink are dropped in many places. For example, in Miami, Florida, "Mr. Neon," a 35-foot flat image wearing sunglasses, is raised 400 feet to the top of the Hotel Intercontinental Miami and then dropped at midnight (left above). In 2014, a steel mushroom was dropped in Kennett Square, PA, "The Mushroom Capital of the World" (right above). Mount Olive, N.C., drops a 3-foot pickle from its major industry's flagstaff. Atlanta, GA, drops an 800 pound peach from its 138-foot tower of lights. Other foods so honored include watermelons, popcorn balls, potato chips, cheeses, sausages, drinks alcoholic and non--and even M&M candies.
Animals are favorite things to drop also, especially in rural places. Dropping them alive has gotten a lot of negative press in this century, however, so most places either drop them stuffed (not saying how they died) or just drop manmade likenesses of them. The stuffed possum left above, named Spenser, is dropped every New Year's Eve in the small community of Tallapoosa, GA--a place formerly called "Possum Snout." Princess Anne, MD, drops a stuffed muskrat named Marshall P. Muskrat, who wears a top hat and bow tie. Birds (usually big replicas) are popular drops also--including buzzards and pelicans. And popular seafood reigns in many places. Easton, MD, located on the Chesapeake Bay, drops a giant crab every year (right above); Machias, ME, drops a giant plastic lobster; and various locales drop various fish--mostly large replicas.
Eastover, NC, a town of 3,600 just east of Fayetteville, was once called Flea Hill because a sandy hill there was overrun with fleas. To honor that heritage, Eastover celebrates New Year's Eve by dropping a 3-foot flea named Jasper, which is made of fabric, foam, wire and wood (left photo). On the Eastern Shore of Virginia, Chincoteague honors its nearby herd of wild ponies with a Horseshoe Drop (right photo).
There is apparently no limit to what we Americans might drop to celebrate New Year's Eve. In 2015, Indianapolis began a tradition of dropping an actual Indy race car.
SOURCES:
Details in THE TIMES SQUARE BALLS came primarily from TIMES SQUARE, published on the internet by the Times Square Alliance.
Details inOTHER THINGS DROPPED came primarily fromWIKIPEDIA--"List of objects dropped on New Year's Eve."
Photos came from various places on the internet. And some content came from my personal knowledge.
We welcome your FEEDBACK.
Send to cncmemories61_71@yahoo.com or cnc6171@cox.net.
Published December 27, 2019.
The Words
Christmas, Xmas, and Holiday,
and the First Christmas Card
by A. Jane Chambers
The Word CHRISTMAS
The English wordChristmasgoes back to the 8th century, when England’s Anglo-Saxons were converted to Christianity by Roman missionaries. It was formed from the Old English (OE) wordsCrīstes(possessive form of "Christ") + mæsse ("mass," the Roman Catholic Eucharistic service), and meant “the festival of Christ,” celebrating the birth of Christ. Crīstesmæsse evolved during the middle ages to become, in Middle English (ME), Cristemasse, or Cristmas, and then finally the modern spelling Christmas.
The Word XMAS
In recent decades, especially in America, some people have wrongly concluded that the letter X inXmas is an attempt to “X out,” or erase the word Christ—to "Take Christ out of Christmas." Nothing could be further from the truth. For almost a thousand years, Xmas has been an abbreviated form of Christmas, properly pronounced as "Christmas."
The first letter of the word Christ in Greek (Χριστού) is X ("Chi")--an abbreviation for Christ that is as old as the once secret Christian symbol of the fish, which for centuries also often included the Greek word for fish--IXOYE (photo left above). For early Christians, those letters stood for "Jesus ( I ), Christ (X),God (O), Son (Y), Savior (E).” Another early abbreviation for Christ was Xp, the first 2 letters of the word Christ in Greek, first used by converted Roman emperor Constantine on his military standards, or labarum (middle photo). XP is still used on labarum and on priest's vestments in some Catholic churches (photo right).
Xr, meaning “Chr,” was yet another abbreviation for the word Christ. In England, the Old English words Xres mæsse ("Christ's mass") were in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles (ca. 1100). Early scribes and early printers also used X + other letters to form words such as Christian (Xian).
When printed greeting cards became popular in England (mid-1800s) the meaning of Xmas was clearly understood, as shown in two Victorian-era cards below. And in America also, Xmas was used in both greeting cards and advertisements in the 20th century with a clear understanding of its meaning. Only in recent decades has the false notion of its meaning gained popularity.
The Word HOLIDAY
The wordHoliday, like the word Christmas, which goes back to the early days of Christianity in England, comes from the Old English word hāligdæg, a compound of the words hālig("holy") +dæg("day"). Hāligdægs("holy days") were days of religious festivals on the Christian calendar, particularly Christmas and Easter. Over the centuries, the spelling and pronunciation gradually changed. By about 1200, the word was spelled halidai, later haliday. During the 14th and 15th centuries, the word came to mean both "religious festival" and "day of recreation," since Christians celebrating holy days were freed from work on those days. The modern spelling,holiday, came into being about the time of William Shakespeare.
Prominent in all four Victorian-era Christmas cards shown above are images of holly--still a major symbol of Christmas. Its red berries recall for Christians the blood shed by Christ on the cross, and its prickly leaves recall the crown of thorns Christ bore there. Also, as was true from pagan to Christian times, as an evergreen, holly (like all evergreens) is a reminder of the return of life (in the spring) after the dead of winter. For Christians, holly also is a reminder of Christ's Resurrection and the promise of eternal life for believers.
The FIRST PRINTED CHRISTMAS CARD
People sent handwritten Christmas greetings for many years before the first printed Christmas card was made. In 1843, in England, Sir Henry Cole, founder of London's Victoria and Albert Museum, paid artist John Calcott Horsley to create the card shown above (Wikipedia). Some 2000 copies of the card were sold for one shilling each (equivalent to about $5.89 in America today). The few cards having color were water-colored by Horsley and no doubt cost more.
Pictured in the center, in bright colors, is a large, prosperous three-generational family enjoying a Christmas toast of red wine--a scene reflecting the lives of both senders and receivers of this card. Left and right, in dull colors, are scenes of London's poorer classes--mostly laborers--who struggle for the food, clothing, and warmth they need just to survive. The card's message is much like that in A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens (also published in 1843), in which, near the end, a reformed Scrooge calls out in glee, “A merry Christmas to every-body! A happy New Year to all the world!”
Editor's Note: The following, often printed erroneously as anonymous, is an excerpt from Crazy English (1989), one of over 40 books written byRichard Lederer, PhD (born 1938), an American author, speaker, and retired English teacher best known for his books about the English language and word play such as puns, oxymorons, and anagrams (Wikipedia).
Let's face it--English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France.
We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?
Richard Lederer at the 2006 Mensa World Convention, where he was a speaker. Photo from Wikipedia.
If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?
If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? Park on driveways and drive on parkways?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? How can overlook and oversee be opposites, while quite a lot and quite a few are alike? How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell another?
You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which an alarm goes off by going on.
English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible. And why, when I wind up my watch, I start it, but when I wind up this essay, I end it.
English book illustrator Arthur Rackham's 1909 depiction of Hansel and Gretel meeting the witch.
In the well-known German fairy tale Hansel and Gretel, published in 1812 in the Grimm brothers' collection of folk stories, the siblings Hansel and Gretel meet an elderly woman who lives in a forest in a house made from gingerbread and other edible sweets. After being warmly received and well fed, they discover she is a cannibalistic witch who plans to eat them. The children outwit her, push her into the fiery oven intended for them, and escape.
Witches Eating Children
Sometimes, while affectionately talking to and touching or holding a beloved infant, a mother or other friend or relative says to that baby, "I could just eat you up!" The adult doesn't mean that literally, of course, but why do we humans even say it? A strange compulsion to express love by biting the flesh of the beloved seems built into us, doesn't it? Fortunately, though, rarely do any of us eat our children, or someone else's.
Cannibalism among humans is a historical fact, however--still happening, though rarely. In earlier centuries, in some European countries, especially reflected in folklore, it was believed that witches were cannibals who ate infants and young children--sometimes as sacrifices to Satan, but sometimes as a means of renewing themselves physically. By devouring the young and healthy, such witches believed they could overcame disease, aging, and even death.
Evil Witches and Good Witches
Above are two Halloween greeting cards made in America in the early 1900s. They feature witches who are strikingly different: one ugly and old, the other beautiful and young—reflecting the ancient belief in both good and bad witches. The old one, obviously the evil one, is looking longingly at the children inside--no doubt wishing to capture one for dinner. She is accompanied by dark and nocturnal creatures, a black cat and a hovering bat, both traditional symbols of wickedness.
The good witch, on the other card, is accompanied by an owl, which can represent, depending on the context, either good or evil. Primarily, however, the owl has for ages symbolized wisdom. It was the favorite bird of Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom. The owl is also a reminder that witches originally were prophets — seers like blind man Tiresias and the woman Cassandra in Greek mythology; astrologers like the wizard Merlin, in Arthurian legends; and people with magic powers who studied the heavens and could foresee the future. They could cast spells for good or ill, and were both revered and feared. The large smiling moon and shooting star, a traditional good luck sign, add to the positive tone of the Good Witch card.
WITCHES and WATER
In the card showing the evil witch, the children bobbing for apples are safe from her because of the tub of water. One very old belief about witches and other evil beings is that water can literally kill them. Remember how the Wicked Witch of the West died in the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz? She melted away when Dorothy threw some water on her. (I played that witch role in high school and well remember the scene in which I "melted.") Oz also had a Good Witch, named Glinda, who helped Dorothy return home. The 1939 movie popularized the idea that wicked witches were green and dressed totally in black.
Another belief about witches and water, common from Medieval times into the 18th century, was that throwing or ducking someone accused of witchcraft into a body of water was a definite way of determining guilt or innocence, because water, used for baptism and spiritual purification, rejects evil beings. If guilty, the person floated; if innocent, the person sank (and usually drowned).
Such an actual test by water occurred in 1706 in what was later Virginia Beach. Grace White Sherwood (born ca. 1660), a widow of about 47, was bound hands to feet and thrown ("ducked") from a boat into the Lynnhaven River. Fortunately, she was able to stay afloat and was pulled back into the boat. She was jailed for eight years for witchcraft. It was the only time in Virginia that a trial by ducking occurred. The full account is in my essay What's in a Name?Witchduck Road and the "Witch of Pungo," located on this website in the tab Archives, subtab This-N-That. The marker belowand a statue are now on the "Witch Duck" site.
Witches and "Devil Marks"
One way to know a woman was probably a witch was to examine her naked body for "Devil Marks"-- unusual moles, birthmarks and so forth. Before and again after the ducking of Grace Sherwood, a Jury of "Ansient and Knowing women" undressed and searched Grace "For all teats spotts and marks...not usuall on Others" and swore they found "two things like titts on her private parts of Black Coller." These were seen as "The Devil's marks," evidence of her being a witch.
WITCHES and BROOMS
Why do witches fly on brooms? I'll discuss this topic next October. Meanwhile, if you have a theory to share, send it to us (with your source).
SOURCE: Personal knowledge resulting from research I did while (1) creating and teaching a 400-level topics course at CNC called “The Gothic Tradition in English and American Literature,” (2) while writing my doctoral dissertation (Coleridge’s “Christabel” in Context) for my Ph.D. degree at UNC-Chapel Hill, and (3) while writing my website essays Ancient Beliefs and Traditions Reflected in Old Halloween Cards and What's in a Name?Witchduck Road and the "Witch of Pungo"--both located on this website in the tab Archives, subtab This-N-That.
The above photo appeared in the New York Tribune in 1915. The location was America. Note the 15-starred American flag hanging on the left. Note also the American flag on the right, which the children are saluting. Then read further to learn more facts about our Pledge of Allegiance than most Americans know.
The Balch Pledge and the Bellamy Pledge
For over 30 years, two different Flag Pledges were observed simultaneously in America: The Balch pledge (created 1887) and the Bellamy pledge ( created 1892, with later modifications).
The BALCH pledge was written by a Civil War Union Army veteran, Captain George T. Balch. Serving in his last years as auditor of the New York Board of Education, Balch worked with both the federal government and private organizations to distribute flags to every American school, and in 1887 he wrote the following short pledge meant to promote patriotism by teaching children, particularly immigrant children, loyalty to the United States:
"We give our heads and hearts to God and our country; one country, one language, one flag!"
This pledge was received with enthusiasm by numerous public schools-- plus the Daughters of the American Revolution and a Union military veterans organization called the Grand Army of the Republic.
For five years (1887 - 1892) the pledge composed by George T. Balch (photo left above) was the only Pledge of Allegiance used in the U.S. A. Among its critics was Francis Bellamy (photo right above), a Baptist minister and Christian socialist who found Balch's pledge "too juvenile and lacking in dignity."
Having resigned from his Boston church, where his socialist views of Christianity were not always appreciated, in 1892 Bellamy was working for a popular children's magazine, The Youth's Companion, which was planning to participate in a National Public-School Celebration of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas. The magazine's marketer, James B. Upham, wanted the magazine to instill in student readers the idea of American nationalism and to encourage them to raise flags above their schools. Some critics believe Upham's motive was more commercial (to sell flags) than it was patriotic.
Upham had Bellamy write a pledge for the occasion, which read:
" I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
As a socialist, Bellamy considered using the words equality and fraternity in his pledge (echoing the French Revolution) but did not do so because he knew school superintendents were against equality for women and African Americans. He also was a firm believer in separation of church and state; therefore, unlike Balch, he did not include mention of God in his pledge. Upham and Bellamy got the National Education Association to support the Youth's Companion as major sponsor of the Columbus Day celebration and also convinced Congress and President Benjamin Harrison to make the public school flag ceremony the center of the celebration. Bellamy's Pledge of Allegiance was first used, nationwide, in public schools on October 12, 1892, during Columbus Day observances.
The Balch Salute and the Bellamy Salute
The Balch Salute that accompanied the Balch pledge instructed students to stand first with right hands outstretched toward the flag, then to move those hands to their foreheads in a military style salute, and next to move their right hands to their hearts. And at the end of the recitation, they were to drop their right hands to their sides. The picture above, dated as 1899, is the best one I've been able to locate on the internet of children reciting this pledge. Apparently they were speaking the last words of the pledge, because their right hands are placed at an angle over their hearts. Notice the teacher with her back to the wall, guiding them.
The above photograph shows students in 1941 reciting the Bellamy pledge while giving the salute created in 1892 by Francis Bellamy. The 1915 photo at the top of this article also recorded that salute. Bellamy's pledge was printed on September 8, 1892, in The Youth's Companion, as part of the "Official Programme" of the National Columbian Public School Celebration of Columbus Day, with the following instructions concerning how to salute the flag:
"At a signal from the Principal, the pupils, in ordered ranks, hands to the side, face the Flag. Another signal is given; every pupil gives the Flag the military salute—right hand lifted, palm downward, to a line with the forehead and close to it. Standing thus, all repeat [the Pledge] together, slowly. At the words, ‘to my Flag,’ the right hand is extended gracefully, palm upward, towards the Flag, and remains in this gesture till the end of the affirmation; whereupon all hands immediately drop to the side.”
As can be seen in the many photographs on the internet of students reciting this pledge, the "palm upward" instruction was seldom followed. Students almost always began and ended their recitation with their right hands outstretched towards the flag palm down. Because of the similarity between the Bellamy salute and the Nazi salute adopted later in Germany, our Congress ruled on 1942 that the Bellamy salute be removed and replaced with the hand over heart salute during the Pledge of Allegiance.
This 1917 painting by American artist Edward Percy Moran depicts Betsy Ross presenting the 1776 American flag to General George Washington (in boots).
There was no pledge of allegiance to our flag or nation in any form until well over a century after Betsy Ross made the first flag in 1776. Then, as the 19th century neared its end, two pledges of allegiance for school children to recite were written within five years. In 1887, Civil War veteran Captain George T. Balch, auditor of the New York City Board of Education, wrote the first one:
"We give our heads and hearts to God and our country;
one country, one language, one flag!"
In 1892, in Boston, Baptist minister and Christian Socialist Francis J. Bellamy, writing for a popular children's magazine, penned the second one, meant primarily to be used in a nation-wide Columbus Day celebration:
" I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands,
one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
Historical and Current Events Affecting the Pledges
During our nation's Civil War (1861- 64) GeorgeBalch (1828- 1894) was in his thirties, whereas Francis Bellamy (1855- 1931) was a very young schoolboy. Despite their generational age gap, I expect this devastating war, often pitting brothers against brothers, and bringing our young nation to the edge of total destruction as a nation, was an event very real in their memories when they were writing their respective pledges. Both men were also highly educated, with degrees from West Point (Balch) and the University of Rochester (Bellamy) and therefore undoubtedly also knew well their nation's early history.
Above is the Great Seal of our nation, used since 1782 to authenticate documents of our federal government. The theme of the Great Seal is stated verbally in the Latin motto E PLURIBUS UNUM ("from many, one," or "out of many, one") and echoed visually in the 13 stripes, 13 stars, and 13 arrows--all reminders of the Revolutionary War, our first flag, and the 13 colonies ("the many") that united to form "the one" nation named appropriately the United States of America.
The Civil War had shattered that unity. In the latter part of the 19th century, it was being restored--but slowly. Balch's pledge called America "one country"; Bellamy's called it "one nation, indivisible"--stressing more fully the unity of it. Though it had been divided, as predicted in Lincoln's "House divided" speech, Bellamy implied that it was again and must continue to be a united nation.
In addition to America's early and recent past history, a major current event motivated the authors of these two pledges, particularly Balch. When Balch wrote his pledge, 1887, there were 38 states in our nation; five years later, when Bellamy wrote his, there were 44 states. The "many" making the "one" was rapidly growing and changing--not only the number of states, but the makeup of the nation's citizenry, adding an additional meaning to the motto E Pluribus Unum. In Colonial times, immigrants to "the New World" were primarily English-speaking Protestants from the United Kingdom. In the latter 19th century, immigrants from "the Old World" were largely from a variety of European nations and were predominantly Roman Catholic. America was quickly becoming "the Melting Pot."
The photo above, taken in New York City in 1890, shows a classroom of Italian children reciting the Balch pledge. Because Balch worked for the city's Board of Education, his pledge was immediately used in all public schools in the city--especially those with immigrant children enrolled. The purpose was to Americanize the children, to assure that their loyalty was to our nation, not to their native lands.
By the opening years of the 20th century the two different pledges had been adopted by various adult organizations as well as school systems, but the Balch pledge steadily lost ground to the more popular Bellamy pledge. For example, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) adopted the Balch pledge in 1906, but switched to the Bellamy pledge in 1915.
History of the Bellamy Pledge from 1923 to 1943
By the early 1920s the Bellamy pledge was essentially the pledge, although not yet officially adopted by Congress. The chart to the right summarizes changes to the pledge, only one of which was made by Bellamy, who died in 1931. He added only one word ("to"), for balanced syntax. In June of 1923, the first National Flag Conference was held in Washington, D.C. to draw up rules for civilian flag use. During that year, and the following one, the words "the [Flag] of the United States" and then "of America" were added, primarily to assure the loyalty of immigrants.
Two decades later, during World War 2, four major events occurred in the pledge's history, all in the early 1940s. On June 22, 1942 Bellamy's pledge was formally adopted by Congress as the flag pledge; on December 22, 1942, the Bellamy salute (see Part 1 of this article) was removed from the pledge and replaced by the hand over heart gesture. In 1945 the official name The Pledge of Allegiance was adopted by Congress.
In 1943, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment protects students from being forced to salute the American flag or say the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools. Some states have never required that the pledge be recited in schools--including Hawaii, Iowa, Vermont & Wyoming. In addition, as of 2007, there are no pledge laws or statutes listed for Oregon, Nebraska, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, or Puerto Rico.
1954: The Addition of "Under God"
Newsweek cover, July 7, 2002.
Baptist minister Francis Bellamy, a strong supporter of our Founders' belief in Separation of Church and State, did not include God in his patriotic pledge. The first person to propose changing that was Louis A. Bowman, chaplain of the Illinois Society of Sons of the American Revolution, who argued in 1948 that President Lincoln used "under God" in his Gettysburg Address; therefore it should be added to the Pledge. The DAR gave him an award. In 1952, the Catholic fraternal service organization the Knights of Columbus added "under God" after "one nation" to its recitation of the Pledge and urged Congress to make this change official. Several Congressional attempts to do so failed (Wikipedia).
On February 7, 1954, President Eisenhower, recently baptized a Presbyterian, honored President Abraham Lincoln's birthday by attending Lincoln's church, the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. Sitting in Lincoln's pew, Eisenhower was deeply moved by the sermon delivered by pastor George MacPherson Docherty, which was based on the Gettysburg Address. Docherty argued that "under God" should be included in the Pledge, because that was what defined our nation and set us apart. The two men (photo left) had a conversation after the service, and the next day Representative Charles Oakman (R-Mich.) introduced such a Pledge bill in Congress and it passed (Wikipedia).
On Flag Day, June 14, 1954, Eisenhower signed the bill and the controversial phrase "under God" was added to the Pledge of Allegiance. The Cold War provided the impetus for addition of this phrase. At that time in our nation's history, many of our citizens wanted to emphasize the difference between a "godly" nation (the U.S.A.) and an "ungodly" one (the USSR--i.e., Russia). Even before the addition of "under God," federal government requirement or promotion of the Pledge of Allegiance resulted in criticism and legal challenges on various grounds, only one of which has been mentioned here. If interested in this topic, go to your computer!
________________________________________________
Note: Part 1 of this essay, which focused on the beginnings of both the Balch and the Bellamy pledges and their individual flag salutes, is now located in our Website Archives (left margin tab), in the sub tab This-N-That.
SOURCES: Personal knowledge, general knowledge, internet photographs, and Wikipedia.
The above photo, "Living Emblem of the United States Marines," is actually a picture of about 100 officers and 9,000 enlisted Marines stationed at Paris Island, S.C. in 1919. In the distance at the top, you can see some of the buildings on their base. If you look closely at the picture's bottom, you can see some of the uniformed men on the first rows.
The photographer was Arthur Samuel Mole (1889-1983), a British born naturalized American who became famous during WW1 for his "living photographs" made on military bases in America. Mole (photo right) and his partner, John D. Thomas, arranged thousands of members of the military on the grounds of their bases to form huge compositions of patriotic images. Looked at from the ground or from directly above, each such composition looked meaningless, but viewed from the top of the 80-foot tower where Mole stood to take the picture, the thousands of men clearly formed a patriotic image. Mole's mastery of perspective enabled him to photograph each huge group from the exact place where the lines of perspective would resolve themselves into a clear image (Wikipedia).
HOW THE PHOTOGRAPHS WERE CREATED
Mole and Thomas used an 11 x 14 inch view camera, positioned on their 80-foot high tower. First they put the outlay (wire frame) of the desired image on a glass plate in the camera. Then, this image from the camera was transferred to the ground beneath the tower. Assistants located there fixed the design to the ground, using thousands of yards of white tape. Using a megaphone and a long stick with a white flag on it (so it could be seen from the distance), Mole showed them precisely where to place the tape. Preparing for each "living photograph" took several weeks, and positioning the thousands of people took many hours (Rare Historical Photos).
Because of perspective distortion, there are always many more people at the top of each Mole and Thomas photo than there are at the bottom. In the above "Human Statue of Liberty" photo, for example, there are about 16,000 people forming the flame of the torch but only about 2,000 people forming the rest of the picture. This photo was taken on the parade grounds at Camp Dodge, in Des Moines, Iowa in July of 1918, during excessively hot and humid weather. According to a July 3, 1986 article in the Fort Dodge Messenger, many men fainted (they were wearing wool uniforms) as the temperature neared 105 degrees. The photo was made to promote the sale of war bonds, but was never used for that purpose (Rare Historic Photos).
One person whose great grandfather took part in the "Statue of Liberty" photo recorded that the extreme heat during the photo shoot "was intensified by the mass formation of men" and added these details: "The dimensions of the platting for the picture seem astonishing. The camera was placed on a high tower. From the position nearest the camera, occupied by Colonel Newman and his staff, to the last man at the top of the torch as platted on the ground was 1,235 feet, or approximately a quarter of a mile" ("Mole & Thomas Patriotic Photographs").
The "Human American Eagle" was created at Camp Gordan, in Atlanta, GA in 1918. There are approximately 12,500 officers, nurses, and men in this picture. The nurses (all female then) are the ones dressed in all white. Look closely at the bottom rows. As usual in these photographs, at the top you can see military buildings in the distance.
"Uncle Sam" was made at Camp Lee, VA in 1919 and required the use of roughly 19,000 men. If you look closely at the lower half of the beard, you'll see that some of the men forming that part of the picture, especially at the beard's end, are dressed in all white and lying down.
There are about 25,000 officers and men in the "Human Liberty Bell, made at Camp Dix, N. J. in 1918. Most of them were used to make the upper part of the photograph, of course. Can you see the word "LIBERTY" in the upper part of the bell? Notice that the bell's crack was made with a combination of men in white shirts and the actual ground.
This photograph, "Human U. S. Shield," required about 30,000 officers and men to stand still for hours. It was made in 1918 at Camp Custer, MI. Notice that there are 13 stripes as well as 13 stars, both symbolizing the original 13 states.
MOTIVATION AND PURPOSE
The person whose great grandfather took part in the "Statue of Liberty" photo discussed earlier, also recalled the patriotic love motivating the naturalized Americans soldiers who fought in what was then called "The European War." He (or she) described the "hundreds of men of foreign birth, born of parents whose first impression of the Land of Freedom and Promise was of the world's greatest colossus standing with beacon light at the portal of a nation of free people, holding aloft a torch symbolic of the light of liberty which the statue represents. Side by side with native sons these men, with unstinted patriotism," offered to sacrifice "not only their liberty but even life itself for our beloved country ("Mole & Thomas Patriotic Photographs").
Arthur S. Mole no doubt felt this same patriotism. When he was 14 years old, in 1903, he and his family sailed to America from their native England. They too were no doubt moved by the sight of the Statue of Liberty. When America joined the allied forces in "The European War" (called World War 1 only after World War 2 began), Mole and Jones left their profitable photography business in Chicago to travel all over America, apparently at their own expense, to create and photograph these massive military formations--not to profit from them but to distribute them for the purpose of supporting America's involvement in the war. I read somewhere (I can't recall where) that Mole and Jones donated most of the proceeds from sales of these pictures (printed in various publications and on postcards) to veterans who returned to America after "the Great War."
_______________________________________________
Sources
"Arthur S. Mole and John D. Thomas Patriotic Photographs," in U.S. Militaria Forum. Link: www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/48414-arthur-s-mole-and-john-d-thomas...
My wife and I have taken at least one cruise a year since my 2008 retirement. Like other folks my age, we finally have had the time and resources to enjoy travel occasionally. We have taken a number of cruises and found them a major way to relax, enjoy a change of scenery and see the world.
My purpose here is two-fold: (1) to solicit input from those of you who have taken a cruise or multiple cruises and care to share your experiences with your fellow website readers, and (2) for me to share with those of you who have not cruised but are contemplating it, a few things you might want to consider before booking that first cruise. I am not an expert on cruising but there are a few things I have learned over the years that might be of benefit to you.
So, ARE YOU A CRUISER?
IF YES
We would love to hear about your cruising experience! Please take a few minutes to describe your most enjoyable cruise, including the following:
If you are contemplating a cruise in your future, the following might help in your planning. Below are some of things you will have to decide along the way.
WHERE DO YOU WANT TO GO?
Your preferred cruise destination will dictate critical aspects of your cruise such as these: Where the ship departs from, how many days the cruise lasts, whether the cruise ends at the same port from which it departs (most do except for transatlantic cruises), where the ship stops on the way there and on the way back, and how much money you are willing to part with in order to take the cruise.
DEPARTURE PORT
We have cruised from a variety of ports including Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, Charleston, Baltimore, and New Jersey (Port Bayonne). An advantage to departing on a cruise from Baltimore is that it is possible for us to drive to the port from our home in Newport News in just 3 hours. There is parking available at all ports from which we have departed. If you plan to park at the port, expect a daily parking fee of anywhere from $6 to $20 a day depending on the proximity to the ship and the level of security provided for your vehicle. If you fly to the city where the port is located, there will be shuttle buses to take you from the airport to the ship (and vice versa). If you take a bus such as Greyhound, check to be certain it will take you to the port.
Getting to the port is a very important first step. Each method of transportation has its advantages and disadvantages and costs can vary greatly. I recommend spending time to research the best option for your budget. The cost of transportation to and from a cruise port can often be as expensive as the cruise itself, or more.
CABIN SELECTION AND BOOKING
The cost of your cruise will also depend on which category of room you choose. Most cruise lines offer a variety of options within these broad categories:
Inside Cabin (with or without a window)
Balcony Cabin
Suite
Inside Cabin
Balcony Cabin
Suite
Please note that room appearances vary greatly within a single ship and on different cruise lines. It is wise to get a picture of the exact room category that is being booked.
Another cost factor is when you book your cruise. There are two time periods that are usually most advantageous cost-wise. It is usually cheaper to sign up for a cruise nine months to a year before it departs. However, cruises that depart within the next 30 days often have bargain rates if the cruise has not sold out. Cruise lines attempt always to sail with a full ship; otherwise they will lose money. That is why prices can change drastically, particularly during the period just before a cruise departs.
An additional angle involving cost is the cruise line's reward program. if you are a member of the cruise line's reward program, you might get a better deal. Regardless, it is wise to check the prices on a daily basis. Often, if the advertised price goes down, the cruise line may refund the difference to you (but only if you ask). Also, if rooms in a certain category are not selling fast enough, you may be offered a free or small cost upgrade.
Options available for booking your cruise are doing so directly from the cruise line you have selected, or using one of several online companies that specialize in finding you the best deal. We have used both approaches but find that the best deals are available via the on-line companies. Those we like best are
There are two categories of port-visited activities that you can book in advance of your cruise: Those sponsored by the cruise line and those sponsored by independent companies at the port visited. Generally, independent company's prices are better than those of cruise-sponsored activities. If using an independent source, however, check its reputation on-line and make sure your activity gets you back to the ship in plenty of time before the ship departs.
Activities such as tours, scuba diving, and hang gliding are typically offered at ports. Again, make sure your booked event is via a reputable company.
DAILY COMMUNICATIONS ONBOARD
Royal Caribbean publishes a daily flier entitled “CRUISE COMPASS” which is delivered to your cabin nightly. It covers the next day's activities on board ship and other critical information. Below is a page from a typical Compass edition.
A cruise ship is like a floating hotel. The bigger the ship, the more activities going on during the day and night. As the above Compass page shows, there are generally more things to do onboard when the ship is sailing than when it is in a port.
SUMMARY
Booking a cruise is not rocket science but it does require some detailed planning. I hope that some of the information presented above will be of value to you novice Cruisers. I hope we will also hear from you experienced Cruisers regarding your personal cruise experiences.
Our English wordChristmas is named after Jesus Christ (Christ + mass), but our word Easter comes from the name of an Anglo-Saxon goddess of the dawn and springtime. Wikipedia gives as proof of this origin an Anglo-Saxon era treatise written in Medieval Latin by the Roman Catholic monk Bede in the year 725, The Reckoning of Time.
Bede, a major early English historian, wrote that "Ēosturmōnaþ" (Old English, Easter month) "was once called after a goddess of theirs named Ēostre, in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month" (i.e., April). "Theirs" means the early pagan Anglo-Saxons in England. Whereas the Roman Church called Easter by the Latin Pascha (from the Greek "Passover"), Bede noted that many English in his time were still calling the Paschal season "by her (Ēostre's) name, calling the joys of the new rite (Christian festival) by the time-honoured name of the old (pagan) observance."
The picture above right, dated 1884, is by a famous German illustrator of books and magazines, Johannes Gehrts (1855-1921). The ink drawing is titled Ostara, which is Old High German for Ēostre.The Anglo-Saxons who invaded and settled England were descended from ancient Germanic tribes, so their traditions go back to that time.
Easter Bunnies
The Easter Bunny who greets children at stores like Wal-Mart and puts goodies in their Easter baskets the night before Easter is spring's equivalent of Santa Claus and is no more connected with the Resurrection of Jesus Christ than Santa is connected with the Nativity. However, rabbits and their cousins, hares, have been major fertility symbols since before recorded history because of their outstanding reproductive ability.
In the drawing above, notice that a rabbit, or hare, is running close to the heels of the goddess. This animal appears in numerous depictions of her.
Wikipediaquotes German author Jacob Grimm stating in his Deutsche Mythologie("German Mythology," 1835) that "The Easter Hare is unintelligible to me, but probably the hare was the sacred animal of Ostara" (English, Eostre)--an association repeated by other authors but never proven.
The Easter Bunny tradition originated in Germany in the 17th century and was brought to America by German Lutheran immigrants. According to Wikipedia, Germany's "Easter Hare" judged children's behavior at the beginning of the Easter season (like Santa at Christmas), sometimes wore clothes, and delivered baskets containing colored hard-boiled eggs, candy, and sometimes toys to children's homes the night before Easter. The baskets represented bird nests and were lined with grass or other soft material.
Easter Eggs
Eggs have symbolized birth, fertility, and renewed life for countless ages. In ancient times they were believed to ensure the fertility of crops, animals, and humans. They also represented rebirth of the natural world in spring. Wikipedia tells us that 60,000-years-old "decorated, engraved ostrich eggs" have been found in Africa, and that in the "pre-dynastic period of Egypt and the early cultures of Mesopotamia and Crete, eggs were associated with death and rebirth ... and kingship." Therefore, "decorated ostrich eggs, and representations of ostrich eggs in gold and silver, were commonly placed in graves of the ancient Sumerians and Egyptians as early as 5,000 years ago."
Once they became Christians, the people of Mesopotamia saw the egg as representing the empty tomb of Jesus. Therefore, as Wikipedia records, they stained their Easter eggs with red coloring "in memory of the blood of Christ, shed at His crucifixion." The egg shown left above, with the Christian cross, is from the Saint Kosmas Aitolos Greek Orthodox Monastery. The egg shown right above is Ukrainian, with the Paschal greeting "Christ is Risen!" on it. This custom of the Easter egg as a symbol of the Resurrection spread from Mesopotamia into the Orthodox Church and later into Europe through the Roman Catholic and then Protestant Churches.
The Date of Easter
At the First Council Nicaea (year 325), the Church of Rome established the date of Easter as the first Sunday after the full moon that follows the Spring equinox, so the date varies from year to year. Whatever the date is in any given year, is it not interesting that Easter is always connected with that First Day of Spring, when for thousands of years, ancient (or pagan) religions have celebrated the resurrection of nature and, in many cases, the return also of various deities--some of whom were believed to have died (as does nature, in winter) and then been born again in spring.
March (Latin Martius: "of" or "pertaining to" Mars) was named for the Roman god of war, Mars, identified with the Greek god of war, Ares. They differed however in that Ares represented war as destruction whereas Mars represented war as a means of peace. March was named for Mars for several reasons. Mars was thought to have been born on the first day of March, and March was also the month in which the Romans began resuming wars that had been suspended during the cold winter months.
Bust of Mars in the Palazzo Altemps, Rome.
Mars was the son of the chief Roman goddess, Juno, but conceived without the help of her mate, the chief god Jupiter. Juno was impregnated with a magic flower that had fertile properties, given to her by the goddess Flora. Mars was also the god of agriculture and the father and protector of Rome. He fathered the twins Romulus and Remus, whose mother was a Vestal Virgin, Rhea Silvia. Abandoned as infants, the twins were nursed by a she-wolf and sheltered by shepherds. Later, Romulus became the founder of Rome.
Mars is also known for his love affair with Venus, made immortal in the Roman poet Ovid's Metamorphosis, completed in the year 8 AD. Ovid's myth of the adulterous love of Mars and Venus was based on Homer's account of the affair between Aphrodite and Ares. Above is one of many famous paintings depicting the story of Mars and Venus. It is titled "Mars and Venus Surprised by Vulcan," an 1827 painting by Alexandre Charles Guillemot that depicts the lovers being trapped by Venus's husband, who ensnared them in a net he had fashioned.
Deities, Rulers, and Wrong Numbers: Our Latin Calendar, Part 1 of 4
by A. Jane Chambers
First published January 3, 2018
Republished March 8, 2019
Roomba: My iRobot Adventures with New Technology
by
Ron Lowder, Webmaster
Like most couples, my wife and I each have chores related to keeping our lives organized and our home clean and safe. One of my chores happens to be vacuuming the house on a regular basis. So, like most men with a regular chore that consumes valuable time (at least an hour every two days or so in my case), I have always been on the lookout for ways to accomplish a thankless task without spending the time normally required.
One day I was at Lowes and happened upon the aisle where the robot vacuum cleaners are displayed. My mind immediately went crazy with the possibilities of such amazing technology available to relieve me of my laborious task of vacuuming. And low and behold, the robot vacuums were on sale! After careful consideration of the various models on display, I purchased the iRobot 890 model.
When I came home with the iRobot (Roomba), my wife was skeptical. "How well does that thing clean?" she asked. I had to demonstrate its talents. She was (at first) reluctant to accept the robot into our family but soon came to accept “him” (as we have tagged a male gender to the device even though “he” has a female voice when “he” gets stuck.) His home within our home became our foyer, a central location for him since it provides equal access to all parts of our first floor.
We have four animals: two dogs and two cats. While Roomba is cleaning the house, the two dogs tend to ignore him (unless he bumps into them, which is gentle) but the cats are both afraid of the creature and stay on a elevated surface the entire time he is running. Likewise, our three-year-old granddaughter is careful to be on a staircase step or sitting on a chair when Roomba is vacuuming...but is entertained by watching him work.
Roomba is loaded with sensors that help him navigate during cleaning. But he does get into trouble occasionally, which requires human intervention. We have a fireplace in our living room with a recliner chair beside the hearth. He often gets stuck between the chair and the hearth and screams out (in his female voice) for help, with all four of his indicator lights flashing frantically.
All in all, Roomba is truly amazing from a technological standpoint. It does a very good job cleaning our floors and carpets. And there is even a model available that empties the dust bin when the cleaning job is completed. Remembering back to my childhood, it was a big day when my dad brought home our first Electrolux vacuum, which was built like a tank and lasted my entire youth. So where do we go from here technologically? Who knows! Perhaps I'll ask my Echo Dot (Alexa, who can communicate with Roomba)...she seems to know everything!
We welcome your FEEDBACK. Send to
cncmemories61_71@yahoo.com
or cnc6171@cox.net.
Published February 8, 2019
ShockingVintage Drug Medications
for Children
by A. Jane Chambers
Did your mom ever give you cough medicine containing alcohol, or paregoric to put you to sleep? How about a beer before your bedtime? Soda pop in your sippy cup? The following ads show some bad drug medications given to children not always in the "dark ages" of the 18th and 19th centuries, but often in the early 20th century--and in some cases, even today.
Cocaine comes from COCA leaves in South America. When first introduced in North America (late 1800s) cocaine was used in many medications. It was often used to numb pain--hence the cocaine toothache drops for children.
Coca-Cola, invented in 1886, was originally a patent medicine. It was named for its two major ingredients: cocaine (from coca leaves) and caffeine (from kola nuts). In 1904 the cocaine was removed and replaced by a cocaine-free extract from coca leaves (Wikipedia information).
Diacetylmorphine (commonly called heroin) is derived from the morphine alkaloid found in opium. In 1895, the German drug companyBayer marketed diacetylmorphine as an over-the-counter drug under the trademark name Heroin. Beyer developed it as a cough suppressant that would not have the addictive side effects that had been found in morphine. Ironically, heroin ultimately had a higher rate of addiction than morphine (Wikipedia).
Paregoric was a popular medicine for controlling diarrhea, curbing coughs, and calming children for several centuries, including the early 20th century. It was especially used to numb pain when babies were teething. The major ingredient was opium, or morphine, which is derived from opium. Not until 1970 was paregoric regulated (Wikipedia).
In many cultures, alcoholic beverages--especially beer and wine-- have been given to children for centuries, usually with meals. Alcohol has also been considered worldwide to be good for the health of both the very young and the very old, as reflected in the ad above. If "an apple a day kept the doctor away," parents believed also that "a beer at bedtime" would make their children and grandparents sleep well.
The address on this soda pop ad has no ZIP Code, which means the ad's date is sometime before 1963. Many parents are still giving soda pop to their children at early ages today. Tooth decay begins very early in such children. Sugar and caffeine also turn them into wild people. And diet sodas usually have artificial sweeteners such as aspartame that weaken their bones.
February (LatinFebruarius: "of" or "pertaining to" Februa) was the month sacred to the ancient god Februus , whose name means "purifier." He was also associated with Dis Pater, a Roman god of the Underworld. To the ancient Romans, March was the beginning of the year, and February was the end of the year--thus the logical time to be rid of the old before welcoming the new. Romans purified themselves and their city and appeased the dead with sacrifices and offerings during yearly festivals called Februalia (plural of Februa), cleansing rituals which took place in mid-February. Such rituals were thought to drive out evil spirits and purify the city, thus bringing about renewed health and fertility.
The month of February is probably named more for the festival than for the god. Our traditions of Spring Cleaning and New Year's Resolutions possibly grew out of ancient rituals like these.
Deities, Rulers, and Wrong Numbers: Our Latin Calendar, Part 1 of 4
by A. Jane Chambers
First published January 3, 2018
Republished February 8, 2019
Our Latin Calendar: January
by A. Jane Chambers
January (Latin Januarius: “of” or “pertaining to” Janus) was named in honor of the mythological Roman god Janus, whose festival month was January. Janus literally means “gate” or “passageway.” Janus was the guardian of portals (gates and doorways) and the patron of all beginnings and endings, from those of time (especially new years) to those of events (voyages, marriages, plantings of crops). He had two faces, one looking forward; the other looking backward. He saw past and future, day and night, beginnings and endings. He was greatly revered by the Romans, who erected a major temple to him.
Janus was often depicted holding a large key (drawing left above)-- signifying his role as gate-keeper, guardian of portals. The word janitor, meaning in Latin "doorkeeper," comes from the word Janus. Traditionally, janitors were entrusted with the keys that opened and closed buildings. Images of Janus vary. The 18th century statue in Vienna by Johann Wilhelm Beyer (above right) depicts Janus with a youthful face looking forward (at the war goddess Bellona) and an older face looking backward. Sometimes, he is depicted as a beardless youth, as on the ancient coin below left; sometimes as a bearded older man, as in the Vatican Museum bust below right. I believe the one face beardless and the other bearded might have signified the human progression from youth to maturity, innocence to experience, ignorance to knowledge.
Deities, Rulers, and Wrong Numbers: Our Latin Calendar, Part 1 of 4
by A. Jane Chambers
Published January 4, 2019
Childhood Christmas Memories
Captured by Norman Rockwell
by A. Jane Chambers
Norman Rockwell (1894 - 1978), born in New York City, was so artistically talented that at age 14he was transferred from high school to the Chase Art School. By age 18, he had completed studies at two of NYC's prestigious art schools: the National Academy of Design, then the Art Students League of New York. By age 19, he was art editor of Boys' Life, the magazine of the Boy Scouts of America. At age 22 (in 1916) he created his first cover painting for The Saturday Evening Post, followed by seven more cover illustrations in that first year, beginning a career of 47 years with Post during which he created 323 original cover paintings. A prolific artist, Rockwell produced over 4000 works in his lifetime, 700 of them housed in the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA, the small town in which the painter livedfrom 1953 until his death in 1978 at age 84 (Wikipedia).
Rockwell created numerous pictures related to Christmas. The nine I chose for this article reflect memories of that season, especially childhood memories, that I feel are timeless and universal. I've arranged these pictures roughly in chronological order, from pre-Christmas events up to Christmas day.
Rockwell quite often used people he knew as the models for his paintings. This painting, for example, features the artist's entire family. The young man being joyfully welcomed home, with an armful of Christmas gifts, was one of Rockwell's three sons, home from college for the holidays. The woman hugging him was his mother, Rockwell's second wife. To the left are his two brothers--left and right of Rockwell's friend Grandma Moses. To the right is Rockwell himself, with his ever-present pipe. Placement of the three young children in the foreground emphasizes that mixture of joy and awe little children often feel toward young adults. This painting and the others in this article came from the Internet.
This more intimate homecoming painting shows a young married couple reuniting before Christmas with the parents of (I think) the young wife. There are no children in this scene, suggesting to me that the young couple are just beginning their married life.
I was ten when this painting was created (1949) and can identify with the excited children in it. When Christmas grew near, our postman began arriving with packages--some from far-away relatives; others from more mysterious places. Rockwell titled this painting "Jolly Postman."
Everyone in my childhood family helped decorate our green, freshly cut Christmas trees. The adults had to decorate the upper branches, of course, and sometimes, like this man, had trouble getting the tree and its topmost ornament to work together.
Did you also sneak out of bed to watch the grown-ups enjoying their holiday parties? In my family now, there is not such a separation of adults and children at holiday gatherings as there was in my childhood. What about yours?
How and when did you have that shocking moment when you had to face the truth that there was NO REAL Santa Claus?
This painting was originally part of an automobile ad, with the little boy shouting that the family had arrived "in Dad's new Plymouth!" My large family, like many others, traditionally gets together the night before Christmas to exchange gifts. What about yours?
Sweet and sentimental, this picture reminds us that Rockwell's images of childhood were often more idealized than realistic. But I still like it.
This famous painting appeared in December of 1933 on the cover of the Post. Although rocking horses are no longer fashionable Christmas gifts, don't we still have some adults like this grandpa who commandeer children's Christmas gifts "just for awhile" like this--especially mobile gifts such as bicycles and skateboards? The Christmas spirit sometimes overtakes us older folks as much as it does the young children.
Were you "Mother's Helper" on wash day? Growing up in Charlotte, NC in the mid-20th century, as the oldest of four children and a girl, I definitely had that title on wash days (often not just Mondays). And as I grew older, my laundry chores increased. By my teens, I was frequently in charge of much of the entire laundry process--using the wringer washer, hanging and retrieving the laundry, and ironing virtually everything from my little sister's puffy sleeved dresses (hard work) to pillow cases and kitchen towels (easy work).
I don't remember the brand of electric washing machine we had, but it was very much like the one in this Hotpoint ad (left). I think I did not use the electric wringer, however, until high school--for fear it would crush my fingers. Almost all washing machines in those days had wheels, because most people had to hook the water hoses to their kitchen faucets. My dad, however, was able to hook our machine to the hot water heater on our enclosed porch, next to our kitchen. He also strung a clothesline the length of that narrow room for inside drying in bad weather.
Our clothesline, located in the back yard, had 4 wire metal lines anchored at each end by sturdy metal T-shaped poles set in cement, as in the picture below. Before hanging the laundry, I first had to clean these lines with a damp cloth so that they wouldn't leave marks on the laundry. We kept a few long wooden poles handy (like the one in photo 1 above) in case we needed them to push lines up higher so articles like sheets or blankets wouldn't touch the ground. Our clothesline was also located far away from any trees, not only to avoid shade and maximize sunbeams, but also to minimize bird droppings... which not always worked.
The toddlers (twins?) in the above picture remind me of my brothers, who were 17 months apart in age. Their mother is hanging a load of something people younger than forty have probably have never seen: cloth diapers--indispensable in families with children in the mid-20th century. When soiled, diapers were first dipped in toilets (if necessary), then soaked in a lidded container pail in an strong-smelling solution such as ammonia water until being washed in the machine. Few families could avoid this routine by paying for a diaper service. And few fathers (mine was an exception) willingly changed diapers, much less endured this unpleasant process to clean them.
Whatever the season, laundry had to be washed, dried, and retrieved. On very cold winter days, sometimes clothing froze on the clotheslines--like the long johns in the photo above. Thankfully, my father worked inside a building so never wore long johns. Otherwise, I might have been required to iron them, as I did his boxer shorts.
One invention in the mid-20th century that made my ironing chore much easier was metal pants shapers (photo right). When these were inserted into the legs of a pair of newly washed jeans or khakis, and then adjusted to the correct length and width, the dried pants looked as if the legs had been ironed--and creased! Since I had two growing brothers to iron for (and often wore jeans at home myself), these pants shapers were a wonderful addition to clothesline hanging days.
The humorous verses below seem an appropriate way to end this article. The author is an American woman in her seventies who has published four books of light verse poetry.
A Clothesline Poem
by Marilyn K. Walker
A clothes line was a news forecast, to neighbors passing by. There were no secrets you could keep, when clothes were hung to dry.
It also was a friendly link, for neighbors always knew, If company had stopped on by, to spend a night or two.
For then you'd see the fancy sheets and towels upon the line; You'd see the company tablecloths, with intricate design.
The line announced a baby's birth, to folks who lived inside, As brand new infant clothes were hung so carefully with pride.
The ages of the children could so readily be known By watching how the sizes changed; you'd know how much they'd grown.
It also told when illness struck, as extra sheets were hung; Then night-clothes, and a bathrobe too, haphazardly were strung.
It said "Gone on vacation now," when lines hung limp and bare. It told "We're back!" when full lines sagged, with not an inch to spare.
New folks in town were scorned upon, if washing was dingy grey, As neighbors raised their brows, and looked disgustedly away.
But clotheslines now are of the past, for dryers make work less, Now what goes on inside a home, is anybody's guess.
I really miss that way of life; it was a friendly sign, When neighbors knew each other best, by what was on the line.
Parts 1 and 2 of this series were about the six deities for whom the months of January through June were named and Part 3 was about the two rulers for whom July and August were named. This last part is about the "Wrong Numbers" in the names of the last four months: September through December.
As discussed earlier, Julius Caesar replaced the ancient lunar Roman calendar of 10 months with the solar calendar of 12 months, based on Earth's revolutions around the sun. His Julian calendar was the major western world calendar for 15 centuries, until refined and replaced in 1582 by the 12-month Gregorian calendar, under the direction of Pope Gregory XIII. Neither Caesar nor, 1500 years later, Pope Gregory changed the names of the last four months of the old 10-month Roman calendar.
SEPTEMBER
The name of this month is from the Latin mensisseptember,meaning "seventh month." September is from Septem ("seven") and -ber (a suffix equivalent to English "-th"). Note that -ber is the ending of all four of the names discussed here and that mensis is Latin for "month. " Although September was the seventh month in the ancient Roman calendar, since the year 46 BC (date of the Julian calendar) it has been the ninth month. The illustration on the right is described by Wikipedia as "a panel from a 3rd-century mosaic of the months, located at El Diem, Tunisia (Roman Africa)." It depicts two men making wine by crushing grapes with their feet, a characteristic activity of the month of September in Roman art. The remaining three mosiac photos in this article are from the same mosaic of months.
OCTOBER
How many arms does an octopus have? How many keys are in an octave? What does the word October mean? Octo is Latin for "eight." Mensis October was the eighth of ten months on that oldest Roman calendar. In ancient Rome, October "marked the close of the season for military campaigning and farming" (Wikipedia). The mosiac panel on the right has a 8-pointed star (appropriately) above the heads of the two figures, seemingly men, who are facing each other. Their arms and empty hands suggest they are making peace, or perhaps congratulating each other after winning a battle or completing the hard task of harvesting.
NOVEMBER
Novemberis from the Latin novem, meaning "nine." Mensis November was originally the ninth of ten months. Once again, that's a wrong number for our 12-month calendar. The mosiac panel here seems very strange: a human figure with an wolf's head? But November was the month of the Plebeian Games (Latin Ludi Plebeii) in ancient Rome--a major religious festival held November 4 -17. The purpose of this festival was to entertain the common people (plebs) of Rome. The games included both theatrical performances and athletic competitions (Wikipedia). That mosaic apparently depicts some theatrical event, perhaps the myth of the twin brothers Romulus and Remus, reared by a she-wolf. Supposedly Romulus founded Rome after killing Remus.
DECEMBER
The tenth month of the old Roman calendar was mensis December, from the Latin decem ("ten")--again a wrong number for our twelfth month. The famous festival the ancient Romans celebrated in December, the Saturnalia, honored the ancient Titan god Saturn (Latin: Saturnus)--the father of Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto, Juno, Ceres and Vesta. Saturn was a god of many things, including both generation and dissolution, plenty, wealth, agriculture, periodic renewal, liberation, and time. He reigned in the mythological Golden Age of peace and plenty (Wikipedia).
Saturn was usually depicted in art as an elderly man holding a scythe or sickle, as in the 2nd-century AD Roman bas-relief shown left below. The familiar figures of Father Time and the Grim Reaper both evolved from images of Saturn.
The Saturnaliawas a time of feasting, role reversals, free speech, gift-giving and revelry, held originally on December 17 but later expanded from the 17th through the 23rd of December. There was continual partying and a carnival atmosphere overturning social norms--e.g., gambling was allowed and the master-slave roles were reversed, with masters providing table service for their slaves (Wikipedia). The December mosaic above right is perhaps based on revelry typical of the Saturnalia, music and dancing.
Will we ever change the names of these last four months of the year, to rid those months of their wrong numbers? After almost 2000 years, I seriously doubt we will.
When Julius Caesar ruled the Roman Republic (October of 49 BC - March 15 of 44 BC) perhaps his most important achievement was reforming the ancient Roman calendar, which had only 10 months and 304 days, with the new year beginning in March. Under his direction, in 46 BC astronomers replaced that lunar calendar with a solar calendar based on Earth's revolutions around the sun. This Julian calendar, with 12 months and 365 days, and Leap Years of 366 days, was the major western world calendar for 15 centuries, until refined and gradually replaced in 1582 by the Gregorian calendar, under the direction of Pope Gregory XII.
JULY
After Julius Caesar's assassination on March 15, 44 BC, four months before his 56th birthday, the lower and middle class Romans, who loved him, rioted, and a civil war quickly followed. During this unsettled time, there was another calendar change. When reforming the 10-month Roman calendar, which began with Martius (Latin for Mars), Caesar had kept Quintilis as the name of the month after Junius (June). So the name of Caesar's birth month was Quintilis ("fifth"), even though Quintilis was then the seventh month. In honor of Caesar, his birth month was renamed Julius--in English, July.
Marble bust of Julius Caesar made posthumously (44 - 30 BC) and located in Museo Pio-Clementino, one of the Vatican Museums.
AUGUST
Head of the Augustus of Prima Porta statue, a high marble statue of Augustus Caesar from the 1st century AD. Discovered in 1863 in the Villa of Livia at Prima Porta, near Rome, the statue is now in the Vatican.
Julius Caesar had no living legitimate children under Roman law, so shortly before his assassination, he had made his grandnephew Gaius Octavius, son of his niece, his sole heir. Only 18 years old when Caesar died, the youth (called Octavian) inherited all of his adoptive father's property and lineage and changed his name to Gaius Julius Caesar. He was then usually called "Caesar." However, most historians refer to him as Octavian between 44 BC and 27 BC to avoid confusion between the two Caesars, as I will do here.
After Julius Caesar's death, Octavian joined Mark Antony and Caesar's close ally Marcus Lepidus in defeating the assassins of Caesar, after which they divided the Roman Republic among themselves and ruled as military dictators. Not surprisingly, the ambitious three soon fought among themselves for more power. Lepidus was driven into exile and Antony committed suicide after he was defeated in battle by Octavian.
A gifted politician as well as warrior, In 27 BC Octavian appeared before the Roman Senate and offered to retire from active politics and government. The Senate rewarded his seeming modesty by increasing his powers, making them lifelong, and awarding him the title of Augustus ("Great" or "venerable," from the Latin augere, "to increase"). He took the name Augustus from that time forward. Historians use this name to refer to him from 27 BC until his death, in 14 AD.
In the year 8 BC, the Romans honored the memory of Augustus by renaming the month of Sextilis (meaning "sixth") as Augustus (in English--August). As in the case of Quintilis, discussed earlier, Sextilis was the old Roman calendar name that had not changed in the switch from the 10-month calendar to the 12-month Julian calendar, so the month name and number do not match. The Romans picked this month, the eighth, because several of the most significant events in the rise of Emperor Augustus to power, culminating in the fall of Alexandria, occurred in that month. Augustus also had died in that month.
SOURCES for Part 3: Personal knowledge--plus Wikipedia and Internet photos.
_______________________________________________
We welcome your FEEDBACK. Send to
cncmemories61_71@yahoo.com
or cnc6171@cox.net
Published July 6, 2018
Lightning Bugs
by A. Jane Chambers
Remember those early summer evenings when the lightning bugs began their twinkling fairy dances at dusk and you raced into the house to get a big jar to put them in? You jabbed some holes in the jar's lid so your captives could breathe and then raced back outside to catch as many of them as you could. I remember the damp grass cooling my bare feet as I ran here and there chasing those blinking lights.
What did you call these magical creatures with the glowing tails? In my hometown, Charlotte, North Carolina, we called them lightning bugs. As my knowledge of the world outside Charlotte grew, I learned that people living in the more western states called them fireflies, and still later I learned that these insects are neither bugs nor flies, but beetles.
Now that I am an octogenarian, I watch the lightning bugs through the windows of my air conditioned house. I watch the males darting about above my deck and back yard, their lights wooing the females who are watching them below from perches of grass and leaves and blinking back their own light signals of "yes"... or "no."
The male lightning bugs wooed us too, when we were children, teasing us with a game of "Catch me if you can!" And catch them we did, sometimes in great numbers, and usually with our bare hands. Even the most squeamish of us, who would scream at the mere sight of most insects, had no fear of these dancing fairy insects.
Our games of "Catch me" lasted until it got so dark that we heard "Come inside now." When "In a minute" and "Okay" no longer gave us another chance to catch just one last lightning bug, we would proudly show off our jar of lights and then, when pleas to bring the prisoners inside were denied, we would humanely release them.
The lightning bug's life cycle is not to be envied. Although, in all stages of its development, the horrible taste of its body protects it from all predators, it spends only a few weeks above ground, flying about and happily flashing its light. After the male mates, he dies. After the female lays her fertilized eggs, she dies too. But on the other hand (see below), that magical light never dies, from egg stage through adulthood.
Shown above, next to his most famous poem, is Lt. Colonel John McCrae (1872 - 1918), a Canadian poet, soldier, and physician. At age 41, as World War I began, he volunteered to join a Canadian fighting unit as a gunner and medical officer. He had previously fought as a volunteer in the Second Boer War (1899-1902) and considered military service his major duty, having a father as a military leader in Ontario.
While McCrae's unit was fighting in the Second Battle of Ypres, in the Flanders region of Belgium, the German army attacked the French positions north of the Canadians with chlorine gas on April 22, 1915, launching one of the first chemical attacks in the history of war. Luckily, the Germans were unable to break through the Canadian line although fighting for over two weeks in a battle McCrae described in a letter to his mother as "a nightmare" during which "all that time ... gunfire and rifle fire never ceased for sixty seconds....And behind it all was the constant background of the sights of the dead, the wounded, the maimed, and a terrible anxiety lest the line should give way" (Wikipedia).
Lt. Alexis Helmer (photo R), a close friend of McCrea, was killed on May 2 during this fierce battle. There was no chaplain available, so McCrae performed the burial service himself. He noticed with surprise that red poppies were growing quickly around the graves of his dead comrades. As Sarah Pruitt writes in her essay "The Poppy and the Poet," "the brutal clashes between Allied and Axis soldiers tore up fields and forests" in this region, "tearing up trees and plants and wreaking havoc on the soil beneath. But in the warm early spring of 1915, bright red flowers began peeking through the battle-scarred land: Papaver rhoeas, known variously as the Flanders poppy, corn poppy, red poppy and corn rose...classified as a weed" (history.com).
The sight of the blood-red poppies among the recent graves inspired McCrea to write "In Flanders Field" the very next day (May 3, 1915). Various friends urged him to publish it, and in late 1915 it was published in the English magazine Punch. The poem would be used at countless memorial ceremonies, and became one of the most famous works of art to emerge from the Great War. Its fame had spread far and wide by the time McCrae himself died, from pneumonia and meningitis, in January 1918 (Wikipedia).
An American woman, Moina Michael, initiated the practice of wearing red poppies to remember the deceased military. She read “In Flanders Field” in the Ladies’ Home Journal two days before the armistice. A professor at the University of Georgia when WWI began, she had taken a leave of absence to volunteer at the New York headquarters of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), which trained and sponsored workers overseas. Inspired by McCrae’s verses, Michael wrote her own poem in response, which she called “We Shall Keep Faith.”
As a remembrance of the sacrifices of Flanders Field, professor Michael vowed to always wear a red poppy. Finding a batch of red fabric blooms at a department store, she kept some for herself and gave others to her colleagues. After the war ended (1918), she returned to the university town of Athens, GA, and began making and selling red silk poppies to raise money to support returning veterans. Thus began her campaign to create a national symbol for remembrance. In the summer of 1920, she managed to get Georgia’s branch of the American Legion, a veteran’s group, to adopt the poppy as its symbol. Soon after that, the National American Legion voted to use the poppy as the official U.S. national emblem of remembrance when its members convened in Cleveland in September 1920. It quickly became a major symbol of Memorial Day (Sarah Pruitt).
___________________________________________
We welcome your FEEDBACK. Send to
cncmemories61_71@yahoo.com
or cnc6171@cox.net.
Published May 25, 2018
Car Camping
a Hundred Years Ago
by A. Jane Chambers
Recently, CNC First Decader Danny Peters (B.S., '71) emailed me a collection of old photographs that included three I have reprinted here (photos 4, 5, & 6). These motivated me to explore the internet for more photos of car camping in the 1920s and earlier. In my own twenties (not the 1920s, but the early 1960s) I enjoyed about six weeks of "roughing it" by car camping across America and back with two friends from my undergraduate college. I have added here a few ways in which our car camping experience was both like and unlike that of Americans a hundred years ago.
On our 1963 trip, my two friends and I had a much fancier (and larger) car than this fellow (above) had in the 1920s--a fairly new and very comfortable Pontiac, owned by one of the friends. But like this man's 1920s car, the Pontiac was not air conditioned--except by Mother Nature. We had NO TENT, but we did have sleeping bags and a heavy tarp. Sometimes we slept in the bags on the ground, on top of (or under) the tarp, or on top of picnic tables in campgrounds. Sometimes we slept inside the car, often with some doors open for air (and feet). About once a week, we stayed one night in a motel, enjoying real beds. Occasionally, we spent a day or two with someone's relatives or friends, who provided beds or at least living room floors for us. In our mid-twenties, we could sleep anywhere.
The lady shown abovehad much more hair to deal with than we three. We all had short hair styles, but we too had personal hygiene challenges, which varied with the summer weather. That's another reason we opted to stay in motels at least one night a week, if not staying with people we knew. Showers, shampoos, and Laundromat trips happened during those times.
This family above enjoyed a popular car-tent combination in the 1920s. We had no tent. This family was also better prepared for camping than we three were in 1963. Notice the cooking equipment, the table, and the chairs. We took along no chairs and no table, so ate in the car if we could find no campground with tables. We did have a Coleman stove and a coffee pot, and maybe a pot and frying pan--but we seldom cooked, and what we cooked came from cans. We also ate a lot of sandwiches and peanut butter and vanilla wafer meals. Occasionally we ate at a restaurant, or with friends and/or relatives in various states. There were virtually no fast food restaurants in the early 1960s. We stayed slender on that trip.
The above shows larger tent extensions than that young family had in the previous picture. Notice there are also windows. Another photo I saw showed these extensions opened on the back end of the vehicles.
The couple in the above 1918 picture were also well prepared for meal-making--very important 100 years ago, when not only restaurants but also towns and cities were in many states rather scarce. We three found that true in many states in 1963 too, especially in the desert areas of the southwest (Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada) and in states like Utah further north. Also, the Interstate Highway System was in its infancy then, having begun only in 1956, and I don't remember driving on anything except 2-lane highways on that 1963 trip until reaching the main coastal cities in California such as Los Angeles.
Driving this 1926 motor home above must have been challenging. However, although all highways were 2 lanes, traffic was extremely light then and few vehicles drove very fast. Was this motor home built by the car's owner, or manufactured at some plant? I don't know. But I expect it was expensive.
Here we have something only the wealthy could afford in the 1920s--a fancy sedan towing an even fancier trailer. The men in both are in suits and ties. They don't look like they are really going camping, do they? Maybe they are taking the car and its trailer somewhere to show them to prospective buyers.
I hope you enjoyed these pictures as much as I did.
Part 1 of this article discussed the histories of the names January, February, and March on the Gregorian calendar, which replaced the Julian calendar (established by Julius Caesar) that had been the western world's calendar for 15 centuries. In 1582 AD Pope Gregory XIIIreformed that calendar mainly to change the date of Easter, which had been falling further away from the spring equinox. Pope Gregory kept the Latin names for the months that had been used for untold centuries before and after Christianity. Below are brief histories of the names April, May, and June--also derived from the names of ancient deities.
APRIL
The Romans named the fourth monthAprilis, derived from the Latin verb aperire, "to open," because this month is the budding or opening time for trees and some spring flowers. April was also the sacred month of the goddess of love, Venus, whose major festival, the Veneralia, was held on April 1. Her Greek equivalent was the goddess Aphrodite, whom the Roman poet Ovid associated with the month of April in his long poem Festi ("Festivals").
Although Aphrodite was the goddess of love and beauty, she was, ironically, married to Hephaestus (or Vulcan), the lame god of fire and metals. She was frequently unfaithful to him. Her love affair with Ares (or Mars), the god of war, is well known (see Part 1 of this article). By him she had Eros, or Cupid, the god of erotic love, or desire. As in this 1555 painting by Titian (left), Cupid was most often depicted by artists as a winged boy with bow and arrows. This image is still very popular, particularly during Valentine's Day.
By the messenger god Hermes (Roman equivalent, Mercury), Aphrodite had a son named Hermaphroditus. When he was a shy youth, the water nymph Salmacis fell in love with him. He rebuffed her advances but could not resist swimming in her beautiful lake. There she forcefully embraced him and begged the gods to keep their bodies together. Her prayer was granted. He was transformed into a two-sexed person, with her female body and male genitalia--hence the term hermaphrodite, now being replaced by the medical term intersex.
Marble sculpture at Lady Lever Art Gallery, in Wirral, England.
MAY
In Greek mythology Maia was the eldest of seven sisters called the Pleiades, who were the daughters of the Titan Atlas and the sea nymph Pleione. Wanting to avoid contact with the gods, Maia lived alone in a cave; however, the god Zeus secretly impregnated her and she gave birth to Hermes. Maia was revered as a nurturer; in Greek "maia" means "midwife." Maia and her sisters were ultimately transformed into a constellation. The Romans identified this Maia with their goddess Maia, to whom the month of May was dedicated.
Pleiades, an 1885 painting by American artist Elihu Vedder located in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
This 1585 painting of Vulcan and Maia is by Bartholomaus Spranger.
The Roman Maia was the mother of Mercury (Greek equivalent, Hermes)--the protector of merchants and travelers and the messenger of Jupiter, the Roman king of gods (Greek equivalent, Zeus). She was also closely associated with the god Vulcan (god of fire and heat) and thus represented the concept of growth, which occurs in later spring, as the earth becomes warmer (more heated). On the first day of May, the priests of Vulcan sacrificed a pregnant pig to Maia, honoring fertility (growth) in all beings.
JUNE
The month of June is named after Juno, the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Hera. Juno was the sister of and wife of Jupiter, the Roman equivalent of the Greek god Zeus. In both mythologies, these were the chief gods and goddesses, superior to all others. Juno was often called Juno Regina (Juno the Queen). As protector of the Roman state, she was sometimes depicted as warlike, as in this second century AD statue in the Vatican Museums, showing her with a spear and shield. Juno, Jupiter, and Minerva, goddess of wisdom (equated with the Greeks' Athena) were the capitol city's triad of deities, most often worshipped and honored with temples.
Juno's roles were many. A major one was as Juno Moneta, "goddess who alerts people." She saved Rome from a Gallic invasion in 390 BC when her sacred geese sounded the alarm, forcing the invaders to retreat. Her chief role, however, was as goddess of marriage and childbirth. Under the name of Juno Lucina, she watched over women during pregnancy and delivery. Expectant mothers and people who took offerings to Juno on behalf of them were required to untie all knots in their clothing and remove any belts, because the presence of a belt, knot or the like could hinder the delivery of the woman on whose behalf they were making their offering.
SOURCES for Part 2: Personal knowledge--plus the Dictionary of Classical Mythology, by Pierre Grimal, Wikipedia, and Internet photos.
We welcome your FEEDBACK. Send to
cncmemories61_71@yahoo.com
or cnc6171@cox.net
Published March 30, 2018
Logos with Hidden Images
by A. Jane Chambers
Below are ten logos that have somewhat "hidden" images built into them. Can you find the images? Some are more obvious than others.
The gold arrow points from the "a" to the "z"--suggesting that Amazon carries virtually anything the consumer might want to order, "from A to Z." The arrow is also curved, creating a smile that suggests the buyer will be happy with results.
This Atlanta Falcons logo includes a falcon, with head pointing right (see the beak and eye?), talons below the head, and spreading feathers. In addition, the logo is in the shape of the letter "F."
It's easy to see the number "31" in the "B" and "R" in this logo. But do you also know why the company decided to offer 31 flavors of ice cream? The idea was to suggest that you should eat Baskin-Robbins ice cream every day of the month, with a different flavor each day.
Do you see the arrow pointing forward? It is between the capital "E" and the "X." It suggests that Fed Ex will deliver your packages with speed.
The "G" in "Goodwill" is also a smiling face, reflecting the idea of "good will to all"--both the workers and the consumers.
This zoo is in Cologne, Germany. Do you see the giraffe and rhino within the image of the elephant? There's also a famous gothic cathedral in Cologne--the 2 spires of which are suggested between the hind legs of the elephant.
Are you old enough to remember the original NBC logo--a realistic image of a peacock, whose tail feathers spread out as you looked at it. Today's stylized logo still has the peacock in the middle (see the beak?). The six "feathers" are the colors of the rainbow and also the colors from which other colors are made, starting with the 3 primary colors: yellow, red, and blue. Together, the colors suggest the great variety of programs available to NBC viewers.
Here's another zoo logo. Do you see the gorilla and lioness facing each other? The birds are easy to see, but do you also see the fish leaping up from the water?
Do you see the salsa bowl? It dots the "i." Above it is a triangular chip for that dip. Left and right (the middle "t" letters) are two people either sharing (or offering) that chip ... or fighting over it. Very clever, si ?
This famous bike race is a daytime event, so the orange globe might represent the sun. However, it is also the front wheel of a racing bike, and the "r" is a biker hunched over it, with a dot for a head. The big "O" with a dot inside it is the back wheel, and the small "u" suggests the bike's seat. Extremely clever, oui ?
Companies, groups, and organizations of all kinds often spend much time--and money--on their logos, and logo designers frequently make fabulous salaries--especially those who win designing contests.
____________________________________
We welcome your FEEDBACK. Send to
cncmemories61_71@yahoo.com
or cnc6171@ cox.net.
Published February 16, 2018
Our Peninsula's Frozen Waterways,
1780 - 2018
by A. Jane Chambers
“The ice was here, the ice was there, The ice was all around; It cracked and growled, and roared and howled, Like noises in a swound!” *
-- from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
( * Noises heard when one swoons (faints)--i.e., is semiconsious. )
January is apparently the month for frozen waterways surrounding our Virginia Peninsula. In Millennial Moments: Hampton Roads' Frozen Rivers (Daily Press, Dec. 30, 1999), Will Molineux wrote that "at least three times extended cold temperatures in January locked ships in ice here and gave residents the opportunity to walk across rivers"-- in 1780, 1857, and 1918. The photo above, by Sandra Deans Snyder, was taken just a few days after this year's opening blizzard and first long freeze--in (of course) early January. It shows ice at Huntington Beach at sunset, with the James River Bridge in the background.
Molineux tells us that in 1780, Thomas Jefferson, then Virginia's Governor, wrote that the "York River was frozen over so that people walked across it" and the Virginia Gazette (Jan. 22 issue) reported that "six loaded wagons went over the James River, on the ice, from Warwick [Shire] to the opposite shore" and that several boats in the James were grounded by ice and several sank, including a large ship near Mulberry Island. Records in 1857 show that in that January of that year, the Chesapeake Bay was frozen for a mile and a half from the shoreline and that the Elizabeth River froze over so that a large number of people "crowded the thoroughfare on the ice between Norfolk and Portsmouth." And in 1918, the Daily Press wrote in January that "ice jammed the James River, although a few ferries were able to operate between the Peninsula and Norfolk."
The above photo and the next five are from Pictures: When it comes to bitter cold weather, 1977 is the winter Hampton Roads remembers, which is a Daily Press gallery dated 2018 and edited by Mark St. John Erickson. He wrote that "unusually cold temperatures began moving into Hampton Roads just before Christmas [1976], and by January 2[1977], the James River was frozen solid hundreds of feet from the shoreline." This first photo shows people walking on the ice, with the old Red's Pier to the right. The next picture, below, is another view of the frozen James, Red's Pier, and the old JRB and power towers.
Boats have never fared well in ice, whatever the century. They are stopped dead by heavy ice, whether wooden (as in Coleridge's poem) or metal or fiberglass (as in our time). Often they are damaged, or even destroyed, by ice either above or below the water line (as was the Titanic). Here in Hampton Roads, boat owners in January of 1977 found their boats ice locked in marinas, if not sunk by the weight of ice inside them, as shown in the picture below taken at the James River Marina in Deep Creek, in Newport News.
Coast Guard to the rescue! In the 1977 freeze, which lasted all of January and into early February, we were fortunate to have Coast Guard service nearby, to cut through ice in emergency situations. The cutter shown below was sent to help break up the ice at the NuclearPower Station upriver which was choking the water intake pipes.
These last two Daily Press photographs from 1977 are aerial views. The first is of the Menchville area with a heavily iced shoreline. The second is of Jamestown's shoreline. The three ships there were of course ice locked.
The remaining photos were all taken very early this year, shortly after the blizzard of January 3 -4 dumped as much as 10 - 12 inches of snow in Hampton Roads. Temperatures remained well below freezing for over a week.
The pictures above and below, both by Sandra Deans Snyder, were taken at the Hilton Pier behind Hilton Elementary School, in Newport News. Notice how the ice reflects the color of the sky. The children on the ice stayed close to the shore, where the water is very shallow. Notice the brave (or foolish?) one wearing shorts in the bitter cold!
The man in the Daily Press photo below was walking on the ice on Lake Maury, in the Mariners' Museum Park in Newport News. I wonder how deep the water beneath his feet was.
These final two pictures of people walking on ice are also Daily Press photos. Both were taken at Huntington Beach in Newport News.
These three women in the above photo seem to be testing the ice very close to the shore. The water is quite shallow at Huntington Beach.
I can't tell how far out the woman in this final photo has ventured, but it is clear that the iceextended then well past the first power tower beside the James River Bridge. The sun makes this shot spectacular!
A word of advice: Don't make any January travel plans! My Facebook photos show that it also snowed here on January 25, 2013 (but with no frozen rivers), and we had a blizzard here on January 28-29, 2014 (with the James frozen). Februaries are not so great either. On February 18, 2015, there was also ice on the James River.
______________________________________
We welcome your FEEDBACK. Send to
cncmemories61_71@yahoo.com
OR cnc6171@cox.net.
Published January 19, 2018
Deities, Rulers, and Wrong Numbers:
Our Latin Calendar
Part 1 of 3
by A. Jane Chambers
Our western world calendar evolved from the ancient Roman lunar calendar. It had only 10 months and 304 days, with the new year beginning in March and the time between December and March simply called "Winter." Under Julius Caesar's rule, in 46 BC astronomers replaced that lunar calendar with a solar calendar based on Earth's revolutions around the sun. The Julian calendar had the 12 months we know and 365 days, with Leap Years of 366 days. It was followed for 15 centuries, but it miscalculated the length of the solar year by 11 minutes. Therefore, in 1582 AD, Pope Gregory XIIIreformed that calendar, mainly to change the date of Easter. Traditionally observed on March 21, Easter had been falling further away from the spring equinox. Most of Europe then switched to the Gregorian calendar, but England and her colonies did not make that change until 1752. Until then, the New Year in England and in the American colonies began on March 25.
Pope Gregory XIII kept the Latin names for the months that had been used for untold centuries before and after Christianity. Below are histories of the names January, February,and March.
JANUARY
January (Latin Januarius: “of” or “pertaining to” Janus) was named in honor of the mythological Roman god Janus, whose festival month was January. Janus literally means “gate” or “passageway.” Janus was the guardian of portals (gates and doorways) and the patron of all beginnings and endings, from those of time (especially new years) to those of events (voyages, marriages, plantings of crops). He had two faces, one looking forward; the other looking backward. He saw past and future, day and night, beginnings and endings. He was greatly revered by the Romans, who erected a major temple to him. He's often depicted holding a large key, signifying his role as gate-keeper, guardian of portals.
God Janus and goddess Bellona. 18th century statue in Vienna by Johann Wilhelm Beyer.
The word janitor, meaning in Latin "doorkeeper," comes from the word Janus. Traditionally, janitors were entrusted with the keys that opened and closed buildings. Images of Janus vary. The statue above depicts him with a youthful face looking forward (at the war goddess Bellone) and an older face looking backward. Sometimes, he is depicted as a beardless youth, as on the ancient coin below left; sometimes as a bearded older man, as in the Vatican Museum bust below right. I believe the one face beardless and the other bearded might have signified the human progression from youth to maturity, innocence to experience, ignorance to knowledge.
FEBRUARY
February (LatinFebruarius: "of" or "pertaining to" Februa) was the month sacred to the ancient god Februus , whose name means "purifier." He was also associated with Dis Pater, a Roman god of the Underworld. To the ancient Romans, March was the beginning of the year, and February was the end of the year--thus the logical time to be rid of the old before welcoming the new. Romans purified themselves and their city and appeased the dead with sacrifices and offerings during yearly festivals called Februalia (plural of Februa), cleansing rituals which took place in mid-February. Such rituals were thought to drive out evil spirits and purify the city, thus bringing about renewed health and fertility.
The month of February is probably named more for the festival than for the god. Our traditions of Spring Cleaning and New Year's Resolutions possibly grew out of ancient rituals like these.
MARCH
March (Latin Martius: "of" or "pertaining to" Mars) was named for the Roman god of war, Mars, identified with the Greek god of war, Ares. They differed however in that Ares represented war as destruction whereas Mars represented war as a means of peace. March was named for Mars for several reasons. Mars was thought to have been born on the first day of March, and March was also the month in which the Romans began resuming wars that had been suspended during the cold winter months.
Mars was the son of the chief Roman goddess, Juno, but conceived without the help of her mate, the chief god Jupiter. Juno was fertilized with a magic flower that had fertile properties, given to her by the goddess Flora. Mars was also the god of agriculture and the father and protector of Rome. He fathered the twins Romulus and Remus, whose mother was a Vestal Virgin, Rhea Silvia. Abandoned as infants, the twins were nursed by a she-wolf and sheltered by shepherds. Later, Romulus became the founder of Rome.
Mars is also known for his love affair with Venus, made immortal in the Roman poet Ovid's Metamorphosis, completed in the year 8 AD. Ovid's myth of the adulterous love of Mars and Venus was based on Homer's account of the affair between Aphrodite and Ares. Above is one of many famous paintings depicting the story of Mars and Venus. It is titled "Mars and Venus Surprised by Vulcan," an 1827 painting by Alexandre Charles Guillemot that depicts the lovers being trapped by Venus's husband, who ensnared them in a net he had fashioned.
In addition to my personal knowledge, my sources for Part 1 of this article have been (for Janus) the Probert Encyclopaedia of Mythology, by Matt and Leela Probert and (for Februus and Mars) the Dictionary of Classical Mythology, by Pierre Grimal--along with occasional use of Wikipedia. Images used all came from the Internet.
_______________________________________
We welcome your FEEDBACK. Send to
cncmemories61_71@yahoo.com
or cnc6171@cox.net.
Published January 3, 2018
Rockwell's Rocking Horse Riders
Published December 22, 2017
Road Names in Brandon Heights
in Newport News
by A. Jane Chambers
with thanks to Alexander Bivins
While working on the article Cunninghams' Daughter Visits Brandon Heights Home, I wondered about the history of the names of the streets that make up this 80-years-old neighborhood located between Warwick Blvd. and River Road, next to Hilton Village and near the James River. After publishing my article, on Facebook I asked if anyone knew the origin of those names. Soon I heard from Alexander Bivens, who told me that all five parallel roads in Brandon Heights were named after plantations in Virginia.
The center of Brandon Heights is marked on the above map by the purple pointer. Left to right, after James River Drive, are Stratford Road, Shirley Road, Westover Road, Brandon Road and (but not named on the map) Milford Road. Following this order are pictures of the plantations after which road was named and a few interesting details about each of them.
All of the plantation photos in this article came from internet collections. Above is Stratford Hall, which Alexander Bivins described as"the plantation where the Lee family (as in Robert E. Lee) lived in Westmoreland County"--four generations of them, in fact, according to Wikipedia, which also noted that Robert E. Lee was born there but the family left when he was age four, although he retained fond memories of this home. Two previous Lees were signers of the Declaration of Independence. Much more information is available through The Robert E. Lee Memorial Association, a non-profit tax exempt 501(c)3, which began in 1929 by women who raised the money to purchase Stratford and still maintain it. The plantation is open to the public. The website link is www.stratfordhall.org.
Shirley Plantation is described by Wikipedia as "the oldest plantation in Virginia and the oldest family-owned business in North America, dating back to 1638." Located on the James River in Charles City County, between Williamsburg and Richmond, it is also connected to the Lee family. Anne Hill Carter Lee, mother of Robert E. Lee, was born, married, and lived there with her husband and children. Carter-Hill family members have occupied Shirley since 1738, when the "Great House" shown above was completed. On the rooftop is an emblem of a pineapple, a symbol of hospitality. An eleventh generation Hill family now lives in the upper floors. Shirley is open for tours. Thelink is www.shirleyplantation.com.
Westover Plantation is also on the north shore of the James River in Charles City County, and like Shirley, located on State Route 5 between Williamsburg and Richmond and open to the public. The official site (link:www.westover-plantation.com) describes it as "one of the grandest and most beautiful of the colonial plantations, built in the mid-eighteenth century by the Byrd family" and "a premier example of Georgian architecture in America." The Byrd family has a long history here.
Brandon Plantation, on the south shore of the James in Prince George County, is described by Wikipedia as "one of the longest-running agricultural enterprises in the United States," having been an active farm from at least 1614. Its original owner was Jamestown Colonist Captain John Martin. It was then owned by the Harrison family from 1700 until 1926, when it was bought and restored by Richmond banker Robert Williams Daniel. His son, U.S. Congressman Robert Williams Daniel, Jr., inherited it. After his death (2012) it was purchased by "a Florida family" for $17.8 million, who planned to "occupy the plantation, renovate the main house and continue farming the land" (Washington Times, July 4, 2014). The belief that the main house, completed in the 1760s, was designed by Thomas Jefferson is legendary.
Alexander Bivins provided the following about Milford Plantation: "The Brandon Heights streets were named in the 1930s. At that time, there was a 450-acre plantation in Caroline County (near Fredericksburg, Va.) named Milford. A prominent member of Virginia's colonial legislature who was a powerful figure decades before the Revolutionary War lived there. In the years since Brandon Heights was built, the name of the plantation in Caroline County has been changed to 'Newmarket' by an owner. The estate is still in the community of Milford."
With Alexander's information, I was able to locate Newmarket Plantation (www.facebook.com/NewmarketPlantation), in the small community of Milford. The farm is a wholesale business in vegetables and horse-food quality hay and straw. The owners are Robert (Robby) Caruthers, a farmer, and his wife, Ada, a horse veterinarian. There is no picture of the house, which they extensively renovated and occupy. An ad states the property was "a royal land grant from the King of England in 1726." A newspaper article of Sept. 16, 2017 gives background on the first owner, Colonel John Baylor, whose family owned the plantation 1726-1996. Baylor, who served twice in the Virginia House of Burgess, was a major importer of thoroughbred horses, had an extensive stud farm, and helped make horse racing popular in Colonial Virginia.
What I still cannot locate is information on the developer of Brandon Heights. Perhaps someone reading this article can solve that mystery.
______________________________________________
We welcome your FEEDBACK. Send to
cncmemories61_71@yahoo.com.
Published November 10, 2017
Impacts of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma,
and Maria on First Decaders
by A. Jane Chambers
Knowing that some of our First Decaders and/or some of their loved ones lived in the paths of hurricanes Harvey, Irma, or Maria, I recently sent this request to all: "Please let me and your CNC First Decade friends know your status. Many of us have been thinking of you with hope in our hearts and prayers for your safety. I will send any news you send to your former classmates and professors." The majority of those who responded reported they had experienced little or no serious damage. Each of the three hurricanes did, however, seriously impact some. Below are their accounts, edited at times for length.
HARVEY: Houston, Texas
The aerial photo above shows hurricane Harvey in the Gulf of Mexico on August 25, 2017-- bearing down at peak intensity on the Texas coast. Jerry Russell ('65), who lives in Houston, was lucky: "We did not flood. Just a couple of roof leaks." However, Jean Regone Henry ('65), who lives in Maryland, reported shocking news about her brother Bill Regone and his wife, Debbie, who live in Houston: "They lost everything in Harvey--house, furnishings, cars." Below is Jean's account:
The damage came, not from the rain, but from water released by the city when they opened the spillways; 21 inches of the most toxic residue the EPA officials had ever seen sat in Bill's house for almost two weeks, contaminating everything it touched. Bill and Debbie tried to save everything they could, but very little actually survived. They have no flood insurance. They also lost both of their cars, plus their daughter's car and their son's car, which were both parked in Bill's driveway. The spillway water rose so quickly, there was no chance to move the cars before all the roads were flooded.
They rented a townhouse a mile away so they could continue to work on their flooded home once the water receded. A team of Mormons (from a group of 8000) removed drywall and flooring (wood, tile, vinyl) after Bill and Debbie had cleaned out the house. Everything wound up near the curb, where city trucks continued the demolition of family heirlooms, the piano, most of the furniture, doors, and cabinets. The Red Cross has provided survivors with food, bottled water, and some other necessities while they work to salvage whatever they can.
Bill, who is really handy, has restored power so they can use dehumidifiers to dry out concrete, brick, and studs. Debbie and her sister have been decontaminating studs in preparation for a rebuild, if they can get permission. Debbie does not want to give up the house. The concrete slab foundation was saturated, of course, as was the brick fireplace. All the interior walls in their house have now been removed. After scrubbing and disinfecting the supporting studs, they'll have to wait to see if the mold and mildew continue to grow. Our family is worried about the contamination of the soil, the concrete, the brick, and the wood left standing and the effect that contamination may have on their health. The city has health inspectors to advise them, so perhaps things will fall into place.
IRMA: Lakeland, Florida (near Tampa Bay)
The above photo shows hurricane Irma headed toward Florida. Herminio Cuervo ('66), who lives in Lakeland, reported that all in his household (humans and animals) "survived without injury" and that his home was spared but his office "took in some water, so we had to go bail out/dry the carpet," later restored fully by Stanley Steamer workers. The main damage in Lakeland was loss of power, caused primarily by downed trees. Below is Herminio's often humorous account of his experience.
The storm came right over our heads: we were in the East side of the eyeball (as I prefer to call it). Wind gusts over 100 MPH. We had several large oaks (senior citizens) all around the house and we lost many. One of them took the power, TV, phone and internet connections down with him (trees are masculine). To show you how God works in interesting ways, the wires helped the fallen tree go west, away from the house. We lost a large tree which fell on the street and on Monday AM, a neighbor helped us drag it off the road. I did chain sawing to help things out.
At the end of the day, another neighbor, who happened to be a senior lineman at Lakeland Electric, stopped when he saw the downed lines. He looked at them, climbed to the transformer in his bucket, took the lines off, came down, snuck the lines out from under the tree, borrowed my chainsaw and cleared the way. Then he lifted the lines back to the transformer, and when he got down from the bucket, told me, we would get the lights back in less than 2 hours. I thought, wow, with neighbors like this, we are blessed. We had power back before 24 hours, but still no TV, phone, or internet.
My son, Pedro, had parachuted here from LSU Law the day before the storm, so he and I did a lot of hauling of broken limbs, branches, tree trunks to the roadside. The place began to look like a set for the "Walking Dead," which appealed to me. I lost 5 pounds in one day, just hauling things around. Thinking of developing a weight loss program coupled to disaster mitigation. We still need to get that huge oak off the side of the road and fence. Have tree guys doing that; it is very expensive.
At the time Herminio wrote (mid-September), some food staples ("like sliced bread and milk") were in short supply and many people were still without power. However, there was no loss of order in Lakeland ("We have excellent law enforcement here"), the airport was spared ("a hub for cargo in/out"), FEMA and the military were there, and there was no gasoline shortage.
MARIA: Naguabo, Puerto Rico
The aerial photo above shows hurricane Maria, as a category 4, moving toward Puerto Rico (small rectangle left). It hit first the south eastern end (right end), which includes the coastal town of Naguabo ( red spot on the map at right). Close to there is the home of the mother of one of our First Decaders, Kathy Benintende Monteith ('74), who is also the mother-in-law of CNU Alumni Relations Officer Katie Monteith.
On September 15, Kathy wrote: "My dear mom was affected by Irma. She's safe, praise God! She has fresh water and a gas stove. Electricity will most likely be out for awhile longer." The situation worsened in Puerto Rico as time passed, however, as we all know. Kathy heard no more from or about her mother for many days. Then, on September 27, I heard from Kathy again. She wrote the below news.
We received a call yesterday from a dear friend of mom's, that she is okay! She's living in her home and surrounded by a community of love & support! No electricity or water yet. The mountain road to her home is now passable. Gasoline is scarce but was available yesterday in the closest town. Some stores are reopening. USPS and local banks are not in operation since Maria. October 9 UPDATE: Progress is happening! As of last Friday, mom has running water and postal mail service! I'm hopeful to receive mail from her this week. My sister & I are flooding her with cards and necessary needs.
The impact of Maria will be felt by all who live in Puerto Rico for many more weeks, months--perhaps even years. Keep Kathy Monteith's mother, and all others who are there, in mind as you watch the news unfold.
________________________________________
We welcome your FEEDBACK. Send to
cncmemories61_71@yahoo.com
or cnc6171@cox.net.
Published October 13, 2017
Bodie Island Lighthouse:
Worth the Trip
Article and photos by Ron Lowder, Webmaster
My wife, Maureen, is a fan of lighthouses. On sightseeing trips we have taken over our 41 years of marriage, there was often a lighthouse visit on the agenda. And I must say, she has made me a fan of lighthouses also. Even though all lighthouses have the same purpose of helping guide ships at sea, each has unique features and stories associated with it, some of which are fascinating.
Our visit last month to the Bodie Island Lighthouse (correctly pronounced “body”) proved to be the highlight of our week-long Outer Banks vacation. Located south of Nags Head on Highway 12 (about a 15-minute drive from the Outlet Mall) on 15 acres of land, the area is well maintained and well managed.
The name “Bodie” reportedly was originally spelled “Body” or “Boddy.” An early placard in the foyer of the lighthouse has the title “Body's Island Lighthouse.” Locals say that Body (Bodie) Island was named after the original owner of the land. Despite extensive research, I cannot verify that fact. The word “Island” is in the name because the area was once an island. Now it is a peninsula. The history of the land and the name are perhaps a subject for another article!
When Maureen and I visit any lighthouse, we always opt to climb to the top of it to experience the view of the surrounding area, which we did on this occasion also. When purchasing tickets required for the climb, we were provided with a time to report to the entrance to the lighthouse for the climb. Because of the age of the Bodie Lighthouse (construction completed in1872), the number of people that can be in it at one time (either climbing the stairs or at the top) is restricted. Our allotted entry time was about 1 hour away so we looked for something to do while waiting.
View of the Bodie Island observation deck taken from the top of the lighthouse.
We decided to venture down a well-built wooden pathway toward an observation platform in the distance. The foot trip to the platform took about 10 minutes winding through marsh, sea grass and other forms of vegetation including the blooming plants pictured. Sights from the platform and along the path were well worth the walk.
Among the scattered marsh and small lake-like bodies of water, the platform offered a unique view of area wildlife. In the distance, we observed a flock of egrets feasting on the cuisine offered by the marshy wetlands. Other birds that frequent the area are Canada geese, snowy white ibises, great blue herons, and even graceful white swans. Not only is the walk to the platform good exercise, but the views are quite worth the effort.
At about 10 minutes before our allotted time, we arrived at the entrance of the lighthouse to be greeted by a park employee who relayed some interesting facts about the lighthouse. The 15 acres of land upon which the lighthouse stands were donated by the lighthouse keeper of an earlier nearby lighthouse located on Pea Island. Several lighthouses have previously been constructed on the same 15-acre property that the Bodie Island Lighthouse currently occupies; the previous lighthouse was destroyed by the Confederate Army for fear that Union soldiers would use the lighthouse as an observation post.
There are 214 steps that lead to the top of the lighthouse with landings every 20 or so steps. Because of the age of the steps and the supporting structure, only one person at a time is allowed to climb the steps between each landing. In other words, when one person reaches a landing, another can venture up those same stairs. There are 9 landings in all on the journey to the top.
View from the top of the Bodie Island Lighthouse staircase, looking down.
There were 8 folks gathered for our “time slot ascent,” the maximum for a time slot. I happened to be the first person in line. The other 7 folks (Maureen was the 2nd in line) had to wait to begin their ascent until after I had reached the first landing, then the second, and so forth. I felt pressured to complete my climb rapidly, since the other folks were waiting. After completing the climb to about the 3rd landing (about 60 or so steps), my 71-year age started to catch up with me and I paused and let my wife go ahead of me. But let it be told that I did reach the top without any “major” pauses, albeit a little tuckered out. I must say, the trip back down was much easier!
The view from the top of the lighthouse was truly awesome. We could see the Atlantic Ocean, the Albemarle Sound, Manteo, and the tip end of Nags Head including the bridge. Additionally, the view to the south highlighted the terrain toward Oregon Inlet. From the 360-degree perspective at the top, we gained an appreciation for the quite diverse landscape surrounding the lighthouse. Because the top outdoor platform around the lighthouse was quite breezy, we had to hold onto our hats before stepping out on the platform!
I would highly recommend a visit to Bodie Island Lighthouse. Of all the lighthouses Maureen and I have visited, this one stands out as one of the best managed. The staff of dedicated employees and volunteers are all well versed on local relevant history and eager to share their knowledge. The whole experience was well worth our time.
Published September 15, 2017
Norman Rockwell:Family Outing to the Lake,
Going and Coming,
August of 1947
Published August 18, 2017
Local Dance Band Soul Intent
Serves the 50+ Age Group with Beach, Motown, 60's and 70's Music
By Randy Boone,
Leader and Drummer for Soul Intent
Soul Intent originated in 2014, when I got the idea of reviving the music many of the baby boomers grew up with in the 1960’s. I placed the following ad on Craigslist: “Older drummer looking for likeminded musicians to play Beach, Motown, 60’s and 70’s music.” From that ad came a stream of musicians. I also called some musicians I had played with in the 60's to see if they had any interest in playing again. Thinking most of them would probably just laugh at the idea, I was surprised and thrilled that several were anxious to pursue it.
Between old contacts, Craigslist and friends of musicians, Soul Intent began to take shape. The band rehearsed in an attic in Portsmouth, and our first gig was played on January 31st, 2015 at the Elizabeth Manor Country Club. The band began to grow in numbers and the attic was soon too small for rehearsals. A friend offered a warehouse for our use. Band members came and went, and offers for more gigs began to come.
Randy Boone, Leader and Drummer for Soul Intent
All of our original band members were 60 plus years old, except a young sax player. At the time he was the heart of the horn section of the band. When he told us he was moving, we knew we were in a jam. Luckily however, one of our trumpet players had played with a Peninsula saxophone player in the past by the name of Ron Lowder. Ron came and played with us at the Seawall Festival in June of 2015. I met with him shortly after that and Ron agreed to perform with us for one year.
The band had no idea Ron would become such a valuable part of it. His skills go far beyond playing a saxophone. They extend into the areas of composing, computer science, publishing and most of all patience. Soul Intent is now in its second year of Ron’s one year commitment. The CNC family already knows Ron as the webmaster for this website and a member of the CNU “1961 Club” (a group dedicated to finding and preserving artifacts from CNC First Decade forward.).
The purpose of Soul Intent is to play the music of our generation. It is not our goal to make you remember the songs we play. It is our goal to actually take you back in time. Many in our audience actually tell us for a brief moment in time they feel they are back in high school or college with that special person. It can be a very moving experience for the band and the audience.
There is not another band in Hampton Roads that does what Soul Intent does. The band has an amazing following of very loyal people. We receive messages from folks telling us how much they appreciate what we do for them. Soul Intent has truly touched a nerve and is filling a need for our generation. Most people that come to see us do not just like this band...they love it! They love where this music takes them. Our band has been directly responsible for the rekindling of a number of relationships and at least one marriage.
In 2016Soul Intent played over forty gigs, and we are booked for over thirty so far this year. Come see us at Yorktown beach on Thursday, June 15, at the Banque in Norfolk on Sunday, June 25, or at numerous dates at the Portsmouth waterfront. Additionally, we perform monthly at Roger Browns Restaurant on High Street in downtown Portsmouth. Check out our website for all our dates: www.soulintentband.com.Soul Intent: “Your trip down memory lane.”
________________________________________
We welcome your FEEDBACK. Send to
cncmemories61_71@yahoo.com
or cnc6171@cox.net
Published March 31, 2017
Blue Star Diner Renovation Likely Soon;
Historic Status Possible
by A. Jane Chambers
Summary of Daily Press (DP) article of January 2, 2017
Daily Press photo by Judith Lowery (August 10, 2015, p. 5).
After six years of stagnation, The Blue Star project is likely to end happily, Daily Press reporter Reema Amin has suggested, if the necessary renovation begins this year. On December 16, 2016, the city of Newport News issued a building permit, now taped inside a window near the entrance. However, the permit warns that "it will be pulled if construction doesn't start in six months" ("RENOVATION RESOLUTION FOR EATERY?" p. 1).
Blue Star's owner, Michael Lessin, is the president of Sterling-based Belleville Diners, which specializes in buying and renovating historic mid-20th century American diners. When Belleville bought the Blue Star in 2010, Lessin promised renovations would start soon, "but unexpected costs delayed the process," he explained to reporter Amin, including "stolen air conditioning units" and "new green energy codes" ("RENOVATION," pp. 1 & 5).
Lessin said renovation could begin this month (January) but added: "Any time you're doing work on an old building and you're doing it historically correct, " there could be "surprises or unforeseen work," but the company is "committing to getting it done, and we will get it done" (p. 5). Most of the work will be renovation of the kitchen, in the back of the building. That work might take 9 to 12 months and will include "ripping up the concrete floor to put in new plumbing, putting up a new roof in the back, new electrical wiring, new heating and new air conditioning, which will extend to the diner," he explained (p. 5).
The article suggests that former customers of the Blue Star when it was owned and operated by Fannie and Angelo Blentson, from 1963 until the early 2000s, need not fear any significant changes to the customer area of the diner. To preserve historical accuracy, Lessin said, "Minimal work will be done on the diner portion." The company will simply "reupholster the booths, add more era-appropriate stools (the current ones are not the originals, he said), and rebuff and add new wax coats to the floor" (p. 5). The DP files photo above shows waitress Judy Presley during slack time at the diner in 2002.
If work goes as planned and the diner reopens, it might have an historical marker in its future. The article states Lessin "has been trying to get the diner designated as a national historic place" and Virginia's Department of Historic Resources (VDHR) notified him last September that "the diner is eligible to be nominated to the state landmarks register and the National Register of Historic Places."
In 2015, there was a real possibility that the city might demolish the Blue Star. In a July 27, 2015 DP article, summarized on this CNC website, historian Marc Wagner of VDHR stated he was "very concerned" when he heard that news, because Virginia has “only about 10 surviving diners, and this one is a gem.” He added that “the Blue Star is the last remaining classic, factory-made diner in Hampton Roads built before the 1970s” (Theresa Clift, “City Workers Seek Abandoned Homes,” p. 5).
The last part of the "RENOVATION" article is a tribute to the original owners of the Blue Star Diner, Angelo and Fotini (Fannie) Blentson, shown in the 1978 DP file photo above. Walter Gardner, owner of nearby Village Bicycles and regular patron of the diner from the 1980s until it closed, fondly recalls the reasonable prices and great food ("Fannie made the best fried chicken"), sentiments echoed by his co-worker Connie Maxwell. John Ottofaro, co-owner of Design and Consign, next door to the diner, states that his customers "ask us all the time when it's gonna open" -- a question Lessin cannot yet answer, because "unforeseen things could pop up."
POSTSCRIPT:
RENIE BLENTSON THANOS, daughter of Blue Star's original owners, Angelo and Fannie, is a CNCalumna (B.A., English, 1990). AtCNC she was a member of Sigma Tau Delta, the English Honor Society, and a student of mine. She earned her M.A. in English from James Madison University in 1992 and since 1998 has taught college English. At DeVry University in New York (1998-2015) she served as English Department Chair for 3 years. She and her family now live in Buffalo, NY, where she has been teaching in the Writing Department at Buffalo State College since 2015. Renie visits Newport News as much as possible and keeps up with news of the diner.
_______________________________________________
We welcome your FEEDBACK. Send it to
cncmemories61_71@ yahoo.com
or cnc6171@cox.net.
Published January 6, 2017
The January 7, 2017 Blizzard:
Your Photos
Edited by A. Jane Chambers
The meteorologists were correct: this snowstorm was as big as they predicted it would be. The snow mixed with sleet began when they said it would (late Friday night, January 6), then turned by Saturday morning, the 7th, into a wind-swept blizzard of fine, dry flakes that did not stop falling until Saturday night. Temperatures remained below freezing for several days, even down into the teens at night, so there was no significant melting for several days. Schools and colleges remained closed from Monday until Thursday, much to the delight of countless children and teachers. The sunrise photo above, taken by First Decader Marie Boudreau Smith, who lives in Hampton, shows the Chesapeake Bay at Chesapeake Avenue in Hampton several days after the storm.
If you were where the blizzard was, how much snow did you get? The depths varied quite a bit in the Tidewater area, as you can see by this snowflake list above. Gusting winds also created places where the snow was much deeper in some spots than in others merely feet away.
If your area received at least 6 inches or more, you probably enjoyed a beautiful sight such as this one above, taken by First Decader Charlie Snead at his home in Hendersonville, NC. This lovely view of his balcony and backyard was taken from his bedroom window.
This above photo is a view of Charlie and wife Thommy's front yard. The snow-capped lights are the only way you can tell where the walkway is! I believe the other creamy mini-hills are small shrubs along the side of the walk.
Hampton and Williamsburg both received a FOOT of snow. First Decader Ellen Babb Melvin was shocked to see a snow bank of 17 inches piled up again her kitchen door in Hampton, and when she was finally able to open the door part way (photo below) she wondered if her young Collie Lucie, would be able to get outside to tend to her doggie business.
Luckily, Lucie's a good jumper, so she jumped right through the narrow opening (left above) and ran joyfully all over the back yard (see below), exploring her transformed world (photo below).
By Monday, as temperatures rose some, the icicles began forming--here, there and everywhere. Ellen Babb Melvin found them not only hanging from her roof, but also (see below), hanging from her bushes.
Elsewhere in Hampton, on Tuesday, January 10, Marie B. Smith found great long icicles hanging everywhere from her roof and took this close-up of a cluster of them hanging outside her living room window.
The above cluster of red berries covered with snow is one of four photos Marie B. Smith took in her Hampton backyard showing the blizzard's impact on wildlife. These particular berries, though abundant, colorful, and inviting, are of no interest to the birds. In contrast, the five finches on the feeder below stuff themselves happily with the less appealing seeds in the feeder. Are the red berries poisonous? Or are the bland seeds more nutritious?
The finches on the feeder above and the birds in the bush below share a trait seldom seen in wild birds except in times of great stress: a certain degree of civility. Whereas in time of plenty, they often indulge in territorial battles and selfishly refuse to share space at their feeders, in times of danger, when survival of the group is threatened, they show much better manners: sharing feeder space and even waiting to take turns at the feeders.
This snow-buried snowman caught my attention. Marie described this picture as that of "a snowman statue that I had out in my yard for the winter...sitting on a table by the pond. It was completely covered with snow. I had to wipe away some so you could see the face."
Marie took this picture above of the Bay and Chesapeake Ave. after the avenue was plowed (Jan. 10). Like virtually all of the neighborhood streets throughout Tidewater, however, the one in the foreground leading to Chesapeake Ave. was still dangerously ice-covered. The next two days (11th & 12th) brought significantly warmer temperatures, however, which finally freed us all from the blizzard's icy grip.
Finally, here's a photo of the backyard of the Chambers home, with the sunset reflecting in the sky and on the waters of the James River--my favorite place to be whenever we have blizzards. I love to watch all of our snowfalls, large or small, from here--inside my cozy home.
The striking view above of the decorated Buckroe Beach lighthouse area at sunrise was photographed by Sandra Deans Snyder. The following two Buckroe photos were taken by Leigh Crews Pritt. We very much appreciate the camera work of these skilled ladies, and we thank the Buckroe Beach Fire Department for delivering Santa to the scene.
These next five pictures were taken on the waterfront in downtown Hampton by Marvin Barnes. We admire his talent as a photographer as well as his willingness to brave cold weather to shot these fine photos of the decorated boats both at harbor and on the water.
These last two photos in downtown Hampton were taken by CNC First Decader Marie Boudreau Smith (AA, 1966), a skilled photographer whose pictures frequently are on Facebook.
Marie B. Smith also took these last four photos, all of them at Busch Gardens--Williamsburg. Notice that the theme of the first tree is "Six Geese," from the popular old song "The Twelve Days of Christmas."
I hope you enjoyed these photographs as much as I did. Again, thanks to the four photographers for sharing their work with us!
__________________________________
We welcome your FEEDBACK. Send to
cncmemories61_71@yahoo.com
Published December 23, 2016
Graffiti with Greenery
Photos sent by Danny Peters (BS, 1971)
Edited by A. Jane Chambers
The graffiti artists shown in this article have combined brushes and paint with bushes and trees, weeds and even leaves, to create some very unusual images adorning everything from buildings and fences to sidewalks and curbs. Neither the artists nor the locates were identified in the email Danny forwarded. Nevertheless, I have greatly enjoyed these works and hope you will also enjoy the ten (of over twenty) I've chosen to post here. I'll post more of them at another time.
Human hairdos (photos above) are popular subjects with graffiti greenery artists, but popular also are images of full-length humans, especially children, interacting with nature (photos below).
Some of the graffiti is very simple in style, such as this cheerleader with pom poms made of weeds (below), possibly created by a child. Other pieces are much more sophisticated, such as the image of the man peeping through the hedges (below), which required hedge work as well as realistic art work. There is also a contrast suggested here between a happy, innocent and communal human activity and a slightly fearful if not sinister and hidden activity.
These next two works below show cartoon-like creatures interacting comically with autumn leaves. Each little creature has found a unique way to deal with dead leaves. The mouse has made a boat from a leaf, to row himself away from the other leaves; the little alien has made a rug from a section of concrete, to sweep his leaves beneath.
This artist has chosen an unlikely home for his mouse--a cement curb. But quickly we overcome our doubts and believe the curb is the little mouse's hollow home and the weed outside is a precious plant he is nurturing. In the same way we saw in the opening photograph not just assorted greenery and a bit of paint, but a loving motherbird feeding her babies. These graffiti artists are indeed talented masters of illusion.
______________________________________________
We welcome your FEEDBACK. Send to
cncmemories61_71 or
cnc6171@cox.net
Published December 9, 2016
What's in a Name?
Witchduck Road and the "Witch of Pungo"
by A. Jane Chambers
The Court had "Antient and Knowing women... Serch her Carefully For
all teats spots and marks about her body not usuall on Others, and ...as they
Find the Same to make report on Oath To the truth thereof to the Court."
--1706 Court Records, Trial of Grace Sherwood
Stop sign in the Witch Duck Point area of Virginia Beach. Internet photos: 1, 2, 5, 6, & 7.
The story behind the name Witchduck Road, in present day Virginia Beach, goes back 300 years, when many people believed some people were witches in league with Satan, and could cause horrible events such as terrific storms, failed crops, and deaths of people and livestock. One victim of such medieval views was Grace White Sherwood (born ca. 1660), a widow of about 47 who was, on July 10, 1706, bound hands to feet and thrown ("ducked") from a boat into the Lynnhaven River, to test whether she was a witch. The belief was that if she sank, she was innocent; but if she floated, she was guilty, since water, being pure, would reject her. It was the only time in Virginia that a trial by ducking occurred.
The tranquil scene above is where Grace Sherwood was ducked: Witch Duck Bay, located at the end of North Witchduck Road and facing Witch Duck Point--20th century names acknowledging the 17th century miscarriage of justice suffered by the "Witch of Pungo." Imagine the shoreline filled with hateful people shouting "Duck the witch!" and "Send her to the Devil!" Who was this woman, and why was she believed to be a witch? Wikipedia has a rather good summary of her life, trials, and legacy, citing numerous sources, some of which I've also explored.
Grace white was born about 1660 in Pungo, then a part of Princess Anne County (now southern Virginia Beach), the daughter of John White, a Scottish carpenter and small-farm landowner, and Susan White, an English woman. In 1680, Grace married James Sherwood, also a small-farm landowner, in the Lynnhaven Parish Church. Grace's father gifted the newlyweds with 50 acres of his land, fronting on Muddy Creek, and upon his death the next year, left the young couple the rest of his land, 145 acres. Grace and James had three sons and the family farmed this land the rest of their lives. Grace also worked as a midwife and a healer, treating people and animals with medicinal herbs she grew ("Grace Sherwood," Wikipedia).
Princess Anne County Court Records detail Grace's court cases. Her trials for witchcraft began in 1697, when a neighboring farmer accused her of causing his bull's death. In 1698, she was accused of bewitching the hogs and cotton crop of another farmer. Later, she was accused of turning herself into a black cat, entering a woman's bedroom, tormenting her, then exiting through a keyhole. Guilt was never proven in these cases or any of the others before the "witch duck" case (1706), and after each trial, Grace sued for slander, but never won, so she and her husband, James, had to pay court costs. In 1701 James died, leaving the farm to her. She never remarried, and she and their sons continued their peaceful farming, but the rumors that she was a witch did not die and the court cases continued ("Sherwood," Wikipedia, & "Witchcraft," Encyclopedia Virginia). Grace's biographer, Belinda Nash, says Grace Sherwood's court cases, as defendant or as plaintiff, numbered about a dozen before the 1706 trial ("Virginia Woman Seeks to Clear Witch, USA Today, 7/9/2006).
CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE
CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE
The above pages are from "Witchcraft in Colonial Virginia," in the Encyclopedia Virginia (441 - 442). They are a 1914 transcript of the court proceedings of Grace Sherwood's 1706 trial in Princess Anne County Court, reprinted from Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases, 1648 - 1706, ed. by George Lincoln Burr, with some spellings modernized and contractions expanded for clarity. The heading on the left page ("Under July 5") is where details of the ducking trial begin.
That final trial (July 10, 1706) grew out of a fight in 1705 between Grace and a neighbor, Elizabeth Hill. Grace sued the woman and her husband for assault and battery and won damages on December 7 of twenty shillings (1 pound sterling). On January 3, 1706, the Hills accused her of witchcraft, a charge Grace ignored, not appearing in court. Next, they charged her with having bewitched Elizabeth, causing her to have a miscarriage, and the court ordered Grace to appear in court on that charge on February 7, 1706 (Wikipedia).
Court records above suggest that the officials were somewhat reluctant to try Grace yet again for witchcraft. There were problems getting "a Jury to Serch her" (for Devil marks) and there was concern that she have a fair trial. She agreed to the ducking, scheduled first for July 5, but "the weather being very Rainy and Bad" on that day, "Soe that possibly it might endanger her health," the court postponed the water test to July 10, 1706 (p. 441 above).
On July 10, before and again after the ducking, a Jury of "Ansient and Knowing women" undressed and searched Grace "For all teats spotts and marks...not usuall on Others" and swore they found "two things like titts on her private parts of Black Coller" (p. 442 above). These were seen as "Devil's marks," evidence of her being a witch. The major "proof" of guilt, of course, was that when she was put into the water, not only did she not sink, but all watching her clearly saw her "Swiming when therein and bound Contrary To Custom" (p. 442 above).
She was jailed "in the Common Goale of the country," near her parish church, with an expectation she would be retried later at the court in Williamsburg, the Colonial Capitol, but there is no record of that ever happening. Additional records of this case, if any, were lost in a fire in the next century (p. 442). We do know, however, that in 1714, she was released from prison, paid her back taxes, and with the help of Virginia's Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood, recovered her property from Princess Anne County, after which she lived on her farm until her death in 1740 at the age of about 80 (Wikipedia).
Grace White Sherwood was virtually forgotten until 1973, when Virginia Beach historian and author Louisa Venable Kyle wrote a children's book of local folk tales with Grace's story as the title: The Witch of Pungo. Interest grew in this piece of Colonial history, leading in 2002 to the erection of the historical marker shown here, located near Sentara Bayside Hospital in Virginia Beach (Wikipedia).
In the 1980s, Grace gained a champion, Belinda Nash, a Canadian who moved to Virginia Beach and became curious about the name Witchduck Road, near her home. Until her death in 2016, Nash researched Grace and spoke often and everywhere about her. In 2012 she and her daughter, Danielle Sheets, published their biography of Grace--A Place in Time: The Age of the Witch of Pungo (Wikipedia). Nash also led a movement to have Grace's good name restored and a nearly life-sized bronze statue of her erected. Nash and her husband donated $17,000 toward the $92,000 cost and on July 10, 2006, the 300th anniversary of Grace's conviction, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine restored her good name, recognizing Sherwood's case was a miscarriage of justice (Virginian-Pilot, "Grace ... Pardoned," Summer 2006, p. 17).
The statue (left) was unveiled on April 21, 2007, on the site of the present-day Sentara Bayside Hospital, close to the sites of both the colonial courthouse and the ducking point. California sculptor Robert Cunningham depicted Grace with a raccoon, representing her love of animals, and a basket of rosemary, representing her knowledge of herbal healing. Nearby is also the historical marker shown earlier(Wikipedia).
In 2014, this memorial stone marker (right) was placed in the herb garden of the Old Donation Episcopal Church, the site of Sherwood's own church, Lynnhaven Parish Church. Nash commented: "I was so happy when I heard this stone was going to be placed. My heart was relieved to hear the church was welcoming it" (Wikipedia).
Why was Grace Sherwood labeled as a witch? We have no drawings or paintings of her, but Nash summarized the contemporary descriptions of her she found: " Sherwood was a tall, good-looking and unconventional woman who grew herbs for medicine, owned prime waterfront property and wore trousers--taboo for women at that time--when she planted crops." She also "just knew too much." Nash thinks many of the Pungo neighbors "were jealous and made up witchcraft tales to get rid of Sherwood, perhaps to take her land" ("Virginia Woman," USA Today, 7/9/2006).
__________________________________________
We welcome your FEEDBACK. Send it to
cncmemories61_71@yahoo.com
Published September 16, 2016
Republished October 26, 2018
40th Anniversary Cruise:
Anthem of the Seas' Maiden Voyage to Bermuda
by Ron Lowder - Webmaster
A 40th Anniversary occurs but once in a marriage. So my wonderful wife Maureen and I decided to take an anniversary trip. First stop was Arlington, Virginia where my son Sean manages 3 restaurants, Liberty Tavern (once visited by our President), Lyon Hall, and Northside Social (sort of a mega coffee shop with a bar upstairs). Sean set up a progressive dinner for us consisting of appetizers at Lyon Hall, main couse at Liberty Tavern and dessert at Northside Social. All three restaurants are within walking distance being no more than a few blocks from each other. The food was fabulous as was the company of my wife, son and daughter-in-law Jessica; truly an evening to remember.
We headed out the next morning for the cruise port at Bayonne, New Jersey, about a three hour trip, to board the Anthem of the Seas which is one of Royal Caribbean's newest and most "high tech" ships.
THE SHIP
Yes, this is the ship that ran into extremely rough weather just a few months ago. The Anthem of the Seas, put into service just a year ago, is a 1,142 foot long cruise ship with a beam (width) of 136 feet at the waterline, 162 feet at the widest point with a capacity of 4,180 passengers. Having been a passenger this month on the ship, I can well imagine the impact of extremely rough seas on the ship. The ship appears to be taller than most other cruise ships which (my guess) might have an affect the vertical stability of the ship. Unlike other ships we have been on, even a mildly choppy sea causes a minor rocking of the ship which is felt more intensely on the upper 6 decks of this 18 deck ship (16 passenger-accessible decks). It is the world's 3rd largest cruise ship.
As the Chief of Operations of an engineering department before retirement, I developed an appreciation for excellent engineering that incorperates solid, modern technologies. I was delighted to experience that type of advancement onboard the Anthem of the Seas. Stand-out innovative engineering examples are as follows:
Paperless program announcements. Via a free smartphone app and free (limited) wifi, passengers can view a list of activities available onboard and make reservations to restaurants, theaters, and other activities in realtime.
Bumper Cars - How long has it been since you drove a bumper car? I can remember the bumper cars at the Buckroe Beach Amusement Park. Hadn't set foot in a bumper car in at least 53 years until our cruise on the Anthem. It was like being a kid again! This same facility (called the Seaplex) also hosted roller skating and basketball games (on different days, of course).
Photo by Royal Caribbean.
Photo by Royal Caribbean.
Bionic Bar - This ship feature was fascinating to watch. Patrons placed their order via an iPad like device attached to the tables. The bionic bartender mixed the drink and poured it into a plastic cup. The person who ordered the drink then placed his proximity card (same card that opens their cabin door) on a pad in front of the drink and the drink then slid down to the edge of the platform for the person to pick up. The bionic bartenders did a good job with only a drop or two spilling when they poured the mixed drink into a cup. Again, fascinating!!!
The North Star - This hydraulically lifted glass capsule can transport a group of up to about 15 people to a height of 300 feet above the top of the ship for unbelievable scenery. It was a little hard to take a good picture from inside the sphere because of the reflections off the glass. A truly unique experience. We rode this twice: once at sea and once while docked in Bermuda. Remarkable!
Arrow points to the North Star sphere.
Photo by Royal Caribbean.
Photo by Royal Caribbean.
iFly - this is a simulated sky diving experience in a large glass cylindrical enclosure. We didn't have time to try it out but it looked like a lot of fun...probably suited better for the younger generation.
THE ISLAND
The local newpaper posted this on their front page:
We were privileged to be on the very first visit by the Anthem to Bermuda.
The flag of Bermuda.
Bermuda was founded in 1609 (2 years after Jamestown) by the "Virginia Company" and became a British colony in 1707. The island is named after Spanish Sea Captain Juan de Bermudez who navigated around the island to create a map in 1503. Bermuda is 665 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina and is the northernmost point of the Bermuda Triangle.
A unique aspect of the Bermuda landscape is the identical roofing system used on almost all homes and buildings. These white limestone roofs are designed to capture rainwater for later consumption. Another characteristic of the island is the narrow roads. Because of the limited real estate (whole island is only about 21 square miles), most homes and businesses are built very close to the roads. We experienced these roads "up close and personal" when we decided to take a city bus to the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse during our second day in Bermuda. The speed limits on the island roads range between 35 and 25 km/h (about 25 to 15.5 mph) though our bus (and other vehicles) seldom went that slow, making the bus ride more like an amusement park ride. This lack of speed limit adherence was wide spread and was evident even in areas of heavy tourist foot traffic. It is a good idea to be very vigilant regarding the vehicular traffic when on foot on the island, as vehicles do not slow down for pedestrians.
Another unique aspect of the island is the city bus system. Bus stops are marked only by blue poles: no signs, nothing else! Each stop has a 2" vertical pipe approximately 5' tall cemented in the ground and painted dark blue. We did not know this when we were looking for a bus stop on our return trip to the ship but were lucky to just be in the vacinity of a blue pole when the bus arrived at our stop.
Roof engineered to allow for the capture of rainwater.
Roof of the lighthouse (bottom left of picture). Picture taken from the lighthouse.
Fort Catherine - one of 12 forts on Bermuda.
I strongly recommend Bermuda as a great place to visit. We only scratched the surface in seeing the rich history that this island affords. Lighthouses, forts, museums are in abundance and the ones we saw made it well worth our trip.
View from the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse with the "Anthem of the Seas" in the distance.
Published May 13, 2016
Future First Decaders Featured
in Newport News High School's
Mid-1960s Beacon
by A. Jane Chambers
with clippings provided by
Jeanette M. Hornsby
(CNC freshman, 1966-67)
Three of the four outstanding Newport News High School seniors featured in these three undated, mid-1960s articles from NNHS's Beacon were destined either to become CNC First Decaders or to become closely associated with the First Decade students through marriage, although when these articles were published, apparently none of the three had any idea CNC would play a meaningful role in their lives. Although there was a Christopher Newport Society at NNHS in the mid-1960s, this organizationapparently had no connection with Christopher Newport College.
THOMMY ROWELL fulfilled her stated goal in the Beacon article of "attending William and Mary," where she double majored in history and English, but she became connected with CNC when she married NNHS sweetheart CHARLES G. SNEAD, who earned an AA degree at CNC in 1966. Despite higher degrees at W&M and ODU later, plus post-graduate work in public school administration, Charlie remained very loyal to CNC and is a very active CNC First Decader (FD), and Thommy has always joined him in attending every FD event held both on and off campus since the initial FD reunion in 2011. Both are looking forward to the 50th Reunion of his Class of 1966. As for the accuracy of other details about Thommy in this Beacon article, Charlie says that his wife "still likes to read, eat, and play the piano," adding, "She has played piano at a church most of her life. Currently she's musician for First Presbyterian Church, PCUSA, Hendersonville, and takes turns teaching adult Sunday School." Charlie ends his description of his lovely wife thus: "Thommy is a doting 'Jam Ma' for 2 grandsons living outside of Charlotte, and the wind beneath my tattered sails."
CHARLES MILNE, as the article stated, loved "all kinds of music, from classic to jazz" and wanted to attend "a northern Ivy League School" and "major in liberal arts." He ultimately reached those goals and more, but he had his first liberal arts experiences at CNC, where he joined the Dramatic Workshop, starring in the lead role in CNC's first production of a 3-act play, J.B., in 1966, and also co-edited the college’s first creative magazine, TheUndertow, in its second year, 1966-67. Then he went to NYC,earned his BA & MA degrees at NYU, and later advanced to Professor of Theatre and Dean of the Tisch School at NYU. A gifted organist, after retirement he became President of Providence Entertainment in 1996, in his own words, “Doing music full-time: composing, arranging & directing a 30-voice choir. Also gigging 3 nights a week & preparing & recording scores for musicals.” Unfortunately, he died from cancer at his home in Warne, NC, on November 6, 2011, at age 65, leaving behind a wife and daughter. During his illness, however, the founding of the CNC First Decaders enabled him to find some joy in reconnecting with favorite CNC professors such as Barry Wood.
STEVE KIGER, "president of his class for the third year in a row" and a basketball player at NNHS, planned to attend college after graduation but was not sure which one--"perhaps the University of Richmond." However, CNC's newly appointed first basketball coach, Bev Vaughan, convinced Steve and his NNHS teammate Wayne Owens to join CNC's first men's basketball team, beginning the year 1967-68. Although Steve's academic and athletic career was interrupted in 1969, when he was drafted into the Army and sent to Vietnam, later he was able to return to classes at CNC while working full and part time as Physical Activities Director for the Virginia Peninsula Boys Club. He completed his BA in Sociology in 1975. Steve then served 25 years as a Probations Parole Officer for the Virginia Department of Corrections, retiring in 2001. Afterwards, he did substitute teaching (K-3) for Newport News Schools. I hear he still attends many CNU basketball games.
How many of us, as high school seniors, really had an accurate vision of our futures? I didn't. Did you?
All pictures of the locomotive were taken by Judith Lowery of the Newport News Daily Press (DP ) and are from the DP photo gallery Pictures: Steam Locomotive in Huntington Park.
The January 17, 2016 Daily Press photo above has caused some passersby on Warwick Blvd. to wonder if they are seeing only the ghost of C&O engine 2756 and its tender, on display in Huntington Park since 1963. The ghostly color, however, is merely primer paint. A gift to the City of Newport News from Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, the locomotive underwent removal of asbestos and lead paint in late 2015 and will soon, probably this spring, be repainted its normal black. The last time number 2756 had been cleaned and repainted was 1984.
The need for this latest restorative work on the Kanawha-type steam locomotive is evident in the above photograph showing the weather-related corrosive damage to the paint. The picture below shows the engine surrounded with plastic and scaffolding in the early stages of the process, the plastic serving to protect the environment from the old lead paint chips and asbestos.
In the photo below we see that the plastic and scaffolding have been removed from the engine (notice the man carrying sections of scaffolding) and that it has now been completely covered with primer. To the far left, a man can be seen working on the tender. It is hard to tell whether he is removing old paint or applying primer.
The picture below gives us a closer view of that same man at work. He does seem to be spraying primer, yet what he is spraying it on looks very much like a section of metal that has not yet been cleaned. What do you readers think?
A major reason the City began this restoration project at this time is that a decision was made to move the locomotive to yet another home, also located on Warwick Blvd.-- the recently restored Lee Hall Depot in upper Newport News. Internet speculations vary regarding when and how this move will occur, but apparently the engine and tender will travel separately, whether by rail or highway, sometime in 2016 and/or 2017.
Why move Locomotive 2756 to the Lee Hall Depot? It is a historic railway depot built in the 1880s, with later expansions into the next decade, by the C&O Railroad. Originally it served passengers, especially military personnel at Fort Eustis. However, passenger service ended in the 1970s. It was moved to the other side of Warwick Blvd. in 2009 to save it from being demolished by the CSX Railroad and listed in 2010 in the National Register of Historic Places (Wikipedia). The City and the non-profit Lee Hall Train Station Foundation worked together, with the help of federal grants, to restore the building, now a museum. Having the old train engine and its tender located there seems appropriate to many.
Both Lee Hall photos are from the Lee Hall Train Station Foundation's Facebook page.
The photo above, taken in December of 2014, shows the front of the restored Lee Hall Depot, including sidewalk, a piece of the parking lot, and a wheelchair ramp next to the main entrance. The photo below, taken at that same time, shows part of the back of the restored station. Notice the railroad tracks, which go across only a short length of ground. The locomotive well beloved in Huntington Park for half a century will be sitting on this section of track for the remainder of its life beginning sometime in 2016 or 2017. Go visit it there, and take your grandchildren!
Published February 12. 2016
Moving C&0 Locomotive 2756
to Huntington Park:
August 26, 1963
by A. Jane Chambers
with photos and information from Daily Press Archives
I wish I had been there. Were you? Or were any of your friends or relatives there the day steam locomotive 2756 was moved from C&O's tracks in Newport News to its new home in Huntington Park? Our webmaster Ron Lowder's father-in-law, Donald J. O’Brien, was there. "He was a railroad engineer, " Ron recalls, "and as my wife remembers (Maureen was only 13 then), he was involved, at least behind the scenes, in the train movement."
C&O's locomotive 2756 before being moved to Huntington Park in 1963, one of 33 photos from the Daily Press Archives titled Look Back: Huntington Park locomotive - Daily Press, the source of all pictures in this article except the last one.
A caption in the Daily Press Archives summarizes this historical event: Several hundred people gathered on Sunday Aug. 26, 1963, to watch a retired Chesapeake & Ohio steam locomotive be pulled across Warwick Boulevard and set in its resting place in Huntington Park in Newport News. The locomotive was donated to the city as a museum piece - an example of the type of steam engine used to carry million of tons of coal into Newport News piers over several decades. Police blocked traffic at 6 a.m. as a volunteer crew of C&O employees laid a temporary section of track across the road. By nightfall, the train was ready to be shoved into position.
No doubt the most difficult, and most time-consuming, task was that of laying and then removing the track. This work was done by C&O volunteers, many of whom seem to have been at or near retirement. Although heavy equipment was used, a lot of human muscle was used as well. Notice that it took four men to lift, carry, and put in place just one railroad tie.
All of the Daily Press photographs made of the rail laying appear to have been made in Huntington Park. Above left we see some people sitting on train rails while watching the work there. Do you recognize any of these people? If so, tell us! Above right we see locomotive 2756 on the other side of Warwick Blvd., waiting to be pulled across the 4-lane highway.
Finally steam engine 2756 and its tender completed the crossing of Warwick and entered Huntington Park, where the old "Iron Horse" would remain for over fifty years. In 1963, no one imagined that it would ever be moved again. But plans are underway now to move it in the near future to the renovated Lee Hall Railroad Station in upper Newport News. That move will be the subject of another article on this website.
See expanded caption below.
As these last two pictures show, locomotive 2756 quickly became a very popular attraction in the park among both children and historically minded adults. Virtually every child living in or visiting Newport News from 1963 until the mid-1970s delighted in fully and freely exploring it, as did the two boys in the photo on the left, dated 1974. Members of the staff of Christopher Newport College's 1968 Trident yearbook chose the engine as a setting for their staff photo, which, four decades later, the editors of Memories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade,selected as a chapter photo. Free access to the locomotive diminished as time passed, however, and in 1976, according to the Daily Press gallery, the old Iron Horse "was fenced in after the city found asbestos and what might be peeling lead paint on the engine."
NOTE: If you and/or your children or grandchildren explored Engine 2756 and you have memories (including photographs) you'd like to share, send your comments and/or pictures to Dave Spriggs, at cnc6171@cox.net, or Jane Chambers, atcncmemories61_71@yahoo.com, ASAP. Your FEEDBACK will be published in the nextupdate of this website.
Published January 29, 2016
Snowzilla in Fairfax: Fred Hardy's Photos
Alumnus Fred Hardy (AA, 63) sent the following photos and comments regarding his recent Snowzilla ordeal (January 22nd & 23rd) at his home in Fairfax, VA. Northern Virginia clearly had much more snow than we had in Tidewater during that weekend.
Hi, folks:
After two days of snow, it took two days to dig out the driveway to the street. I simply wore out on Sunday with about 15 feet to go to reach the road, and then clear the sidewalk. Finished on Monday with a little help from my friends.Cheers..... Fred
I worked on it all day Sunday, but couldn't finish. Here what I had achieved when I quit Sunday.
Monday I had help and we finished around 2:00 P.M.
Published January 29, 2016
Nor'easter-Joaquin Flood Photos:
Tidewater and the Outer Banks
by A. Jane Chambers
The southeastern coast of America was fortunate recently to escape a direct hit from Hurricane Joaquin. Although the hurricane passed us far offshore, its winds impacted the force of the lingering Nor'easter we experienced, however, bringing more high winds and flooding to Tidewater and the Outer Banks than we would have had otherwise. Here are some photographs taken by various people between October 2 - 5 that capture some of the flooding and damage in our general area. The one above, taken on Hatteras Island at Rodanthe, by Brian Brumfield, captured the Atlantic surging over a protective dune and overwashing the beach road.
The Rodanthe Fishing Pier on Hatteras, so severely damaged in February that it took months to restore it, again suffered major damage. The photo on the left above, taken by Brian Brumfield, shows the pier being pounded on October 4 . The photo on the right, taken later that day, and focused on the same section of the pier, show parts caving in. This second picture was posted on a GOFUNDME page on Facebook. The community is being asked for financial help to repair the pier yet again.
Like so many before it, this recent storm damaged route NC 12, particularly in Kitty Hawk and on Ocracoke Island. These two pictures, both made by WCMS radio personnel, show one spot on the beach road (NC 12) in Kitty Hawk, near the Black Pelican (Mile 4), at two different times. On the left, the dune protecting the road has just been broken. Notice the car being sprayed. On the right, the collapsed road awaits yet another pounding four hours later, when high tide returns again on October 5.
Many businesses and homes located on waterfront properties in North Carolina and Virginia were flooded for several days, especially during high tides. The two photos above, taken by Paul Hurdle during high tide on October 2, show the flooding at Bubba's Seafood Restaurant and Crab House, located at Lynnhaven Inlet in Virginia Beach. The popular outdoor dining area (R photo) resembled a salt water swimming pool.
The waterfront areas in Norfolk and Portsmouth were heavily flooded. The October 2 Virginian-Pilot photo (L) shows the boardwalk flooded in front of the USS Wisconsin, anchored dockside in Norfolk beside Nauticus, on the Elizabeth River. The scene was similar on the other side of the river, on the Portsmouth waterfront. This photo (R) was also shot on October 2, by Harvey Siegal, a former of classmate of Paul Hurdle, who posted several Portsmouth photos made by his friend Harvey on Facebook.
These two pictures, also by Harvey Siegal and posted by Paul Hurdle, show major flooding in the residential areas of Portsmouth located near the Elizabeth River. The car in the second photo (R) was one of numerous autos damaged by tidal water, rain water, or both--not only in Norfolk and Portsmouth, but in low-lying areas all over the Peninsula, especially in Hampton and Poquoson. The entire east coast areas of Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina had already had extensive rainfall for about two weeks before the Nor'easter- Joaquin event.
This picture of angry surf (L) at Peterson's, at Stuart Gardens in Newport News, was taken on October 4 by CNC First Decader John Hughes. On the same day, John also took the Huntington Beach boat ramp photo (R), showing the water near the James River Bridge quite tranquil, although flooding high up into the parking lot at the boat ramp.
Tides ran high throughout the extended storm, as shown in this photo (L) of the flooded Denbigh Park Pier on October 5, taken by Adam Bollinger. Jane Hammond of the Daily Press took the photo (R) of street flooding on Poquoson Avenue, at Pine Street, on October 2. Street flooding was a serious problem for days, causing frequent closing of schools and businesses.
These photos, posted on the Grandview Island Facebook page and dated October 2, did not identify the photographer(s). The dead tree in the beach photo (L) was also the subject of another photo on another site, showing the water even higher up on the tree, but that picture was not nearly as good as this one. The Grandview house photo (R) is artistic also, with the tranquility of the house contrasting sharply with the violence of the wave hitting the riprap that's very close to it.
This photo gallery would not be complete without a few pictures taken at Hampton's Buckroe Beach. Bennett Cosentino took the picture (L) of water flooding at the seawall, on October 4. On the same day, Cynthia Lynn Privette-Higgins focused her camera on sea foam covering the underside of the Buckroe Beach Pier.
We welcome your FEEDBACK on this or any other article on our website. Send it to cncmemories61_71@yahoo.com.
Published October 9, 2015
Flood Bound in Poquoson
Photos and Information from
Beverly Brooks Phillips
First Decader Beverly (Bev) Brooks Phillips, CNC Class of 1968, and her husband, James, have a waterfront home in Poquoson, an area well known for periodic flooding. Photos we posted here on October 9, showing some effects of the lingering storm in early October, prompted Bev to send these photos below on October 10, showing their yard and road during flood tides. "As I told a friend," she wrote, " sometimes we live on the water and other times we live in the water."
Above is a view of their backyard during a high tide. "We are on a point of land at the intersection of Bennett Creek and Floyds Bay... facing northeast, of course!" Bev wrote. "We were very lucky. We got a few inches of water in our attached garage. But our house was high and dry."
Flooded boat docks and high-riding boats were typical all over Poquoson, as shown in the second photo (L) of the Phillips family's yard. "For me the worst part was the repeated flooding," wrote Bev. "The road to our house flooded on every high tide. We were trapped" (photo R). "Fortunately, we had no damage," she added, but for awhile she and James were "swamped with the clean up."
We welcome YOUR NEWS items.
Send your photos and stories to cncmemories61_71@yahoo.com
Published October 23, 2015
Power Towers Project on the James River:
Facts and Photos from The Smithfield Times
Summarized by A. Jane Chambers
with thanks to Smithfield Times News Editor Diana McFarland
and Editor John Edwards
Like so many before it, this recent storm damaged route NC 12, particularly in Kitty Hawk and on Ocracoke Island. These two pictures, both made by WCMS radio personnel, show one spot on the beach road (NC 12) in Kitty Hawk, near the Black Pelican (Mile 4), at two different times. On the left, the dune protecting the road has just been broken. Notice the car being sprayed. On the right, the collapsed road awaits yet another pounding four hours later, when high tide returns again on October 5.
Those of us who travel the James River Bridge have noticed for over a year that work of some kind has been occurring around Dominion Virginia Power's electric towers paralleling the bridge. After several unsuccessful attempts since January to learn from Dominion precisely what that work is, Smithfield Times Editor John Edwards was finally given permission to send News Editor Diana McFarland to the work site in early August to get some answers. Two Dominion PR people and two Dominion men connected to the project joined her at Huntington Beach, where the five were ferried to the main working barge. Shared here are nine of the photos she took, plus interesting facts from her front page Times story "Dominion extending life of aging James River Tower Legs (8/5/15, pp. 1 & 8) and her second front page photo spread "Maintaining the towers" (p. 9).
The photo left above shows the significant corrosion of many steel support beams found during a 2013 inspection. Mark Allen, Dominion's director of transmission construction, told reporter McFarland that "You could actually put your finger through" the metal of some beams. Although covered in the 1980s and 90s with marine quality fiberglass jackets, the beams had been attacked by salt water seeping through them. Dominion engineers found this solution to the problem, said Allen: "encapsulating the H-beams with fiberglass cylinders lined with rebar cages and filled with concrete" (pp. 1 & 8).
The photo on the right shows the two barges utilized together on this project. The concrete-mixer barge (with the seemingly smaller crane) is behind the main barge in this photo.
Diver Russell Martin (above left) has the difficult task of working in murky water where visibility below the surface is only six or eight inches. He has to work primarily by touch. He told reporter McFarland, "Sometimes I work with my eyes closed." The depth of the water at the towers varies from about six feet to over thirty. His main job, using an underwater hydraulic drill, is to install large metal clips to hold the fiberglass cylinders in place as they are lowered and then sunk four feet into the riverbed (p. 8).
Above right is a photo of two legs, each with three H-beam supports, on which work has been completed. Dominion hired Procon Marine of Chesapeake for this $28 million project, which is expected to be completed in December, said Dominion spokesperson Donita Harris. However, Jeff Malaby, who is overseeing the project, told McFarland, "There's nothing fast out here. You can't work fast," given factors like the weather, water depth and currents. There are 18 towers, 11 of them 165 feet tall and the other seven 290 feet tall. The project is expected to extend their life by another 40 years (pp. 1 & 8).
Shown above left are the concrete mixer, two operators and bags of concrete mix that weigh "a couple thousand pounds" each, said overseer Malaby. Depending on the depth of the water at each tower, he added, it takes five or six bags of concrete to fill each fiberglass cylinder (p. 8). And it takes that crane, on the left, to lift those bags. In the background is the James River Bridge.
The photo above right shows the rebar (steel) cages that are lowered into the cylinders before the concrete is poured. Another job the diver has is placing a wooden plug at the bottom of the cylinder before the mixture is poured. The plug forms a base from which the workers lay the concrete, which flows from the mixer through a thick black hose (p. 8). I have read elsewhere that the water for the concrete mix is drawn from the river and that each cylinder has a diameter of three feet. Since there are 18 towers, each with 4 legs (thus 12 H-beams), this project entails filling 216 cylinders with concrete and rebar. Dominion's Mark Allen told reporter McFarland that to date, four towers were finished, beginning with the tower closest to the Isle of Wight County side, while work progresses on another six (p. 8).
Dominion's project includes not only extending the life of the tower legs by 40 years, but also replacing the fenders left and right of the shipping channel running under the James River Bridge. As the photo left above shows, these steel and wood fenders meant to protect the towers near that channel from errant ship traffic are in terrible shape. The H-beams are severely rusted, the wood falling off. New fenders (photo right), made of a hollow fiberglass composite, are being installed now by W.F. Magann Corporaton of Portsmouth. These will not rust. Also they were "designed to have enough flexibility to deflect boats and barges that may veer off course," according to Allen (p. 8).
Although I have lived in the Newport News area since 1963, I never knew until reading this Smithfield Times article that the towers paralleling the JRB are bringing electricity to the lower Peninsula, not delivering it from the Peninsula to the Southside. Two sets of power lines feed into those towers: one from the Surry nuclear plant and the other from the Chuckatuck substation (p. 8).
When I asked Diana McFarLand if she found it difficult to take notes and shoot pictures on a barge filled with activities and materials, she wrote: "The only hard part was that I had to wear a hard hat that kept falling off, plus these steel toed things on my shoes that were clumsy, plus a lifejacket, not to mention my camera gear, notebook and pen. We also had to make sure we stayed out of the way... and there wasn’t a lot of room to do that." Overall, she found the experience delightful, "one of those situations where you realize there are jobs out there you just never knew existed -- and so hands on! It’s those types of assignments that make being a reporter fun."
Published August 28, 2015
My Top 30 Music Survey Sheet Collection
by Webmaster Ron Lowder
As a kid living in the Parkview area of Newport News, I was always fascinated by the music on Radio Station WGH and the advent of “Rock & Roll” music. It was an exciting time for pop music with some great songs being recorded by such “new on the scene” artists as Elvis Presley, The Beatles, James Brown, The Rolling Stones, Pat Boone, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Ray Charles, and The Beach Boys, to name a few.
The Parkview area is close to the Newmarket housing development and I was delighted when the Newmarket Shopping Center was built on the corner of Jefferson Ave. and Mercury Blvd. around 1955. My friends and I would ride our bikes up to the new shopping center and observe the construction of the bowling alley and stores as they were rushed to completion for opening in the new center.
Within a few years, around 1957, The Record Shop opened in the center and I began purchasing 45 RPM records - 99 cents each plus tax. The AM radio frequency band was where most of the stations were. The FM band had mostly classical music. WGH Radio (indisputably the most popular AM radio station during that era) soon began publishing weekly Top 30 sheets that listed the top songs for the week for the Hampton Roads area. The Top 30 sheets were distributed to record shops where consumers could pick them up free of charge. I would faithfully pick up a copy of the WGH Top 30 sheet each week.
Note that the sheets were obviously created using a manual typewriter...no computers back then!
Shortly after WGH started publishing its Top 30 sheets, other local stations followed suit. Of course, I picked up copies of those sheets too as they became available.
The radio stations ascertained the ranking of the songs on the sheets by compiling listener request, juke box plays and record counter sales in Tidewater.
Click on photo to enlarge
Click on photo to enlarge
Click on photo to enlarge
The WGH sheets evolved from a slender 4” X 9 1/4” sheet to a larger 7” X 10” sheet with even more features, one of which was the Platter Princess, featuring rotating pictures of high school girls. Two sheets with this feature are pictured below.
Eventually, with this larger sheet size, the radio stations would make use of the reverse side of the sheets. The sheets below feature pictures of their Disc Jockeys from two rival stations, circa 1961.
I have a collection of about 126 sheets spanning the years 1958 through 1973 (mostly 1958 and 1959) and I am in the process of scanning each sheet for placement on a CD. The CD should be ready for sale at our Decaders picnic on September 27 at near cost, $10. If you would like a CD copy, please let me know via email at ron384@verizon.net so I'll know how many CD copies to bring.
First Decader Ronald L. Lowder, Sr. retired as Chief of Operations for a local component of Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, Atlantic in 2008 and has enjoyed a second (parallel) career in music for over 50 years. He currently performs with several musical groups including the Peninsula Retired Musicians Band (a 10 piece group which performs mainly for retirement communities), The Sound of Swing (a 15 piece “Glenn Miller style” band), Magic Moments (a 7 piece party/convention show group), the Coast Guard Band in Yorktown, and Soul Intent (a 9 piece soul/beach music band). Ron also enjoys writing music with songwriting partner Jimmy Crank. Ron and wife Maureen take great pride in and much enjoyment from their 4 children and 8 grand children.
Published August 14, 2015
Republished August 4, 2017
Blue Star Diner Safe for Now:
City and Owner Agree on Deal
Daily Press Highlights
by A. Jane Chambers
Daily Press photo by Judith Lowery, (Monday, August 10, 2015, p. 5).
The August 12th article stated that the diner was inspected on Monday, August 10th, and declared safe by codes inspector Larry Payne, who said, "A lot of repairs need to be made, but it [isn't] unsafe," so the city has removed it from both the condemnation and demolition lists and given Belleville Diners 90 days to submit plans for renovations. According to the August 10th article, Belleville has already hired a local architect who will submit those plans. If the city approves these, the company expects to complete the remaining work and open the diner for business in six to nine months (8/12/15, p.3).
PROBLEMS AND PROGRESS
The "WHAT'S NEXT" article quoted Lessin as saying that soon after Belleville purchased the diner (2010), problems and unexpected expenses occurred. "Air conditioning units were stolen from the roof of the building, Lessin said, and they are difficult to replace" since any new units "will have to work with the older pieces in the system. Also, since the diner must meet new (2015) energy codes, Belleville will have to install "more efficient windows" (8/10/15, p. 5).
Both articles stated that the company has already painted the rear and sides of the diner, demolished and removed rear sheds and removed some trees. The big jobs yet to be done are building a commercial kitchen in the rear of the diner and replacing the air conditioning, plumbing and electrical systems. Lessin also said in the August 10th article that after these major projects are finished, the company might remove the sloped blue roof over the diner, "not part of the original design," and might turn the adjoining white building into an additional dining room (p. 5).
MONETARY VALUE
The "WHAT'S NEXT" article reported that Belleville Diners LLC bought the diner for $240,000 and the family home of its original owners, Angelo and Fannie Blentson, for $150,000 in May, 2010. The plan was to fix up and sell the old home and use the profit to renovate the diner. The company sold the house in 2012 for $245,000. Loans on the house have been paid off, said Lessin, and the diner property has about $140,000 outstanding.
The City of Newport News currently assesses the Blue Star property at "$268,500---$33,100 for the diner itself, the rest for the land" (8/12/15, p. 5)--a reminder that a property's value today depends much more on its location than on any building that's on it, however historic or beloved.
*“City Workers Seek Abandoned Homes” (Monday, July 27, 2015, pp. 1 & 5). The information about the Blue Star Diner is in the article’s last column on page 5. This article was the basis for the July 31, 2015 article on this website entitled Blue Star Diner Might Soon Be Demolished: State Historian Concerned.
Published August 13, 2015
Blue Star Diner Might Soon Be Demolished:
State Historian Concerned
by A. Jane Chambers
A funeral spray in memory of deceased owner Fannie Blentson marked the entrance of the Blue Star Diner in September of 2009. Daily Press file photo.
There could soon be another funeral spray at the entrance of the iconic Blue Star Diner in Newport News. It is currently on the city’s demolition list. According to a recent Daily Press article,*Director of Codes Compliance Harold Roach has said that although the owner has made some minor repairs, “the diner needs serious work” to save it from the bulldozer, and the owner has only “a few more months to make improvements” (p. 5). A property that is owned can be razed by the city, Roach explained, if it is “deficient.”
Original owners of the Blue Star Diner, Angelo and Fannie Blentson, in 1978. Daily Press photo.
The diner packed with customers in 1982. Daily Press photo.
Located at 9955 Warwick Blvd., near Hilton Village, the prefabricated diner, built in N.J. in 1958, was purchased by Angelo and Fotini (Fannie) Blentson, who moved it to Newport News and opened it for business in May of 1963. When Angelo died (7/1/91), Fannie continued to operate the diner until a small kitchen fire forced her to close it in 2006. She died three years later (9/19/09). Soon after, her children, Pete and Renie, decided to sell the diner. Fannie’s Daily Press obituary stated that both were married with children of their own, Pete living in Atlanta, GA and Renie in Long Island, NY. According to theDaily Press article, the diner was assessed at $268,500 in 2010, when it was bought by Belleville Diners, an LLC based in Sterling (p. 5)—presumably Sterling, VA. Incidentally, Renie Blentson (now Thanos) was a CNC graduate, with a B.A. in English.
Zelly and Me’s title actress Isabella Rossellini and actor David Lynch in front of the diner in 1987. Daily Press photo.
Film crew preparing to shoot a scene for Zelly and Me outside the diner in 1987. Daily Press photo.
A highlight in the restaurant’s history occurred in 1987, when Hollywood came to Newport News to use the Blue Star Diner as one of the sets for a movie starring actress Isabella Rossellini, daughter of the famous actress Ingrid Bergman. The working title of it during filming was Phoebe (after the young orphaned girl in the story), but the movie was released in 1988 under the name Zelly and Me (after the child’s nanny, played by Rossellini). The film received mixed reviews and won no prizes, but since it was set in Virginia in 1958, a number of local citizens, especially those with 1950s-era cars, got to participate in the filming.
Happy waitress Judy Presley inside the diner during slack time in 2002. Daily Press photo.
Thanksgiving Special pinned to regular menu on November 22, 2001. Daily Press photo.
Historian Marc Wagner of the Department of Historic Resources was “very concerned” when he heard that the diner might be destroyed. He said that Virginia has “only about 10 surviving diners, and this one is a gem.” Wagner also told the Daily Press reporter that “the Blue Star is the last remaining classic, factory-made diner in Hampton Roads built before the 1970s.” Wagner hopes to convince Newport News officials not to demolish it. But Director of Codes Compliance Harold Roach had this comment: “Just because it’s historic doesn’t mean it can just sit there and decay” (p.5).
Will the Blue Star Diner be saved, or demolished? The outcome depends not only on whether the owners will now begin serious restoration of the building, but also upon whether there would be a sufficient demand for its return as a working old style diner with a friendly staff, tabletop jukeboxes, and good home style food at reasonable prices. Is any of that possible now? Or will the Blue Star Diner live on only in the memories of its former customers—and in a mediocre 1987 movie?
*Theresa Clift, “City Workers Seek Abandoned Homes” (Monday, July 27, 2015, pp. 1 & 5). The information about the Blue Star Diner is in the article’s last column on page 5.
Published July 31, 2015
Tech High “Gal Pals” Reunited at their 60th Reunion. Photo by Kay.
My 60th High School Reunion
By A. Jane Chambers
Seeing all my good friends from Tech and sharing the experience with my daughters have been something I don't think I will be able to do again.
Even though it has been 60 years, it seems like yesterday we were walking the halls at school. I haven't laughed that much in the 3 days we were together in a long time.
JoAnn Holder Parker
I completed my high school education at Central High School, in Charlotte, NC, in June of 1955. But I never felt actually attached to Central. It was not really my school. For five years, grades 7–11, I had attended Tech High, significantly smaller than Central and the alma mater of most members of my family. The same history teacher who had taught my father (valedictorian of the first class, 1927) and his sisters also taught two of my cousins and me. I came from a Tech Wolfpack family. I never expected to be a Central Wildcat.
We juniors were looking forward to our senior year at Tech when we got the shocking news: Tech would become a junior high the next year; all students currently in grades 9-11 would be transferred to Central. All 60 or so of us in my close-knit class were devastated. We would be forced to spend our senior year swallowed in a sea of over 1400 students, separated and scattered about in a senior class of over 400. Shocked, disbelieving, we protested—pleaded with city officials and wrote letters to the Charlotte Observer—all in vain. To pacify us, the school board gave us a choice of senior rings: Tech or Central. Many (including me) chose to have no ring at all.
My last year at Tech in the band and orchestra, as first chair drummer in both. I did not bother to try out for Central’s band or orchestra. Family photo.
Four of us are pictured on this page of 10th graders in our Tech High yearbook: Freida, Jane, JoAnn, and Evelyn.
I never looked back fondly to my senior year at Central, so I never attended any class reunions. My Tech High friends and I followed our various paths through life and soon lost touch with each other, with two exceptions: Evelyn (later “Scottie,” my roommate at Pfeiffer College) and Barbara (my friend since the third grade). I attended the weddings of both, rejoiced in their motherhood and shared in their sadness when death took their husbands. A few years ago, another Tech “Gal Pal,” Carolyn, sent me a letter, having found my address through the Tech Lunch Bunch, a Charlotte group that has monthly luncheon get-togethers. Modern technology then led our search for more Tech “Gal Pals.” The Central High Class of 1955 had both a website and monthly newsletters, enabling us four to find three more of those close friends from grades 7 – 11: JoAnn, Freida and Babs.
Living in five states, and now in our latter seventies, the seven of us very much wanted to get together somehow, somewhere, before too long. When we learned there would be a 60th Reunion in Charlotte of our Central High Class of 1955, we were delighted. We booked rooms in the same hotel where the 60th Reunion would be, and almost all of us booked for two or three days more than the one evening of the class reunion.
Photo by Chris.
Photo by Kay.
Photo by Chris.
The “Gal Pals” reunion began for four of us and our companions on Thursday afternoon, May 14, when we checked in at the Double Tree hotel after our flights from California (Freida & Tom), Texas (Barbara & Chris), Florida (JoAnn & daughter Tina) and Virginia (Jane & Kay). We got together for dinner at the hotel and stayed in the restaurant until it closed. Since the food was quite good, we met there again for lunch on Friday (photo above L), after the fifth “Gal Pal” arrived, Scottie, who drove up from Asheboro, NC. She brought all the yearbooks that we would enjoy pouring over later. Shortly after lunch, number six and spouse arrived (Babs & Richard, photo R), also living close enough to Charlotte (Rock Hill, SC) to drive. Carolyn, our seventh member, was unable to join us for the reunion, but some in the group would see her and her husband on Sunday.
The major event, the Central High Reunion, began at 5:00 p.m. May 15th in the hotel’s courtyard—with sign-ins, name tags, cocktails, a group photograph and the usual reunion excitement and fibs (“You’ve hardly changed at all!”). Our group had some trouble finding people we knew other than ourselves, because only a few other Tech people were there. Nevertheless, we were excited to be there. We made a point of getting into the banquet room early, so we could find a table with eleven chairs and place settings. Luckily, there was one right next to the speaker’s podium. The food was delicious (especially the Key Lime pie). Our table won two prizes—“Longest Distance Traveled” (Freida & Tom; photo L) and “Longest Time Married” (JoAnn & Bruce; 59 years).
The night’s main entertainment was provided by a singer who moved about the room singing Frank Sinatra favorites in a voice that sounded very much like Sinatra’s. I was somewhat surprised that nobody danced, but then I recalled that all of us in the room were close to if not beyond age 78; not surprisingly, there were also more women than men there too.
As the evening moved toward what I thought was a rather early close, shortly after nine, we were reminded to look at the displays, including an In Memoriam one, with 1955 Central High yearbook photos of our deceased classmates. I was surprised to see about 130 names and faces there out of our class of around 430. Among them I recognized some who, like the friends there with me at that evening, had once been close friends.
Our little group of “Gal Pals” and guests was the last to leave the party, but before leaving, the Tech Wolfpack attendees still there posed behind the decorated podium for this photo (R).
Photo by Kay.
Two mini-reunions happened the rest of the weekend. The first was in JoAnn’s suite, where we gathered Saturday morning to share a happy surprise JoAnn did not expect: the arrival of her other two daughters, who flew up from Orlando and would fly back with her and their sister Tina on the same flight Sunday. Everyone was delighted to meet everyone else (photos below). Afterwards, in a rental car, daughters and mother spent a long afternoon touring their parents’ “old stomping grounds,” including where Tech High used to be (demolished now) and where their parents used to live.
L-R: Scottie, JoAnn, Freida & Jane. Photo by Kay.
JoAnn & daughters. Photo by Kay.
L-R: Barbara, Carolyn, Freida & Babs. Photo by Richard.
A second mini-reunion took place Sunday afternoon, at Barbara’s sister’s home in Charlotte (photo L), where some in our group gathered to see the seventh Gal Pal, Carolyn, and her husband, Norris. That couple had been at an annual family reunion until Sunday so had missed our event at the hotel. Involved in our own Chambers family reunion in Charlotte by Sunday, Kay and I missed this second event, pictured.
Looking back, I realize that we had two majorreunions that weekend—the Central class reunion and the “Gal Pals” reunion. Both were great fun, but one was more meaningful than the other.
This group photo, taken by Hugo Peralta, was published in The Charlotte Observer on Sunday, June 7, 2015.
Published June 12, 2015
RETRO QUIZ: Remember These?
by A. Jane Chambers
If you make aperfect score of14 on this quiz featuring items from the 1950s – 70s, you are an unusually observant person with an incredible memory of your childhood and/or youth. If you miss only 1 or 2 questions, you are a very observant person, with a super duper memory of that era. If you miss 3 or 4, you’re a close observer of life, with an above average memory. If you miss 5 or more…, well, maybe this quiz is TOO HARD. I must confess that there is one item here that I had never seen myself!
1. The people in this photo are watching (A) the launching of a space rocket (B) a movie in a theater (C) a full eclipse of the sun.
2. This box of miniature lipsticks belonged to (A) an Avon lady (B) a child star’s make-up crew (C) a lady midget in a circus.
3. Pictured here is (A) a ribbon for a girl’s hairstyle (B) toy pistol caps (C) a ribbon for wrapping gifts.
4. This item was usually found in or near (A) bathroom sinks (B) garages (C) ironing boards.
5. This knob was found on (A) TV sets (B) AM radios (C) stoves.
6. The fabric for this bedspread was called (A) chenille (B) champagne (C) crinoline.
7. These items were used for (A) little girls’ hair braids (B) babies’ diapers (C) women’s scarves.
8. This hair style popular with young males was called (A) the Duck Tail (B) the Elvis sweep (C) the Dippity Do.
9. This hair style popular with young females was called (A) the bouffant (B) the French twist (C) the Flip.
10. These girls are playing a game called (A) Jacks (B) Tiddlywinks (C) Pickup Stix.
11. What is this small round object? (A) a coin purse (B) a radio (C) a kaleidoscope.
12. Many homes had these where? (A) on refrigerators (B) on children’s toy chests (C) in bathtubs.
13. This crocheted “dolly” was typically found where? (A) on teachers’ desks (B) in home bathrooms (C) at Tupperware parties.
14. These somewhat adjustable metal items were often seen (A) on clotheslines (B) in campgrounds (C) in playgrounds.
ANSWERS
1. B (a movie)
2. A (Avon lady)
3. B (pistol caps)
4. C (ironing boards)
5. A (TV sets)
6. A (chenille)
7. B (diapers)
8. A (Duck Tail)
9. C (the Flip)
10. A (Jacks)
11. B (radio)
12. C (bathtub)
13. B (bathroom)
14. A (clothesline)
Published April 24, 2015
FEEDBACK
Prize Winners:
Mystery Picture Contest
Jan Giguere Clarke and Curtiss Pittman
Published April 24, 2015
Mystery Picture Contest: Win a Prize!
By Miss Marple
Ifyou look closely at the photo above, by Norman Rockwell, you will notice certain strange things about it. For example, the heads of the dolls being held by the old man and the girl are not typical; in fact, both look like the old man’s head! This is just one of numerous oddities about this painting. How many more can you find?
PRIZES (to be determined later) will be awarded to the first and second readers who (1) correctly identify the MOST oddities in this picture and (2) offer the MOST logical explanation for this painting’s having such peculiarities.
CONTEST RULES:
1. Oddities noted must be in a numbered LIST, and must be SPECIFIC. For example, it will not be enough just to write “Dolls,” or even “Dolls’ heads.” You must write something such as “Dolls held by man and girl have old man’s head.” [This one can be no. 1 on your list.]
2. Your list and explanation for these oddities must be emailed to Miss Marple through Dr. Jane Chambers at cncmemories61_71@yahoo.com.
3. DEADLINE: 11:30 p.m., Wednesday April 8.
4. Only one entry per household, please (see 5 below).
5. You must not cheat! Miss Marple has ways of knowing who cheats. You will be allowed, however, to have help from one person—a spouse, friend, or relative—so long as that person also does not cheat. You should also list that person’s name on your entry, but you two will have to share the prize (which might or might not be easy, depending on what it is).
Published March 27, 2015
Famous Insults and Comebacks:
Sir Winston Churchill versus Lady Nancy Astor
By A. Jane Chambers
Lady Astor: "Winston, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea!"
Churchill: "Nancy, if you were my wife, I'd drink it!"
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill (1874–1965) and Lady Nancy Langhorne Astor (1879–1964) had much in common: wealthy and titled backgrounds, both American and British heritages, and long political careers as Conservatives. Churchill’s mother was a wealthy Virginian who married English Lord Randolph Churchill. New York City native Nancy Astor became an English socialite, then politician, when she married Viscount Waldorf Astor.
13. This crocheted “dolly” was typically found where? (A) on teachers’ desks (B) in home bathrooms (C) at Tupperware parties.
14. These somewhat adjustable metal items were often seen (A) on clotheslines (B) in campgrounds (C) in playgrounds.
Churchill giving his famous V for Victory sign during WW2.
Lady Astor in 1919, the year she became the first woman to serve in Parliament.
Despite these similarities, Churchill and Lady Astor could barely tolerate each other’s presence. The Prime Minister’s disapproval of women in government was no doubt part of their problem. When Lady Astor’s husband inherited his father’s peerage and thus moved from the House of Commons to the House of Lords, Lady Astor won his former seat, to become the first woman Member of Parliament (MP). She served 46 years.
Supposedly Churchill told herthat having a woman in Parliament was like having one intrude on him in the bathroom, to which she retorted, "You’re not handsome enough to have such fears."
Despite his love of cigars and alcohol, Churchill lived to be 90.
Lady Astor in 1949, at age 70. She lived to age 85.
Lady Astor’s strong opposition to alcohol and tobacco also created animosity between them. Churchill dearly loved his cigars and alcohol and was seldom without either, which occasioned such reported exchanges as this one:
Lady Astor: "Winston, you're drunk!" Churchill: "But I shall be sober in the morning and you, madam, will still be ugly." Actually, Lady Astor was known for her beauty and this exchange was probably instead between Churchill andBessie Braddock, a Labour Party Member of Parliament.
Lady Astor is also said to have responded to a question from Churchill about what disguise he should wear to a masquerade ball by saying, "Why don't you come sober, Prime Minister?"
Closing observations: (1) These are alleged exchanges, not well documented—“hearsay” accounts. (2) True or not, they show a certain cleverness in British put-downs too seldom found here, however, where insults are too often limited to crude name-calling and finger gestures.
Published March 13, 2015
My wife's lovely toes and the Oasis of the Seas. Photo taken by Maureen Lowder from a beach in Labadee - RCCL's private peninsula in Haiti
Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas:
A Modern Engineering Masterpiece
by Ron Lowder, Webmaster
My last job before (semi) retiring was that of Chief of Operations for a large group of engineers working in support of shipboard electronics. Being a Computer Science major with a passion for how to logically and efficiently make software work best, I became fascinated at the positive effect of creative hardware engineering on floating vessels (a world apart from software engineering). Fast forward to my trip earlier this month on the Oasis of the Seas cruise ship. The meticulous planning required to put this ship together must have taken many, many months. And the mechanical calculations on stress, weight, balance, etc. must have exceeded the requirements of designing a “normal” ship, due to never-before-attempted features.
To explain my amazement, I'd like to share with you what seems to be unique features of the ship. Even though I am not a cruise ship expert (I've only been on a total of 5 cruise ships), these seemingly unique features might exist on other ships, but probably are duplicated only on the sister ship to the Oasis: Allure of the Seas. These ships have introduced a “Neighborhood” concept (seven in all) to help cruisers identify various places on the ship. We will concern ourselves with the three neighborhoods in bold/all caps below.
Oasis of the Seas Specs
Built in Finland at a cost of ~ $1.4B
Launched 4th Quarter of 2009
3 1/2 years to build
8,000 workyears of labor to build
150 miles of piping
3,300 miles of electrical cable
158,503 gallons of paint
18 Decks (16 passenger decks)
6,296 Maximum passengers
1,187 feet long
208 feet wide
Cruising speed 22.6 knots/26 mph
24 elevators
21 swimming pools and jacuzzis
2,700 staterooms
2,165 crew members from 65 countries
18 lifeboats, 370 people each
Inflatable liferafts
(for additional passengers and crew)
CENTRAL PARK
The pictures above show the sheer magnitude of the departure of this ship from the norm. This area is open to the sky and exposes the 8 decks above. Our cabin balcony is shown with my wonderful wife Maureen gazing at the surroundings. The green vegetation is all real, not fake. There are 12,000 plants and 56 trees in Central Park. Occasionally, several birds will hitchhike in Central Park from one port to another. With stone boarders separating the trees and shrubbery from the walkways, one would be hard pressed to believe they were on a ship (if they hadn't walked on). I'm told the plants are watered from underneath. The foliage is also completely removable (at the cost of several million dollars) as the company must change the foliage when traveling to Europe, replacing it with plants that are native to Europe. I understand they use huge cranes overhead to accomplish this.
A big glass dome at the far end of the park (not visible in any of these photos unfortunately) houses the “Rising Tide Bar,” a real bar seating about 35 people constructed like a custom, glass enclosed elevator which goes from the PROMENADE deck (Deck 5) to the CENTRAL PARK deck (Deck 8) and back at scheduled times throughout the evening. An amazing sight to see! In the lower left photo above, notice the swimming pools in view on both sides of Deck 15.
This neighborhood is what you might expect, but with some far out features as the pictures above might suggest. The short video (click on icon above) is of our good friend Pat ziplining (one of her bucket list items). Miniature golf, a full basketball court, many pools and whirlpools, 4 enclosed table tennis tables, two wave riding venues...a full recreation area!!!
We were surprised to find a full-sized carousel in this area as well as several specialty stores and a Johnny Rockets restaurant. But the real feature in this neighborhood is the 750-seat Aqua Theater with a 17.9 ft. deep freshwater pool (deepest pool afloat) to accommodate diving (see video below) and two huge video screens. And just as amazing was the diving demonstration (see short video). Keep in mind that these divers perform on the front end of a MOVING SHIP which creates at least some air turbulence. Those are some brave performers!!!
The picture at the upper left contains a view of the diving pool, albeit covered. The giant screens (top and bottom right photos above) provided a great way to watch the Super Bowl under the stars while cruising south from Florida. Also in that photo is a view of one of the rock climbing walls and several balconies. The lower balcony provides access to the rock climbing wall while the top 3 or 4 balconies belong to the suites (which one of the staff referred to as "rich people suites").
SUMMARY
It would take me many more words to fully explore the unique aspects of this fine ship. But I think I've hit the high spots, except...There was a great jazz trio on board (a rarity on a cruise ship) playing in a venue perfectly appointed and acoustically superior named “Jazz on 4” (4 referring to Deck 4), picture to the right. Needless to say (being a musician myself), I was there almost every night enjoying the sounds.
If you don't mind the massive size of the cruise ship (and if you like to walk a lot), I would highly recommend this ship. There were over 5,900 people onboard for our trip but with so many activities going on at once, there were seldom any bottlenecks.
Again, The Oasis of the Seas is truly an amazing feat of engineering.
Published February 27, 2015
The semi-frozen James River with downtown Newport News on the horizon, as seen from your editor’s home on February 21, 2015.
When Winter Came:
YourPhotos from February 2015
Edited by A. Jane Chambers
Mid-February of 2015 brought record-breaking temperatures with snow and ice to the southeastern part of our nation. Our Tidewater area of Virginia has experienced a long-lasting snow blanket and iced waterways typical of New England winters. It snowed again all day today (Feb. 24th) and yet another blizzard is forecast for Feb. 26th, expected to dump as much as 6”- 8”on us. A call for photographs by our CNC First Decaders resulted in this collection of images both somber and bright, made on the Peninsula and elsewhere. Hope you’ll enjoy them.
As the English poet Coleridge wrote, “The ice was here, the ice was there, The ice was all around” (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner). It was in Dandridge, TN, where Pat Garrow (AA, 63) took the above photos at his home of the Redbud twig with ice-encased buds and the iced-over Oak branches. It was in the waters of the Mariners’ Museum in Newport News, where John Hughes (65) of Newport News took the pictures below of frozen tidal-edge tree roots on the James River near the Lions Bridge and, nearby, semi-frozen Kettle Pond with its ever-serene Selene.
Most of us had the snow first—6” or more—capped by a thick layer of ice that brought everything to a standstill for days. The outdoor creatures great and small coped as best they could, as seen in these photos below of a deer in the Williamsburg backyard of Lois Wright (AA, 62) and a bird in the Dandridge, TN yard of Pat Garrow (AA, 63).
Some domestic beings (especially the younger ones) frolicked in the snow outside, while others sought the comforts of the hearth. The above left photo is by John Hughes (65); the latter by Charlie Snead (AA, 66). The dogs sharing the bed in Charlie’s Hendersonville, NC, home are the dog bed’s owner, Peepers (white with black) and the “Alpha dog,” Maggie, who usurps the bed whenever she can. Here they’ve compromised.
The photo on the left below, by John Hughes, evokes Robert Frost's poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." The photo right of it, by your editor, shows the semi-frozen James River on a calm day.
Several readers sent winter nature scenes including water and trees as well as snow. On the left below is a scene on Kerry Lake Drive, in the Shore Park area of Newport News, photographed by Lew Richardson (61). On the right, a backyard scene with lake view below, taken from the Tennessee home of Pat Garrow.
Charlie Snead sent two views of basically the same spot in his back yard at two different times: the photo on the left below was made after the ice storm in Hendersonville early in the third week of February; the one on the right, after the snow storm about a week later—an interesting contrast. Note the low 1 degree temperature during that period. Was it ever lower where you were?
The unusual picture above was made by First Decader Bob Schlagal (BA, 71), now a professor at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. Barely visible on the right side of the picture is an historic water wheel encased in ice.
Two views above of well known Mariners’ Museum landmarks, photographed by John Hughes during one of the sunny days, end this photo feature. As we await the NEXT blizzard scheduled for overnight Wednesday, Feb. 25th , and into Thursday, the 26th, we look forward to more pictures of interest—especially from our First Decaders in Hampton, Yorktown, Poquoson, the Southside, and Northern Virginia—none of whom submitted photographs for this feature.
Published February 27, 2015
Ice Storm
Photos by MarieBoudreau Smith
These excellent photos were taken in Hampton by Marie B. Smith on January 14, 2014, and posted on Facebook. Marie is a First Decader who earned her AA degree at CNC in 1966, her BS in Biology in 1968 at William and Mary, and later her MEd at UVa. She taught biology in Hampton public schools. Now retired, she and her husband, Brian, still reside in Hampton.
Published January 16, 2015
Unusual Colonial Williamsburg Wreaths,
Photographed by Lois Wright
by A. Jane Chambers
The four photos below were accompanied by this December 27th note from Lois Wright (AA, 1962): “I ate too much and so did penance by taking a long walk into Williamsburg and down Duke of Gloucester Street. Being alone, I was unrushed and took my time shooting pictures of CW wreaths. It is really difficult to get good wreath pictures. So I just shoot away, hope for the best, trash, and edit! I have learned from my yearly Christmas treks down DOG Street that there are no bounds on what can be attached to a wreath!”
The basic rule about seasonal decorations in Colonial Williamsburg is that everything used has to be natural materials that could have been used for decorating during Colonial times—real greenery, fruits, berries and so forth. This first wreath (above left) seems to have violated that rule, because it includes a shoe (with its tongue hanging out). However, it is a handmadeColonial Williamsburg shoe, so the maker of this wreath did not really violate the natural materials rule.
The second wreath (right) is also of natural materials, even though it primarily consists of corks from wine bottles. The final touch was adding a Colonial Williamsburg style wine bottle in the center. Was the maker of this wreath a winery worker, or just a wine connoisseur?
Dried flowers are often used in Williamsburg wreaths, but the makers of these two wreaths above were more creative than most, as these close-up pictures show. The wreath on the left features flowers made from scallop shells; the one on the right, flowers made from oyster shells. Such shells were readily available to the inhabitants of Williamsburg in colonial times, who enjoyed a great variety of seafood from the nearby James River and Chesapeake Bay.
As Lois wrote, “there are no bounds on what can be attached” to a Colonial Williamsburg decoration—as long as what’s attached is natural material readily available to the Colonial inhabitants.
LOIS WRIGHT was the first (and only) graduate of CNC in 1962 (See “The Graduating Class of One,” pp. 182-185, inMemories of ChristopherNewport College: The First Decade). She next earned an AB in English at William and Mary (1964), an MS in Social Work at VCU (1968), and then an EdDin Counseling at W&M (1978). After a long and distinguished career at the University of South Carolina's College of Social Work in Columbia, she retired in 2002 with the rarely bestowed title Distinguished ProfessorEmerita, having served USC as Professor, Assistant Dean, and then Director of The Center for Child and Family Studies. She then retired to Williamsburg. During the 50th Anniversary of CNC/U (2011-12), a special display (photo right) was in CNU’s library, featuring Lois’s diploma and photos of her in 1962 (receiving the diploma) & in 2012. During CNU’s May, 2012 Commencement, Lois was given an honorary doctorate (see our website article in Archives, Your News).
Published January 2, 2015
Ancient Beliefs and Traditions
Reflected in Old Halloween Cards
By A. Jane Chambers
When the Roman Catholic Church brought Christianity to the British Isles, the church decided that the best way to convert the pagans was not to ban their religious customs, but to accommodate them. It happened that the Christian holiday All Saints’ Day and the Celtic New Year Samhain (pronounced so-wen, so-ween, or saw-win) both occurred on November 1st. Celebration of Samhain (“summer’s end” in Gaelic), like that of All Saints’ Day, began on the previous evening: October 31st.
The evening before All Saints’ Day became the Eve of All Saints, or All Hallows’ Eve—then, Halloween (or Hallowe’en): a word combining Hallow (meaning “holy,”“sanctified”)and evening ( even, or e’en). It was for Christians a time to gather in churches to pray and fast before the feast on All Saints’ Day. However, since their Samhain traditions never faded, it was also for the Celtic British a time of superstitious beliefs and fears. They believed that during the transition between summer and winter, the veil between this world and the next was particularly thin, allowing the spirits of the dead to reenter this world, as well as devils.
Immigrants from Ireland, Scotland, Wales and some parts of England brought Halloween to America in the mid-1800s. The holiday became very popular by the early 1900s. Halloween greeting cards of that time (most of them postcards) reflect some of the beliefs and traditions once strongly embraced but now rapidly receding if not altogether lost.
JACK O’ LANTERNS
The greeting card above reflects the old belief that the pumpkins, with their carved faces illuminated from within by candles, would protect the children from witches, once the children “got them out”—put them outside the entrances to their home on Halloween or carried them with them when they went outside. The Jack O’Lanterns would scare away ghosts or evil creatures as light dispels darkness. Firelight of all kinds was believed to drive away the evil spirits, so bonfires were popular also at Halloween.
The first Jack O’Lanterns were carved from large turnips (Wikipedia photo, right) or, sometimes, potatoes, or even beets. Such lanterns were used to light paths for people traveling at night as well as to protect them from evil spirits, particularly at Halloween. Native to North America, the pumpkin was unknown in the British Isles. Immigrants were quite delighted to find this large melon here, which quickly replaced the turnip.
Photo from Wikipedia
The term Jack O’ Lantern (“Jack of the Lantern”) is disappearing in America, as is the story behind it—an Irish legend (in several versions) about a scoundrel called Drunk Jack or Stingy Jack, who made a deal with the Devil to give the Devil his soul in exchange for some favor. When the Devil came to collect his soul, Jack tricked him into forgiving the debt. When Jack died, neither Heaven nor Hell would let him in, so he was doomed to wander endlessly in the twilight world of lost souls. Oddly enough, the Devil gave him an ember from the fires of Hell to light his way, which Jack put inside a carved turnip. (Wikipedia gives a fuller history).
Severalold beliefs are evident in the Halloween card on the left. The lady is “guising,” disguising herself, by wearing a white burial shroud to protect her from any ghosts of the dead, who will mistake her as one of their own and leave her alone. Devil and witch disguises were similarly used. She carries a Jack O’ Lantern for light and protection. There is a full moon, associated with both evil (werewolves and lunatics) and good (fertility, sweethearts, and visions of one’s future mate). The owls are a reminder that witches might be around and could mean good or bad luck.
WITCHES
Thewitches in the cards below are strikingly different: one ugly and old, the other beautiful and young—reminding us of the ancient belief in both good and bad witches. Remember The Wizard of Oz with its wicked and good witches? (The 1939 movie popularized the color green for bad witches and black for their clothing.) This evil witch looks longingly at the children inside. It was believed, especially in German folklore, that witches were cannibals and they preferred eating children, like the witch in Hansel andGretel,because devouring the young and healthy renewed them.
The children bobbing for apples are safe from the evil witch because of the tub of water. Remember how the Wicked Witch of the West dissolved when Dorothy threw water on her? (I played that witch role in high school.) From Medieval times into the 18th century, a common test used at witch trails was to throw or duck the accused into a body of water. (There’s a road in Norfolk called Witch Duck Road.) If she floated, she was guilty and would be burned at the stake. If she sank and drowned, she was innocent (yet also dead). The belief was that water, used for baptism and spiritual purification, was deadly to evil beings.
Whereas the bad witch above is accompanied by dark and nocturnal creatures, a black cat and a hovering bat, the good witch on the other card is accompanied by an owl, which can represent, depending on the context, either good or evil. Primarily, however, the owl has for ages symbolized wisdom. It was the favorite bird of Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom. The owl reminds us that witches originally were prophets — seers like blind Tiresias and Cassandra, in Greek mythology; astrologers like the wizard Merlin, in Arthurian legends, humans with magic powers who studied the heavens and could foresee the future. They could cast spells for good or ill, and were both revered and feared. The large smiling moon and shooting star, a traditional good luck sign, add to the positive tone of the Good Witch card.
ROMANTIC HALLOWEEN BELIEFS
By the early 20th century Apple Bobbing was largely becoming just a children’s contest with prizes, but originally it was a means of discovering one’s future mate. For example, a young woman who put under her pillow the apple she caught bobbing would dream that night of her future husband. A complete, unbroken apple peel thrown over the left shoulder would fall in the shape of the initial of one’s intended mate. An ancient symbol of love and fertility, as well as hate and discord, the apple is featured in many myths (The Judgment of Paris) and fairy tales (Snow White). Candied apples were once a favorite Halloween treat. For safety and health reasons, apple bobbing has virtually disappeared now, and few parents let children accept candied apples now for fear of razor-blades or poisons.
Beliefs about love potions and signs or visions of one’s future spouse during Halloween used to be popular. The four cards below reflect a few of these. Although in Europe and Great Britain most romantic rituals were performed almost exclusively by young women longing for husbands, in early 1900s America they sometimes were performed by bachelors as well, although, as seen in the last card, often in a humorous manner.
TRICK OR TREATING
This tradition goes back over a thousand years. On All Souls’ Day (November 2nd, following All Saints’ Day) Christians gathered in churches to pray for the souls of their deceased loved ones who were believed to be in Purgatory, being cleansed of sins before entering Heaven. Poor people, especially children, would go to the doors of the rich and ask for small “Soul Cakes” or other food in exchange for delivering prayers for the dead in those families.
“Souling” evolved over centuries into the practice of children, often dressed in costumes, going to the doors of people and entertaining them by singing, dancing, doing acrobatic tricks, or reciting poems. They would then receive treats such as sweets, fruit, or coins. In this first card, “We make the welkin ring” means that they make the sky ring with their noisy merrymaking. Notice the costumes include two court jesters, precursor of today’s clowns.
The mischief element of Trick or Treating was an American addition to Halloween, and grew to be a bad tradition. The “Pumpkin Boys” in this second card are doing “tricks” that are actually criminal. By the 1950s, acts of vandalism and property damage had grown so serious that most cities enacted laws restricting Halloween “Trick or Treating” to small children. This tradition is now almost entirely commercial, although collecting for charities such as UNICEF retains an element of the original “Souling.”
CONCLUSION
This last card, beautifully executed, reflects the overall light tone of virtually all of these early Halloween cards or postcards, reminding us that in early 20th century America, All Hallows Eve was not being taken very seriously. It had already evolved into a time of mirth more than a time of dread. The goblins hovering behind the bed of the sleeping girl are more comical than scary. Further, they seem unable to pass through the thin veil (the curtain) between their world and this one. In contrast, the three fairies have passed through that veil and are protectively hovering over the sleeping girl, one seemingly touching her with her magic wand. Any “good versus evil” struggle seems already won by these three good fairies, who by their number might recall the Christian belief in the Trinity that defeats the host of demons.
SOURCES: CONTENT in this article is largely from my own knowledge resulting from research I did while (1) creating and teaching a 400-level topics course at CNC called “The Gothic Tradition in English and American Literature” and (2) writing my doctoral dissertation (Coleridge’s “Christabel” in Context) for my Ph.D. degree at UNC-Chapel Hill.
PHOTOS of Halloween cards were collected from various websites on the internet that feature vintage cards. These collections duplicate one another and the cards, over 100 years old, do not have copywrite protection.
Published October 31, 2014
Re-published October 13, 2017
Dance Clubs, Bands, Music of the '60s and early '70s by Ron Lowder, Webmaster
The 1960s and early 1970s seemed now to be a magical time for music...so many really good dance songs. And there were so many really good local bands that performed regularly at colleges and local clubs such as Barry Darvell and the Encores, Bill Deal and the Rhondels, Jo Jo and the Wailing Frets, Ben Dale and the Co-ops, Terry and the Pirates, Jerry Leggett and the Flames, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, the Invaders, The Royale Seven, Black & White...I could go on and on. Thought you might enjoy photos of some of my favorite "CNC Decader-era" clubs. I had the privilege of performing in all of these clubs frequently and I'm sure many of you can remember great times at these establishments. The magic of those times seemed to diminish in the late '70s and only exists now in occasional musical reunions and of course in our memories. It's funny how you really don't know how special certain aspects of your life are until they are all but gone...I guess that is a tragedy of life. Reminds me of a quote from George Eliot: "The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us and we see nothing but sand; the angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone."
Pictures of several "Decaders Era" Bands can be found under MEMORABLE PLACES tab OR BY CLICKING: GO THERE NOW
Published September 12, 2014
HUMOR:
THE FROG'S LOAN
A frog goes into a bank andapproaches the teller. Hecan see from her name platethat her name is PatriciaWhack.
"Miss Whack,” he says, “I'd like to geta $30,000 loan to take a holiday."
Patty looks at the frog indisbelief and asks his name.The frog says his name isKermit Jagger, his dad isMick Jagger, and that it'sokay, because he knows the bankmanager.
Patty explains that he willneed to secure the loan with some collateral.The frog says, "Sure. I havethis," and produces a tinyporcelain elephant, about aninch tall, bright pink andperfectly formed.
Very confused, Patty explainsthat she'll have to consult with the bank manager anddisappears into a back office.
She finds the manager andsays, "There's a frog called Kermit Jagger out there whoclaims to know you and wantsto borrow $30,000, and hewants to use this as collateral." She holds up the tiny pinkelephant. "I mean, what inthe world is this?"
The bank manager looks backat her and says, "It's a knickknack, PattyWhack. Give the frog a loan.His old man's a RollingStone."
(You're singing it, aren't you?Yeah, I know you are.)
(Come on now, you grinned, I know you did.)
Sent by Danny Peters
Class of 1971
Published August 8, 2014
HUMOR:
PASSWORD PROBLEMS
WINDOWS: Please enter your new password.
USER: cabbage
WINDOWS: Sorry, the password must be more than 8 characters.
USER: boiled cabbage
WINDOWS: Sorry, the password must contain 1 numerical character.
USER: 1 boiled cabbage
WINDOWS: Sorry, the password cannot have blank spaces.
USER: 50bloodyboiledcabbages
WINDOWS: Sorry, the password must contain at least one upper case character.
USER: 50BLOODYboiledcabbages
WINDOWS: Sorry, the password cannot use more than one upper case character consecutively.
RE: 41 and 14: A Study in Contrast and Likeness (article located below)
From Dr. Jane Chambers
Ron, I found your article quite interesting, especially the part about Blackouts during WW2 Air Raids. My father, exempt from military service because of his age (early 30s) and children (3 of us then), served as an Air Raid Warden. I found this card among my late mother’s belongings. At the time shown there, I was not quite 4½ years old. I vaguely remember that once my mother was bathing me, in our big old claw-footed bathtub, when the Air Raid siren went off. She covered the bathroom window with a big, thick towel and put a dim light—maybe a candle—on the chair near the bathtub, so that she could continue bathing me after turning off the bathroom light. Her cover up worked—maybe because Daddy was our neighborhood’s Air Raid Warden.
41 and 14:
A study in Contrast and Likeness
by Ron Lowder
The Daily Press, December 17, 1941, Front Page. Photo by Ron Lowder
While surveying the contents of some old boxes, I came across the pictured Daily Press newspaper from December 17, 1941. It was among contents belonging to my parents. The headlines immediately caught my eye and I began to imagine what it must have been like to live back then at the beginning of WWII. There was no internet, very few television sets, no cell phones, no almost instant communication of important events around the world. All news of major events and local happenings came via the newspaper and radio. The world then was quite different than in 2014.
Certain things jumped out at me while reading this 72-year-old newspaper. I hope you'll enjoy my journey and perhaps share it with your kids and grandkids and perhaps great grandkids, who never have experienced and most likely never will experience the lack of instant, multimedia communications of the 1940s.
THE WAR
The three pictures immediately below show the depth of concern that existed ten days after the Pearl Harbor attack. Assurances from the President of William & Mary, Blackout drills, and Air Raid instructions all point to the uneasiness of that period of time. The alert system back then was sirens, the only way to get everyone's attention at the same time. The same is true today. Hopefully, WE will never have to contend with these things.
The Daily Press, December 17, 1941, Page 8
The Daily Press, December 17, 1941, Page 9
The Daily Press, December 17, 1941, Page 8
PRODUCTS AND PRICES
Like all things, companies come and they go. It was amazing to me how many businesses that advertised in the 1941 paper are still around. And equally amazing is the evolution of some of those businesses. For example, the Firestone ad below shows various consumer products that are not automotive related. In that same ad, we also learn that the Government halted the sale of tires for a period of time to ensure sufficient stock for military vehicles going to war.
Also of note is the fact that most, if not all, of the businesses in this article were located in the downtown area of either Newport News or Hampton...no malls, no shopping centers, no online ordering. Nachman's was one of the first department stores to venture out of downtown to a suburban area. Notice Nachman's ad: card tables for $2.98. I can remember that when I was a child, my mother, like most women in the Parkview area of Newport News, belonged to a Bridge Club. I can remember many nights when our living room was filled with card tables and ladies dressed to kill, all discussing events of the day and smoking cigarettes while heavily engaged in the game of Bridge or Canasta. Today, I play Solitaire on my iPhone when I'm bored so I guess card games will never go away.
Phillip Levy was a cornerstone of the downtown Newport News area for many years. Note the G.E. refrigerator advertised in the ad below. My parents purchased a unit just like that one in 1942 and it lasted until the 1970s. There was no automatic defrost back then; the tray located to the upper right, under the small freezer (which was only big enough to accommodate a few ice cube trays) was conveniently engineered to catch the water during manual defrost. Also, there was no storage for milk, drinks, and foods in the door. The panel on the front near the bottom of the unit was actually where the motor/compressor was hidden; no storage there! But, albeit small, the unit never required service during its 28 years of service. They just don't make 'em like that anymore!
Also below is a Florida Orange Store ad. My father used to work part time at that store to supplement his Shipyard income. He always said what a great store it was and was sad when it closed. Notice the price of the various items...Bacon for 35 cents a pound?!
The Daily Press, December 17, 1941, Page 7
The Daily Press, December 17, 1941, Page 7
The Daily Press, December 17, 1941, Page 5
The Daily Press, December 17, 1941, Page 16
ENTERTAINMENT
Still a popular diversion, the movies back then were one of the few sources of recreation (and you couldn’t watch them on your TV or iPad). Note that the Village Theatre (ad partially shown below) is still standing while all the others are gone. Also of note is the Mountain Moonlite wine ad...20% alcohol? …55 cents for 4/5 QUART?
The WGH ad brings back memories. Back then, since radio was like today's TV programming, schedules of radio programs were followed by many. The first entry on this schedule was EDWARD TRAVIS. This was my Uncle Eddie. He also played saxophone (an interest which I inherited) and had a band called the Jolly Jazzers. He was a very talented individual! Note that, back then, WGH was located at 1340 on the dial. When I was a kid, it was at 1310 (and still is).
The Daily Press, December 17, 1941, Page Sixteen
The Daily Press, December 17, 1941, Page Sixteen
A 1941 WARNING FOR 9/11
In the middle of page 8 of the newspaper along with the daily stock market quotes was this sketch. I immediately thought of 9/11. At first glance, I thought I was seeing part of the 9/11 account. "But that is not possible", I thought. The rendering of the explosion near the top of the skyscraper is almost surreal. Wow! Didn't happen in 1941, but DID happen 60 years later!
The Daily Press, December 17, 1941, Page Fourteen
CONTRAST AND LIKENESS
We've come a long way as a society, a nation and a world since 1941. Technology has provided us with a wealth of communication, creature comfort, and mobility options that would have seemed unbelievable back then. But at the same time, we still must be concerned with security, both as individuals and as a country. The horror of 9/11 taught us that we are not immune to the whims of extremists. I'm not sure if that will ever change.
Published June 27, 2014
The Green Thing
by Anonymous
Checking out at the store the young cashier suggested to the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.
The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days."
The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."
She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.
Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.
But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things; most memorable besides household garbage bags was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our schoolbooks. This was to ensure that public property, (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags.
We walked up stairs because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.
Back then we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throwaway kind. We dried clothes on a line not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters not always brand-new clothing.
Back then we had one TV or radio in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?) not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.
We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.
Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.
But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?
Published May 16, 2014
OBITUARY: Pillsbury Doughboy
A great icon of the entertainment community has left us. The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection and trauma complications from repeated pokes in the belly. He was 71.
Doughboy was buried today in a lightly greased coffin. The funeral was held at 3:50 for about 10 minutes. Dozens of celebrities turned out to pay their respects. Among them were Mrs. Butterworth, Hungry Jack, the California Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess Twinkies, and Captain Crunch. The grave site was piled high with flours. Aunt Jemima delivered the Eulogy and lovingly described Doughboy as a man who never knew how much he was kneaded.
Although he rose quickly in show business, Doughboy’s later life was filled with turnovers. He was not considered a very smart cookie, wasting much of his dough on half-baked schemes. Despite being a little flakey at times, he still was considered a crusty old man, and was considered a positive role model for millions.
Doughboy is survived by his wife, Play Dough, and three children: John Dough, Jane Dough and Dosey Dough. His wife also has one in the oven. Doughboy is also survived by his elderly father, Pop Tart.
Published May 2, 2014
Of New Years, January, and Janus
By A. Jane Chambers
As we welcome the beginning of another year, I thought a bit of history might be of interest. The first calendar in the western world, the ancient Roman calendar, was reformed in 46 BC by Julius Caesar. This, the Julian calendar, was followed until it too was changed, in 1582 AD, by Pope Gregory XIII. Long after most of Europe had switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, England and her colonies finally made that change too, in 1752. Until that year, the New Year in England and in the American colonies began on March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation, celebrating the Virgin Mary. The reason Pope Gregory XIII reformed the calendar was to change the date of Easter, traditionally observed on March 21. With the Julian calendar, the date for Easter had seriously “fallen out of sync with the seasons” (Jennie Cohen, “6 Things You May Not Know About the Gregorian Calendar,” in History in the Headline). The result was also a new date for the beginning of each year: January 1.
Drawing from The Probert Encyclopaedia of Mythology. Most scholars say full-length images show the key in the right hand. Here, however, it is in the left hand.
Pope Gregory XIII kept the Latin names for the months that had been used for untold centuries before Christianity. January (from the Latin Januarius, meaning “of” or “pertaining to” Janus) was the month named in honor of the mythological Roman god Janus. January was his festival month. The Latin word Janus literally means “gate” or “passageway.” In Roman mythology, Janus was the guardian of portals (gates and doorways) and the patron of beginnings and endings. He had two faces, one looking forward; the other looking backward. He saw past and future, day and night, beginnings and endings. He was greatly revered by the Romans, who erected a major temple to him that ran east and west, where days begin and end. Between its two doors stood his statue with two faces. He was worshiped at times of important beginnings, such as days, months, years (New Year’s Day especially), the planting of crops, and so forth. If Janus granted a good beginning to something, it was believed, then there would also be a good ending to it.
Images of Janus vary. In full-length depictions, as shown above left, he is always holding a large key, signifying his role as gate-keeper, guardian of portals. It is interesting that the word janitor also comes from the word Janus. Janitor means in Latin “doorkeeper”—keeper of the keys to a door, gate, or passageway. Traditionally, janitors carry the keys that open and close buildings under their care.
Below are three images of Janus showing only his heads. In the earliest such images Janus was often depicted as a beardless youth, as shown on the ancient Roman coin below, left. Most scholars believe he originally might have represented the sun and moon. Sometimes, however, Janus was shown with one face beardless and the other bearded (below, middle). I believe this representation might have signified the human progression from youth to maturity, innocence to experience, ignorance to knowledge. Most images of Janus, however, show him with both faces fully bearded, suggesting, I feel, the maturity that understands the past and thus can often predict the future.The third image below (right) is that of a sculpture (bust) that is in the Vatican.
For more information about Janus, I recommend you type Janus into Google and then locate the Probert Encyclopaedia of Mythology, designed, edited and programmed by Matt and Leela Probert in the UK.
Ancient mythology is peopled with human-like creatures that seem to have originated purely in people’s vivid imaginations, but might there have been, in some cases, connections with reality? The rarest kind of conjoined twin, a diprosopus twin—Greek di (“two”) and prosopus (“face”)—occurs in 1 per 180,000 to 1 per 15,000,000 births. Such a twin has one body and one skull but two faces, with various degrees of development. In the rarest of the rare cases (see photos below), there is facial duplication and four separate eyes. Almost always, such a child is stillborn or dies within a few hours or days. If interested in learning more, type diprosopus (also called craniofacial duplication) into Google. You will learn that this abnormality exists not only in humans, but also in birds and other animals (type Janus cat) and that sometimes (as in the case of Lali Singh of India, born in 2008) the child lives for a short time. The villagers in India quickly worshipped Lali Singh, seeing her as a reincarnation of a Hindu goddess. Does that throw some light on the origins of myths and legends?
Lali Singh of India (b. 2008) might have lived beyond 2 months had her parents not refused medical help.
Sonogram taken at 27 weeks of a diprosopus female fetus in Brazil, whose mother was only 13 years old. This photo and the next are from the March 1, 2010 issue of the Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine, Vol. 29, No. 3, 501-503.
Postmortem photo of the same child, who died soon after birth. Diprosopus twins usually have multiple medical problems that make survival rare.
Published January 3, 2014
Re-published January 2, 2015
Re-published January 1, 2016
RESOLUTIONS
Christmas Words and Cards:
A Bit of Xmas History
by A. Jane Chambers
Here's a little word history (etymology) of possible interest at this time of year, along with a few photos of very early Christmas cards.
The English word Christmas goes back to the 8th century, when England’s Anglo-Saxons were converted to Christianity by Roman missionaries. It was formed from the Old English (OE) words Crīstes(possessive form of Christ) + mæsse ("mass," the Roman Catholic Eucharistic service), and meant “the festival of Christ,” celebrating the birth of Christ. Crīstesmæsse evolved during the middle ages to become, in Middle English (ME), Cristemasse, or Cristmas, and then finally the modern spelling Christmas.
People sent handwritten Christmas greetings for many years before the first printed Christmas card was made. In 1843, in England, Sir Henry Cole, founder of London's Victoria and Albert Museum, paid artist John Calcott Horsley to create the card shown here on the right, printed for Christmas of 1843. In the center, in bright color, is a large, prosperous 3-generational family enjoying a Christmas toast of red wine. Left and right are less colorful scenes depicting charitable acts of feeding and clothing the poor. Framing the card are grape vines with both green and brown leaves, suggesting the natural cycles of spring and fall that in turn suggest the human cycles of youth and age, life and death. The 2000-plus copies of this card were sold for one shilling each (12 pence) and mailed in London for one pence each (Wikipedia). The card’s wording had long been popular, as reflected in A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens (also published in 1843), in which, near the end, a reformed Scrooge calls out in glee, “A merry Christmas to every-body! A happy New Year to all the world!”
Strangely enough, these earliest Christmas cards seldom depicted religious or even winter themes, but favored reminders of spring, such as flowers, as shown in this second card. Popular also were humorous and sentimental images of children and animals. In 1873, the English lithograph firm Prang and Mayer began creating greeting cards for the popular market. Since that company was the first to offer the first Christmas cards in America the followingyear, 1874, its owner, Louis Prang, is sometimes called the “father of the American Christmas card” (Wikipedia).
The first Christmas card, by John Calcott Horsley, published in London , England,1843 .
Christmas card from the English Victorian era.
Frog band Christmas card by Louis Prang, late Victorian era.
Christian fish symbol discussed in text.
Xmasis even older than the word Christmasand isproperly pronounced as "Christmas." The first letter of the word Christ in Greek (Xpioto) is X ("Chi"), and X is an abbreviation for Christ that is as old as the symbol of the fish, which also often included the Greek word for fish--IXOYE (see photo left). For early Christians, those letters stood for "Jesus ( I ) Christ (X) God (O) Son (Y) Savior (E).” Another early abbreviation for Christ was Xp, the first 2 letters of the word Christ in Greek. The combined letters X (“Chi”) + P (“Rho”), symbolizing Christ, were first used by Roman emperor Constantine on his military standards, or labarum (see detailed photo left) and are still used on labarum in some Christian churches. Xr, meaning “Chr,” was yet another abbreviation for Christ (Wikipedia). In England, the Old English words Xresmæsse ("Christ's mass") were in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles (ca. 1100). Early scribes and early printers also used X + other letters to form words such as Christian (Xian).
Labarum of Constantine with the Chi-Rho (XP) symbol at top. The flag suspended from the crossbar symbolized the crucifixion of Christ and the 3 spheres the Trinity.
As shown in the examples below, the word Xmas was used from early years forward in Christmas greeting cards and postcards with a clear understanding of its meaning: Christmas. Xmas was often prefaced also with the word Merry. In recent decades, however, particularly in America, some people, not knowing the etymology of this word, have erroneously concluded that the X is an attempt to “X out,” or erase the word Christ—to "Take Christ out of Christmas." Nothing could be further from the truth.
Card from the 1930s. The words are in the snow: L- R, “To Greet” and “On Xmas Morning.”
Xmas postcard from 1910
Early English Xmas card. Wording is vertical, L & R of picture: “Wishing you” and “a Merry Xmas.”
The wordHoliday, meaning “holy day,” comes from the Old English word hāligdæg,a compound of the words hālig(holy) +dæg(day). Like Crīstesmæsse, it goes back to the early days of Christianity in England. Hāligdægs (holy days) were days of religious festivals on the Christian calendar, particularly Christmas and Easter. Over the centuries, the spelling and pronunciation gradually changed. By about 1200, the word was spelled halidai, later haliday. During the 14th and 15th centuries, as Old English evolved into Middle English (Chaucer's English is a Middle English dialect), the word came to mean both "religious festival" and "day of recreation," since those celebrating the holy days were freed from work on those days. The modern spelling, holiday, came into being about the time of William Shakespeare. Below are two Christmas cards sending “Holiday Greetings.”
I hope this bit of history has been of some value to you. The greeting I personally prefer to send at this season, which seems to me appropriate for everyone, is the following--slightly modified from the wording in Luke 2:14 of the King James Bible:
Peace on earth. Good will toward all.
Published December 20, 2013
Re-published December 9, 2016
Re-published December 8, 2017
FEEDBACK
(Christmas Words and Cards)
Re: That first (1843) card in Christmas Words and Cards, FDDan L. Coleman asked:Wonder if this was saved with forethought, discovered in someone's attic, or preserved in a museum early on?
Jane replies: Your question sent me to Google, Dan, where I found several articles of interest. In 2001, a colored copy of the card send to his grandmother by Sir Henry Cole (who had commissioned the card) sold in the UK for 20,000 pounds ($28,158). Not all cards were in color, since color had to be applied by the artist himself. Those cost more than the black and white copies, of course and are worth more now. As of 2010, there were only 18 copies of the card still available at auctions both in England and America . Since a great many of the cards were originally sent to Sir Henry Cole’s friends and relatives, probably a number of those people kept them in their families for generations. If you look up Sir Henry Cole, you will learn much about his connection with museums also.
Reader Stephanie Wilson Vassar wrote:Thanks, Jane. The article is fascinating. I didn't realize early cards depicted pictures of spring and such.
Reader Patsy Kelly Smith wrote:Jane, I read your article and it is most informative, reminding us of the true meaning of Christmas. Thank you for posting this; it is lovely.
A Different Kind of Christmas Book:
Fern, the Little Christmas Tree,
by Jo Berry Sinclair (FD 63)
Reviewed by A. Jane Chambers
This small book (27 pages, 12 with illustrations) is quite different from most children’s books about Christmas. There are no gifts, no Santa Claus, no reindeer, no animated toys in it. But there is one adult human—“a big, strong man with a gentle smile”—and his presence makes a great difference in the life of the book’s main character, a young Christmas pine named Fern.
The book’s story is told from Fern’s point of view, and I expect that
young children will almost immediately identify with Fern, especially when they look at the very cleverly drawn black and white illustrations. The little tree has a human face, expressing emotions evoked by the events in the plot. Notice the look of slight apprehension on Fern’s face on the book’s cover. This drawing, repeated in the book (with even more distress shown) reflects the little tree’s unhappiness over being so overshadowed in the forest that she is not getting enough sunlight and space for her to grow properly. Like a human child, Fern needs and loves a healthy natural environment—warm sunshine, sweet-smelling flowers, puffy clouds, clean water—and she longs for companionship and music (provided by birds in her boughs) and hopes for the approval of the “nice man” who rescues her from the shadowy forest.
The book offers several opportunities for a child’s scientific and even spiritual education. For example, it opens (see above) with Fern as a seed peeping out from a pine cone attached to her mother, a large Christmas pine living in a forest. Fern is stretching, for it is time to leave the cone. Both the picture and content offer an opportunity to talk about how living things begin and grow from seeds: whether trees, flowers, fruits—or human babies. Beginning with this sentence on page 3—“That is how Christmas trees are born, and God looks after little seeds like Fern”—there are several mentions in the story of “God,” but there is no sermonizing: just statements that there is a God who “looks after” Fern’s welfare and happiness. There is room here for the adult reader to discuss this concept with the child listening to the story.
Fern being transplanted at her new home. p.18.
Fern decorated with silver balls and big red bows. p. 23. A good time to discuss living versus cut Christmas trees.
This little book would make a very nice gift for young children on your Christmas list. It is a good quality paperback, well written and excellently illustrated. It should last through many readings. You can order copies directly from the author, Jo Berry Sinclair, who lives in Hampton, by calling her at (757) 618-4306 or emailing her at jobsinclair@yahoo.com. Cost per book is $7.95 plus postage. Personal checks only.
Published December 13, 2013
What’s in a Name?
Anglo-Saxon Place Names in Tidewater
by A. Jane Chambers
No doubt you know that virtually all of the place names in this area of Virginia are either British or Native American in their origins. My purpose here is to tell you a bit more about a few of these names than you might already know. I’ll limit this adventure into etymology to just a handful of our place names that are about a thousand years old, going back to the Anglo-Saxon era. This long period in English history (ca. 450—1066) was the time between when the Romans left the island and the Normans invaded it.
During those centuries, three Germanic tribes (Scandinavian and German) from the northeast of Europe—the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes—over a long period invaded the island from the North Sea and settled it. They killed or drove out most of the natives, the Celts (except in upper Scotland, Wales and Cornwall), bred with many Celts, and created independent kingdoms. The three tribes shared a common history, culture, and language (with variations in dialects), which we call Old English, or Anglo-Saxon.
For over 300 years (757-1066), there was an informal confederation
of seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the island that they came to call Engla land (land of the Angles), then England. These kingdoms were (see Map 1) Wessex, Sussex, Kent, Mercia, Essex, East Anglia, and Northumbria.
Map 1. From Portraits of British Monarchs 1, by Michael A. Stecker.
Map 2: East Anglia (settled by Angles). From Wikipedia.
East Anglia (earlier, East Angles) was settled by the Angles. By the early Middle Ages (see Map 2) this kingdom consisted of two parts: the North Folk (people of the north) and the South (or Suth) Folk (people of the south). In time, these became the names Norfolkand Suffolk—used here, in the New World, as they were in England, to indicate the location of each settlement.
The namesWessex, Sussex, andEssex have nothing to do with sex. The earlier forms of these names were Wesseaxen, Suthseaxen, and Eastseaxen—Seaxen meaning Saxon. These were three Saxon kingdoms located in the west, south, and east below Mercia and East Anglia (see Map 1). In the lowest point of Mercia (gray on Map 1), the area between Wessex and Essex was known around 700 as Middelseaxen (Middlesex). If you used to wonder about that name (I know I did), now that mystery is solved!
On Virginia’s MiddlePeninsula, we have an EssexCounty and a MiddlesexCounty, and on the Southside, south of SurryCounty, we have a SussexCounty.
The tribe called Jutes settled essentially only the small area called Kent(See Map 1). No doubt NewKent County owes it name to this tiny kingdom from England's “Dark Ages”—the Anglo-Saxon period.
If you are interested in etymology, particularly Tidewater area place names, let us know. There might be more This-N-That articles on this topic.
Published November 8, 2013
Feedback
(What’s in a Name?
Anglo-Saxon Place Names in Tidewater)
Re: What’s in a Name? Anglo-Saxon Place Names in Tidewater, Patty Lottinville Kipps (FD 63) wrote: “I enjoyed the place names article, and would enjoy other similar pieces. I can remember as a child talking with my friends about all those ‘sex’ names and wondering to what they may have referred!”
Re: What’s in a Name? Anglo-Saxon Place Names in Tidewater,Barbara Rhyne Jacobs of Texas (previously of MA) wrote: “This history is fascinating. Now I understand why Massachusetts has those names for THEIR counties. I would definitely be interested in more etymology history.”
Halloween Pumpkins
Carved by Ray Villafane
‘Tis the season for carving Halloween pumpkins—some scary, some funny, and some just…different. Enjoy these photos of carvings by master pumpkin and squash sculptor Ray Villafane. The last one shows the artist with a 2,200-plus pound pumpkin he carved at an autumn festival in Switzerland. If you want to see more of his art work, or learn more about how he does it, just type Ray Villafane into Google. Warning: Do not start looking unless you are prepared to spend the next 2-4 hours (or more) doing nothing else but marveling at his talent!
Published October 25, 2013
Obituary: Catherine Wright
by Lois Wright
Miss Catherine Wright, daughter of CH Kirisisha’s Special Blend and Tehy Midnite Special of Kirisisha, died on August 27, 2013, in Williamsburg , Virginia , just short of her twelfth birthday. Catherine, a Calico Persian, was born in Lexington , South Carolina , on September 30, 2001. On February 16, 2002, she began living with her adopted parent, Dr. Lois Wright, CNC’s first and only graduate of the Class of 1962.
Catherine led a full and interesting life. After nine months at the University of South Carolina serving as special assistant to Dr. Wright, in charge of chasing pencils, rearranging papers, and pulling books from shelves, she moved to Williamsburg , VA. There she continued to work as assistant to Dr. Wright in her home office, taking on increasingly complex duties, including hiding earrings, typing short letters (such as “aaaaaaa” and “rrrrrrrr”), tantalizing her neighbor’s Yorkie, and tuning her adopted mother’s Steinway grand piano.
Catherine’s most important function, however, was as chief mood control engineer, for which she had an innate talent. It is in that capacity that she will be the most sorely missed.
Catherine Wright shortly before her fatal illness.
Baby Elizabeth Wright
In April of this year, Catherine was diagnosed with kidney disease. Despite excellent medical and home care and heroic efforts on her own behalf, by early August Catherine was signaling that it was time to let her go.Arrangements were made with her comfort and happiness the paramount concerns.
On the morning of August 27, 2013, veterinary technician Morgan came to the house. Morgan administered a tranquillizer while Dr. Wright held Catherine in her arms, rocking and kissing her, whispering sweet nothings, and singing the Brahms Lullaby. During these last conscious moments in her mother’s arms, Catherine looked peaceful, relaxed, and almost ethereal. Then, good-byes having been said, she left with Morgan a little before 10:00 a.m., comfortable and absolutely beautiful.
Catherine is survived by both her mother and her new baby sister, Elizabeth, a Richmond area-bred tortie point Himalayan. Catherine's cremains are now on the mantle of her home, where she can keep watch over Elizabeth.
________________________________________________
Editor’s Note:For more information about and photographs of Catherine Wright, go to the Website ARCHIVES, subtab THIS-N-THAT, and scroll down to the article Catherine the Cat.
Published September 27, 2013
The CNC First Decaders T-Shirt
by A. Jane Chambers
The unique CNC First Decaders T-shirt was made possible because of Claude Stanley (FD 63), who sent me in 2010 an old, well-worn William and Mary green sweatshirt to add to a small collection (still growing) of memorabilia of CNC’s first decade (1961-71) temporarily being housed in my home, with a hope it will eventually be housed at CNU.
In the College’s beginning, Claude received permission from then Director H. Westcott Cunningham to have a CNC sweatshirt made for the students to purchase. Centered on it was an image of the first seal of what was then Christopher Newport College of the College of William and Mary. Almost half a century later, Claude agreed to my request that he design a CNC First Decaders T-shirt, including that same original seal, for our first decade alumni and professors to purchase, and to make copies of the tee available in time for people to wear them during the first evening (casual dress night) of the weekend Reunion of the earliest CNC students and CNC emeriti faculty (Sept. 16 & 17, 2011).
Thus was born this unique tee shown in these photos. Worn by many in 2011 and also at the 2012 FD Reunion Picnic, I’m sure our tee will be worn again at our third gathering this September 29th.I’ll be wearing mine. Hope you'll wear yours.
Claude Stanley's 1961-63 era shirt, in W&M green, with the original CNC/W&M seal.
1963 graduates Patty Lottinville and Judene Branch Hartless compare their First Decader tees on the first afternoon of the 2011 Reunion at CNU.
Inside the Banquet Hall at CNU, our T-shirt designer Claude Stanley (FD 63) sits center at the table in his light blue tee, next to his wife, Karen Graeb Stanley (FD 64) in the purple tee. Standing In the distance are 1966 FDs Wayne Rammell (blue tee) and Dave Hall.
Emeritus Professor Barry Wood (R) has an animated conversation with 1965 FD Jack Harrison (L) on Casual Night of the 2011 Reunion.
Emeriti Professors Sam Bauer (L) and Barry Wood (R) sport their CNC FD tees at the 2012 Reunion Picnic in Newport News Park.
Professor Mario Mazzarella (foreground) is one of three in this 2012 photo wearing the CNC tee. Beside him is his wife, Becky.
1966 FD Ellen Babb Melvin and FD Chair Dave Spriggs.
Published September 13, 2013
The When, Where, Why and More ofT-Shirts
by A. Jane Chambers
I have always loved T-shirts. I currently have about 10 “dressy” tees (worn beneath blouses) and more than 50 casual ones—with graphics ranging from dachshunds, lighthouses, flowers, and birds to places I’ve visited at home (“Mystic Harbor”) and abroad (“London”). I have literary tees (“Carpe diem”), attitude tees (“Outrageous Older Woman”), nightshirt tees, and of course two “CNC First Decaders” tees. So when I recently learned on the TV news that 2013 is the 100th anniversary of the T-shirt, off I went to learn more about this simple but universally-loved garment. The following is my summary, with selected photos, of the history of the T-shirt.
One-piece Union Suit.
ORIGIN AND NAME
In the beginning, according to Wikipedia, there was the Union Suit, a one-piece, front-buttoned underwear garment (cotton or wool) created in the 1860s ( Utica , NY ), with long sleeves and legs and a rear flap whose purpose I need not explain. This was followed by Long Johns, a two-piece version of the same, with the upper garment made long enough to be tucked into the bottom piece. During the late 19th century, the upper part of the warm-weather version of this underwear, made of cotton and with short sleeves, with or without buttons, became a popular garment warn by stevedores and miners in hot environments. From this garment, came the slip-on, button-less top called a “T-shirt”— because of its “T” shape.
The white cotton T-shirt—crew-necked and short-sleeved—was issued by the U.S. Navy in 1913 as an undershirt, to be worn under uniforms. MilitaryTimes: NavyTimes cites a source as giving this motive for the decision: “The T-shirtwas introduced … as a way to get sailors to cover up the chest hair revealed by their V-neck uniforms.” The motive was more likely to be that of comfort, however, as stated byWikipedia: Sailorsand Marines in work parties, inside the early submarines, and in tropical climates removed their uniform "jackets" to be more comfortable and toavoid soiling them. The “tees” were lightweight and easy to clean. It was not long before “the Army followed suit, paving the way for the T-shirt to become the go-to top for dockworkers, farmers, miners and other workers who appreciated the comfortable lightweight cotton and short sleeves. By the 1920s ‘T-shirt’ became an official American-English word in the Merriam-Webster dictionary" (Mother Nature Network).
Sailor wearing a T-shirt while working in the galley of a submarine in 1945. U.S. Navy photo.
“Property of USC” tee that began a trend.
PUBLIC POPULARITY
According to a 2007 article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Jockey International Inc. developed what became the modern T-shirt in 1932, at the request of the University of Southern California Trojans football team. Officials were looking for an inexpensive undergarment to absorb sweat and to prevent a player's shoulder pads from causing chafing.” The shirts became so fashionable, however, that"students start pilfering them for casual wear. In response, the school began stenciling ‘Property of USC’ on its T-shirts as a crime-prevention tactic" (Neatorama).That decision only increased the thefts, so the university’s bookstore soon stocked and sold the athletic tees. “Property of” T-shirts are still very popular today, with endless variations—not all of them related to school athletic programs.
Two 1950s Hollywood heart throbs made the plain white T-shirt a must-have item for young males—Marlon Brando and James Dean. Brando, then a handsome, well-built young actor, played brutal but sensitive Stanley Kowalski in the movie version of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire (1951, black & white) and James Dean, equally handsome, fit and young, played troubled teenager Jim Stark in Rebel Without a Cause (1955, black & white). As I recall from my own teen years in the late fifties, young men imitating Brando and/or Dean also frequently wore their plain white tees with a pack of cigarettes rolled up in one of the short sleeves. The sailor’s and laborer’s work shirt was well on its way to becoming a fashion statement of the young—but not yet a garment worn also by females and small children.
Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski.
James Dean as Jim Stark.
To be continued next Friday, August 23.
Published August 16, 2013
The When, Where, Why and More of T-Shirts
Continued
by A. Jane Chambers
The first article on this topic can be found immediately below this one.
1960s T-SHIRTS
This decade was an explosive one in the history of the American T-shirt. Among other things, the tee became a medium for commercial advertising, political campaigning, anti-war protesting, and expressing cultural and social views on numerous subjects. Artists and designers also experimented with the shirt, in one case creating an extremely successful vogue: tie-dye clothing. In the sixties, the lowly male undershirt morphed permanently into an extremely popular garment for women and girls as well as for men and boys—a trend whose end today is not in sight.
COMMERCIAL TEES
The t-shirt as an advertising medium began in 1939, when Warner Brothers distributed Wizard of Oz t-shirts in children's sizes to promote ticket sales for its film starring Judy Garland (SGIA BLOG). In the early 1950’s , Miami company Tropix Togs, founded by Sam Kantor, acquired exclusive rights from Walt Disney to print images of Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse and his pals on T-shirts, to promote the Disney brand. Tropix was also the first company to decorate tees with various Florida resort names to promote tourism. Another company important in expanding the T-shirt business was Sherry Manufacturing Company, founded in 1948 by Quinton Sandler and also based in Miami . Started as a screen print scarf business, Sherry quickly evolved into one of the largest screen printed resort and licensed apparel companies in the United States(Wikipedia).
I threw out my ancient Mickey Mouse shirt like this one, which today might be very valuable.
Though Dewey lost to Truman, his campaign shirt was the beginning of a major trend.
CAMPAIGN TEES
The first known use of the T-shirt in political campaigning in America was in 1948, when N.Y. Governor Thomas E. Dewey was running for President against Harry S. Truman (Wikipedia et al). The “Dew it with Dewey” tee (shown here) was white with black printing. It is considered the earliest recorded printed T-shirt and is on display at the Smithsonian, in Washington, D.C. Below are color graphics used on 2 campaign tees that you might remember from the early 1960s.
Would you pay $1,500 for this tee?
PROTEST TEES
The protest tee became quite popular at this time, particularly the anti-war and anti-nuclear armament T-shirts. While exploring Google for an early protest tee, I came upon the one shown here, on E-Bay, described by its owner as a “Rare Vintage 1960’s Hippie American Peace Flag Anti-War Protest T-Shirt”—for sale at “$1,500 or best offer.” The peace symbol on it (in black) originated in 1958 in England. I remember seeing it occasionally chalked on sidewalks in London during my 2-month stay there in the summer of 1962, especially in the area of Trafalgar Square. I had no idea what that symbol meant until someone explained it to me. It was designed as the logo for the British Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Wikipedia states it was created by the artist and designer Gerald Holtom, who made it originally as a ceramic badge protestors wore during their 1958 march from London’s Trafalgar Square to Britain’s Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston. The symbol quickly was adopted by anti-war activists in America during the Vietnam War and is now a universally recognized symbol for peace. Wikipedia gives a thorough explanation of this symbol for those wanting more information.
MESSAGE TEES
The tee became a pop-culture medium for expressing views on numerous subjects other than war. In the late 1960s Richard Ellman, Robert Tree, Bill Kelly, and Stanley Mouse set up the Monster Company in Mill Valley, California, to produce fine art designs expressly for T-shirts. Their tees often featured emblems and motifs associated with the Grateful Dead and marijuana culture. American illustrator, artist and graphic designer Warren Dayton, best known for his psychedelic art posters, was a major pioneer of the T-shirt as a wearable placard, producing political, protest, and pop-culture art tees (Wikipedia). Below are pictured five of Dayton’s shirts of the late sixties, including images of Cesar Chavez, the Statue of Liberty, and polluted lungs.
Young women modeling Warren Dayton tees. Photo from the MotherNatureNetwork, crediting warrendayton.com.
TIE-DYE TEES
The tie-dye tee was created by the artist Zubin in New York City in the sixties. He and a friend held creative “interactive imaginative events” in a loft in Greenwich Village, including a “Tie-Dye Plunge,” showing guests how to tie and dye various fabrics. Soon they had a “night-time boutique (10 p.m. to 6 a.m.)” that drew such rock stars as Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix, who purchased their luxurious dyed silk, satin and velvet items. In 1969, according to Zubin, he and his friend “tie-dyed and sold (and gave away!) 5,000 T-shirts at the Wood-stock Festival, therefore launching the whole colorful craze” (Zubin, A Living Legend). This appears to be the true tie-dye story, as opposed to the account given in Wikipedia, which credits advertising whiz Don Price with starting the tie-dye fad with hippies at Woodstock as a way to promote Rit Dye. Zurbin’s account of his giving the Rit Company the idea to market its dyes with Rit Tie-Dye kits is more credible. Tie-dyeing is enjoying renewed popularity today, especially among the young.
SOME 1970s TEES
THE IRON-ON TRANSFER
A major innovation in T-shirt art in the 1970s was the iron-on transfer, which made it easy to mass-produce hundreds of different designs. Anyone could go to a T-shirt shop (every mall and shopping center had one) and have a shirt made to order in a short time. With development In the later seventies of a new photo-realistic iron-on transfer called a "litho transfer," the quality of the graphic images was vastly improved. Two of the earliest and most famous litho transfers shown here. In 1975 200,000 copies of this JAWS tee were produced to promote the movie of that name. In 1976, this photo (from a poster) of Farrah Fawcett in a one-piece red bathing suit (NorthShoreShirts.com) had record sales. Today, on sites such as E-Bay, you can find originals of that famous Farrah Fawcett tee for sale at prices ranging from $50 to $400, depending on the condition of the iron-on image.
The problem with the iron-on transfer, however, was that it did not wear well. It was rubbery, unpleasant to the touch, and hard to clean. It would eventually crack and peel. I remember having such tees, but not really liking them, for these reasons. In the 1980s, the iron-on transfer fell out of favor, although now it has returned for home use on all sorts of clothing.
THE “I ♥ NY”SHIRT
The man who created this now world-famous logo did not make a penny from it. Milton Glaser, a graphic designer in New York City, was asked by an advertising agency in 1977 to create a logo for an advertising campaign to boost morale in the city and encourage tourism at a time when crime was at an all-time high and the city was close to bankruptcy. He did the logo for free, not expecting it to last beyond the campaign. At the same time, composer Steve Karmen wrote the song "I Love New York" as part of this campaign. Ironically, both the song and the logo became quite famous and indeed helped the city get back on its feet. Glaser’s innovative pop-art logo quickly became closely associated with the city; white T-shirts decorated with it were in great demand, and Karmen’s song was declared New YorkState's anthem in 1980. The logo remains today a pop-culture icon, inspiring imitations in every corner of the globe. Merchandise proclaiming "I ♥” this or that place, person, sport, animal, food and so forth are found everywhere. NYC has tried (not very successfully) to uphold its trademark by filing (as of 2005) nearly 3,000 objections against imitators (Wikipedia).
In closing, I offer these words from Melissa Breyer, from her brief piece “13 iconic moments in the history of the T-shirt”:
In the 100 years of its history, the T-shirt has grown up from a workwear staple to one of the most flexible garments known to mankind, an article of simple clothing that can be found in just about any clothing store for anywhere from a few dollars to hundred. Or a few thousand? Indeed, last year French fashion house Hermès debuted acrocodile T-shirtwith the not-so-humble price tag of $91,500, illustrating just how far the T-shirt has come.
Published August 23, 2013
Dr. Seuss’s You’re Only Old Once!
Reviewed by A. Jane Chambers
I like nonsense; it wakes up the brain cells.
Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living. –Dr. Seuss
Theodor (Ted) Seuss Geisel—not yet ancient.
A friend gave me a copy of Dr. Seuss’s You’re Only Old Once! A Book for Obsolete Children a decade or so ago. Thinking I wasn’t old enough to read it, much less “Obsolete,” I just smiled, said a polite “Thank you!”—and put the book aside. Recently, I came upon it while doing some cleaning. I sat down and read it. And I laughed, and then I laughed some more. I’m old enough to read it now! And maybe you are, too. In fact, you don’t have to be very old at all to enjoy this delightful little book about a balding Everyman who patiently endures the poking and prodding (and “pilling” and “billing”) that are part of his medical checkup with all sorts of weird specialists (like “Oglers”) at the “Golden Years Clinic.”
If you’ve had or known a child, or just owned a TV, you know who Dr. Seuss is, but here are a few facts you might not know (courtesy of GOOGLE): that “Seuss” was in fact the middle name of Theodor (Ted) Seuss Geisel (his mother’s maiden name), that “Seuss” does NOT rhyme with “loose” or “goose,” but with “voice” (no kidding! “voice!”), and that though he is probably the most famous writer and illustrator of children’s books in the world, Dr. Seuss and his wife of many decades had no children, though they sometimes pretended they had a daughter to brag about when the braggers got to them at cocktail parties.
Dr. Seuss celebrated his 82nd birthday, in 1986, with publication of You’re Only Old Once! He died four years later (1991), at home, at age 87, attended by his second wife. I hope you’ll enjoy the following excerpts, and if you decide you want a copy of this book, for yourself or for someone else, go to GOOGLE and type in the title. There are copies galore available, new and used, ranging from $1.99 (Barnes & Nobles) to $12.05 (Wal-Mart).
Our hero is wheeled throughout the Golden Years Clinic, to speed up the testing process.
“The Oglers have blossomed like roses in May! And silently, grimly, they ogle away.”
“They’ll test you with noises from far and from near and you’ll get a black mark for the ones you can’t hear.”
Dr. Van Ness, with “pioneer work in the Study of Stress,” administers his stress test.
The What-When-Where-Why Pill Drill.
The most painful part of the Clinic ordeal: signing those papers that mean you'll be billed.
The happy ending.
Published July 5, 2013
Catherine the Cat:
Lois Wright’s Calico Persian
by A. Jane Chambers
When First Decader Lois Wright (AA, 62), at my request, emailed me photos of her beautiful and unusual calico Persian, I was intrigued. I had to know more about Catherine. Back and forth emails led to this article.
JANE: Where did you get such an unusual cat?
LOIS: I found her at a cat show in Columbia, South Carolina, in February 2002 and loved her at first sight. I knew that she would come home with me after my friend Frank drawled, “Oh, Lois, she’s precious! You have to have her!”
JANE: Did she have siblings, or a parent, with that same face?
LOIS: She had a sister at the show, but she was a solid color, not calico. I don't know if there were other siblings. Both of her parents were solid colors, and I don't know if they produced any calicos other than Catherine, much less any with a black/orange split-face pattern.
J: That face is really unique!
L: Actually, each calico cat is unique, with its own arrangement of color patches, and the split face is not that unusual.
J: As you can tell, I know nothing about calicos! Tell me more.
L: Calico is a specific color combination. Since genetic information about color is found on X chromosomes, a set of two X chromosomes is required to produce a calico, so calico cats are almost always female. And there is no guarantee that breeding will result in calico cats. It happens once in a while when an embryo acquires the specific genes for this color combination and develops into a calico cat. Size and arrangement of the patches of color vary, but it is not unusual to have a black/orange split-face pattern similar to Catherine's.
Catherine thinks it's impolite of you to stare. Photos by Lois Wright.
Catherine poses regally on the two-headed ram in Lois’s dining room.
J: You were still at USC-Columbia as an administrator when you got Catherine?
L: Yes. It was my last year. She was raised in my office at The University of South Carolina for her first eight months with me, as I spent more hours there than at home. She never liked riding in the car and made the kitty-siren noise every day to and from the office. However, once there, she enjoyed herself, chasing pens across the desk, sitting on papers, and hiding among the books in my library. Occasionally, she would escape into the hall, where someone would invariably scold, “Catherine, get back in your room!”
From October through December of 2002, Catherine and I lived in the Adam’s MarkHotel on Main Street in Columbia, as I had sold my house in preparation for retirement and my move to Williamsburg. She took well to hotel life and particularly liked to attack “the other kitty,” who lived in the mirrored sliding doors to the closet.
J: I’ll bet it was fun driving to Williamsburg with her!
L: I hadn’t believed that she could yell and howl for the whole trip, but she could—and did! She protested loudly from Columbia to Charlotte the first day, where we spent the night with my brother (her uncle), and resumed howling during the next day’s drive to Williamsburg.
J: Cats and cars seldom mix well. Shehas such a regal air. Did you name her after Catherine the Great?
L: Catherine’s the name of saints (Catherine of Sienna, and of Alexandria) and queens (Catherine Howard, Parr, of Aragon, the Great, and de’ Medici), so it seemed a fitting name for her, yes.
J: Did you plan this picture of her sitting on the two-headed Egyptian ram? It seems to have some symbolic import.
L: I in no way planned the ram photo. None of her pictures is ever staged by me. She selects the venue; I just snap the picture. She knows how to choose just the right setting for displaying her beauty, doesn’t she?
J: How old is Catherine?
L: Ten. She’ll be eleven on September 30. But, as her Aunt Marsha told her on her last birthday, “No! You don’t look a day over nine!”
J: I love this piano photo. Is that a grand, or a baby grand? Could it possibly be a crème de la crème, a Steinway?
L: Yes, that is my Steinway grand (not baby) piano, the second love of my life after Catherine. I spend much time with it. When I found Catherine in the piano, I knew I should have yelled "shoo!" But instead, I ran and got my camera!
J:Does she play the piano (walk on the keys) or just PLUCK the strings?
L: Catherine does not generally use the piano keyboard, though she might strike a key now and then. She prefers walking on the strings directly. Maybe she is a frustrated harpist.
J: Does she enjoy your piano playing? Or ignore it? Or object vocally?
L: Catherine likes to sit on the bench with me—two-thirds for her, one- third for me—
when I practice piano, but she hasn't commented on my playing.
J: No comment probably means approval. How does Catherine feel about being the subject of a website article?
L: She’s enjoying the attention, though she refuses to admit it. She adores attention—
from afar.
J: I look forward to meeting her.
Catherine explores the inside of Lois’s Steinway.
My Post Office Encounter
with CNU President Paul Trible
by Ron Lowder
My Post Office Encounter
with CNU President Paul Trible
by Ron Lowder
Dr. Jane,
I was at the post office in Hidenwood the morning of December 10 waiting in line to mail a package and this voice behind me said “Ron.” I turned around and it was Paul Trible! What a memory he must have! (or he recognized my face and saw the return address on my package).
We chatted about the First Decaders, the FD website, our banquet last year and the alumni house. He made it a point to tell me that the Alumni House must be funded with private funds.
All the while, I was thinking: Paul Trible was the last person I expected to see waiting in line at a post office! He was quite cordial and said he thought it was great that we (and I mentioned your name) have a website and have found so many pictures, items, stories, etc. from that era of the University.
Just thought you would find that interesting.
Ron
FD Webmaster and musician Ron Lowder. Lowder family photo. 2012.
CNU President Paul Trible at the First Decaders 2011 Reunion. CNC FD website photo.
Drawing of proposed CNU Alumni Building. CNU website photo.
Ron,
You'll remember that Paul Trible stopped by on Friday night (Sept. 16) during our 2-night 2011 FD Reunion and spoke to the 200+ people there. I'm sure he's been kept informed of our website and activities (including your being in that FD Focus Group in April), so I'm not surprised he knows who you are. Our group is now well known in what used to be called "The Power tower"! (Do the present CNU students call it that?)
I'm glad Trible mentioned the Alumni House, because I hope to see a room in that named "The Cunningham Room," decorated with First Decade Memorabilia. However, as he said to you, the Alumni House will have to be funded 100% by donations; the State won't fund alumni houses, alas! Fortunately, however, FD Jim Eyre (FD 64 & BS 75) is on the Alumni House Building Campaign Executive Committee, charged with the fund-raising. As you know, we hope also to have another FD known by Mr. Trible connected with the Alumni House project as well.
Jane
Bicycles
Most of us Decaders probably owned at least one bike between the age of about 5 and 17. Some of us were lucky enough to have had a few during that age range. Growing up in the late 40s through the 50s and early 60s was sure different from what many youngsters experience now. In my lower-middle class neighborhood, the streets were pretty safe and a bike was the primary mode of local transportation. And the bikes were sure different than most kid bikes today...big seats (much more comfortable than modern seats), big tires (smoother ride), substantial handle bars (which seemed more ergonomically correct than today's configuration), built in horn (to aggrevate the dogs), built in headlight (cool, but only good for others to see you), shock absorber (to smooth out bumpy roads), a built-in lock and a back fender built to carry a passenger (the girlfriend or boyfriend). No gears to shift and the brake was simply a reverse pedal motion. Some of the most popular bicycles back then were made by Schwinn and Huffy. Huffy had one of the neatest bikes out in the late 50s; they had a built in AM radio. One of my friends had one (a similiar one is pictured below on the right). The radio worked as long as you were within a mile of a radio station...but that wasn't the point. You were the coolest dude in the neighborhood if you had a bike with a radio!
Appeared January 11, 2012
New Technology - stuff not present during the Decader Years
This is another article on the effects of technology. Sometimes I feel we get so caught up in today's world that we forget "How I Was". Of course, every new technology, while offering benefits, also comes with unforeseen negative effects. Reflecting on Dr. Jane's article above, my wife and I were just talking about the future of newspapers, magazines, books and the like. Will there come a day when the phrase "Curl up with a good book" is replaced by "Curl up with the reader app on a good tablet computer"? And what will happen to printed books? Will there come a day when books are no longer printed? The data below was compiled by several organizations using mostly information provided by the "owner" of the technology. I can't vouch for the degree of accuracy in these numbers, but I suspect they are somewhere in the "ballpark". It is hard for me to believe that almost NONE of the computer-internet enabled capabilities listed below were with us in the '60s. Wow! We've come a long way...especially social networking. Hope we haven't lost too much from the negative impacts (e.g., most people do not take the time to ever sit down and write a personal letter, send a hand-written note, etc.) The expediency of message transfer has sent some of the nice "human touches" to the back seat.
The year 1961
0
The year 2012
In 60 Seconds...
168 Million emails sent 695,445 Search Queries on Google 70+ new internet domains registered 600+ new videos on YouTube 100+New Linkedin Accounts 320+ new Twitter Accounts 370,000 + minutes voice calls on Skype 12,000+ new ads on Craigslist 11.000+ hours music streaming on Pandora 11,000+ iPhone applications downloaded 4,000 USB devices sold 2,500 ink cartridges sold 1,100 acres of land farmed in FarmVille 950+ purchases on eBay 12 Websites got hacked 450 Windows 7 CDs sold 11 XBOX 360 Consoles sold 925 iPhone4S sold 81 iPads sold 11 Million conversations on instant messengers $291,000 of total PayPal payments
Appeared January 10 - 11, 2012
DANIEL SCHOOL'S FAMOUS FIRST GRADER: WILLIAM STYRON
In her essay "The Graduating Class of One," Lois Wright wrote of the former Daniel School, "Had we known then that Pulitzer Prize winner William Styron (author of The Confessions of Nat Turner) had spent most of his first year of grammar school there, we might have felt more reverence for the old building. Not certain I was correct on this point, I e-mailed Styron's biographer, James L. W. West III, author of William Styron: A Life, who wrote back: '"Billy" Styron, as he was then known, did go to first grade in the John W. Daniel Grammar School. He entered in the fall of 1931. Near the end of that school year, his parents bought the house at 56 Hopkins Street in Hilton Village, so Billy finished first grade at Hilton Village Elementary School'" (Memories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade, Hallmark, 2008, p. 183).
Born in Newport News in 1925, his father an engineer in the Shipyard, William Styron first gained international attention for his novel Lie Down in Darkness (1952), set in "Port Warwick" (echoing what was then Warwick County). In 1967 he published The Confessions of Nat Turner, based on an actual slave revolt in South Hampton, VA, in 1831. This novel earned Styron a Pulitzer Prize in 1968.
Five years later, during the presidency of James C. Windsor, Styron was the first internationally famous person to speak at Christopher Newport College. He delivered the Commencement Address at CNC's May 20, 1973 graduation, held in Ratcliffe Gymnasium.
Other famous works by Styron are Sophie's Choice (1979), which resulted in a movie in 1982 starring Meryl Streep, and Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness (1990), the author's autobiographical account of his long struggle with depression. The title came from John Milton's Paradise Lost, in which Milton described Hell as "darkness visible." William Styron died in 2006 at age 81.
Below is a photo of Styron's boyhood home in Hilton Village and more information about him, courtesy of Jane Carter Webb, CNU Professor Emerita of Physics and Computer Science. The photo and caption are from p. 104 of her book Newport News (Arcadia, 2003).
To see the house on Chesapeake Ave. where the Styrons lived when Billy was attending Daniel, click here: http://www.nnhs65.com/east-end.html (Courtesy of Dave Spriggs).
Appeared January 6, 2012
Riverside Hospital Stay Then and Now
As those of you who viewed this website over the last few days learned, your webmaster was “under the knife” on Tuesday for a back operation. The operation took place at (what is now called) Riverside Regional Medical Center on J. Clyde Morris Blvd. in Newport News. I was fortunate to have only a one night stay. My operation was successful with only some drilling and nerve rearrangement; no metal plates, bolts or screws. And the whole healing process, so far, seems less painful than I had anticipated. But then, the industrial strength drugs do help with that. And my wonderful wife has made these last few trying days as pleasant as possible.
My last hospital experience (as a patient) was just over 20 years ago at Riverside Hospital. But to contrast the progress this great facility has had, let's consider difference with a hospital stay in the '60s.
First, let's take the topic of AUTOMATION -
Bed:
'60s – Crank-style lift of both ends of the bed to adjust to desired angles.
Now – An amazing (and very comfortable) bed outfitted with the (now standard) switches to automatically raise and lower various parts of the bed, buttons to call a nurse, etc. but most amazing was the sensors that (with the help of automated intelligence) would automatically adjust parts of the bed for both comfort and to help prevent bed sores based on pressure points.
Computers:
'60s– none visible
Now – Laptop computers were used by almost all hospital personnel...nurses, nurse assistants, specialists...on and on. Especially interesting was the special carts (with laptops) used by nurses when delivering medication. They appeared state-of-the-art stable and must have been custom engineered for their purpose. Wristbands were scanned to document the delivery of the proper medication.
Next (and very close to my heart) FOOD -
I realize that all hospitals have quite a challenge in this area with the many diets prescribed by physicians and the number of custom meals they must prepare in a day.
'60s – (based on a hospital stay by one of my parents during that period)not the best tasting food.
Now – I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by the food I received during this visit. In fact, I must say “it was great!”...quality, taste, preparation... all first class. Bravo to Riverside!!!!!
And finally, HOSPITAL PERSONNEL -
'60s - I don't have a '60s comparison for this topic.
Now – EVERYONE I encountered during my 30 hour stay was absolutely top notch...professional, courteous and all displayed that all important “I care” factor. I can't say enough about how comfortable that made me feel.
All in all, I consider myself very fortunate. I had a serious operation and a very positive experience.
Lastly, I would be remiss to not thank the “man upstairs” who undoubtedly had a hand in all of this.
Appeared December 29, 2011
1961 Ford Galaxie Sunliner
1961 "Decader" Cars
Thought I would give us a break from this column's theme of the last few days to remind you possibly of a car you might have driven to school during your CNC years. I chose 1961 since most of us could not afford to drive a new car and might have driven one of these cars later in the "decade". Big was in and fins were big!!!
1961 Chevy Impala
1961 Chrysler 300
1961 DeSoto
1961 Nash
1961 Cadillac
1961 Ford Thunderbird
1961 Corvette
Appeared December 28, 2011
The Cost of Computer Storage during the "Decader" Years
Well, being a Computer Science Major and spending over 40 years in this field, I guess we had to get stuck on computer-related topics sooner or later. The topic today has me thinking about the future of data storage...perhaps a topic for a future article. I hope you can tolerate my obsession with this stuff. With the current cost of a 2 Terabyte (2000 Gigabyte) Hard Disk Storage device costing as low as $129.00, it seems amazing that the cost of the same storage in the '60s (if available) would have cost over a million dollars. Here is how the cost of hard drives have come down. Below is the year and approximate cost of 1 Megabyte of disk storage: 1956: $10,000 1980: $193 1985: $71 1989: $53 1995: $0.85 1996: $0.17 1999: $0.02 Now: $0.000065 (if my math is correct)
To put this in perspective, one gigabyte of data is equalivant to about 559,240.53 pages of text (assuming about 80 characters per line and 24 lines per page).
Appeared December 27, 2011
1966 - Data Storage
Memory sticks, SD cards, Compact Discs, hard drives, solid state memory: all of these things have appeared in the last 45 years. Actually, the first hard drives were in existence in the '60s but only on the gigantic first computers. One standard form of data storage that many Decaders will remember is the 80-column punched card. I can remember using punched cards to load a program at CNC in the early '70s. And you might remember that John Scull was one of the staff members working in the Computer Lab during that period. The cards had to be in the right order and a simple program could take several hundred cards. They worked great until you dropped your cards on the floor and then had to put them back in order by hand. Below is an image of an 80-column card to refresh your memory.
Appeared December 22, 2011
Christmas traditions (Christmas Trees, gift giving, religious celebrations) have changed little over the years (thank goodness). Hope this holiday season finds you healthy and happy.
Appeared on December 21, 2011
Christmas Lights Today's topic is more of a "HOW IT IS" rather than a "HOW IT WAS". In keeping with the Holiday Season, here are a few outstanding Holiday Light display photos. Enjoy!!!
Winchester, VA - Apple Blossom Festival - 1962
Decaders who took Band in High School are likely to have participated in the Apple Blossom Festival in the Spring of your high school days. These photos were taken during my trip to Winchester with the Warwick High School Band in the spring of 1962.
The Apple Blossom Festival was a great experience for most of us (at the time) teenagers. The Warwick High School band would stay at the South End Fire Station in downtown Winchester (see picture, lower right). The fire station had a big empty room upstairs. They would drape a tall curtain from one end of the room to the other. We all had our sleeping bags, all 70 of us. Boys would be on one side of the curtain and Girls on the other. There were a handful of parent volunteers along with the band master, Mr. Lyle Smith, to monitor the room all night and make sure everyone stayed where they were supposed to be. Now, as a parent, I look back on those trips and wonder how Mr. Smith and those parent volunteers did it. What an awesome responsibility. Those were great times and great experiences. I wish I could go back in time and thank those adults for putting up with us!!!
Appeared December 9, 2011
Dance Clubs, Bands, Music of the '60s and early '70s
The 1960s and early 1970s seemed now to be a magical time for music...so many really good dance songs. And there were so many really good local bands that performed regularly at colleges and local clubs such as Barry Darvell and the Encores, Bill Deal and the Rhondels, Jo Jo and the Wailing Frets, Ben Dale and the Co-ops, Terry and the Pirates, Jerry Leggett and the Flames, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, the Invaders, The Royale Seven, Black & White...I could go on and on. Thought you might enjoy photos of some of my favorite "CNC Decader-era" clubs. I (your webmaster) had the privilege of performing in all of these clubs many times and can remember many great times. The magic of those times seemed to diminish in the late '70s and only exists now in occasional musical reunions and of course in our memories. It's funny how you really don't know how special certain aspects of your life are until they are all but gone...I guess that is a tragedy of life. Reminds me of a quote from George Eliot: "The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us and we see nothing but sand; the angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone."
What? No "Pay at the Pump"?
How did we survive our younger years with no "Pay at the Pump"? And, oh wait: "I can't pump my own gas?" Well, it was my experience that, while the lack of those features made the "fill up" experience not quite as convenient, it did force us to get to know the service personnel at our local gas stations. I remember several good friendships I enjoyed at my neighborhood gas stations. And ultimately those service personnel would go out of their way to help with mechanical emergencies. I remember specifically an instance at the station that was located on the corner of 74th Street and Jefferson Avenue. I had a band by the name of the "Sheepherders". We played mostly college gigs throughout the state. I had purchased an old 50 passenger Trailways bus and had modified the interior to sleep 8 so we could travel more comfortably. One day just before a trip, the clutch on the bus suddenly wouldn't engage fully and was obviously in need of adjustment. My friend at the service station (even though they were not "bus" mechanics) were able to adjust the clutch so we could proceed to our gig at UVA. I think he charged me $10 for the service. I'm sure you also had positive experiences in the "pre-computerization" service station era. In ways, automation has set us back a notch when considering "real customer service".
Link to Christopher Newport University home page: http://cnu.edu