Then, if you wonder whether or not I can be clever also, try this...
2 Timoteo, Parte 1
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Monday, June 29, 2009
Saturday, June 06, 2009
This past Friday Nancy and I spent touring Caswell County, an area just north and east of us. Our host was raised in the area and has spent quite a bit of time studying its history. In the short time we were together Nancy and I learned much…
First, a couple terms that we had to get clear. The Boom Times were between 1830 and 1850. At that time the county was one of the richest in the state, with its agricultural base and plantation system. During that period many of the notable people who helped shape North Carolina history lived, worked, built mansions, and influenced from Caswell County. The other is that what I have usually known as the Civil War is, in this part of the country, known as the War Between the States…
Coming from the west coast, where the land is awesome but the history is less so (besides the Native American strand, which is another story), this area may lack the dramatic scenery but it has much more history. And Caswell County has history to the extreme.
One of the first sites we stopped at was an empty field. It was not that impressive, until we learned that it was on that field that the Continental Army mustered as the British troops under General Cornwallis marched northwards.
Just across the road from that field stands an old classic Boom Times home. Lined across the front lawn is a series of stone pillars—they marked the route of the stagecoach line from Charlotte north…Then there was the oldest building still standing that had served as a general store. Not sure of the date but the Revolutionary War soldiers had shopped in it…
As General Cornwallis moved north he had hoped that the settlers would come to the aid of the British, but that did not happen en masse. One of the reasons he discovered was that the Presbyterians had established churches and that the pastors were literate, and had encouraged parishioners to read. Nothing as dangerous as an educated populace. The first of those pastors to move south from Virginia had founded a Presbyterian church in 1756, and Cornwallis had as one his missions the capture and execution of that pastor. Unfortunately for the British, the pastor died just a week or two before their troops arrived in the area, which left them only two alternatives to exercise—they burned his library and exhumed his body, just to be sure it was he…We visited that church and saw his burial place….
And we also looked on the place behind the church where a runaway slave who had been sold as a child because his father was the plantation owner and his wife did not like his presence. He had escaped from the new owner, hidden himself and been fed by his mother before being discovered and returned to his owner. The story goes on that he ran away again and made his way to England…
Then there was the Caswell County Courthouse, an impressive historic building with a checkered historic past. It was there in 1870 that Chicken Stephens, an advocate of rights for freed slaves, a Republican state senator, the Justice of the Peace, and a representative of the governor, was called out of a legislative session, ushered into a side room, and murdered by the Klan. It was also there that a slave woman was being tried for practicing medicine without a license. The judge knew that what she was doing was serving as a local midwife, and heaped praise on her while throwing the charge out of court and setting her free…
The landscape is dotted with notable buildings that represent the wealth of the Boom Times. There are ornate mansions with grand entrances, such as the one in the picture here. And there are the interesting ones, such as the other more modest structure with two front doors. Seemed a bit unusual until our host informed us that it was fairly traditional to have such an arrangement, and that the function was to provide an exit for guests sleeping on one side of the house who did not want to awaken their hosts in case they had to make a late night visit to the privy…
Caswell County is now the second poorest county in North Carolina. History brought dramatic changes, and the county declined in wealth and importance. But it is an interesting place to visit and the history is one that says much about our country—the good and the bad. It was fascinating to see and reflect on. It makes one think about the legacy they will leave behind, what it builds to and how it will be judged. It reminds me of the end of the Sermon on the Mount, the wise and the foolish builder, and the call to build on the rock, the words of Jesus himself. (Matthew 7:24-27).
First, a couple terms that we had to get clear. The Boom Times were between 1830 and 1850. At that time the county was one of the richest in the state, with its agricultural base and plantation system. During that period many of the notable people who helped shape North Carolina history lived, worked, built mansions, and influenced from Caswell County. The other is that what I have usually known as the Civil War is, in this part of the country, known as the War Between the States…
Coming from the west coast, where the land is awesome but the history is less so (besides the Native American strand, which is another story), this area may lack the dramatic scenery but it has much more history. And Caswell County has history to the extreme.
One of the first sites we stopped at was an empty field. It was not that impressive, until we learned that it was on that field that the Continental Army mustered as the British troops under General Cornwallis marched northwards.
Just across the road from that field stands an old classic Boom Times home. Lined across the front lawn is a series of stone pillars—they marked the route of the stagecoach line from Charlotte north…Then there was the oldest building still standing that had served as a general store. Not sure of the date but the Revolutionary War soldiers had shopped in it…
As General Cornwallis moved north he had hoped that the settlers would come to the aid of the British, but that did not happen en masse. One of the reasons he discovered was that the Presbyterians had established churches and that the pastors were literate, and had encouraged parishioners to read. Nothing as dangerous as an educated populace. The first of those pastors to move south from Virginia had founded a Presbyterian church in 1756, and Cornwallis had as one his missions the capture and execution of that pastor. Unfortunately for the British, the pastor died just a week or two before their troops arrived in the area, which left them only two alternatives to exercise—they burned his library and exhumed his body, just to be sure it was he…We visited that church and saw his burial place….
And we also looked on the place behind the church where a runaway slave who had been sold as a child because his father was the plantation owner and his wife did not like his presence. He had escaped from the new owner, hidden himself and been fed by his mother before being discovered and returned to his owner. The story goes on that he ran away again and made his way to England…
Then there was the Caswell County Courthouse, an impressive historic building with a checkered historic past. It was there in 1870 that Chicken Stephens, an advocate of rights for freed slaves, a Republican state senator, the Justice of the Peace, and a representative of the governor, was called out of a legislative session, ushered into a side room, and murdered by the Klan. It was also there that a slave woman was being tried for practicing medicine without a license. The judge knew that what she was doing was serving as a local midwife, and heaped praise on her while throwing the charge out of court and setting her free…
The landscape is dotted with notable buildings that represent the wealth of the Boom Times. There are ornate mansions with grand entrances, such as the one in the picture here. And there are the interesting ones, such as the other more modest structure with two front doors. Seemed a bit unusual until our host informed us that it was fairly traditional to have such an arrangement, and that the function was to provide an exit for guests sleeping on one side of the house who did not want to awaken their hosts in case they had to make a late night visit to the privy…
Caswell County is now the second poorest county in North Carolina. History brought dramatic changes, and the county declined in wealth and importance. But it is an interesting place to visit and the history is one that says much about our country—the good and the bad. It was fascinating to see and reflect on. It makes one think about the legacy they will leave behind, what it builds to and how it will be judged. It reminds me of the end of the Sermon on the Mount, the wise and the foolish builder, and the call to build on the rock, the words of Jesus himself. (Matthew 7:24-27).
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