This is the season of giving thanks. It is easy when you have so much. I am happy that our country has such a holiday but regret is that it we don’t do it once a week, or maybe once a day. I was surprised to learn that the day, which was proclaimed by President Lincoln, came about as the result of a widow’s determined politicking. Her name was Sarah Joseph Hale. Her husband was a lawyer who died young leaving her with four children at age 33. She never had a formal education but went on to be the first American woman to publish a novel, and wrote the classic verse “Mary Had a Little Lamb” which has touched the lives of virtually ever child who ever spoke English. She worked on getting Thanksgiving Day for 40 years and also managed to get a memorial built for the dead at Bunker Hill. All this information came to my attention at one of our stops at the “Crackerbarrell Country Store & Restaurant”. Our recent trip to Charlottesville gave us many opportunities to once again try their country cuisine and store.
The trip was worth the nearly 900 miles each way. We did Jefferson’s home and his University, drove to Luray Caverns and down the Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park, visited the oldest continuous active Lutheran Church in America, had some great walks except found hills once again a tough challenge, and ate some great meals.
October ended with great news. Dan, number five son, ran his second Marathon in the time of 3 hours and 9 minutes. He did it in Columbus, Ohio on October 29th. I had hoped to be there as I was for the first but other business kept me in Florida. His time qualifies him for the Boston Marathon. I ran Boston in l971 and 1972. I was amazed at the number of runners, nearly two thousand. Now the numbers are more like thirty thousand and up so they now need to qualify to enter. We hope to be there in April on Patriot’s Day (4/16/01) when he makes his run.
The first weekend of November brought the running of the now famous N.Y.City Marathon. I remember running it when the course was three loops around Central Park beginning and ending at the Tavern on the Green. The tavern was just that in l971-72 when I ran. It later became, and is, a classy restaurant. The reason I remember it so well is that two of my brothers, Jim and Pat, journeyed with me to watch the event. They both spent the time watching in the tavern. One loop around Central Park took about an hour, so as I would come running by they would rush out to greet me, and then returned to the tavern. They both thought Marathon watching to be great sport! Today the course starts in the Narrows-Verazano Bridge and runs through all five boroughs of the island of Manhattan.
This time last year the nation was obsessed with the fears of a collapse due to Y2K. I wonder where all those supplies people stored are today. The other interesting phenomenon that Y2K brought was utterly semantic concerns as to when the centennial ends or begins. It has never been resolved so you can pick any date you wish if you are really into that sort of thing. The date juggling was brought to our attention recently when we visited the grave of Thomas Jefferson at Monticello. They have two dates for the day of his birth, one under the old system and then another under the Gregorian Calendar. It was during his lifetime that the British Empire decided to join the rest of Western World and adopt the Gregorian Calendar. It had resisted previously due to the fear of seeming to support the Papacy.
Charlottesville named for the wife of King George III, sits in a bowl on the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains. We stayed at a Best Western Inn called “Cavalier”, one of the nicknames for University of Virginia athletes. It is located on the edge of the campus of the university. We could walk in a few minutes to the famous Rotunda and Academic village the original school as designed originally by Thomas Jefferson. The avenue was called “University” and further south it would change into “West Main Street”. You would then find yourself next to the “downtown” mall and the center of the city. We did that walk and one time even dined in the mall at the “Downtown Grille”.
The trip was on our agenda for some time mainly due to my interest in things Jeffersonian. It was not one of June’s contemplated joys. I am happy to report that the outcome was the exact opposite. She had an enjoyable time in her trip back through history. It was particularly so at Madison’s Home, since after the guided tour of the house, they provided us with portable audio equipment which we could carry and visit the surrounding grounds, including the graveyard, and the slave quarters. Our first attempt, on Sunday, to visit Monticello was thwarted by the large crowds. We were advised that after we were bussed up to the house we would have at least an hour’s wait before the tour. So we went elsewhere. When we visited the Visitor’s Center they advised that they had a package deal of three places to visit which was a bit cheaper. They were Michie Tavern and museum, Highlands Ash-Lands, the home of James Monroe, and Monticello. Michie Tavern was the closest so we stopped there first. It was a still an active tavern for lunch and a number of people were lined up outside the door waiting for tables. A costumed lady who told us to wait on an adjoining porch for the tour to begin however greeted us. When it did it was only Jun and I and another couple. We learned that the Tavern was brought from some other locale and placed there. It showed the typical stopping off and meeting place of the early 1700’s. All lighting was by candlelight. On the card table we saw a candleholder atop an iron corkscrew stem. We learned it was to lower the candle as the night went on to bring it closer to the cards. Along the way we learned the meaning of some expressions still in use today. “Sleep tight!” comes from the fact that the beds had no box springs but were supported by rope, so you had your servant (slave) make sure the ropes were pulled tight. “Mind your beeswax!” came from the fact that women’s cosmetic base was from bee’s wax. You were cautioned to ‘mind it’ meaning that you keep away from standing too long or too close to the fireplace or your face would begin to melt. “Three dog night” came from the having the dog or dogs sleep in the bed with you. An exceptionally cold night required at least three dogs. Our visit to James Monroe house was apparently uneventful since both June and I have no recollections of going through his home. I do remember that he died younger than did Madison or Jefferson but did so out of debt unlike the other two. He played a part under Jefferson as an ambassador to France and with Jefferson’s friend Pierre Nemours Dupont negotiated a secret deal for Napoleon to sell America Louisiana. It is of interest that later Duponts owned James Madison’s home for years and built on to it. It was ultimately left to the National Trust. It is amusing to note that in a newscliipping from the travel section of a l998 New York Times on visiting Monticello, the author refers to the Monroe home. She writes, “But who other than the sturdiest academic contemplates Monroe?” So it appears we didn’t qualify as one of the sturdy ones.
Following our touring that day we had planned to drive down to the town of Scotsville on the James River to try an Italian restaurant, Cafe Bocce. The cafe was not open when we arrived and would not be for an hour or so. We toured the little town and what a revelation to see markings on the wall of a building about a block or so up from the river indicating how high the river had risen over the years. The highest mark was over twenty feet up, where a second or third story might be.
The next day bright and early we traveled to Monticello. My first impression was it was much larger than I imagined. The foyer, or rotunda entrance room, had on it’s wall moose heads, deer with horns, skins, behemoth bones, all of which we learned were items sent or brought back by Captain Meriweather Lewis from his expedition. I was and still am reading Stephen Ambrose’s “Undaunted Courage” the story of that expedition. In every room there was a clock on the mantel or somewhere. All had been made by Jefferson and were still running. The home is aptly described as “an essay in architecture”. This included the house, the gardens, and the vineyards. His genius was evident every where starting with the clocks, his violin, his books, his inventions like his travelling desk, drawing tools, and the design in the house to use curves rather that corners in order to allow the light from the sun, candles and firelight circulate easier. It was a great week and we’ll tell you more about it later.