On my way back from visiting Madelyn Wessel and Tony McCall in Charlottesville, VA I stopped in Greensboro, NC at the International Civil Rights Museum which is located in the Woolworth store where the NC A&T students started the sit-ins to desegregate the lunch counters in 1960. The museum consists of a tour which was led by two very well-informed guides (though they rushed us along so that I couldn't read all the exhibits). The last guide was a student at NC A&T and gave an impassioned speech at the end about how we can't just sit on the efforts of the civil rights leaders, but have to go out and do something.
While Bob played disc golf, I visited the Reed Mine (the location of the first gold find in America in 1799). Reed's son found a huge nugget in a stream and took it home where it was used as a door stop until it was identified and sold to a jeweler for $3.50 (it was 17 pounds). A gold rush followed, but Reed wasn't a very good business man. There was occasional mining of the stream beds and some underground mining (though the water table is at 50' and if you dig lower you have to pump). I got there before the museum opened and walked the 2 1/2 miles of trails and eventually went back and got the self-guide (which included an underground portion). This is one of the access sites to the mine.
While Bob played disc golf, I visited the Gantt Museum of African American History (a fantastic museum that looked at the contributions of African Americans to all aspects of US culture), the Mint Uptown Museum of Arts and Crafts and Modern Art (which included an exhibit of Madelyn Albright's pins and the statements she was making with them). Charlotte has a lot of good museums and a nice downtown, though it was hot. This is the Duke Energy Building next to the Green in downtown. We also had dinner with Emily and Glen Stephens (Bob's niece and husband) and tried a lot of delicious southern food.
On Friday I caddied for Bob (carrying his bag) while he played in the second foursome. The game was halted for severe thunder, lighting and rain two holes before the end. The guys were very amiable and another wife also tagged along.
We then decided to head up the Blue Ridge Parkway (469 miles at 45 mph through North Carolina and Virginia). The National Parkways are gorgeous and boast great campgrounds, no commercial traffic, no billboards and beautiful overlooks. The Parkway is the most-visited park in the country (20 million people/year). This is a typical view of the mountains covered by heavy forest.
We stopped Saturday evening in Linville Falls where we took two hikes. First we went down to the base of Lower Falls, past a yellow jacket nest.
Then we hiked above the falls and looked down on Lower Falls and up to Upper Falls. We were surprised to find the campground not very crowded. There was a wonderful campfire presentation by the NC Historian of the Year in 2010 who, with his wife and two kids, talked about the Civil War in this area of Appalachia. He described it as like the war in Bosnia (an excuse for people to get back at their enemies and where the war continued for about 5 years after the South surrendered). He talked a lot about local people and she talked about what it was like to be home alone with the kids trying to protect yourself and keep you livestock from being taken. There were a lot of deserters in this area or people hiding to avoid conscription. In addition Northern troops moved through the area too.
Their five-year-old daughter talked all about her outfit (drawers, petticoat, dress and apron and yellow socks dyed with onion skins). It was really interesting and they were dressed in appropriate clothes.
The next day we took off again, going over the Linn Cove Viaduct on the side of Grandfather Mountain (the last portion of the parkway built in 1987). To preserve the special area the parkway is on a viaduct and each section was cast on site and then attached to the previous section so that the soil and trees weren't disturbed. There was only one square section among all the sections built.
We stopped at the Moses S. Cone House (he made his fortune in denim and built this house to enjoy the cooler weather). Ultimately he deeded the property to the state.
We finished up at the Blue Ridge Music Center, just over the Virginia line. There was a jam going on in the breezeway (it was raining). The museum is really interesting (full of interactive exhibits, great old TV shows and recordings) and there was a live gospel concert.
This was a great washtub base.
We stayed for the gospel concert which started with this quartet of acapella singers accompanied only with guitar. They have been singing together for 30 years and it showed. Though the message was a little too religious, the music was great.
They were followed by this band (the Church Sisters) who had just played for Obama on a campaign swing through Virginia. They are 16-year old twins, their 18 year old brother pays guitar, their dad plays electric base, their cousin plays mandolin and guitar and an unrelated guy plays banjo. They had wonderful harmony, but their music choices were not so great. However, I enjoyed the music. We had been listening to a great bluegrass station playing from Isothermal Community College in N.C. for a good stretch of the parkway. It seemed appropriate to listen to blue grass while driving the Blue Ridge Parkway in the midst of this type of music. We drove on an hour after the concert to Rocky Knob campground.
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