Happy Mother's Day, part the next

Julia Ward Howe's Mother's Day Proclamation - 1870

Arise then...women of this day! Arise, all women who have hearts! Whether your baptism be of water or of tears! Say firmly: "We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies, Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, For caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience. We, the women of one country, Will be too tender of those of another country To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs." From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice." Blood does not wipe out dishonor, Nor violence indicate possession. As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil At the summons of war, Let women now leave all that may be left of home For a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead. Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means Whereby the great human family can live in peace... Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar, But of God - In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask That a general congress of women without limit of nationality, May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient And the earliest period consistent with its objects, To promote the alliance of the different nationalities, The amicable settlement of international questions, The great and general interests of peace. Just to inform all of the original 'intent' of Mother's Day.... .

Happy Mother's Day

to Julie, Susan, Lou, Sheila, Erin - and most especially to my own Dear Mom! My hopes that all of you have a wonderful, wonderful day!

4th of July, part 2

Some of the best times at Laurelledge were the holidays, especially the 4th of July Rutledge Family Reunions. I always looked forward to taking time out of my busy schedule to visit with cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, brothers and sisters... The wonderful fellowship, the fabulous foods and family.

As Eddie mentioned, there were the fireworks! It didn’t matter who brought some, they were always a delight! I still remember those bottle rockets and the anticipation when we would light them. Fiiizzzzzz - WOOOSSSHHHHHH! (pop). The end result was so anti-climatic, but we loved them anyway.

I call this Part 2, in anticipation of others adding more memories of the 4^th. (Eddie’s note was part 1.)

- Thomas Ed

My First Driving Experience

Actually, Eddie (see below), that happened years before the 'founding' of Laurelledge. It was when we still lived in the parsonage in Booneville. The car in question was a Plymouth Valiant that, if I remember correctly, looked like the one pictured to the left.

Others will have to fill in the details in the comments, but what I remember is that we were getting ready to go visit my grandmother in West Virginia. As we were loading the car, I decided that moving the car closer to the front door would be beneficial. I had seen Dad push the buttons to make the car move, so I did the same.

It began rolling downhill (as things do) and pushing the other buttons wouldn't stop it. So I tried to make the car stop by pushing the pedals on the floor. The problem was that I neither knew which pedal to press nor had the strength to apply the brakes (if I even pressed the brake pedal) - I was three or four at the time. And the car continued to roll, down the drive and across the field behind the parsonage, until it came to rest in the ditch between the field and the street beyond.

- Bob

driving daze

I distinctly remember a tale of young Uncle Billy Bob (before he was an uncle I believe) and an incident involving a pushbutton automatic transmission in a vehicle. Is it possible that this occurred at Laurelledge??

- Eddie

Back in my day...

As everyone knows I was pretty young when Grandee and Grandmother left Laurelledge. However, I do have one memory of a fourth of July fireworks display gone awry. I distinctly remember watching in terror as fireworks headed off of their prescribed course and directly at my tent! I of course immediately sought shelter in the relative safety of the minivan. But even to this day I cant think of fireworks without remember this harrowing experience.

- Eddie

Chinquapin hunting

One of my fond memories of Laurelledge is hunting for chinquapins in the fall. I cannot tell you where most of the bushes were, but I do remember one on the other side of the road just up from the mailbox. It was not very large, and only yielded a few chinquapin nuts each fall, but they were a sweet treat nonetheless. Miniature chestnuts, free for the taking.

Just thinking of them makes me want to try to plant a few here, just so I can savor the treats at harvest time.
- Thomas Ed

Moving Day

My first thought this morning was to post some of my "remembrances" of Alaska, but I've decided instead to talk about the "founding" of Laurelledge as I remember it.

I got to miss school the day the movers delivered our new home to its destination. Dad and I left early that morning to follow it up Mertie Road. Things went pretty well for the first couple of miles, and then we reached the infamous "Rutledge curves".

Dad had contacted the DOT, telling them that a large mobile home would be traversing the road and that the movers had concerns about a couple of the curves - namely that they were too sharp, with a dropoff on the interior. By the time that the move actually took place, DOT workers had widened the 'curves of concern' (something that today would never happen, I'm sure).

Our soon to be home moved slowly past the newly widened curves and then reached the next one, which, for those of you who don't remember Mertie, was a sharp right with a high bank on the inside and a steep, tree covered drop on the outside. The mobile home was too long to make it around the curve.

The movers included a wrecker, which had already been used (like the rear steering unit of a hook and ladder fire engine) to pull the back of the home into line as they negotiated the many (many) curves of the narrow mountain dirt road. This wrecker contacted another, who was sent the long way 'round - because the mobile home had the road completely blocked at this point - to be placed at the front of the rig. As we all waited for the new wrecker to arrive, I remember eating the sandwiches that Dad had packed us for lunch.

The other wrecker finally arrived and the movers sprang into action again. First, the driver of the truck that was towing the mobile home pulled slowly forward until the truck was hanging over the drop almost all the way to the rear axles. Then the wrecker in front pulled the tow vehicle around into line with the road as the driver slowly crept forward. All the while, the other wrecker had a 'solid grip' on the rear of the trailer - in case it started to go over the edge, I suppose - and the right side of the trailer was up against the high bank on the inside of the curve, with the wheels riding up the bank a little. (For several years after, the tracks of those wheels could be seen on that bank.)

After several moves forward and back, the movers got the mobile home past the curve and we could finally continue on our way. There were a couple more curves that had to be carefully negotiated, with temporary 'bridges' over the small creek that ran along the road being used, but eventually our new home was situated in its' place at the new homestead.

All in all, the trip from Yadkinville (where the home was purchased) to Laurelledge, which would normally take a little over an hour, took up the entire day.

Thought for today

"I don't say I'm no better that anybody else,
but I'll be .............. just as good"

- Aunt Eller
OKLAHOMA

Where it all began?

I thought that since this branch of the Rutledge Family had its' genesis at Duke, it would be appropriate to post this picture (from the University website). I don't know if there was snow on campus when Mom and Dad were there (even I can't remember that far back, although I strongly suspect there was on more than one occasion), but I think that it is absolutely beautiful ('course it's beautiful without snow as well, but...).

Jesse Lee Home

Here is a link to the Jesse Lee Home. Sort of sad, but I thought you all would be interested.

Here is another one, by the Friends of the Jesse Lee Home.

- Thomas Ed

Laurelledge - with map legend...

Here is one with scale and credits to the source.

I am not sure I ever knew that was Browntown Road... The things you can learn on the Internet!