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Mullman, if you're interested in a historical day trip there is always Latta Plantation in Huntersville, NC (near Charlotte). Historic Latta Plantation
There is also the Schiele Museum in Gastonia, NC that has a great farm set up showing how people lived in the 1800's and a planetarium, etc. Schiele Museum
Mullman, if you're interested in a historical day trip there is always Latta Plantation in Huntersville, NC (near Charlotte). Historic Latta Plantation
There is also the Schiele Museum in Gastonia, NC that has a great farm set up showing how people lived in the 1800's and a planetarium, etc. Schiele Museum
Thx ChelleC, excellent suggestions for new comers, but being here for 40 years I have visited all of those multiple times, and some since kindergarten (Latta & Schiele). In fact, most years in school we annually visited Latta for picnics and Schiele for their exhibits. Along with the James K Polk site in Pineville, and the Hezekiah Alexander House off Shamrock.
I remember playing at the NC Transportation museum as a child while my grandfather and another gentleman restored the railroad turntable.
It took them several weeks one summer.
My great-grandfather worked for Southern for 30+ years.
Well, mullman, we may find that we are related back down the line somewhere. My great grandfather and several of my other relatives worked for Southern in the Spencer railyard as well. I haven't been here 40 years, but almost, and working my way there a little at a time. I can see that I will have to work harder to amaze and delight my fellow native Carolinians. It's only a matter of time, my friend. Stay tuned.
Have you ever been to Dan Nicholas Park? How about Horizons Unlimited? Patterson Farm? All in Salisbury area. Will be happy to provide links to all if anyone needs them.
Well, mullman, we may find that we are related back down the line somewhere. My great grandfather and several of my other relatives worked for Southern in the Spencer railyard as well. I haven't been here 40 years, but almost, and working my way there a little at a time. I can see that I will have to work harder to amaze and delight my fellow native Carolinians. It's only a matter of time, my friend. Stay tuned.
I look forward to it and will try and dig up a nugget or two for you as well!
Quote:
Originally Posted by ChelleC
Have you ever been to Dan Nicholas Park? How about Horizons Unlimited? Patterson Farm? All in Salisbury area.
Dan Nicholas, absolutely! We have a reunion there in the summers.
I was there the weekend after the historic bridge was installed.
Patterson Farm - my girls love it.
Horizons? No, but I'll look into it - thx!
How about historic Gold Hill Village?
I took these pics Sunday afternoon and my children enjoyed it for the first time.
Beautiful pictures. I love black and white photos. I lived in Rockwell during the prior administration (when I was married) so I am familiar with Gold Hill. I have never been to the village, but drive through Gold Hill on my way to Badin to the Drive-in theater there. My son (just turned six) loves it.
We have been wanting to go to Gold Hill and the gold mine there, but haven't made it yet. We do Hiddenite every summer or late spring and if you haven't been then it's worth the trip if your kids are "outdoorsy" types. I say outdoorsy because you are going to get dirty and it's good ol' Carolina red clay. My son wears his trunks and plays in the creek while we rock hounds look for buried treasure. We have a trip to Oak Island, NC planned for Memorial Day weekend and we plan to visit Fort Fisher while there. We visit a different NC beach every year over Memorial Day weekend and try to fit as much in as possible. Last year was Kitty Hawk, NC. I find that my son does a lot better with the educational side trips if I throw in a water feature.
MULLMAN - thanx so much for sharing the pix! Really nice shots and good portrayal of the subject matter! That is a trip I have not made in decades . . . my hubby has never been there - need to take him.
Seeing as how I am off on a tangent today . . . I thought I would express something that has been on my mind.
I love being a Southerner. I truly do. And I love being a Southerner w/ roots back to the founding of this country.
I love the things that make the South "different" from the other sections of this country.
I love my Southern accent. Sometimes, I exaggerate it just for fun. There are so many different Southern accents. There are many in each state, actually. The Tidewater (VA) accent is very different from the Charleston (low country) accent and the western NC mountain accent is very different than the upper crust Savannah accent . . .
I love them all.
And I love the fact that we Southerners have traditions and rites of passage that are singular to the South. I love the myths of the South as well as the down and dirty realities.
Yes. I love being a Southerner.
You know what else gives me a lot of pleasure? I so enjoy it when others move here and they bring different things with them. Different accents, different recipes!!! Different traditions . . . something more to add to the quality of life here.
I really love to introduce my friends to the South. I enjoy explaining the trashy South, the conservative South, the blue blood South. I like telling people that many of the things they think are myths are actually fact! Like . . . all good Southern girls really do collect sterling silver starting in high school. And that you must not be a "real" Southerner if the first gift you were given for your "trousseau" wasn't an iron skillet, preferably one inherited from Grandmother's estate.
What worries me is . . . w/ so many newcomers, we Southerners are isolating ourselves and not sharing our traditions. I want everyone to know what it means to have lived here and been part of this way of life here for nearly 300 years. I want them to know about the Scots and Germans and Irish and Swiss who moved here . . . and how they shaped this state and how their beliefs and traditions STILL shape family life here.
I see so much of that being lost. I see newcomers arriving and dismissing anything that doesn't match up with their own traditions. Now, I don't see this w/ my friends, of course. I want to know about their backgrounds and learn their traditions, what they grew up doing and learning - and they want to know about my life. But I so fear that we are losing the attachment to the very things that make Charlotte "southern."
It isn't that I expect or would even want others to embrace all the small things that make life here different from other areas. But I just don't want to see it all fade away and be lost. And I don't want it to be misunderstood.
Charlotte has become the Gateway to the South. I think Richmond wants to claim that title and 150 years ago, I think that was accurate. Today, Richmond may be a front door to the South, perhaps, but it isn't the gateway.
I want to preserve the quirky things about NC and the South. I see these things being pushed aside . . . Yet, the newcomers I talk to WANT to know what makes the South different.
I just wonder . . . as we become more and more the Gateway to the South, are we losing the very identity that allows us to call ourselves Southerners?
Although I was born and reared in NC, I definitely don't think of myself as a Southern. I have nothing about southereners per se, but it's not the identity as choose to embrace. I am glad that southern identity though still strong in NC is eroding and receding, particularly in the Triangle. I love it when NC is referred to as part of the Mid-Atlantic. Sorry, but I just don't prefer to personally identify with the South. No offense.
Although I was born and reared in NC, I definitely don't think of myself as a Southern. I have nothing about southereners per se, but it's not the identity as choose to embrace. I am glad that southern identity though still strong in NC is eroding and receding, particularly in the Triangle. I love it when NC is referred to as part of the Mid-Atlantic. Sorry, but I just don't prefer to personally identify with the South. No offense.
Interesting...but NC is definitely not mid-Atlantic.
My ancestors where poor Southern sharecroppers and never met a slave (according to my great-grandmother's grandfather [through my great grandmother] and several other stories I recorded in the 70s from similar sources[5 of her 8 sisters].) They knew many free blacks, but slaves just were not around the area in which they lived. They saw race as different, but not an issue. Still they (blacks) fought FOR the South under the premise of States' Rights (which the war between the states was really about). MANY blacks fought FOR the South as they saw their (recent) homeland being invaded.
You must remember that history is always written by the victors...
The diary of my great-grandmother's grandfather tells of fighting alongside blacks FOR the South.
Just as popular history tells of Northern blacks fighting FOR the North.
Quote:
Originally Posted by anifani821
MULLMAN - thanx so much for sharing the pix! Really nice shots and good portrayal of the subject matter! That is a trip I have not made in decades . . . my hubby has never been there - need to take him.
I love black and white and wide angle lens.
Took a bunch more, but only posted a few.
Although I was born and reared in NC, I definitely don't think of myself as a Southern. I have nothing about southereners per se, but it's not the identity as choose to embrace. I am glad that southern identity though still strong in NC is eroding and receding, particularly in the Triangle. I love it when NC is referred to as part of the Mid-Atlantic. Sorry, but I just don't prefer to personally identify with the South. No offense.
What I object to is the ignorance I hear/read from newcomers in regard to NC natives, NC history, and and how that relates to Southern history. People who move here know little or nothing about this state's history. To understand why this region has the charm it does (or did have) is to first understand the very things we are LOSING - our history and ties to that history. The stereotypes overshadow the reality.
I will state it again - people seem to think this state's history started in 1861, and it didn't!
It is probably a good thing that you like NC being referred to as a mid-Atlantic state, b/c it is only going to take one more generation and western NC is going to have nearly lost - if not completely lost - anything unique, singular or even interesting that set this region apart from the rest of the USA and yes, the South. But no one will care b/c the majority of people moving here want GENERIC.
I have lived "generic." Where I lived in the midwest was truly as generic as it gets. Why? Because it was NEW! Many areas of the midwest do not have much more than 100-150 years of history. Much of the land is still wide open in many states west of the Mississippi. This means whole new towns can be developed w/ beautiful straight roads and neatly laid out neighborhoods. There are no trashy areas b/c no one has been around to trash them up. I loved it! But it was amidst those pristine greenways and perfectly laid out squares that made up neighborhoods that I suddenly discovered what it meant to be a Southerner, a person w/ long family roots in one region, and who can see the timeline from 1603 to 2009 as one seamless evolution, wh/ seems to have been interrupted by newcomers who have arrived and want to wipe it all out.
Generic.
If you don't understand what I am talking about - join the group. We have 2/3 of our residents who have moved here and I daresay at least 60% (and maybe 95%) don't care if they learn a thing about this region other than where they can buy the biggest house for the lowest price, what their taxes will be, how to avoid mobile homes and being asked what church they attend, and when the roads will be fixed, the schools will be "better," mass transit will be more robust and where to go to find good Italian food.
In 25 years, people will come here and they will say "NC is such a nice mid-Atlantic state. Charlotte is so convenient. Depending on where I am in the area, I look around and think - This could be a burb of Philly, or Albany, or Newark, or Chicago, or Boston, or New Haven. We love it here. Except for the weather, you would never know we were in the South."
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In fact, most years in school we annually visited Latta for picnics and Schiele for their exhibits. Along with the 
