RUGBY’S THEATRICAL WEEKEND

Rugbeians seemed to be embracing the village’s theatrical past in a big way this weekend as three events focused on acting. It began Friday night at the History Club meeting where Mike Harris presented the nearly complete script for the “Lantern Tour” at Laurel Dale Cemetery. After reading script excerpts, attendees signed up to play the roles of various characters from Rugby’s past, all now buried at the cemetery. The first on-site performance among the gravestones is expected May 1 for a special group staying in Rugby that date.

On Saturday a large cast from the Knoxville area descended upon the town and dispersed among various sorts of lodging to prepare for a theatrical performance that evening. The Wild Thyme Players and the Silver Stage Players presented an original production of “The Way the Story Goes,” a collection of true stories written and performed by actors ranging in age from 10 to 85. The production was an interesting collection of authentic personal accounts told by the people who wrote them. The stories covered a wide range of territory, including one actor’s experience of returning to visit places in Vietnam where he had fought. An African American actor told her touching remembrances of learning about racism while growing up in the mining country of eastern Kentucky.

Photo on left shows actress Almetor King with a slide showing the coal mining area where she grew up - photo by George Zepp. Top right shows cast from play receiving audience applause - photo by George Zepp.  Lower right shows auditions for Emmie & Granny - photo by Rick Murphy

On Sunday open auditions were held for the new Rugby play “Emmy & Granny: The Hughes Women at Uffington House, 1881 – 1887,” written by Brandon Daughtry Slocum. A nicely representative group of local Rugby folks were among those auditioning for parts. From the readings it appears Brandon has done a great job of capturing the lives of some of the key Rugby colonists, including Margaret Hughes, Emily Hughes, Hastings Hughes, Robert Walton and Dr. Kemp, among several others. At least 80 percent of the script comes from the characters’ actual words, taken from letters, newspaper accounts and other archival material. The play itself will be presented June 19 and 20, but more on that later.

BRUSH PICKUP PLANNED

By Tom Howell

Many Rugby home sites don't have a clear space for safe burning of brush and downed wood. The Clear Fork Area VFD is planning to manage coordinated burning of fallen branches accumulated near Rugby homes over the winter. If you will collect and place down wood for burning near roads or driveways where it can be loaded into pickup trucks, we will haul it to the open burn site in the field beyond Uffington House and have a controlled burn there. Try to have material ready for pickup Friday, March 26, and we'll begin burning that day if  weather conditions are favorable for obtaining a burn permit. Anyone who wants to help transport the stuff to the burn site or monitor the burning should get in touch with Gerald Hanwright at 627-4182 or Tom Howell at 628-5521.

CAFÉ MUSIC THIS WEEKEND

Don’t miss live music at the Harrow Road Café Saturday night, featuring barbecue as the dinner specialty. Rugby’s own Gerald Hanwright, our talented fire chief, will be performing.

The Harrow Road Cafe hosted lunch for over 100 attendees of the nearby groundbreaking for the 3000th Tennessee Habitat for Humanity home on Wednesday.  Photo by Rick Murphy

HISTORY CLUB DINNER PLANS

By Linda Konig

The Rugby History Club will enjoy its annual dinner on Saturday, April 10th, 7 p.m. at Grey Gables. Howard Ray Duncan, local historian and Big South Fork ranger, will be the guest speaker, reenacting a member of the "Home Guard," in one of the local Union guerrilla units. The dinner will be $12 plus gratuity. This will include a salad, main course, dessert and drink. Be sure to make reservations by calling Linda Jones at 628-5252 by Wednesday, April 7. All are welcome. See you there!

PAINTING CLASS WEDNESDAY

By Mara Trumbo

Come and spend a day watching roses bloom before your very eyes. Our "Painting In One Day" class will include a step-by-step guide into faux lace effects framing a Victorian rose composition. The workshop will be at Mara's Art Expressions Studio from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Cost is $55 including all materials, a 16"x20" canvas and lunch. Please phone ahead if you would like to reserve a seat. (423) 628-6591

HRI’S NEW WEBSITE

Historic Rugby’s website has a great new look. To check out the new design of the site, go to http://historicrugby.org/. We will provide more detail about the new website in the near future.

BIRTHDAYS

March 27 - John Hicks

March 28 - Jane Logan

CALENDAR

March 27 - Barbecue Night at Harrow Road Cafe with live music by Rugby’s Gerald Hanwright

April 3 – Community Potluck Dinner – 7:00 p.m. Potluck will be at the Friendly House.

April 10 - History Club Dinner Meeting at Grey Gables - Howard Ray Duncan, local historian and Big South Fork ranger, will be the guest speaker, reenacting a member of the "Home Guard," in one of the local Union guerrilla units. The dinner will be $12 plus gratuity. This will include a salad, main course, dessert and drink. Be sure to make reservations by calling Linda Jones at 628-5252 by Wednesday, April 7. All are welcome.

April 17 – Rugby Book Club at the home of Kit & Candy Howes in Armathwaite. Two popular books about Afghanistan: "A Thousand Spendid Suns" (2007) by Khaled Hosseini (who also wrote the popular "Kite Runner"), and "The Places in Between" (2006) by Rory Stewart. You can read either book or both. The Howes’ house is at 446 Big Creek Road in Armathwaite. Go west on Hwy. 52 approximately 3.5 miles from the Rugby bridge, look for Sam Smith Road and then Noah Buck Road. Scenic Bluff Road (on the left coming from Rugby – its Hwy. 52 gate will be open) is just west of Noah Buck. Take Scenic Bluff to Big Creek Road. Follow Big Creek Road to the end. Their wonderful fireplace will be lit and warming (if needed then).

Quilters Group - Wed. and Sat. 2-4 p.m. Eastern at the Friendly House

WORKSHOP CALENDAR

For Workshop Registration contact Historic Rugby at 888-214-3400 - rugbylegacy@highland.net

Saturday, March 27 - Pastel Easter Basket is a perfect workshop for beginner basket makers. This class makes basket making simple and you will create a colorful Easter basket to use year after year. From 10 am to 5 pm Eastern. Instructor Veronica Ludlow is a 5th generation basket weaver, with lineage from the North of England, Veronica graduated from UT with a B.F.A. in sculpture. She has studied in Great Britain and Mexico and received awards and mounted gallery exhibitions. Basket fee is $54.

Saturday, April 10 - Spring Wildflower Walk - Take part in one of the most diverse wildflower walks in Tennessee, led by instructor Jack Carmen, whose book Wildflowers of Tennessee is a definitive guide. Jack leads field trips and photo workshops for the Gatlinburg Spring Flower Pilgrimage, among others, and has won awards for his wildflower photos. Beginning at 10 am, attendees will caravan a short distance from Rugby to a very special Cumberland Plateau location for wildflower viewing and photographing. The fee is $25 and includes a picnic lunch and a plant list of expected sightings. The day will finish with a film presentation and book signing in the late afternoon.

Saturday, April 24 - Wet on Wet Iris Painting - Students will learn how to master the principles of the Jenkins “wet on wet” oil painting technique by following her personal step-by-step instruction. Instructor Mara Trumbo was born in Italy, raised in Southern Africa and now lives in Rugby. She has studied and acquired various techniques, which reveal themselves in her romantic paintings and pottery creations. Mara is a member of the Cumberland Art Society and displays her work in Crossville and Cookeville galleries. The fee is $60 and includes all materials and canvas.

Saturday, May 22 - Gardening With Herbs - From 10 am to 2 pm Eastern. Learn to plant an herb garden to be used for your culinary delight! A garden will be planted for the Harrow Road Café. Following the class join us for an herbal luncheon tasting some of the varieties used in the workshop. Bob always delights the group with having a selection of favorites from his 58-acre greenhouse nursery available for purchase. Bob Washburn is co-owner of Wolf River Valley Growers in Pall Mall, this area's largest greenhouse. Bob has served as the president of the Tennessee Flower Growers Association and past chairman of the Southeast Greenhouse Conference. Workshop fee $15 - $9 lunch at Café.

NATURE NOTES

By Linda Konig

Spring is the time of year when we're most aware of the pileated woodpeckers around Rugby. There were two of them jack-hammering away at an old dead stump in my yard yesterday. The Trumbos have reported some in their yard. If you're in the house, you usually hear them before you see them because their hammering is louder than any other woodpeckers'. There are two reasons for that: one is that the male pileated woodpeckers are trying to attract the attention of any female pileateds nearby. The other is simply that the pileateds are big birds.

See photo of a Pileated Woodpecker below taken by Rick Murphy.

We have seven different members of the woodpecker family in our area: Red-headed, Red-bellied, Downy, Hairy, Pileated, Northern Flicker, and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, but probably the easiest of all to identify is the pileated. It’s partly because of its size but also thanks to its large flaming red crest and because it reminds you somewhat of Woody Woodpecker with its crest and its kee-kee-kee-kuk-kuk-kuk call.

Recently I've learned more about woodpeckers in general, and how they're specially equipped to do all that hammering. Mother Nature, once again, seems to know what she's doing. She's made sure that the woodpeckers' nostrils are feathered so that the sawdust from all that hammering doesn't get up into their eyes. Their skulls are flexible and reinforced to cushion the shock of repeated hammering; they have strong bills and neck muscles, and their brains are tightly packed against the shocks. Even so, a woodpecker's bill shortens a bit with all the wear and tear as the bird ages.

This Week’s Editors: Rick Murphy and George Zepp