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| Library with recent snow |
After weeks of milder than normal temperatures, winter arrived with a vengeance this weekend, bringing frigid temperatures, wind and periodic snow flurries. Fortunately, Highway 52 had been salted and remained clear for the arrival of folks celebrating at the Valentine ’s Day events around town. On the other hand, the numerous flowers which had begun blooming early this year did not look happy in the icy snow.
In spite of temperatures in the low 20s, 12 hikers enjoyed the Soup Hike on Saturday morning. After the hike, Mary’s grilled cheese sandwiches and chili were much appreciated after the two-hour trek through the snowy woods and along the icy-looking White Oak Creek.
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| Hikers visited a rock bluff area that is set up with a rustic stone stove |
Carrie's Weekend Wanderings – Beginning Saturday
Carrie Thornthwaite’s Weekend Wanderings begin this Saturday, February 18. She leaves from the Cafe around 10 a.m. for a 1½ to 2 hour hike in the area. On Sundays she'll leave, again from the Cafe, abouy 2 p.m. If you'd like to join her, please e-mail her at thornthwch@lipscomb.edu . She will leave no later than 5 minutes after the hour.
Print Shop Volunteer Effort Begins
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| Carolyn Bankston stands next to the wood stove at the Print Shop |
It was great to see folks gathered around the little wood stove at the Print Shop this weekend. Carolyn Bankston’s efforts to assemble a group of volunteers to open the Print Shop for visitors seemed to be paying off. She said she hopes it will be open for special events and weekends when volunteers are available.
Forest Legacy Campaign
In recent years non-profit Historic Rugby, Inc. (HRI) has worked hard to protect the beautiful land around Rugby, including more than 725 acres that are now part of the Rugby State Natural Area. In doing that HRI had to incur substantial debt which they have been working hard to pay off. With the help of its faithful supporters, the debt has been reduced to only $52,854.
HRI has recently been offered the opportunity to retire this debt in full, and they need your help! A donor pledge has been made to match each dollar raised by April. So they need to raise $26,427 by April 1 in order to take full advantage of this donor pledge and retire the debt.The Board of Directiors has raised $8,715 of this from supporters in the last few weeks. So Historic Rugby needs to find other generous donors for $17,712 by April 1.
The non-profit is asking for your support today. Your donation will also allow Historic Rugby to retain control over an environmentally sensitive 45+ acre tract that secured the debt. If you can help, mail a donation to Historic Rugby, P.O. Box 8, Rugby, TN 37733 or donate online at historicrugby.org
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| Friendly House to left of Church |
Why Friendly House?
Benita Howell
Miss Lucy Archer encouraged everyone in the Rugby area to participate in Sunday School and other activities at Friendly House, so no one thought much about its welcoming name – not until Rugby descendant Elsie Taylor Dodson sent Historic Rugby archivist George Zepp a letter that a relative received from Helen Turner in 1919, written on “Girls Friendly Society in America” letterhead.
A history of the Girls Friendly Society compiled by Agnes L. Money in 1911 describes how churchwomen founded the organization in England in 1875. With patronage from Queen Victoria, it spread to many parts of the Commonwealth and Anglican Communion. Churchwomen in Lowell, Massachusetts formed a similar organization in the 1870s to support girls, especially young farm women recruited to work in Lowell’s textile mills who needed safe housing, positive guidance, and a network of friends.
Similar groups soon formed in Baltimore and elsewhere, banding together to form the Girls Friendly Society in America in 1882. Alliance with the British organization offered an opportunity for G.F.S. members whose families were immigrating to America to find a congenial group of new friends. Various artifacts from the organization can be viewed on eBay, including photographs of Friendly Society chapter houses. So perhaps we now know why the previous Christ Church annex was named Friendly House.
The Girls Friendly Society, U.S.A. is still active, serving girls 5-21 years old of any race, nationality, or religion. Chapters are based in Episcopal parishes in the Northeast and California. For more information, see gfsusa.org .
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| Sweatshirts for sale at Commissary |
Commissary Sale
Sale at the Commissary Store - Historic Rugby T-shirts 40% off , sweatshirts 20% off!
Free Magazines
Fine Homebuilding Magazine, most issues 1991 - 2005. Free to anyone who wants them. Contact Eric Wilson at ericavi@highland.net
BIRTHDAYS February 13 - Butch Hodgkins 14 - Marilyn Hury 17 - Liam Neary 18 - Linda Brooks Jones 19 - Mike Stagg, Peter Erickson and Donna Heffner |
Rugby is in the Eastern time zone, just barely.
Friday, Feb. 17 - Music at the Harrow Road Café – Our very own Donna Heffner on keyboard playing the oldies
Saturday, Feb. 18 – Hike with Carrie – Join Carrie Thornthwaite for 1½ to 2 hour hike meeting at 10 a.m. at the Cafe. Email her at thornthwch@lipscomb.edu to confirm.
Saturday, Feb.18– Craft Demonstration at the Rugby Commissary Store - Sue Duncan-Spinning with Angora rabbits
Sunday, Feb.19– Craft Demonstration at the Rugby Commissary Store - Mara Trumbo, Artist
Sunday, Feb. 19 – Hike with Carrie – Join Carrie Thornthwaite for 1½ to 2 hour hike meeting at 2 p.m. at the Cafe. Email her at thornthwch@lipscomb.edu to confirm.
Friday, Feb. 24 - Music at the Harrow Road Café - Victory Bluegrass with Wayne Rogers and Friends
Saturday, Feb.25 – Craft Demonstration at the Rugby Commissary Store - Bill Henry-Carving
Saturday, Feb. 25 – Book Club at 7 p.m. Eastern/6 Central at the home of Kit and Candy Howes. The book the group will be reading is The Tiger, a true story of vengeance and survival, by John VaillantSaturday, Mar. 3 – Soup Hike
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Saturday, Mar. 10 – Outdoor Volunteer Activity - Invasive Plant Removal - State Natural Area representative Lisa Huff will lead volunteers in helping to remove invasive Japanese spirea from the Massengale Loop Trail. Meet at the Harrow Road Café at 9:30 a.m. Eastern
Quilters’ Group - Wednesdays and Saturdays, 2–4 p.m. Eastern, at the Friendly House behind Christ Church
Rugby Yoga – Wednesdays, 8:30 a.m. Eastern, at the Friendly House.
Christ Church Episcopal -- Sunday morning services, 11 a.m. Eastern year round; all are welcomed.
Historic Rugby Winter Hours
Harrow Road Café open every day except Wednesdays. Sundays through Thursdays - 8:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. EST. Friday and Saturday hours, including dinner seatings, 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. EST (7:30 to 7:30 Central).
Visitor Centre and Commissary General Store - Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. Closed Mondays through Thursdays. Weekday and weekend group tours can be arranged with advance reservation. Post Office in the Commissary is closed until March
Lodging Facilities are available year-round.
NATURE NOTES
Flowers on the Eastern Red Cedar?
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| Linda Konig |
It's only February and we've already seen several kinds of wildflowers and cultivated ones, the hardiest ones that like to lead the parade of flowers every year. However I've only recently become aware that a certain common tree in Tennessee, the Eastern Red Cedar, always blooms in February. Most people are completely unaware that it even has flowers, let alone two kinds.
Yes, these trees are either male or female and each sex has its own distinctive flower. We have plenty of Eastern Red Cedar (actually a type of juniper) trees along the highways and roads as well as in yards and pastures. In Tennessee, we even have a state park named for them, Cedars of Lebanon in Wilson County.
I found some fascinating information this past week about the two different sexes of cedars and their flowers. I'd noticed before that oftentimes a cedar tree will have brown tips on its distinctive needles, but I had no idea what that meant. I'd just figured that perhaps the brown tips meant the green needles had been frostbitten on the ends. Little did I know! The brown tips are the pollen-bearing organs of the male trees. If a tree has plenty of them, sometimes you can shake a limb and get lots of pollen dust in a cloud. There are several male cedars along the path between Martin Roost and Uffington House.
Today I got outside and looked at some Eastern Red Cedar trees in Rugby. Just as the website said, they're blooming. Wind blows the pollen about and the miracle of pollination is achieved. The female flowers are harder to see because they look so much like the ordinary needles, but the flowers on the tips of needles do remind me a bit of a tiny open green mouth. Those two biggest cedar trees in front of Butch and Cheryl Hodgkins’ house on Highway 52 are both females, and it's easy to tell that by the fact that they bear frosty blue berries every year. These blue berries are highly prized by Cedar Waxwings and other birds. On the other hand, Cardinals like to strip some of the shredding bark off the cedar trees to use in nest building.
In looking at cedar trees, you may find what looks like some sort of hard dried-up brown fruit this time of year. Those aren't real fruits. They're cedar-apple rust, a fungal disease of apple and Eastern Red Cedar trees. For some intriguing photos of what these cedar-apple rust balls look like when spring/summer rains make them swell, see http://www.caf.wvu.edu/kearneysville/disease_descriptions/omcar.html . An interesting summer project for kids and grown-ups, too, would be to gather a couple of these balls and put them into water in a white container. In a few hours, if the cedar-apple rust balls are still viable, they will expand and send out weird gelatinous orange strings from the ball—looking like something from outer space. They will also stain the water orange. Have fun!
This Week’s Editors: Rick Murphy and George Zepp
