It looks like Uffington
House is overgrown, but in fact this was a highway view earlier this week of
the side of it with lots of redbuds in full bloom right along Hwy. 52. It was
an amazing sight. When they leaf out, and they almost have, you won't see this
view any more.
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| Volunteers and tourists watch Gerald on printing press |
Volunteers were busy
learning how to use the hand printing presses at Print Shop last Tuesday. Gerald Hanwright was teaching when we came by
to take some photos. It sounded like one objective is to allow the volunteers
who are showing the print shop to tourists to be able to demonstrate how the
presses basically work. One lucky group
of tourists came in to watch the training while we were there.
 |
| Top: Boyd Mitchell works the printing press as Tom Howell and Julian Bankston look on. Bottom right: Gerald Hanwright prepares the printing press. Bottom left: A young visitor looks on as Tom Howell practices operating the press. |
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| Last year's trash pickup volunteers |
Helpers Needed
By George Zepp
Volunteers are needed to help pick up
trash along Highway 52 for the annual spring road clean up on Tuesday, April 3.
If you can help, meet at Harrow Road Café at 9:30 a.m. Keep Morgan Clean representatives will be meeting
us there to assist with the roadside project.
They will provide bags and safety vests for wearing along the road. Just bring your gloves and some bug spray –
and you may want to wear boots.
If it rains, we will try again on
Thursday, April 5.
BIRTHDAYS
April 2 - Carman Roberson
April 2 - Carman Roberson
April 3 - Luke Martin
April 4 -Tom Howell and Judy
Newport
April 5 - Anna Joyce Walton
HerrApril 6 - Lavonne Gibbs and Cynthia Johnson
April 7 - Gerald Hanwright
CALENDAR
Rugby is in the Eastern time zone, just barely.
Tuesday, April 3 – Litter Pickup – volunteers needed to pick up trash along Highway 52. Meet at Harrow Road Café at 9:30 a.m.
Saturday, April 14 – Spring Walk to Massengale Homeplace with Lisa Huff of the State Natural Areas, Lisa Huff, Tennessee Natural Areas Program. Meet at 10 a.m. at the Historic Rugby Visitor Center for a short orientation. The hike will be of easy to moderate difficulty round trip to the historic Massengale Homeplace and back. The program should be no longer than 2 hours. We should be able to see spring wildflowers and we will discuss the history of the Rugby colony and early settlers and the state natural area. For more information including description, directions, and a map of Rugby State Natural Area go to: http://tn.gov/environment/na/natareas/rugby/. Reservations required. RSVP to lisa.huff@tn.gov by April 12. No pets. Event limited to 20 participants.
Rugby is in the Eastern time zone, just barely.
Tuesday, April 3 – Litter Pickup – volunteers needed to pick up trash along Highway 52. Meet at Harrow Road Café at 9:30 a.m.
Saturday, April 14 – Spring Walk to Massengale Homeplace with Lisa Huff of the State Natural Areas, Lisa Huff, Tennessee Natural Areas Program. Meet at 10 a.m. at the Historic Rugby Visitor Center for a short orientation. The hike will be of easy to moderate difficulty round trip to the historic Massengale Homeplace and back. The program should be no longer than 2 hours. We should be able to see spring wildflowers and we will discuss the history of the Rugby colony and early settlers and the state natural area. For more information including description, directions, and a map of Rugby State Natural Area go to: http://tn.gov/environment/na/natareas/rugby/. Reservations required. RSVP to lisa.huff@tn.gov by April 12. No pets. Event limited to 20 participants.
Saturday, April 14 – Historic Rugby
Visiting Speaker - Longtime Rugby friend and author Nancy Jensen will offer
readings, discussion and book signing for her praised novel The Sisters at 4 p.m. at the Visitor
Centre Theatre. This will also be the
selected book for the Rugby Book Club which will meet at the Friendly House
after the theatre event. The book club and any
other interested parties are invited to join the group for dinner at Harrow
Road Cafe at 7 p.m. To make dinner reservations, please call or email Connie
Phillips and ask to be included in the book group. 423-628-2441 or rugbylegacy@highland.net
Saturday, April 21 –
Historic Rugby Board Meeting at the Community Building.
Ongoing Activities
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.
Carrie Thornthwaite’s Weekend Wanderings – Saturdays and Sundays – Join Carrie to hike. On Saturdays she usually leaves from the Cafe around 10 a.m. for a 1½ to 2 hour hike in the area. On Sundays she usually leaves, again from the Cafe, about 2 p.m. Note that this is "usually", but not always. If you'd like to join her, please call or e-mail her to confirm that she is indeed going to walk thornthwch@lipscomb.edu . She is not hiking on Sunday, April 14th... for that Saturday, please plan to attend the Spring Walk to Massengale Homeplace with Lisa Huff.
Historic Rugby Workshops
Honeysuckle Basketry - This is a very popular 2-day workshop. Help collect and process the vines and weave a rib-style basket. . The workshop is on Saturday and Sunday, April 21 and 22 from 9 am – 5 pm Eastern. Instructor Bobby Edwards is an award winning basket maker from Fentress County who has been practicing his art for 15 years in the Southeast. Bobby got his start right here in Rugby making White Oak baskets in a White Oak basket workshop. Workshop fee is $75 ~ register early!
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.
Carrie Thornthwaite’s Weekend Wanderings – Saturdays and Sundays – Join Carrie to hike. On Saturdays she usually leaves from the Cafe around 10 a.m. for a 1½ to 2 hour hike in the area. On Sundays she usually leaves, again from the Cafe, about 2 p.m. Note that this is "usually", but not always. If you'd like to join her, please call or e-mail her to confirm that she is indeed going to walk thornthwch@lipscomb.edu . She is not hiking on Sunday, April 14th... for that Saturday, please plan to attend the Spring Walk to Massengale Homeplace with Lisa Huff.
Historic Rugby Workshops
Honeysuckle Basketry - This is a very popular 2-day workshop. Help collect and process the vines and weave a rib-style basket. . The workshop is on Saturday and Sunday, April 21 and 22 from 9 am – 5 pm Eastern. Instructor Bobby Edwards is an award winning basket maker from Fentress County who has been practicing his art for 15 years in the Southeast. Bobby got his start right here in Rugby making White Oak baskets in a White Oak basket workshop. Workshop fee is $75 ~ register early!
Celtic Knotwork
(quilting workshop) - Choose between
ancient and modern patterns suited to one's interest and desired complexity.
Variations are simple to elaborate applique designs, from stained glass effects
to mesh work. Celtic Knot patterns can be adapted to any application that uses
fabric. Students are invited to an additional four hours to work on this
project Saturday, April 28 from 9 a.m.- 5 p.m. Eastern and Sunday (optional for
those who wish to continue on their project), April 29 from 11a.m. until 3pm
Eastern time. Instructor: Joyce Lantz, Fee $45.
Spring Wildflower Walk and Picnic Lunch ~ On Saturday, May 19 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern, attendees can 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. The fee is $25 and includes a plant list of expected sightings. The day will finish with a film presentation and book signing in the late afternoon.
Sun to Shade Design Garden/Cumberland Plateau Garden Tour at Rugby Come spend the day in garden activities including a sun to shade design workshop plant sale, lunch and garden tour. Included in the day’s activities is a presentation including information about Rugby’s gardens, lunch and finishing the day with an Afternoon Tea in the garden. The event is Saturday, June 9 from 9 a.m. Eastern until 5:30 p.m. The all-inclusive fee is $40. Instructor Bob Washburn, co-owner of Wolf River Valley Growers in Pall Mall, will be joined by Rugby’s own Rick Murphy and Barbara Mitchell for this very special event. Register early – this is a day not to be missed.
To register for workshops, call toll-free 1-888-214-3400 or 423-628-2441. Lodging may be available at 1880 Newbury House and Rugby's cottages at a 10% discount to students. Food service is available at the Harrow Road Café.
Fireworks in the Woods
By Linda Konig
It's that time again when Fire Pinks (Silene Virginica) are popping up here and there like flaming fireworks in the woods. They like rocky hillsides which are found in abundance around Rugby. Another name for these wildflowers is Scarlet Catchfly. They're called catchflies because they catch small insects in the sticky substance they exude from their stalks, leaves, and calyxes. This keeps the tinier insects from stealing the nectar the flowers offer. Evidently, they prefer that hummingbirds and larger insects get the sweetness. When I read about this, I went to look for Fire Pinks and touched a couple. Yes, I'll say they were extremely sticky, but the stickiness didn't last long on my fingers. It seemed to evaporate after a few seconds. Though one source I read said that butterflies visit these beauties, another source pointed out that they have no landing platform for butterflies to perch on. So, I leave it to you, gentle reader, to go and watch to see if and how butterflies sip nectar from them.
Red-throated hummingbirds are one of their main pollinators. That would be a great photograph, crimson on
crimson with green. However, I've never
seen a hummingbird at one of these distinctive flowers. I guess I just didn't happen to be at the
right place at the right time. Fire
Pinks are easily recognized, being the only crimson wildflower in our woods in
the springtime. You simply must go look
for these in the woods to fully appreciate them, but meanwhile, you can see one
of the best photos of a flower I've ever seen at http://2bnthewild.com/plants/H120.htm-Fire . And, yes, before you ask, you can buy the
plants or seeds at nurseries.
About the time the Fire Pinks are through blooming, we can start looking for another member of the catchfly family, the Round-Leaf Catchfly (Silene rotundifolia). This is another scarlet beauty, and it loves to grow on sandstone bluffs on the Cumberland Plateau. I've spotted them from Rugby's Gentlemen's Swimming Hole trail at times, usually in July, and, since I'm not a rock-climber or mountain goat, I looked at them with binoculars. The blooms are larger than the fire pinks' but also have 5 petals and sticky leaves, etc. They are yet another eye-catching red flower that's visited by red-throated hummingbirds. A great photograph of Round-Leaf Catchflies can be found in Jack B. Carman's book, Wildflowers of Tennessee. That reminds me: mark your calendars for Jack Carman's Spring Wildflower Walk at Rugby, May 19..
This Week’s Editors: Rick Murphy and George Zepp
