Plateau Electric workers remove broken limbs from an electric line

Winter Ice Storm Quickly Melts

Friday morning Rugby woke to a thin layer of ice on trees and walkways. Weather reports discouraged folks from driving on the roads, so there was very little traffic on Highway 52. Just a few vehicles were seen in the morning. The Café did not officially open, but Mike Seagraves made some hearty soup for a few folks who wandered in. 

Fortunately, the Highway Department had done a good job of salting the roads so road conditions quickly improved, the Café reopened and traffic returned to normal on Saturday.

One of the few problems in Rugby caused by the storm was that a large limb from one of the two old hemlock trees in front of the historic home known as Ingleside (once called The Hemlocks) fell on an electric line. The power line did not fall, but Plateau Electric had to be notified Saturday morning since the limb was hanging on the line and partially blocking the street. Plateau sent a truck soon and workers removed the limb.

 

Carrie Thornthwaite and Julissa Marin on newly built bridge

Rugby Visitor from Peru, a Real Hiker

 

By Carrie Thornthwaite 

Julissa Marin, from Lima, Peru, has been visiting Rugby, this month, and staying with Wil and Carrie Thornthwaite.  She's a teacher in Lima and was sent here to learn about American schools.  She has visited schools in Nashville, as well as both Robbins and Allardt Elementary Schools.  Monday, she'll be visiting the Oneida schools. Carrie was thrilled to learn that Julissa loves hiking! The first weekend she hiked to Allerton Ridge. The next weekend she hiked to the Gentlemen's Swimming Hole, Meeting of the Waters and the Slide. This weekend she hiked to Kellogg's Crack and went through the crack! Then she hiked across the new bridge on the truck bypass and then back through the woods, crossing three separate creeks. She's been quite impressed with Rugby. Julissa returns to Peru on February 1.

 

Rugby Highlighted in Tourism Magazine

 

Local Tourism Featured at Home & Garden Show

 

Rugby is highlighted in the 2013 tourism magazine Upper Cumberland, Stay, Play and Relax which has recently been published by the Upper Cumberland Tourism Association.  The magazine has an extensive article about the history of Rugby and talks about the lodging, cafe and shops at Rugby and in the Big South Fork area. You can get a copy at the Harrow Road Café during winter hours on Friday, Saturday or Sunday.

 

In conjunction with the new publication, there was recently the following article about the upcoming Cookeville Home & Garden Show in the

Cumberland Business Journal:

"Home and Garden Show, and Stay and Play, to join forces in 2013

The annual Upper Cumberland Home and Garden Show will feature a travel-friendly twist come March. Travel show “Stay and Play in the Upper Cumberland” will be held in conjunction with the annual event in order to showcase the best that the region has to offer to both residents and visitors alike.

 This is the first year that the Upper Cumberland Tourism Association’s (UCTA) popular Stay and Play will run concurrently with the Home & Garden Show, which is scheduled for March 1-3 at the Hyder-Burkes Pavilion in Cookeville. This will give attendees a unique opportunity to see what the region’s businesses have to offer builders and homeowners planning new construction, renovation or landscaping while, at the same time, giving everyone some great ideas for vacations, weekend or day trips within just a short drive from home, said Ruth Dyal, UCTA executive director.

“We have so much to see and do in the Upper Cumberland,” Dyal said. “There is something for everyone of every age and every interest. Whether you are vacationing or day tripping, as a couple, a family or a group, there is a memorable experience waiting for you here.”

Information on the Upper Cumberland’s cultural, historic and scenic attractions as well as its outdoor recreational opportunities and lodging and dining options will be available at Stay and Play. The UCTA also now offers guided van tours for small groups throughout the region. Information about these customized tours will also be available as well as information about tours offered by individual attractions.

UCTA representatives and member businesses and organizations will be available throughout the show to answer questions and to assist in planning trip itineraries. There will be plenty of literature for everyone to take home and read at their leisure, including the Upper Cumberland Wine Trail brochure and map, the 2013 Upper Cumberland–Stay, Play and Relax magazine and the 2013 Tennessee Vacation Guide, Dyal said.

Of course, the Upper Cumberland Home & Garden Show will also feature its usual plethora of home improvement booths. Vendor registration is still open.

For more information about Stay and Play in the Upper Cumberland, contact Dyal at (800) 868-7237 or tourism@uppercumberland.org. For more information on the Home & Garden Show, contact Melanie Chadwell at (931) 528-7472 or home@uchba.com."

 

 

Black cat in Café bird feeder Sunday... Where are the birds?

Birthdays 

Jan. 31  Mary Ann Lovett and Jessie Gully

Calendar 

Rugby is in the Eastern time zone, just barely    

Sat. Feb. 2 – Community Potluck – 7 p.m. at the Rugby Community Room followed by 70th Birthday Party for Jessie Gully

Sat. Feb. 2 - Bunco at Grey Gables - A game to enjoy and meet other people.  Dinner at 7 p.m. Eastern.  $11 plus tax and gratuity for dinner. Reservations call 423-628-5252

Sat. Feb. 9 - Casting meeting for the play about quilts called "Full Circle," from 2-4 p.m. Eastern/1-3 Central, at the Rebecca Johnson Theatre in Rugby's Visitor Centre on Hwy. 52. Would-be actors invited. (Bad weather date is Feb. 10, same times.) 

Sat. Feb. 9 -  Domino Night at Grey Gables - Bring your dominos and your friends to enjoy dinner and play your favorite game.  $11 plus tax and gratuity.  7 p.m. Eastern Time. Reservations call 423-628-5252

Thurs. Feb. 14 – Valentine’s Dinner at Harrow Road Café. Two seatings, 5 and 8 p.m./4 and 7 Central. Three dining choices: Baked Salmon w/hollandaise sauce, Roast Filet Mignon in béarnaise sauce, or Breast of Chicken stuffed with shrimp and crab and topped with mornay sauce. All come with choice of lobster bisque or oriental salad, twice-baked potato or wild rice or veggie medley. 29.50 PP price includes tax/tip. Reservations 423-628-2441.

Sat. Feb. 16 – Dinner and Movie Night at Historic Rugby – Meet John Doe with Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. Movie starts at 7:30 p.m. EST at Visitor Centre Theatre. Stop in at the Café for dinner before the movie!

Sat. Feb. 16 - Valentine Dinner at Grey Gables.  Bring your sweetie and have dinner.  $20 plus tax and gratuity.  7 p.m. Eastern Time. Reservations call 423-628-5252

Sat. Feb. 23 – State Natural Area Volunteer Project - Japanese spiraea removal – Volunteers should meet at the Massengale Trail parking area at 1 p.m. EST. Gather at noon for lunch at meet at Harrow Road Cafe before the work session. Wear boots suitable for wet areas and bring work gloves.   

Thurs. Feb. 28 – Thomas Hughes Philosophical Night #2 – 7 p.m. EST at Amy Barnes’ house.  Share views on life with your neighbors.

Sat. March 9 - Powerpoint talk in Johnson Theatre on Historic Vegetation and Restoration Opportunities on the Cumberland Plateau, followed by an instructed walk to the Massengale Homesite, which is "almost a perfect representation of what is being proposed in many quarters for savannah and open woodlands on the Cumberland Plateau." Talk by Lisa Huff, Rugby State Natural Area representative, at 3 p.m. EST, walk at 4.

Sat. March 9 – Dinner and Movie Night – Movie starts at 7:30 p.m. EST at Visitor Centre Theatre. Visit the Café for dinner before the movie!

	Ongoing Activities Quilters’ Group - Wednesdays and Saturdays, 2–4 p.m. Eastern, at the Friendly House behind Christ Church Episcopal. Rugby Yoga –Mondays at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, at the Friendly House behind Christ Church Episcopal. Christ Church Episcopal -- Sunday morning services, 11 a.m. Eastern, year round; all are welcomed

 Bruce Marlin's photo of an osage orange fruit ball from Wikipedia

Nature Notes 

Osage Orange Trees

By Linda Konig

 

In Rugby's early days, Emily Hughes and probably some other ladies living here thought they'd try their hand at raising silkworms, a home industry highly touted in the 1870s and 1880s. One of our remaining evidences of this project are the two huge original White Mulberry trees in Rugby. One is at Oak Lodge and the other is at Ingleside. The silkworms could be raised on the White Mulberry leaves. The silkworm project didn't turn out to be as simple or profitable as many had hoped. As it turned out, it was simpler and cheaper to just buy the silk produced in the Far East. For a good laugh, you could read some of Emily Hughes' letters in which she told of her exasperation with her silkworms which refused to spin cocoons where they were supposed to and often escaped to spin under chairs, hanging from picture frames, etc.  

Just this past week, I learned of another kind of tree whose leaves were often used to feed silkworms: Osage Orange. These native American trees are related to the mulberry and were planted throughout the eastern U.S., partly to feed silkworms. Native Americans used the strong resilient wood to make excellent bows, leading to another one of the tree's names: Bois d'arc or Bowdark. The white farmers discovered that the trees were useful as cheap fencing because, when planted close together, Osage Orange trees grow thickly and intertwine, and they have thorns. Another advantage is that they're highly resistant to disease. Early pioneers boiled Osage Orange wood chips to get a yellow dye.   

I read that Mme. Hughes planted a row of Osage Orange trees, and when I first saw that I thought they were just to be used as an impenetrable hedgerow. Now I'm thinking that maybe they were meant to be used as fodder for Emily's silkworms. I don't know what happened to those trees. Maybe Emily got so disgusted she had them all cut down and used her silkworms for fishing. Or perhaps Charlie Brooks later got rid of them, or they succumbed to age or another fate.

 

Two or three Osage Orange trees are growing now against Brewstertown Road near Brewster's curve. They're easy to spot in fall when the female tree drops its interesting grapefruit-sized green fruit balls (called hedge apples or horse apples), and a few get squashed by passing cars. Squirrels love the seeds, and perhaps some birds or other animals eat them. If you don't know what these green balls or their flowers look like, take a look at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maclura pomifera.

 

This Week’s Editors: Rick Murphy and George Zepp