Rugby homeowners, Historic Rugby staff and volunteers are all working enthusiastically to get ready for the 40th Pilgrimage - throwing open the doors to 30 antique-filled homes and buildings on Saturday, September 5, 2009. Private homeowners have been out washing windows, dusting, polishing silver (maybe) and planting flowers in preparation for this year’s tour.
This Pilgrimage promises to be especially interesting in that it will have several houses that have never been open before. These include two recently reconstructed historic homes on Hwy. 52 – Onderdonk Cottage and Walton Court. There will also be quite a few recently built homes in the Beacon Hill development, all designed to be architecturally compatible to the styles of Rugby’s original 1880s residences.
Another treat will be several of the privately owned historic houses open for tour, including Ingleside, the much-admired cottage on the street behind the Cafe.
2006 photo of The Lindens, one of the historic homes that will be open during Pilgrimage.
A freelance writer for the Knoxville News Sentinel was in Rugby Saturday and Sunday collecting Pilgrimage information for a feature article that is expected to appear this coming Sunday. (Check knoxnews.com if you can’t find a copy.)Freelance reporter Scott Brooks and Kristine Cadle talk to Marlee Mitchell in her parlor about the upcoming Pilgrimage. Marlee’s historic home, Ruralia, will be open for the Sept. 5 event.
So, if you are not already in Rugby, plan on arriving by 10:00 a.m. Eastern time on Saturday, September 5 so you can get around to as many houses as possible by the 6 p.m. event closing.
Parking will be free, and visitors are being encouraged to walk the six-block Pilgrimage area. A shuttle van will be available for those who need to limit their walking or who might want a restful ride later in the day.
To ease summer warmth, cooling beverages will be available at several tour buildings along with bottled water. Restored antique cars will be on display in some locations.
Admission for all open buildings and activities is $14 for adults and $4 for K-12 students. Groups of 10 or more are $10 per person when reserved in advance. Members of Historic Rugby receive half-price admission.
The first Historic Rugby Pilgrimage in 1965 helped focus attention on the need to save and restore the Utopian community. All Pilgrimage proceeds support continued restoration and preservation.
Singers Tune Up for Pilgrimage Concert
The Rugby Community Singers have been busy practicing for their concert the evening of Sept. 5, after the Pilgrimage tour ends. It begins at 7:45 p.m. at the Rebecca Johnson Theatre in the Rugby Visitor Centre. There should be plenty of time to eat at the Café after the tour of buildings and then come over to the theatre for the performance.
The singers will be doing an assortment including sacred music, folk melodies and show tunes. I hear the group has been working hard on costumes for a surprise ending to the performance. The concert will be a benefit to help with medical expenses for a member of the Rugby community, so donations will be gladly accepted at the door.
Vi and Eric's Bear Returns
By Vi Biehl and Eric Wilson
By Vi Biehl and Eric Wilson
At about 7:45 Sunday evening Vi Biehl heard a loud “Thump!” and looked outside to see our new "bear-proof" garbage can getting its first test. Eric had fastened it to a sturdy post but that had been snapped off and the can was on the ground with a bear on top of it. We went out onto the back porch and shouted but the bear just looked at us. After a few minutes' standoff Vi gave her best imitation of a dog barking threateningly and Eric waved a stick from a safe distance. The bear then ambled off into the nearby ravine. Incidentally, that ravine feeds into Laurel Branch, so hikers should be wary.
Carriage House Gallery Grows Just in time for Pilgrimage, Rugby’s Carriage House Gallery has moved its framing work table and computer equipment into a separate room, making more room to display original art, antiques and photographs. So stop by for a visit. Butch and Cheryl’s white cat, P.G., will be sure to welcome you at the door.
The community potluck for September is scheduled for Sept. 12, the second Saturday of the month (rather than the first weekend) due to Pilgrimage and the Rugby Community Singers concert.
York Film & Talk
Saturday’s film on Sgt. Alvin York of Fentress County drew an enthusiastic crowd, all of whom stayed for the question-answer session afterward with both an expert on York, Dr. Michael Birdwell, and one of the World War I hero’s own sons, the Rev. George Edward York. The well-known film starring Gary Cooper almost didn’t get made and was delayed for about 20 years because York was reluctant to allow film studios to depict his war experience, Barbara Stagg said the audience learned.
Finally, York signed off on the general story line because he became convinced it would help Americans understand that wars are sometimes necessary. “Sergeant York” hit the nation’s movie screens in 1941, on the eve of World War II. Another film in Rugby’s summer series is scheduled for Sept. 19 (see calendar below for details).
Birthdays
August 27 – Polly Allen & Jessica Neary
Calendar of Events
September 5 – Rugby Pilgrimage, with rare tours of many private homes, as well as Historic Rugby buildings. The previous chance for the public to see inside many of Rugby’s homes was in 2007.
September 5 – Concert – Rugby Community Singers
September 12 – Community Potluck – 7:00 p.m. Eastern (Note date change due to Pilgrimage)
September 19 – Rugby Summer Film Series – “Amazing Grace” at 7:30 p.m. - chronicles the life of William Wilberforce, an 18th century Christian politician in England who dedicated his life to abolishing slavery and to the prevention of cruelty to animals.
October 17 – Book Club – 7:00 p.m. Eastern. The next book is “The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse” by Louise Erdrich
Exercise Group – Monday and Thursday at 9:00 a.m. Eastern at the Friendly House
Quilters Group - Wed. and Sat. 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern at the Friendly House
HRI Workshops
(For more details about workshops go to Historic Rugby Website at http://www.historicrugby.org/ )
August 29 – Beginning Knitting – Instructor Veronica Ludlow - Learn to knit – start a hand knitted scarf with embellishments.
August 30 – English Watercolor – Instructor Veronica Ludlow – Step-by-step instructions in English floral and landscape techniques. You will create art to take home.
September 12 – Fall Wildflowers – Instructor Jack Carman - Wildflower walks, slide presentation and book signing.
TO REGISTER FOR WORKSHOPS: Call (423) 628-2441 or Toll-Free 1-888-214-3400. Lodging is available at Historic Rugby with a 10% discount to all workshop participants.
Nature Notes
By Linda Konig
The deepest purple wildflowers of the roadsides and meadows now are the tall ironweeds. Even the stems are purple, a deep almost-black purple. These beauties could be said to actually have three different flowers at three different times of their lives. As one of the members of the Aster (star) family, their purple "stars" flower in late summer and early autumn. In late autumn and winter when their tufted seeds blow away, they reveal a beige "star" of dried sepals that look like tiny dried flowers.
Still later in late autumn or winter, they sometimes form yet another "flower"--a frost flower. I've only recently learned that they can make these rapidly melting curls of frost at the base of the old stalk. Frost flowers are something that photographers delight in finding, and you may have seen beautiful close-ups of these in nature magazines. Google frost flowers on the WEB and you'll see some lovely examples.
Frost flowers form when the ground is still warm, but the air is cold. Sap flows up from certain wildflower roots and freezes inside the lower stalk, bursting it. As sap continues to rise, the freezing sap is extruded from the cracked stalk, making flower-like curls. Not every flower will make these, but a couple of wildflowers commonly named frostweed will make frost flowers.
You can find frostweeds in a good wildflower book. One of these frostweeds, also known as white crownbeard, is quite common in Middle Tennessee. I've not been able to find many white crownbeards in our area, but now I know that ironweed will make these frozen beauties, too, and we have plenty of ironweed.
So you may see me early early some morning next winter, looking about on the ground for these in frosty meadows.
Still later in late autumn or winter, they sometimes form yet another "flower"--a frost flower. I've only recently learned that they can make these rapidly melting curls of frost at the base of the old stalk. Frost flowers are something that photographers delight in finding, and you may have seen beautiful close-ups of these in nature magazines. Google frost flowers on the WEB and you'll see some lovely examples.
Frost flowers form when the ground is still warm, but the air is cold. Sap flows up from certain wildflower roots and freezes inside the lower stalk, bursting it. As sap continues to rise, the freezing sap is extruded from the cracked stalk, making flower-like curls. Not every flower will make these, but a couple of wildflowers commonly named frostweed will make frost flowers.
You can find frostweeds in a good wildflower book. One of these frostweeds, also known as white crownbeard, is quite common in Middle Tennessee. I've not been able to find many white crownbeards in our area, but now I know that ironweed will make these frozen beauties, too, and we have plenty of ironweed.
So you may see me early early some morning next winter, looking about on the ground for these in frosty meadows.
This Week’s Editors – Rick Murphy & George Zepp
