Thanksgiving Dinner at Grey Gables
Linda Brooks Jones and her family invite you to Grey Gables to celebrate a Time of Thanksgiving. Thursday, November 25. 1 p.m. seating or 5 p.m. seating (Eastern time). $12 per person, plus tax and gratuity. $6 under 12, plus tax and gratuity. Reservations required. Call 423.628.5252 for menu choices and reservations.
Thanksgiving Marketplace and British Cream Tea
Holiday shopping for unique gifts is coupled with friendly local artists demonstrating their crafts and our welcoming shopkeepers. Tour five historic buildings where Christmas decorating has begun. See the award-winning film and mural at the Rugby Visitor Centre.
British Cream Tea at 1880 Newbury House - traditional teas and delicious sweets fireside in the parlor surrounded by festive holiday decorations. Tea will be served 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Eastern (12:30 and 2:30 Central). Reservations are advised for this very popular event.
Photo above shows Santa at last year's Thanksgiving Marketplace.
Thanksgiving Marketplace hours are 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. Eastern Time; the Café remains open until 9 p.m. Call Historic Rugby toll-free at 1-888-214-3400 or cell/locally 423-628-2441 to make reservations for the tea.
Christmas at Rugby Dec. 4
Candlelit visits to traditionally decorated historic buildings; glimpses of 1880s Rugby Christmases, seasonal music, an award-winning film and mural at the Rugby Visitor Centre and Theatre, and a traditional Victorian dinner all await visitors to Christmas At Historic Rugby. The annual holiday fundraiser will take place December 4.
Six historic and reconstructed buildings will be open to visitors, lit with candles and old-time oil lamps, and beautifully decorated with holly, ivy and evergreens, just as used by Rugby's early colonists. Open buildings include the antique-filled founder's home, Kingstone Lisle, where Madame Margaret Hughes, the founder's mother, portrayed by Virginia Lovellette, will greet visitors. The fragrance of plum pudding steaming on the kitchen wood stove will fill the house.
Visitors will also be welcomed to 1880 Newbury House, the Victorian-furnished original boarding house, now a unique bed and breakfast.
The Harrow Road Cafe will serve a four-course Christmas dinner by oil lamp light at two reserved seatings each evening - 5:45 and 8 p..m Eastern Time. For event and dinner tickets and area lodging information, call Historic Rugby toll free at 1-888-214-3400 or cell/locally at 423-628-2441.
Hot wassail will be served fireside at the Rugby Community Room where visitors can take part in old-time carol singing led by musicians Tony Thomas and Judy Carson.
At the Rugby Printing Works, the 1880s Chandler-Price letterpress will turn out hand printed hot wassail recipes for visitors.
The Choir of Rugby will be caroling throughout the Village.
Event hours are 4 to 9 pm Eastern Time. Event tickets are $12 and can be purchased in advance, or on Saturday at the Visitor Centre. HISTORIC RUGBY MEMBERS ARE $9 and high school and elementary students are $5. Dinner tickets must be purchased in advance and are $29, tax and gratuity included. Call 1-888-214-3400 for event and dinner tickets and information on area lodging.
Visitors are also invited to historic Christ Church Episcopal to visit with members and listen to the music. The Christ Church choir will present a Christmas Choral presentation at 4:30 p.m. in the church. Visitors to Christmas at Rugby and community members are all invited to this service of singing.
Poinsettia Sale
By Benita Howell
Poinsettias from Wolf River Valley Growers will be delivered early Tuesday afternoon. You may pick up and pay for pre-ordered plants at the Friendly House, 2-4 p.m. Tuesday, or Wednesday 9-11 a.m. The remaining pre-orders will be held at Friendly House; arrange to pick those up by calling Benita Howell at 423-628-5521. A nice selection of surplus plants will be sold upstairs in the Commissary during Rugby's Thanksgiving Marketplace. Proceeds will benefit Christ Church’s outreach and its Benevolence Fund.
THE WEEK THAT WAS
Christmas Greens Workshop
Jim McBrayer writes: More than 30 volunteers showed up for Saturday's annual greens workshop, including 10 who came all the way from Louisville, KY. These were Rita's relatives, plus their friends, and they even brought cut greenery to supplement what Rita, Gerald and others had collected locally. And everyone was well fed from generous offerings of soups, cheeses, breads, and desserts. One first-timer said she's already looking forward to next year.
Rita Writes: We had a great day and a great turnout of "elves" for the greens workshop. Thank you to everyone who helped, it could not be accomplished without you!
It not only takes a village, it takes our friends and family too. We appreciate you all.
Photo by Jim McBrayer shows workshop participants busy at work
Author Discussion
Stephen Lyn Bales, a naturalist from Knoxville, discussed his new book “Ghost Birds” about the ivory-billed woodpecker Saturday afternoon at the theater in Rugby. A surprisingly large audience was there, in spite of the fact that the Greens Workshop had just finished a little while before the discussion. Lyn talked about the development of the field of ornithology as background for discussing how he went about researching his book. He showed his obvious love for the study of birds which helped him complete his research. And he shared experiences he has had as a writer, including the excitement from having an article about the ivory-billed woodpecker published in The Smithsonian magazine.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED TODAY: BRUSH CLEARING
By Rick Murphy
We are going to start clearing small trees and brush around the Community Building from 9:30 a.m. to about 12:30 p.m. today (Monday). If you would like to help, bring your gloves and lopers, if you have any. This is part of the process of helping protect the buildings from potential woods fires.
RUGBY WEEK TAKING A BREAK
We are taking a break next week so we can enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends. The next Rugby Week will be Dec. 6. Hope to see you Dec. 4 for Christmas at Rugby!
BIRTHDAYS
Nov. 25 - Marilyn Young
Nov. 28 - Walter Young
CALENDAR
Thursday, November 25 – Thanksgiving Dinner at Grey Gables Bed ‘n Breakfast Inn. 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. seatings (EASTERN TIME). $12 per person, plus tax and gratuity, $6 under age 12 plus tax and gratuity. Reservations required: 423.628.5252
Friday, November 26 -- Thanksgiving Marketplace (10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern) and Cream Tea at Historic Rugby. Tea will be served 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Eastern, with reservations recommended. Call toll-free 1-888-214-3400 or cell/locally 423-628-2441 to make reservations for the tea.
Wednesday, December 1-- Light of My Life Christmas Tea at Grey Gables, 1-3 p.m. Eastern Time -$10 per person, plus tax and gratuity. Reservations required: 423.628.5252
Saturday, December 4 -- Christmas at Historic Rugby. 4 p.m. Eastern. Hark Back to 1880s Rugby Christmases - Visit Beautifully Decorated Candle and Lamp-Lighted Buildings…. Enjoy Music and Actors Portraying Early Rugby Colonists… Join in Carol Singing w/Hot Wassail… Christmas Treasures at The Shoppes of Rugby… Four-Course Victorian Dinner at the Harrow Road Café. Advance Purchase Required. Call toll-free 1-888-214-3400 or locally 423-628-2441
Saturday, December 4 - In conjunction with Christmas at Historic Rugby, the Christ Church choir will present a Christmas Choral presentation at 4:30 p.m. in the church. Visitors to Christmas at Rugby and community members are all invited to this service of singing. Special carols will be presented by the Christ Church choir and congregational singing will be enjoyed by all attending. The single performance will last about 30 minutes. There should be plenty of time to get other activities and to one of the dinner seatings.
Saturday, December 11-- Special Holiday Concert, 7 p.m., to start your holiday celebrations... Details To Be Announced...
Saturday, January 15 (NEW DATE) – Book Club at the home of Kit and Candy Howes. Book selection is AMERICAN LION by Jon Meacham
January and February 2011 – Historic Rugby Winter Hours: The Schoolhouse Museum will be open Monday – Saturday for tours. The Post Office will be at the Schoolhouse Museum on normal winter hours (closed Tuesday and Sunday). Lodging will be offered on a self-catering basis only. The Café, Visitor Centre and Commissary will be closed for repairs. Normal operations will resume in March.
Quilters Group - Wed. and Sat. 2-4 p.m. Eastern at the Friendly House
By Linda Konig
I've been hearing a Barn Owls at night lately. It’s mostly at dusk, but a few nights ago I was awakened at 2:30 a.m. by the "unearthly" sound. Once you learn to recognize this particular call, you'll never mistake it for anything else. When Vi Biehl asked me to describe the call, I struggled to do it. Then I collapsed into "Well, it's just indescribable!" Compared to the barn owl's hoarse screech-scream, all our other local owls sound almost cuddly. In the middle of the night, it's enough to strike terror in Dracula's heart. Yet it has that sweet heart-shaped face, white with dark teardrop-shaped eyes.
The first barn owl I ever saw, I fell in love with. "Athena" was one of the birds that some TWRA personnel were showing in the high school gym at Birchwood, TN during "Sandhill Crane Viewing Days" when Vi and I participated several years ago. A collection of wild rehabilitated birds were released, one at a time, to fly across the closed-tight gymnasium. The other raptors -- a black vulture, a hawk or two, a kestrel, etc. -- all flew over our heads to the accompaniment of flashing cameras, then dutifully returned to their handlers to receive their reward, a frozen baby mouse. Then they were put back into their travel cages. But not Athena. She was in no mood to perform like some trained circus animal. She flew high overhead and landed on one of the rafters. Perhaps to her, it was "People Viewing Days." No amount of coaxing with treats would entice her, and she continued to peer down at us until she went to sleep. They finally had to get a fire ladder to bring her down. We could almost hear her chuckling to herself.
You can Google Barn Owls or Tyto alba and see lots of photos of them. Better yet, you can listen to their typical calls on some sites and learn more about them. Unfortunately, Barn Owls are threatened in Tennessee. Fred Oliver and I have been trying to locate a nest in abandoned buildings around Rugby but haven't succeeded. Then I learned that, although humans associate them with barns, they actually prefer a hole in a tree trunk. I believe that the one I've heard lately may live in the woods between the proposed route of the bypass and Hwy. 52 on the west end and beyond Rugby. At least that's where I've been hearing it. They often begin their night's hunting with a few screams. Perhaps some of their prey die of fright.
This Week’s Editors: Rick Murphy and George Zepp
