Bell Rings Again
The Rugby Schoolhouse had rotted siding replaced around its belfry last week, another of many projects undertaken in the last year to maintain and restore Rugby’s buildings. Historic Rugby’s Board President, Jane Logan, is fond of saying that Rugby has had “bats in its belfry.” Hopefully the work done will at last encourage them to find a new home.
As part of the repair, a rope was reattached to the Schoolhouse bell so it will soon be able to be rung on special occasions. The workman who reattached the pull rope rang the bell, but said he would not do it again while he was up there working, as it "was real loud."
Hattie Fletcher Funeral Today
Hattie Fletcher, Laurel Dale Cemetery's longtime caretaker and friend, will be resting in it now. Funeral services will be Monday morning, April 25th, at 11 a.m. in the Chapel of Four Oaks Funeral Home in Oneida. Burial will follow in the Laurel Dale Cemetery in Rugby.
Here is a link to her obituary.
http://tmpcc3.go2the.net/cgi-bin/funeralhomes/CompanyInternal?stdout+115+fouroaksfuneralhome
Barbara Stagg writes: “Hattie was a wonderful and hard-working lady (with the best pies and country cooking ever when she worked for at the Harrow Road Cafe) and the kindest and most supportive local person in the area of Brian and then John and me.”
Jim Meadows saw a bear as he was walking in Beacon Hill a few evenings ago – about 8 p.m. between the homes of the McBrayers and the Hicks. Someone at the Café said that Pat Tony has also seen the bear recently. Several other people have seen evidence of a bear. Marilyn Hury said the bear apparently also tore a screen on the screened porch at the Olivers’ home to get at pet food inside the porch. And Barbara Stagg said the bear ignored her three dogs to come over a back fence at Roslyn Saturday night in search of birdseed.
Granddaughter of Rugby Colonist Visits
By Barbara Stagg
Josephine Molyneux Davidson Pendergrass, 99, the granddaughter of John Molyneux, made another of many trips from her home in Kingsport to Rugby Thursday, accompanied by her two daughters Selina and Jean of Boston. She wanted to visit the graves of her three great-uncles at Laurel Dale Cemetery, all of whom died as infants in the mid-1880s. I helped them find the graves and learned more about the Molyneux family while showing them the church where Josephine’s mother was baptized. One interesting fact was that Josephine and her husband often brought Miss Helen Turner from Knoxville to Roslyn house where she lived every summer while opening the Hughes Library as its librarian. Selina has previously sent a great deal of family information for the archives.
In the photo above Josephine Molyneux Davidson Pendergrass is shown in the center with her daughters Jean Ellen Pendergrass, right, and Selina Jo Pendergrass, left. Photo by Barbara Stagg
John Molyneux, of Lancashire, England, came to America sometime in the late 1870s looking for farming opportunities. Family records show that he took the new Cincinnati Southern Railroad to Chattanooga, climbed Lookout Mountain, stopped at a house for water, and was told by the owner that he should go to Rugby, Tennessee. He did come to the area, but ended up settling first in Sunbright, then in Glenmary. He ran general stores in both locations. According to early Rugby newspapers and Christ Church records, the family maintained various ties with Rugby, including regular worship at Christ Church and baptism of some of their children there. In 1906 they moved to Rockwood, Tennessee. The Chevrolet dealership building he ran there is now on the National Register of Historic Places. Several of John’s descendants are members of Historic Rugby.
Another Room Refurbished at Newbury
With the help of volunteers, another room is being refurbished in one of Historic Rugby’s unique historic lodging houses. Hadley and Marilyn Hury have been working on “freshening up” the Sarah Walton Room at Newbury House with new lighting, curtains, artwork and other adornments.
Several lodging spaces in Rugby have now been refurbished with the help of volunteers, including the Thomas Hughes Suite at Newbury House and Percy Cottage.
Gardening Volunteers Needed Tuesday
By Rick Murphy
We will be doing some planting and spring cleanup in the gardens at Kingstone Lisle this Tuesday, April 26, beginning at 9:30 a.m (unless it is raining). If you would like to help, just come on over. Bring your gardening gloves. I will bring some extra tools, but if you have a pair of clippers, a trowel or a kneeling pad, bring them.
Also, if anyone is going to Wolf River Valley Growers this week, please let me know. My phone number is 423-319-7842
BIRTHDAYS
April 27 - Douglas Cooksey and Beth Donegan
CALENDAR
Rugby is in the Eastern Time zone, just barely
Saturday, April 30 – Historic Rugby Board Meeting 1 p.m. at the Community Building
Saturday, April 30 - English Country Dancing 7 p.m.
Wednesday, May 4 - Litter Pickup – Volunteers meet at 10 a.m. at White Oak Bridge. Bring gloves.
Saturday, May 7 – Community Potluck 7 p.m.
Sunday, May 8 – Mother’s Day Lunch at Grey Gables. Seatings 12:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. $12.50 per person plus tax and gratuity -$6.25 children under 12, plus tax and gratuity - RESERVATIONS REQUIRED. Call Linda Brooks Jones, 423-628-5252
Saturday, May 14 and 15 – Historic Rugby’s 37th Annual Festival of British and Appalachian Culture. Crafters and artisans demonstrating chair making, broom making, quilting, basketry, pottery, spinning, weaving, woodcarving, blacksmithing, lye soap and honey production and much more. Other crafters and vendors will have their wares for sale both Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in booths set up around Rugby's historic grounds. Also British Isles and Appalachian music, dancing, and historic building tours. A variety of British and Appalachian foods will be available at the Harrow Road Cafe and throughout the festival grounds. New this year is the first Pickin’ at Rugby competition on Saturday. For further information call 1-888-214-3400 or email rugbylegacy@highland.net or visit http://www.historicrugby.org/.
Saturday, May 14 – Rabies Vaccination Clinic outside Brooks Store, 2:30 p.m. Price is $10 for a one year rabies vaccination. For qualifying animals, a three-year vaccination will be offered for $14, so bring proof of previous vaccinations.
Saturday, May 21 – Book Club – 7 p.m. We’ll discuss “Red on Red” a mystery written by a former New York City police detective, Edward Conlon. http://www.amazon.com/Red-Novel-Edward-Conlon/dp/0385519176. Meeting is at Walton Court. Please let Rick Murphy know if you are coming or if you have any questions - 423-319-7842 or rickmurphy1@aol.com.
Sunday, June 5, Cumberland Odyssey Celebration and Book Signing - 3 p.m. Rugby’s Johnson Theatre. Join author David Brill and photographer Bill Campbell for a personal journey through their coffee table book on the Cumberland Plateau. Bobby Fulcher will perform some of the old-time Plateau music described in the text. Proceeds from book sales support completion of the Cumberland Trail.
Quilters Group - Wed. and Sat. 2–4 p.m. at the Friendly House
Blues in the Night
By Linda Konig
I really miss taking folks out on night walks in the spring and summer, especially the part when we would go down into the woods a little way to look at the fungus gnat glowworms on seeping bluff faces. If anybody out there wants to go some night before it gets too late in the season, please let me know, and we'll get up a group to go.
The sight of these tiny steady blue lights is awe-inspiring, to say the least. Scientists have determined that our southern U.S. fungus gnat glowworms (Orfelia fultoni) have the bluest light of any insect in the world. Sometimes, a little later in the season, we've been lucky enough to see what some people call the little blue ghosts at the same time and in the same place where we were seeing the fungus gnat glowworms.
The blue ghosts are a species of firefly that are quite different from the ones that glow yellow. Their lights are dimmer and blue. Instead of flashing, the blue ghosts keep their lights on for several moments while they sail slowly along not far from the ground. Then they land in the undergrowth and their lights go out. A few seconds later, they rise with their blue lights on again. These are truly amazing and ghost-like to see, but they much prefer the darkness of woods. Their lights appear much brighter under the trees but are washed out in moonlight and house lights, etc., so don't expect to see them on your lawn. However, thanks to the fact that I don't have a security light, I sometimes see them at the edge of the woods against my yard. I should start seeing them next month. Wil and Carrie Thornthwaite have them around their house, too.
Another blue night phenomenon I've seen around Rugby is Jack-o-Lantern mushrooms. These come up about July or August. Their daytime color is basically bright pumpkin orange, hence the name Jack-o-Lantern. These often grow piled loosely together. I used to see them at the base of the big rotten oak that was recently cut down at Ivy Cottage and against the boardwalk going up to the cafe on that side facing Ivy Cottage. At night, their gills glow with blue phosphorescence, but usually only the tiny crawling insects and the elves see it. I couldn't see it either as long as it was so near the lights of the Cafe and Ivy Cottage. So I sometimes picked a couple of them and took them home to look at in total darkness. Your eyes have to be completely adjusted to the darkness to see this, but gradually you make out the faint ghostly blue. The blue lasts several nights. Unfortunately, I didn't find any good photos of Jack-o-Lantern mushroom gills glowing blue in the dark – likewise with the other luminescent blues in this article. Evidently, photographers don't photograph these things in the dark or the color shows as green in the photograph.
A more startling blue that lucky (sometimes frightened) people see at night is foxfire. I have yet to see it, but I look about hopefully every fall. I can't tell you how many times I've picked up pieces of decaying wood in the daytime and taken them home to observe in darkness that night, only to be disappointed. Some say the luminescence is blueish green, some say green, some say blue. Anyway, it's a fungus and needs moisture and warmth to grow. Many people eat the mushroom part, called Honey Mushrooms. The Honey Mushroom rhizomorphs (the parts that are root-like) grow on trees, usually under bark or nearby on the ground. I've learned that in the daytime, the foxfire rhizomorphs look like black shoelaces or netting. I now know an area against a farm road where there are lots of fallen rotten trees where I haven't looked before, so I'm still hopeful. . . .
Photo shows Cheryl Hodgkin's granddaughter Lillian petting Sue Duncan's Angora rabbit Sunday at the Commissary
May 21 - Small Space Vegetable Growing in a Raised Bed 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Instructor: Bob Washburn Fee $15.
May 28 - Spring Wildflower Walk and Picnic Lunch ~ 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. - attendees can take part in one of the most diverse wildflower walks in Tennessee, led by instructor Jack Carman. His 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, including a plant list of expected sightings. The day will finish with a film presentation and book signing in the late afternoon.
June 11 - Imagery In Writing Workshop - 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. This workshop will focus on voice and imagery. Struggling to find a voice in writing? The student will produce writing a reader will listen to and read. Included are exploring subject matter, diction, point of view, syntax, grammar, and imagery to allow the voice of an author to be distinguished from that of others. Come prepared to write and bring along some work you have already begun. The instructor is K.B. Ballentine. She has attended writing academies in both America and Britain and has published in Alehouse, Bent Pin, Front Range, River Poets Journal, Touchstone and others. The fee is $28.
To register for workshops, call toll-free 1-888-214-3400 or 423-628-2441. Lodging may be available at 1880 Newbury House and local cottages at a 10% discount to students. Food service is available at the Harrow Road Café.
Historic Rugby’s website at http://www.historicrugby.org/ lists all workshops for the year.
This Week’s Editors: Rick Murphy and George Zepp
