Is it Moravian Time? I Think it's Moravian time!

We woke up this morning to an impressive downpour, which continued through the entire drive--leaving one stressed-out driver, who wasn't me.  The drive from the Charlotte area to the Winston-Salem area was about three hours long, but it felt like more than that with the wipers on full-blast and still finding it challenging to see the lane markers.

Our first stop was a small park and museum at Historic Bethabara.  The nice lady on duty at the visitor center asked us if we'd swum there.  She was a former teacher and full of all the knowledge, which she very much enjoyed imparting.  I was highly amused as she kept pointing us to her shiny new wall-boards filled with information, telling us to enjoy reading them, and then proceeding to tell us everything that was on the boards.  I think she was very happy to see humans.

Bethabara was an early settlement of Moravians, a religious sect hailing from Moravia, now the Czech Republic.  They believed that the Bible, not the pope, was the true word of God and endured a good deal of religious persecution before heading to the New World--originally Pennsylvania.  From there, they purchased a large amount of land in the North Carolina area, which they settled in a very organized and directed way.

There was an abandoned cabin at what was to become Bethabara, where they build their first settlement, then went from there to build Salem.  The two are only six miles apart, so once Salem was finally built, the church ordered them to tear down Bethabara because they didn't want the two communities to be in competition.

Bethabara was involved (though not attacked) during the French and Indian Wars, and also the Revolutionary War, which they remained neutral in, due to the Moravians being pacifists.

After visiting Bethabara, we headed down the road toward Old Salem--and encountered our first major roadblock in the form of a giant hole full of construction equipment in the place of the freeway we were supposed to cross.

After a good deal of frustration, we did finally find our way across the Construction Hole of Doom to the Old Salem visitor center.

Old Salem reminds me quite a bit of Colonial Williamsburg.  It's got many open buildings filled with original and reproduction artifacts, musuem-type displays, and costumed interpreters who give you information about the assorted buildings and the people who lived there.

We enjoyed visiting the doctor's house & apothecary, the joiner, the silversmith, the bakery, and the old tavern museum, as well as buildings specific to the Moravians who built the town.  The Moravians divided their society into "choirs."  Young boy and girls, older boys and girls, single brothers, single sisters, and married couples.  Single brothers and single sisters were men and women of marriageable age who lived, worshipped, and worked together dormitory style.  They would also be apprenticed to tradesmen by the church based on their aptitudes.

The Moravians were unusual at the time in that they were highly educated--and educated their women as much as their men.  If you had to be a woman in colonial times, you could certainly do worse than being Moravian.

On the other hand, the church did hold slaves.  Individuals were forbidden from owning slaves, but the church could as a whole.  If the slaves decided to convert to become Moravian, they joined the sisters and brethren and worshipped side by side--though they were still enslaved.

In the last twenty years or so, if memory serves, the Moravian church made an official apology to African Americans for participating in the instution of slavery.

It's interesting how very much a part of the tapestry of society slavery is here in the south.  It's something we're aware of in an academic way in the north, but it just doesn't pulse through every aspect of life.

Tomorrow we will be up at the crack of the start of free-continental-breakfast-time, then off for our longest drive of the trip, all the way to the Outer Banks.

Phew!

Sometimes Slow Is Good

Our original plan for today had included visiting Historic Brattonsville and a place called the Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens, but Tom had a brilliant suggestions.  Our hotel was just down the road from the NC Arboretum where my grandmother used to volunteer.  Instead of going to other gardens, which are farther away, we decided go visit the ones that have a family connection  and are literally two miles down the road.

And so we did!  A lovely, sunny morning with a nice breeze made for a very pleasant visit.  We were there just at opening time, so there weren't a lot of folks around, and we were able to meander through the assorted gardens.  This being very early April, a lot of the plants aren't blooming yet, but what we saw were lovely.  I was especially fond of the bonsai garden.

It made for a quiet start to the day, then it was on the road for South Carolina.

Neither one of us knew there was such a thing as the Eastern Continental Divide until we passed a road sign telling us we'd just reached it.  The downhill side was pretty abrupt, with a good drop-off, but there were at least trees to block most of the view.

We eventually reached Historic Brattonsville shortly after noon.  It's in the middle of backwoods South Carolina and was not very busy.

Brattonsville was the site of a Revolutionary War battle--the Battle of Huck's Defeat or the Battle of Williamson's Plantation.  There are several buildings on site, both ``18th and 19th century.  The Bratton family held a plantation there, and the site included historical information about both the Scots-Irish Bratton family and their slaves.

Most of the buildings on site were either reproductions on the foundations of original buildings or period buildings which had been moved from elsewhere to be a part of the site.  There were, however, also some buildings that were original to the place.  Most that were open to the public had been furnished in period-appropriate fashion.

The place reminded me very much of Camlann Village--which represents a village in medieval England and at which I worked for many years--in that it was manned by historical interpreters partaking in historical crafts and activities, including spinning and caring for the animals on site.  The animals included a horse, some cows, many chickens, pigs with piglets, and sheep--with eight shiny new lambs, including two who had been born only yesterday.  SO CUTE!

The other animals on site were the copious and voluminous bees and wasps.  Waaaaay too many large stinging insects.  Still, they pretty much seemed to ignore us and go about their business, so that was good.

Overall, we really enjoyed the slower pace and significantly smaller crowds at both stops today.  I learned about the south's involvement in the Revolutionary War, which I've always considered a mostly northern thing, although that is clearly not the case.

After our adventure into South Carolina we drove back into North Carolina and are staying just on the outskirts of Charlotte tonight.  Tomorrow should involve a bit less driving, though possibly more crowds.  It's also supposed to be our first real rain day.  Glad that I brought a good jacket along!

The Biltmore Estate

The day started off with a fairly long drive from Pigeon Forge, TN to Asheville, NC.  This was the last stretch that I have to drive--due to the winding nature of the mountain roads.  The weather was clear, though chilly enough for the car to require scraping in the morning.

Our primary goal in Asheville was the Biltmore Estate.  I have been to the Biltmore at least twice, and possibly thrice, but it's been more than 20 years and Tom has never visited, so I was excited to show it to him.

There's really no way to describe the estate without including the adjectives; grand, impressive, stately, huge, and crowded.

It's always been busy, but it felt even more crowded to me than other times I've visited.  Also new to me this year, the handheld audio tour.  It was fairly cheesy, using the premise that you are a guest of the Vanderbilts, newly arrived for a party, and being given a tour of the house.  You "interact" with several members of the family, staff, and other guests, and in the process learn about some of the history and items in the house.

It was also *extremely* crowded.  Tom got a bit frustrated with both the crowds and the audio tour, but found the house itself quite impressive.  We also walked through the gardens and the little shops in the carriage house.  The sun was very bright and there's no available shade so we did get quite warm, but compared to the last time I was there it was plain mild.

I did do one thing at the Biltmore which I have never done before, either being too young or not drinking any alcohol yet.  There's a winery on site and I did enjoy the complimentary wine tasting.  Tom took over driving after--no worries about driving illegally!  There were actually a few quite tasty wines, but I did not purchase any due to the logistics of getting it home, and not wanting to have to drink my way through a whole bottle before our flight.

Overall, I enjoyed getting back to the Biltmore, and I enjoyed getting Tom to see such a grand house.

Once we reached our hotel and looked at the map for our next day's locations, we realized that we're actually hitting three states on this trip.  Tomorrow's first attraction is in South Carolina.  Surprise!

We're both still in good health and going strong.  I was hoping for a bath tonight to soak my sore feet but, sadly, this hotel doesn't have one.  Maybe tomorrow!

Windy Roads, Deep Underground, and MagiQuest

Yesterday was a slower day--we didn't have to take any major drives and had just a few things on the to-do list.  First--Tuckaleechee Caverns.

We were supposed to take a fairly direct route, though there really isn't a lot of direct anything in the the Smoky Mountain areas.  I accidentally took us into the park, where we enjoyed a very scenic drive along a little river, which I believe is actually named Little River.  We saw both a deer and wild turkey crossing the road and what looked to me like a juvenile bald eagle, whose head was only just starting to go white.

Turns out, this was the road that Tom had planned for us to go back on after the caverns.  Oops!  At least we got where we were going.

He's not a big fan of small, enclosed places, but Tuckaleechee Caverns is advertised as having about a very big room, so thought he'd give it a go.  And it does!  It also has some places where the clearance is only about four feet.  That would have been all right, until we hit the spot where there were stairs going down, with a sixty foot drop on one side.  Combination of cave plus heights was too much and he abandoned ship.  Good news, this was pretty much at the beginning of the tour.  I continued on in our group of about fourteen folks, who our guide had called a "small" group.  It didn't seem that small to me until we were passing other groups down in the caverns, which might have been as many as thirty.

There were lovely formations, a very big room, a very big curtain formation, which was probably my favorite formation, and more, but what was probably the neatest thing--which I haven't experienced in other caves--was that there was a river going through almost the whole length of the caverns.  We also saw a waterfall.  Pretty neat overall.

Then we headed back toward Gatlinburg and went to see the Arts & Crafts Community, which we had missed the first time through.  Turns out it's actually an eight-mile loop through the backwoods with galleries off the sides of the roads here and there.  I purchased a small handmade broom and Tom picked up some Native American art.

Back to the hotel after lunch for a short nap for me, then we hit MagiQuest in Pigeon Forge.  It had a large, well-done mirror maze, yet more mini-golf (which I only won by eight strokes this time), a laser obstacle course, which I was *awful* at and Tom did not partake of, and this weird MagiQuest thing, where you get a "magic" wand and do quests.  Would have been a bit more fun for younger folks,  but I generally enjoyed it.

It was the last day in the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area, and while I enjoyed it, I was ready to move along.

Onward!

Dollywood

Yesterday was Dollywood.  I didn't know what to expect.  Everybody I know who has been there, or knows someone who has been there, says it's great!  I went in with an open mind and it was . . . well, pretty great!

Everything is very well organized, starting right from the parking lot.  As you drive in, you drive past the parking lot, so you can see the seemingly endless stretch of concrete, and it seems like you're going to be walking forever.  Nope!  They have frequent trams running non-stop through the day, and everyone is efficiently shuttled from wherever they're parked to the front gate.

We'd ordered our tickets online and early enough that there was a special price for a season pass, which comes with a free day pass for a visitor!  So my husband is now a proud Dollywood season ticket holder.

We arrived pretty much when the park opened at `10 and left around 6, without feeling like there were major sections of downtime.

How to describe Dollywood?  Smaller, super-friendly Disneyland, staffed by many exceptionally helpful senior citizens, with well designed areas, music everywhere, a stronger presence of Christianity than you might find at a Disneyland--but not enough to scare off my atheist husband, all in an expansive, but still comfortably walkable area.  There are plenty of rides, including plenty of roller coasters, of which we partook in exactly zero--and we still had things to do all day long.

There was a special event for the month, "A Festival of Nations," which included food selections, musical presentations, and items for sale from assorted countries.  These included Trinidad & Tobago, South Africa, Canada, "Africa" (not a country, Dollywood!), India, South Korea, Ecuador, Cuba, and maybe one or two others I'm forgetting.  Not all had music presentations, but I caught a bit of most that did, save Cuba.  Also, the items they had for sale in "India" might have been made in India, but having been to India, they were, uh, not exactly representative, so I took a lot of what I saw in other places with a grain of salt.

Still, with all the cultural things, Dollywood felt a bit like the Polynesian Cultural Center on Oahu on steroids and with added roller coasters.

The Canadian music was from Quebec, and wasn't really Tom's cup of tea, so we moved on fairly quickly from that.  I went on my own to "Drumstruck" a percussion-based show from South Africa that was high energy and particpatory.  Every seat had a drum and we were encouraged to be engaged.  The best music show, however, was the the Shell-sponsored "Invaders" a steel pan orchestra from Trinidad and Tobago.

It was very cold--the exciting weather in Nashville was at the leading edge of a strong cold front, so we were all bundled up and chilly.  These poor folks from the Caribbean were not bundled up and freezing.  But playing the steel pans is a fairly aerobic activity that helped warm them up.  The show ended with the William Tell Overture and the Hallelujah Chorus on steel pans.  Very impressive!

Another highlight is Eagle Mountain Sanctuary.  Dollywood is partnered with the American Eagle Foundation and provides a home for around sixteen bald eagles, who are physically disabled and unable to return to the wild.  The Eagle Mountain Sanctuary is the largest enclosed eagle aerie in the US.  The eagles also have several mated pairs who produce offspring each year, who are released into the wild.

There is a live raptor show, including falcons, owls, vlutures, and eagles, and we had a seat in the front row.  The black vulture flew so close over my head it almost hit me with a wing.  Lots of wind.  Very fun.

Also, at the end of the show, they have an African Pied Raven named Friar Tuck who is trained to accept donations of folded bills and drop them into the collection box.  I admit, I participated in giving a dollar to Tuck.  I am a sucker for ravens.

There were also lots of crafts, including leather goods, wood-carving, pottery, glass-blowing, metalwork, candles, and more.  Plenty of shopping and browsing to be done.

I had a bobotie from South Africa--tasty sausage and almond-containing pastry for lunch and a more traditional American chicken tenders for dinner.

The last thing we saw was the Dolly Parton museum, which houses lots of memorabilia and allows the visitors to learn more about the lady who is the reason Dollywood exists.  She's quite the philanthropist, and and very involved with the community and literacy projects.

Oh!  And we also rode the Dollywood Express, a real coal-fired train that takes you on a five-mile loop around the park and nearby area.  I could have done with less narration, but enjoyed experiencing all the unique steam train details that I can now use if I ever need to write one.

Overall, I had a really enjoyable day at Dollywood and would recommend it to pretty much anyone.

Onward this morning the the Tuckaleechee Caverns!