Sizzle, sizzle

A couple of months back I went through the crazy process of getting certified to give tours in DC.  A friend of mine is out of town for the next week or so and said I could squat in her place while she is gone.  I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to drum up some business and put a little extra cash in my pocket.

I designed a really interesting tour of all the sites centered around the Lincoln assassination.  Today I trekked into DC hoping to lead a couple of tours, but was greeted with the most oppressive heat I think I have ever experienced.  I handed out some "Paul" postcards advertising the One if by Land site and invited people on a tour.  Most of them looked at me like I was nuts. Then again, I was walking the streets of DC with a Paul Revere doll and geysers of sweat erupting out of me.  I guess I would be hesitant to follow such an individual too.

Although today was a wash out, actually sweat out, it was really nice to see one of my high school classmates on the Metro going into the city.  Like the cliche says, it really is a small world.

Now, on to my ice bath.

The Lost Colony=Lost Cause

The tempest forms

Yesterday while driving I was thinking about where I should head to next.  I had planned on visiting Williamsburg and Jamestown again, but then I thought how cool it would be to visit the outer banks of North Carolina and see the outdoor production of The Lost Colony which is some sort of dramatic retelling of the Roanoke story.  They have been performing this thing every summer for the last 75 years with the exception of during World War II.

Much to my dismay a massive storm decided to roll through which cancelled the performance so here I am now sitting in what looks like the Bates Motel passing my time.  Hey, at least they have working Wi-Fi.

Tomorrow I will get to see Fort Raleigh where the lost settlement was and will even have the chance to head out to Kitty Hawk where the Wright Brothers conducted their first flight in 1903.   In the meantime, at least I can watch this little video of The Lost Colony and at least pretend I saw the real deal.

Oh and by the way...

Little Paul Revere is NOT a doll.  He is a historical action figure.  There is a major difference, not really sure what it is, but there is one.  Yesterday when touring the Hunley, the tour guide told me to be careful not to drop my doll into the water.  Geez!

Raising the Hunley

One of the the first stops on this summers history road trip was a visit to the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley in Charleston, South Carolina.  After being led every way known to man, my sad little Garmin finally found the conservation lab where the Hunley has been since it was raised in 2000.

The Hunley has gone down in history as the first submarine to successfully carry out an attack.  Now we are not talking of the high tech subs of today or anything even resembling what we have today.  The Hunley was basically like being scrunched up into a ball and shoved inside a cigar and being told to go attack something.  After seeing the thing first hand, it almost seems impossible that anyone could have ever fit inside much less a crew of 8.  The Hunley was definitely not for those that have claustrophobia.

On February 17, 1864, the Hunley was patrolling the waters off of Charleston when a Union ship, the Housatonic made the mistake of getting in their way.  The Hunley gained momentum and rammed the side of the ship and implanted their bomb and then pulled away.  The resulting explosion sunk the Housatonic in a matter of just a few minutes.  What happened to the Hunley remains a mystery to this day.  Yes, it sunk as well, but we do not know why.  All that is known is that it never returned home.

What I love about history is not so much about trivial facts and figures, but about the personal stories that can be related.  There had always been a particular legend about Lt. George Dixon.  Dixon had survived the battle of Shiloh and credited a lucky gold coin with saving his life.  The coin had been given to him by Queenie Bennett, woman that he had fallen madly in love with.  During the battle, Dixon was shot close to his hip at a very close range.  The bullet deflected off of the gold coin and prevented him from suffering a mortal injury.  It was said that Dixon never went anywhere without that gold coin from then on. 

We all know that history has its fair amount of legends and cute little stories that we like to tell over and over again, but many time they are very hard to confirm.  The archaeologists had hoped that they would perhaps find the gold coin, but knew that the chances would be very slim.  Shortly after raising the wreck in 2000, they began to excavate the interior and catalog the remains.  Dixon's remains were found and as they were carefully picking away the clothing(it was described like being wet toilet paper) one of the archaeologists touched something circular.  The gold coin was indeed in Dixon's pocket and was in perfect condition.  Not only that, it also had an inscription on it that helped to verify the story.  One the heads side you can clearly see the indention from the bullet and on the tails side it reads:

Shiloh
April 6, 1862
My life Preserver
G. E. D.

In talking to one of the tour guides, he said that eventually they will be building a museum once the conservation is over.  Due to the intricate process it will still be a few years before that happens though.  You may still visit the Hunley at its conservation lab in Charleston on the weekends.  Just make sure your GPS is not screwy.  

The RISE of Abe Lincoln

Please let there be a sequel where he pairs up with Buffy

It has been almost 150 years since Abraham Lincoln met his fate at the hand of John Wilkes Booth, but what Booth certainly did not realize is that he might have killed Lincoln physically, but old Abe soon would return in more ways than anyone could ever imagine.

Oh Redbox, you always have to provide the cheap knock-off

Abe has popped up in virtually every way, but none so bizarre as his current incarnation as a vampire hunter.  Most people would assume that as a history teacher, I would be totally against and appalled by the whole concept, but I have to admit that when the book came out a couple of years ago I bought it on the release date.  While I might be a history teacher, I cannot really characterize myself as a stuffy purist who picks apart every single aspect of history.  Yes, truth does matter, but when it comes to watching a historical movie and bashing the costume designs because the buttons are not totally authentic, then I have to kind of snub my nose at those historians.  Sometimes it is possible to be too not picky about things.

The whole idea of Abe being portrayed as a vampire hunter does not really bother me because the whole concept is beyond ridiculous and I think that the public can understand that this is a totally made up movie.  I hardly doubt that a student will approach me in the future and ask if it really was true. 

I will readily admit that some films do bother me a bit.  All my past students will say that I have a particular distaste for the movie Pocahontas.  My Pocahontas rant has become somewhat famous the past several years.  Now, I do not have any sort of vendetta against Disney.  I am an annual pass holder to DisneyWorld and I still get all giddy when I get into the parks.  Yes, I am the adult that is posing with all the characters!  The problem I have always had with Pocahontas is that it made very little attempt to tell the real story.  Instead they chose to portray the mythical side of the story and even threw in that lovey dovey junk between her and John Smith.  My students have always been horrified to discover that at the time of the actual events, Pocahontas was not some buxom, long haired adventuress, but a girl of roughly 12 years of age. 

I guess even the worst movies can have their advantages though.  My hope is that Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter will encourage people to actually seek out real information about Abe.  Movies can have a very powerful effect on getting people interested once again in the events of so long ago. 

I know that I will definitely be seeing the movie this weekend and will be swinging my axe right along with Lincoln, that is if the buttery popcorn does not make me lose my grip.

Forgotten History

It is pretty amazing when you are walking past a place for years and never truly know or appreciate the history behind it.  Behind the crumbling and boarded up walls across the United States, there is a secret history.  History is inescapable and our landscape is filled with often forgotten treasures that are literally begging to have their story told or at least remembered.

Tampa has been my home for the last 11 years and I have recently started to really delve into its past.  I had heard for years that there had been civil rights protests in Tampa but had never fully explored the history of it.  Recently, while preparing for a lesson I decided to finally try and track down the history and was surprised that the first sit-in in Tampa was within walking distance of my school.

During a planning period I contacted various people and the Tampa Bay History Center provided some valuable information regarding the sit in that occurred in February of 1960.  It was organized by a young man by Clarence Fort.  He later described in an interview that when they marched into the downtown Woolworth lunch counter, that the managers closed the counters down.  They sat there for a while and Fort and his fellow protesters eventually left.  Shortly after they left, the lunch counter opened again, and Fort's protesters once again took their seats minutes later.

Although the sit-ins in Tampa were not really marked by violence as we sometimes see during the civil rights movement, it was a turning point in desegregating Tampa and showed the power of non-violent resistance.

Woolworth lunchcounter in 1960

I walked down to the former site of the Woolworth building and found it to be in a horrible state of disrepair.  There has been a local fight about how to preserve the history of the building.  Currently, developers want to preserve the facade of the Woolworth building and the adjoining Kress store, but build them up into condo buildings.  Although the lunch counter will never be reopened, the developers do want to hour the sit-in in some way.

and 2012

While taking a class down to the site, we were very fortunate to be able to actually go in the building.  Some workers were taking some stuff out of it and we managed to take a peek inside.  It had probably been years since the general public had ever been in the place, so getting to see it was pretty special.  We were instantly drawn to where the lunch counter used to be.  The lunch counter and seats had long since been removed but the old back splash tiling was still there.

I encourage everyone to try and find out what happened in their hometowns.  Sometimes when we live in a place, we sometimes take for granted the history that happened there.  More often than not simply ignore it.  There are lots of stories out there.  Go and find them!