Greenville- My Hometown of Heroes
The beautiful Upstate city of Greenville, SC was once known as the Textile Center of the World. During the textile industry boom, the Poe Mill was the largest manufacturing center in the area. At one time the mill encompassed 75 acres of property and employed nearly 400 workers. Today all those spindles and looms have long since been silenced. As a result, the vibrant city reinvented itself and is now an internationally recognized city of commerce.
Poe Mill, Greenville, SC
Personally, Greenville isn’t just a place of old red-brick mills and emerging institutes of commerce. If you ask me, my hometown is a place of heroes. The city’s name alone was taken from a hero of the American Revolution, Major General Nathanael Greene. This General of the Continental Army commanded the Southern Campaign and was considered George Washington’s right-hand man. (more…)
Posted in Adventurous Places, Historical Journeys, North America and tagged greenville, South Carolina.
A Towering Friendship Between a Lawman and President Roosevelt
When I first discovered the Friendship Tower in the mid 1980s, I was only 13 years old. I stumbled upon it quite accidentally while hiking through the snow with my little brother, Aaron. The site had fallen into obscurity. There were no paved roads leading to the site; no signs; no parking lot, no gift shop. There was nothing to explain the purpose or meaning of this stone tower. It was a lost monument without fanfare buried deep within the Black Hills of Deadwood Gulch. Well, nothing save a small plaque on its rock wall that read:
IN MEMORY OF
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
“THE AMERICAN”
OCTOBER 27, 1858- JANUARY 6, 1919
THIS TABLET IS ERECTED BY THE SOCIETY OF BLACK HILLS PIONEERS
JULY 4 1919
My brother and I entered the tower and took refuge halfway up its spiraling steps. Aaron’s feet were near frozen from trudging through knee-deep snow in cheap plastic tennis shoes. I removed his shoes and damp socks, and began warming his small feet with my hands. As young boys often do while exploring, we reclaimed the discovery as our very own, and renamed it The Castle. (more…)
Posted in Adventurous Places, Historical Journeys, North America and tagged deadwood, friendship tower, roosevelt.
The Perils of a Paperboy in Deadwood Gulch
Growing up I never stayed put in one place for any extended period of time. The conditions surrounding my childhood were such that I had lived in seven states all before the age of eighteen. Looking back now, there is one place that brings back more fond memories than any other. That place is the historic old-west city of Deadwood, SD.
Main St, Deadwood Gulch – circa 1876
This frontier town was a place born out of adventure. It was certainly a rowdy place in 1876 when Wild Bill Hickok was shot playing poker in Deadwood’s infamous Saloon #10; and it was still a place of excitement in 1985 when I moved there at the youthful age of 12. (more…)
Posted in Adventurous Places, Historical Journeys, North America and tagged deadwood, paperboy.
Fort Monroe, Virginia is an amazing place!
Not that long ago, Rebecca, Noah, and I visited the historical Fort Monroe outside of Hampton, Va. Having never been to the fort before we didn’t quite know what to expect. We were all pleasantly surprised with the entire experience and would definitely recommend this place to those that love American military/ Civil War history.
F/A-22 Raptor flies over Fort Monroe, Virginia. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Ben Bloker) (more…)
Posted in Adventurous Places, Historical Journeys, North America and tagged Abraham Lincoln, fort monroe, ft monroe virginia, General Robert E Lee.