#OnThisDay: Lewis & Clark Expedition Completed, 1806

I wish more emphasis had been put on Lewis & Clark’s Corps of Discovery when I was in school. Living in North Carolina, it just wasn’t taught much. I suppose in the Midwest and Great Plains states it was and is taught in detail.

Today marks the 218^th anniversary of the conclusion of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark’s grand trek into the great unknown in search of the Northwest Passage.

I learned more about the Lewis & Clark Expedition from watching Ken Burns’ documentary film than I learned in school. Ken Burns has a gift for weaving story, quotes, and geographic images together in a comprehensive telling of particular times or events in American history.

The When and the Why

US President Thomas Jefferson is remembered for his curiosity. Since the 1400s, explorers had dreamed of finding Northwest Passage – a waterway across North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific. President Jefferson wanted the Pacific coast of North America to be found, and he was convinced that a group of explorers would find it if they could just cross the Mississippi River and follow the Missouri River across the lands included in the Louisiana Purchase.

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led the group that was assembled to explore the region. It was a vast unknown to the European settlers. What the Corps of Discovery did was comparable to the space exploration of our time, except Lewis & Clark did not have computers to guide them. They really didn’t know what the terrain and weather would be like once they ventured very far beyond St. Louis.

In the spring of 1804, at the direction of President Jefferson, this band of intrepid explorers set out on a journey of unknown time and distance. (I guess it is sort of like the two astronauts who are going to be on the International Space Station for eight months instead of the originally planned eight days.)

How does one pack for such an adventure? What thoughts went through their minds as they headed west, not knowing if or when they would see their families again?

The Preparation

For starters, I will point out that the Corps of Discovery was made up of Lewis, Clark, and nearly four dozen men. As I recall, in school we were led to believe that it was just Messrs. Lewis and Clark and that they were joined by a Native American young woman, Sacagawea, somewhere along the way.

They spent the winter of 1803-1804 on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River in a collection of huts they built. It was called Camp Debois. Among the supplies they gathered in preparation for their journey were nearly two tons of flour, nearly two tons of salt pork, 50 pounds of coffee, and 100 gallons of whiskey.

Information was gathered from fur traders, and the men were drilled, for this was comparable to a military mission and a chain of command was integral if the expedition had any chance of being successful.

The How

They started out in a keelboat with two large canoes. Lewis was accompanied by a Newfoundland dog named Seaman who reportedly caught squirrels, beaver, and an antelope. They had been told they would encounter numerous nations of “savages” who would not welcome white men. The message they carried was that all the land within sight in all directions belonged to the United States of America.

Seaman proved his worth not only as hunting squirrels for the men to eat, but also as a guard dog. There were instances when Seaman scared off an angry buffalo and even kept grisly bears at bay.

On November 15, 1805, Lewis and Clark reached the Pacific Ocean at the mouth of the Columbia River in present-day Washington. That was one year, six months, and one days after they began their journey.

What they did not find

They did not find a waterway connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific.

What they found

What they found was the Great Plains, the majestic Rocky Mountains, unknown plants and animals, and native peoples who were curious about them and not hostile as had been expected.

They found the kindness of strangers.

Photo by Boston Public Library on Unsplash

They found a native woman named Sacagawea who would guide them and save their very lives.

They found a vast and wondrous land that none of them could have imagined.

Photo of the flat Great Plains landscape with an angry black cloud looming with a bolt of lightning striking the ground — Photo by Greg Johnson on Unsplash

They found a vast land of unlimited promise.

The documentation they brought to President Jefferson

President Jefferson sent Lewis & Clark and their crew off with explicit instructions as to record keeping. Jefferson even devised a complicated code matrix they were to use if they needed to try to send secret messages back to Washington.

They were to record in great detail the geography; animals; soil; crops; natural plants; minerals; and human inhabitants and their languages, populations, food, clothing, religions, and their interest in commerce.

Journals were kept, along with meticulous records of what they saw that would be of scientific and future exploration benefit.

The completion of the expedition

The Corps of Discovery returned to St. Louis at noon on September 23, 1806. Lewis immediately wrote a long letter to President Jefferson informing him of their return and that they had indeed reached the Pacific Ocean, although not by water the entire way. Included in the letter was the news that instead of taking half a day to cross the western Continental Divide, it had involved crossing 60 miles of treacherous snow-covered mountains.

Since my last blog post

I had the privilege of telling the 37 members of the Leadership Cabarrus Class of 2025 about the history of Harrisburg last Tuesday. Organized by Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, it was an interesting group of people from various walks of life who are relative newcomers to Cabarrus County. I was allotted 20 minutes to give them the highlights of Harrisburg’s rich history.

I’m not much of a public speaker, but I went through my two local history books, Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Books 1 and 2 and made notes from some of the highlights I thought would be of interest to the group. It was a congenial group and I enjoyed the experience. It had been a couple of years since I had spoken to a large group of people.

Until my next blog post

As always, I hope you have a good book to read.

Make time for friends and family.

Don’t forget the people of Ukraine, as another harsh winter is approaching.

Janet

#OnThisDay: U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1957

When I think of the Civil Rights Act, I think of the one in 1964, but it was in 1957 that the first major civil rights bill was passed by Congress since the Reconstruction Era following the American Civil War.

The Civil Rights Act of 1957 went into effect 67 years ago today on September 9, 1957.

Photo of black and white Americans marching with protest signs demanding voting rights and an end to police brutality — Photo by Unseen Histories on Unsplash

What it did, in a nutshell

It made it a federal crime to try to prevent someone from voting.

It created the Civil Rights Commission in the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government.

It created the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

What led up to this Act

In 1954, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that racial segregation was illegal in public schools. Change was slow to come.

Nine black students volunteered to desegregate the all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. They were met with the National Guard, which had been called out by Governor Orval Faubus, and an angry mob. Two weeks later the nine students, who became known as the Little Rock Nine, tried again to gain entrance to the school. They were able to enter the school but had to be removed for their safety.

U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered federal troop to escort the nine students to and from class at the school. The publicity of the troubles at Little Rock helped bring the issue of racial desegregation and voting rights to a head.

President Eisenhower pressured Congress to enact civil rights legislation. The result was the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

The wheels of justice turn slowly

We all know that deep-rooted cultural and racial prejudices are slow to change. It would be the late 1960s before true racial desegregation would be accomplished across the United States. For example, the county in which I live in North Carolina instituted voluntary school desegregation in 1965. The following school year, it was mandatory.

And it was, no doubt, that long before all black citizens felt safe to go their polling places to cast their ballots. I can’t help but think some of them do not yet feel completely safe.

And in 2024, a presidential election year, there are still threats – spoken and unspoken — and insidious state laws making it more difficult for citizens to vote when we should be making it easier. The false accusations of voter fraud have resulted in many state legislatures enacting numerous new restrictions to allegedly fix a problem that does not exist.

Until my next blog post

I hope you’re reading a good book!

Make time for friends and family.

Don’t forget the people of Ukraine.

Janet

#OnThisDay: 19th Amendment to U.S. Constitution, 1920

The 19^th Amendment: The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

It was 104 years ago today that women in the United States finally got the right to vote. The year 1920 might seem like ancient history to some of you, but I always think of it in terms of my mother having her eighth birthday that autumn.

Early- to mid-1800s

Women getting the right to vote came after a long, hard fight. In the early- and mid-1800s, women advocated for the abolition of slavery. Their speeches evolved into words in support of women’s suffrage. Two such women, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, organized a women’s suffrage convention in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848.

Sojourner Truth and Sarah Redmond, two former slaves – who could not vote because of their race and their gender – organized women’s suffrage conventions. Slowly, it was becoming more of a public issue of discussion.

Post American Civil War/Reconstruction Era

The State of Michigan allowed women to vote in school board elections after the Civil War.

With the passage of Reconstruction Era U.S Constitutional Amendments granting black men the right to vote came contentious political and public discourse because it brought to the forefront that women still could not vote. As a result of their disfavor with women still not being granted the right to vote, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton left the American Equal Rights Association (AERA), which they had founded in 1866, and formed the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) in 1869. Later that year, women who thought it more plausible to push for women’s suffrage by getting it adopted state-by-state formed the American Women Suffrage Association.

The Territory of Wyoming (it was not yet a state) granted women full voting rights in 1869. The Territory of Utah followed Wyoming in 1870, but Congress took that right away in 1887.

Photo of an "I Voted" sticker on a woman's finger — Photo by Joshua Sukoff on Unsplash

Virginia Minor of Missouri, after being denied the right to vote in 1872, took her complaint to the U.S. Supreme Court. Minor maintained that the 14^th Amendment gave her the right to vote because it stated that “no State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.”

In a classic example of the high court going by the “letter of the law” instead of taking a more pragmatic stance, the Court, in its majority decision in Minor v Happersett, said that the right to vote was not a necessary privilege of citizenship because it was not a right included when the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1788.

The “bottom line” of this decision was that states did indeed have the authority to deny women the right to vote. Let that sink in for a few minutes.

Late 1800s

In 1878 and again in 1887, there were efforts in Congress to introduce a women’s suffrage amendment, but they failed.

The AERA and NWSA merged in 1890, but some of the leaders worked to exclude black women from participating in events. In 1896, the black women formed the National Association of Colored Women to advocate for women’s voting rights along with other issues that were important to women of color.

Photo of a woman putting her ballot in the voting box — Photo by Unseen Histories on Unsplash

In 1896, the Constitution of the State of Utah once again gave female citizens the right to vote.

1910s

By 1916, 11 western states had granted women the right to vote, but petitions to Congress and litigation in federal courts repeatedly came up short. In the election in Montana that year, Jeannette Rankin was elected to Congress. She was the first women elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

The joint resolution to propose a women’s suffrage amendment (See the 1878 and 1887 references above) was reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1917 – thirty years after it had last been shot down. Proponents of states’ rights argued that the passage of such an Amendment would interfere with each state’s authority to dictate the composition of its electorate and that it would also disrupt the traditional family. Some lawmakers opposed it because they feared it would give black women the right to vote.

(Does anything about the states’ rights argument sound familiar? The current U.S. Supreme Court in 2023 conveniently decided to give states the authority to pass laws about women’s health.)

Photo of turn of the 20th century women — Photo by Library of Congress on Unsplash

The opposition was narrowly defeated as a two-thirds majority voted to pass the proposed Amendment on January 10, 1918. The Senate debated the joint resolution for months with many of the same arguments that had been overcome in the House. President Woodrow Wilson spoke in favor of the Amendment on October 31, 1918, citing the contributions women had made on the home front during World War I.

The following day, the resolution was defeated in the Senate. It failed again in the Senate on February 10, 1919. But President Wilson called a special session of Congress in May 1919. The House passed the 19^th Amendment on May 21, 1919, and it was approved by the Senate on June 4, 1919.

During World War I, some of the views of gender roles in the country began to change as women took on many of the jobs that had earlier been considered men’s work. The 19^th Amendment was proposed in Congress in June 1919.

August 26, 1920

It took 14 months for a three-fourths majority of states to accept the 19^th Amendment. It was ratified on August 18, 1920 and on August 26, 1920, U.S. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certified that the Amendment had been ratified.

Photo of "I Voted" stickers — Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

Obstacles such as poll taxes and literacy tests continued to prevent many black women and other females of color from voting until the 24^th Amendment was ratified in 1964 and enforced by the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

Since my last blog post

I’ve been reading several books, pushing myself to do some yard work, and watching some online videos about the craft of writing. I’m motivated to get back to work on my novel!

Until my next blog post

I hope you have a good book to read.

Don’t take your family for granted.

Remember the people of Ukraine.

Janet

This Week in History: 1945

I could not get excited about writing about the August 12, 1898 US annexation of Hawaii for today’s blog post. (I could get excited about Hawaii’s statehood, which happened in my childhood, but its annexation as a territory? Not so much.)

I couldn’t muster the energy to do enough research to write 500 or 1,000 words about the annexation of Hawaii, and I doubted if my blog readers were interested enough to read about it. (If I’m wrong, feel free to look it up.)

In the big scheme of things, the events of the week of August 6-15, 1945 were more momentous than what happened about Hawaii in 1898.

It occurred to me that the 79^th anniversaries of the bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, the bombing of Nagasaki on August 9, and the surrender of Japan on August 15, 1945 have barely been mentioned in the United States this week.

The famous bomb dome in Hiroshima. Photo by Griffin Quinn on Unsplash

I watch some programming on a TV station in Tokyo. The news and other programming are available via the public TV system here in metro Charlotte. The dates of the atomic bombs are marked in Japan with solemn government-sponsored gatherings and, no doubt, by many private gatherings and individuals.

The horror is remembered by the Japanese people, but the overriding theme of the coverage I have seen over the last week is peace. The Japanese people know first-hand the horrors of nuclear war, and they are adamant that such weapons should never be used again.

Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum Photo by Roméo A. on Unsplash

The dropping of those atomic bombs were horrific events in which hundreds of thousands of innocent people were killed, maimed, severely burned, orphaned, or doomed for various health maladies for the rest of their lives.

It has been said that those bombs resulted in the almost immediate surrender of Japan, thus ending World War II and ultimately saving more lives than they took. I guess we will never know the truth of that reasoning and justification.

I imagine the people who are old enough to remember the events of that week – whether they live in Japan, the United States, or other countries involved in the war in the Pacific Theater — are puzzled over the fact that the world is taking little notice of this week’s 79^th anniversaries.

I suppose there will come a time when September 11 will be just another day in the United States. The Americans who were young children or who were born after September 11, 2001, cannot possibly think of that day the way it is forever etched in my memory.

Life goes on. Events are forgotten. To those of us born after 1945, that year seems like ancient history. That’s just human nature. I was born in the United States in 1953, so I grew up with no concept of what life was like during World War II. But that does not excuse me if I don’t stop and think about the events of 79 years ago.

I owe it to my parents, my aunts and uncles, and even my oldest first cousins – all of whom are dead – to remember the sacrifices they made during World War II, their military service, their work to help build military planes, and their courage to hold things together on the home front – all while not knowing when or how the war would end and not knowing which of their loved ones or friends would not come home.

Since my blog post last Monday

I am feeling better than when I penned my August 5 blog post. I was discouraged by an illness which has taken much from me. However, I have been bolstered by the outpouring of concern I have received from many of my readers. Each day has been better than the one before. I’ve even been able to listen to an entire novel and enjoy it!

Thank you for your support and encouraging words. I always come out of these slumps and return to my “normal,” but each time I experience a relapse I can’t help but wonder if I will come out of it.

Since my last blog post

I hope you got a chance to read my reblogging on Friday of a blog post about Elizabeth Graffreau’s new book, Simple Pleasures: Haiku from the Place Just Right. It was my first attempt at reblogging.

Until my next blog post

Take a few minutes to think about the events of this week in 1945. Let’s continue to give diplomacy and peace a chance.

Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima Photo by sabari nathan on Unsplash

I hope you have a good book to read. I am easing back into reading this month, for which I am grateful.

Remember the people of Ukraine.

Janet

Exploring Qualla Boundary

Several weeks ago, my sister and I spent several days in Cherokee, North Carolina. We have visited Cherokee many times, but I had never seen the “Unto These Hills” outdoor drama. Since the drama was rewritten a few years ago to give a truer presentation of the Cherokee Indian perspective on their history, I was eager to see it.

A leisurely drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway is always an activity we enjoy, so we got on the parkway on the southern edge of Asheville and took it to its end at Soco Gap. We went through 15 tunnels on that 80 or so southernmost miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Various wildflowers, including the Flame Azalea (or native/wild azalea) was at or just past its peak.

Flame Azalea along the Blue Ridge Parkway

National Park Service sign noting the highest elevation on the Blue Ridge Parkway Motor Road at 6,053 feet.

We had perfect weather all week, including the night we had tickets to see “Unto These Hills.” The acting was superb. It was amazing to see the history of the Cherokee people presented in two hours.

The play emphasized how the Cherokee and the European explorers, traders, and settlers had a congenial relationship in the beginning. It wasn’t until the Europeans started cheating the Cherokee and tricking them into poor decisions and hollow treaties that things deteriorated.

A scene from a visit to the White House in the “Unto These Hills” outdoor drama

The last straw, of course, was when the United States forced the Cherokee to give up their beautiful and lush ancestral lands for what turned out to be a death march to the Indian Territory of present-day Oklahoma. They were promised a good life, but it was just another broken promise by the white man.

A scene from “Unto These Hills” outdoor drama in Cherokee, NC

The Cherokee people who refused to leave the Great Smoky Mountains hid in the hills. It is the descendants of those brave souls who now populate the Qualla Boundary and are officially known as the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians.

By visiting the Museum of the Cherokee Indian and the Oconaluftee Indian Village, you can learn a great deal about the Cherokee Indians’ rich history and traditions. For instance, they lived in houses, not teepees. They did not wear elaborate feather headdresses like the Plains Indians. Cherokee men back in the day were up to seven feet tall and the women averaged only a few inches shorter.

An example of a Cherokee house from an earlier century. (The cutaway is not a window; it is there to show the wall’s construction. Cherokee houses did not have windows because they were only used for sleeping. All their work was done outside.)

Weaving display at Oconaluftee Indian Village in Cherokee, NC

A pottery display and demonstration at Oconaluftee Indian Village in Cherokee, NC

Many Cherokee people continue to master the time-honored crafts of making clay pottery, intricate bead work, exquisite basketweaving, and wood carving. It takes weeks and sometimes months for the native plants and other natural resources for these items to be gathered and prepared, not to mention the intricate work to create the finished products. Those priceless items can be admired and purchased at the Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual, Inc.

Cherokee ceremonial masks were made from various natural resources, including wood and even hornets’ nests (as seen on the left in the photo.)

Although some of the signage indicates otherwise, the Qualla Boundary is not a reservation. The Cherokee people own their land and the Qualla Boundary is held in trust for them by the United States Government.

The Cherokee not only had their own written language; they also had their own newspaper starting February 21, 1828. Although the United States Government tried to eradicate the Cherokee language and traditions, that policy failed. Today the Cherokee language is making a comeback. There is even a Cherokee immersion school in which only Cherokee is spoken.

On our recent visit, we used Cherokee as our base. One day we drove through the center of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to and including Little River Road and Clingman’s Dome and back to Cherokee.

Another day we drove 10 miles to Bryson City, North Carolina and the Deep Creek entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We hiked to three waterfalls we’d never seen before and enjoyed learning lots of facts about the park along the way to two of them with a park ranger.

When planning your trip, check online for the planned hikes and lectures offered by park rangers at the Oconaluftee Visitors Center near Cherokee, NC, the Sugarlands Visitors Center near Gatlinburg, Tennessee, Cades Cove near Townsend, Tennessee, and at the Deep Creek entrance to the park at Bryson City.

The Cherokee honor water and the residents and visitors alike are blessed to have the Oconaluftee River flowing right through the town of Cherokee. This shallow, wide, rocky river is the perfect place for tubing and splashing around in the water. I have memories of enjoying the river on my first trip to Cherokee when I was a young girl.

Deep Creek in the section of the national park is a popular creek for tubing. Many families were taking advantage of the creek for tubing on the very warm day we were there. If I were just younger and braver…. It looked like a lot of fun!

People tubing on Deep Creek near Bryson City, NC in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

All that hiking and tubing will make you hungry. My sister and I enjoyed the buffet at Granny’s Kitchen Restaurant on US-19 North going from Cherokee toward Maggie Valley. The wife in the couple who own and operate the restaurant is a Cherokee Indian. It is said if you want to find a good place to eat, look where the locals eat. This was certainly the case at Granny’s. (I am receiving no compensation for publicizing the restaurant. It is a good value and experience for the money. You will not leave hungry!)

People from all over the United States enjoy the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Qualla Boundary, and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We kept track of the different license plates we saw. When the trip was over, we had seen cars from 42 of the 50 states and several from Ontario, Canada.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most-visited national park in the country. People are drawn to it by its beauty and biodiversity.

If you wish to learn more about Cherokee, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and the Blue Ridge Parkway, I recommend my vintage postcard book, The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. I packed as many facts and as much history into the book as Arcadia Publishing would allow. The book is available in paperback and e-Book from Amazon.

Since my last blog post

I continue to declutter by going through closets, old magazines, and boxes of memorabilia, photographs, newspaper clippings, and recipes. It is satisfying to look at what I’ve accomplished. My fiction writing has suffered for it, but this really needed to be done.

Until my next blog post

Keep reading and traveling every chance you get.

Visit your local public library, if you are fortunate enough to have one. If you haven’t visited it recently, you might be surprised to find some of the things it offers: Internet access, free access to software such as Ancestry.com, magazines you would like to read but cannot afford to subscribe to, music CDs, used books for sale, a magazine swap, ….

Remember the people of Ukraine.

Janet

#OnThisDay: Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, 1975

This was not planned, but when I started to write this blog post I realized the event whose anniversary we mark today happened 200 years and one week after the historic petition I blogged about last Monday. It’s nice when serendipity happens.

Whereas last Monday’s blog post was about a petition written in 1775 as the American colonies were on the verge of war with Great Britain, today we jump forward to mark an historic joint space exploration venture between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Both events now seem like ancient history in light of where space exploration has taken us today, so it is sobering for me to realize the event I write about today happened a couple of months after I graduated from college. It seems like just yesterday! The passage of time is beyond my understanding.

What was the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project?

The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project was the first multinational space exploration project.

Photo of the night sky filled with stars — Photo by Jack Cohen
on Unsplash

A little background

What made the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project particularly surprising and interesting was that the two participating countries – the United States and the Soviet Union – had been serious and unfriendly competitors in space travel since the late 1950s. The era was known as “the space race.” Each of the countries was determined to beat the other one in reaching every progression in space travel with the ultimate goal of putting a human being on the moon.

This is an over-simplification, but with the United States putting humans on the moon in 1969, the space race transitioned into a posture of sharing knowledge. It was an outgrowth of the “Détente” that started in 1969. Détente brought about more relaxed relations between the US and the Soviet Union.

Things get real in 1973

In the first half of 1973 the two countries announced the names of the astronauts and cosmonauts for the project as follows:

U.S. Commander Thomas P. Stafford

U.S. Command Module Pilot Vance D. Brand

U.S. Docking Module Pilot Donald K. “Deke” Slayton

US backup crew: Alan L. Bean, Ronald E. Evans, and Jack R. Lousma

Soviet Commander Aleksei A. Leonov

Soviet Flight Engineer Valeri N. Kubasov

Soviet backups: Anatoli V. Filipchenko and Nikolai N. Rukavishnikov

The crews trained together for the first time at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas in July 1973.

Some details of the project

Soyuz

Launch: July 15, 1975, at 8:20 a.m. EDT
Launch Site: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
Flight Crew: Alexey A. Leonov, Valery N. Kubasov
Landing: July 21, 1975

Apollo

Launch: July 15, 1975, at 3:50 p.m. EDT
Launch Site: Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Flight Crew: Thomas P. Stafford, Vance D. Brand, Donald K. Slayton
Landing: July 24, 1975

Mission

Docking Time: July 17, 1975, at 12:12 p.m. EDT
Undocking Time: July 19, 1975, at 11:26 a.m. EDT
Total Duration of Joint Activities: 19 hours, 55 minutes
Orbital Inclination: 51.8 degrees

(Source: The Apollo-Soyuz Mission – NASA)

Both spacecraft made orbital adjustments over the first two days to pave the way for the two vehicles to dock in space. People all over the world watched the docking at 12:12 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, July 15, 1975. Hatches on both vehicles were opened at 3:17 p.m.

Celebratory handshakes and commemorative gifts were exchanged between the astronauts and cosmonauts. U.S. President Gerald Ford and Soviet Communist Party General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev called them to express their congratulations. The astronauts and cosmonauts shared a meal and the hatches were closed for the day.

The following day Brand joined Kubasov in the Soyuz and Leonov joined Stafford and Slayton in the Apollo spacecraft. TV interviews and tours were given, experiments were conducted, and lunch was eaten. Afterwards, Kubasov and Brand left the Soyuz and joined Slayton in the Apollo. Leonov and Stafford then spent time in the Soyuz.

By mid-afternoon the historic exchanges were completed, there was another round of handshakes and goodbyes were said.

At 8:02 a.m., July 19, 1975 the spacecraft were undocked.

Quoting from the NASA website: “As the Apollo capsule backed away, it blocked the sun from the Soyuz vehicle, creating the first human-made eclipse and enabling the cosmonauts to photograph the sun’s corona. The two spacecraft then docked once more, with final undocking at 11:26 a.m.

The end of the successful project

The Soviet cosmonauts continued to conduct life-science experiments for another day. The Soyuz 19 landed near its target on July 21, 1975. It was the first time a Soviet space mission launch and landing were televised.

The Apollo capsule remained in orbit with the astronauts carrying out space-science and Earth-observing experiments for five days after the undocking. It was the last planned ocean landing for U.S. human spaceflight. Splashdown occurred at 5:18 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time on July 24, 1975.

Until my next blog post

What happened on Saturday was an attack on democracy. Let’s hope this week is less eventful than the weekend.

I hope you have a good book to read.

Enjoy some time with your friends and family.

Don’t forget the people of Ukraine.

Janet

This Writer Needed a Change of Scenery — Part II

On the first Monday of each month I usually blog about some of the books I read the previous month. I will write about a couple of the books I read in May in my post on June 17.

Last Monday I blogged about visiting the northern end of the Outer Banks of North Carolina in mid-May. I failed to illustrate Jockey’s Ridge adequately, so here are a few photos to show you just a little of that massive sand dune.

Amateurs learning to hang glide at Jockey’s Ridge in spite of a control burn being conducted that day.

A view of a small portion of Jockey’s Ridge

Jockey’s Ridge State Park covers 427 acres. It is estimated that the dune contains 30 million tons of sand and has been there for 7,000 years. For more information, visit https://www.ncparks.gov/state-parks/jockeys-ridge-state-park.

The southern end of the Outer Banks

The rest of today’s post covers the sights on the southern part of those barrier islands.

I hope you will be inspired by my blog to add the Outer Banks to your “bucket list” as the 120-mile-long string of barrier islands is a natural treasure everyone should get to see at least once.

Enjoy the beautiful Bodie Island Lighthouse and adjoining boardwalk trail. https://www.nps.gov/caha/planyourvisit/bils.htm

Set aside time to hike in the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge. https://www.fws.gov/refuge/pea-island

Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge – View from hiking trail

Take advantage of beach access stops along the way to enjoy the sand, the churning Atlantic Ocean, and Pamlico Sound.

You might have to hike over a sand dune to get to the ocean!

Be sure to visit the Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station in Rodanthe, established 150 years ago, to learn about the bravery of the men who risked their lives for decades to rescue sailors in distress along this “Graveyard of the Atlantic.” The video there is quite informative. For more information to help you plan your visit, this website gives details: https://chicamacomico.org/.

We tend to think of all of World War I taking place faraway in Europe and, indeed, most of it did; however, the Atlantic coast of the US was not immune to attack and the ramifications of sea warfare between Germany and England. Below is a photo of the roadside marker about the nearby sinking of a British tanker, Mirlo, by a German submarine. Coast Guardsmen stationed at Chicamacomico saved most of the tanker’s crew. If you want to read more about the rescue of the Mirlo, I recommend this website: https://www.ncpedia.org/mirlo-rescue.

World War I “Mirlo” Rescue Roadside Marker at Chicamacomico

Rodanthe was in the news again last week because another house fell into the ocean. According to the National Park Service, that’s the sixth privately-owned house to be claimed by the Atlantic in recent years. It makes one wonder why they were allowed to build houses there. Volunteers were sought the following day to clean up pieces of the house and its contents that had been strewn up and down the beach.

I took a picture of several houses the ocean is trying to claim on the beach at Buxton. This situation makes no sense to me.

Looks like some more houses on the Outer Banks are tempting fate!

Buxton is home to the glorious Hatteras Lighthouse – at 198.49 feet it is the tallest brick lighthouse in the United States. One word of caution, though: The Hatteras Lighthouse is undergoing two years of restoration and is currently encased in scaffolding.

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse under restoration in May 2024

While it is closed, you can take virtual tour online at http://Cape Hatteras Light Station – Cape Hatteras National Seashore (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov). Fortunately, I saw it at its original location before its historic move in 1999 to save it from the ocean. The visitor center is open and you can get close enough to take pictures of the lighthouse during the 18- to 24-month restoration.

The iconic black and white painted swirl just can be seen through the scaffolding, but you might want to wait and visit in the summer of 2026 to see it in all its beauty. If you like lighthouses, you’ll love this one!

(This month’s experience reminded us of our once-in-a-lifetime trip to New York City in the mid-1980s. We rode the Staten Island Ferry so we could see the Statue of Liberty even though it was being restored and was completely encased in scaffolding. We have a knack for seeing national landmarks during their restorations!)

If you go to Hatteras Island now, you can visit the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum. It has undergone a major remodel and was still closed when I was there on May 16-17. The grand re-opening was held on May 20, so I just missed getting to see the inside of it. Here’s the museum’s website: https://graveyardoftheatlantic.com/. Note that it is not open on weekends or state holidays.

Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum on Hatteras Island

Ocracoke Island

Storms along the Outer Banks wreak havoc with North Carolina Highway 12. Literally! The Department of Transportation constantly must remove sand from the highway, close it due to high water, and – occasionally – relocate the road.

A storm in April 2024 created all kinds of problems along NC-12. It had been restored to good condition down as far as Hatteras Village, but as of three weeks ago the portion on Ocracoke Island (http://First-timers Guide to Ocracoke Island – Visit Ocracoke NC) was still being worked on.

We had planned to take the free NC ferry from Hatteras Island to Ocracoke Island and the fee-supported NC ferry from Ocracoke to the mainland, but due to the one-lane traffic on part of Ocracoke Island we changed those plans and drove back up the Banks to Southern Shores and bridges to the mainland. (Here’s a important website, if you’re planning to use any of the 21 ferries operated by the NC Department of Transportation: https://www.ncdot.gov/travel-maps/ferry-tickets-services/routes/Pages/default.aspx.)

The Outer Banks of North Carolina are truly a national treasure. If you bemoan the fact that you must pay federal income tax, just remember that your hard-earned tax dollars help preserve miles and miles of the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

In fact, I’ve heard it suggested that if you resent paying income tax perhaps you should choose to think that all your tax dollars go to support the national parks, national seashores, and historic sites.

Look for the third and final installment of my blog series about my recent need for a change of scenery next week when I will tell you about the many points of interest we enjoyed on our way to and from the piedmont to the northeastern coastal plain of North Carolina. I think you are in for some surprises!

Until my next blog post

I hope you have a good book to read.

In case you missed the first part of my two-post blog series about the Outer Banks of North Carolina, here’s the link to my May 27, 2024 post: https://janetswritingblog.com/2024/05/27/this-writer-needed-a-change-of-scenery-part-i/.

Remember the people of Ukraine.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog! When you have a couple of minutes, I invite you to visit my website to see what I was doing prior to my trip and the types of writing I will continue to do: https://www.janetmorrisonbooks.com.

Janet

Do you associate volcanoes with North Carolina?

Now that I have your attention… today’s blog post is about ancient history. This is one of the topics I wrote about in Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 2.

Photo of a volcano by Guille Pozzi on Unsplash.com. — Photo by guille pozzi on Unsplash

Harrisburg, North Carolina sits inside a 22-mile syenite or ring dike. One can get a feel for it from several high points in the area, such as when traveling south from Concord on US-29 near the intersection with Union Cemetery Road. It’s like looking across a gigantic bowl.

Another possible place from which to catch a glimpse of the “bowl” is on NC-49 southbound after you pass Old Charlotte Road. The Charlotte downtown skyline is visible briefly from that location as well as the one referenced above on US-29.

*Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 2*, by Janet Morrison

What, you may ask, is a syenite or ring dike? I’m no expert on volcanology, but my understanding is that it is a circular dike around a volcano.

According to 2001 Encyclopedia of Earthquakes and Volcanoes, by David Ritchie and Alexander E. Gates, Ph.D.:

“If magma is removed from the magma chamber beneath a volcano, it can undergo caldera collapse. The volcano and the area around it collapse because they are no longer being held up by the liquid. A series of concentric faults and cracks develop around the collapsing volcano. As they do, magma will squeeze up around the cracks and faults forming ring dikes.”

I’ll take their word for it.

In 1966, U.S. Geological Survey geologist Harry E. LeGrand and Henry Bell III led a scientific excursion in Cabarrus County to study our ring dike and other interesting rock and mineral deposits in the county.

You might be able to access a pdf of “Guidebook of Excursion in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, October 22-23,1966” by going to https://www.carolinageologicalsociety.org. Search for “1960s Field Trip Guidebooks” and then scroll down to find that particular guidebook.

The Harrisburg area has experienced a population explosion since 1966. The landmarks noted in the 1966 guidebook are either gone or more difficult to locate today. The concentric rings that were reportedly visible from the air in 1960 by R.G. Ray might not still be intact.

If you’d like to know more about this topic, the 1849 meteorite; Harrisburg’s first organized housing and business development of 100 years ago; the Morrison-Sims Store and Old Post Office; the flood of 1886, the Piedmont Area Development Association (P.A.D.A) of the 1960s; earthquakes that have been felt here; McCachren’s Store; Rocky River bridges in the 1870s; the Sauline Players; a tribute to George L. Govan; Rocky River Academy; the Rocky River Presbyterian Church’s fourth sanctuary which was completed in 1861; a 1777 estate sale; Hugh Smith Pharr and his mill; a 1907 attempted train robbery; 1816 – the year without a summer;

Also: items such as milk, apples, and dry cleaning that were all delivered to homes in the mid-1900s; Blume’s Store; high-speed trains; the boundaries of Township 1; early Harrisburg education; Pharr Grist Mill on Back Creek; how electricity came to Harrisburg; a 1912 church homecoming; Pioneer Mills Gold Mine and Community; a fellow named Collett Leventhorpe; a 1911-1912 debating society; and the tenth anniversary of the Harrisburg Branch of the Cabarrus County Public Library system… please purchase Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 2.

The book also contains nearly 150 pages of my research notes on subjects I didn’t get to write about when I wrote a local history newspaper column from 2006-2012.

Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 1 and Book 2 are available in paperback at Second Look Books, 4519 School House Commons in Harrisburg, NC.

Second Look Books, 4519 School House Commons, Harrisburg, NC

They are also available in paperback and e-Book from Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BW2QMLHC/.

An infographic ad for Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Books 1 and 2

Until my next blog post

I hope you have a good book to read.

I hope you get to spend quality time with friends and family.

Remember the people of Ukraine.

Janet

P.S. Please visit https://www.janetmorrisonbooks.com and subscribe to my e-Newsletter. Next issue due out the first week of January!

The Other Two Books I Read in May 2023

I love the months in which I get to read so many books that it takes me more than one blog post to tell about them! May was one of those months. Today’s post is about the last two books I read in May. I hope at least one of them will appeal to you.

One Thought Scares Me, by Richard Dreyfuss

In One Thought Scares Me, Richard Dreyfuss presents his thoughts about how democracy has been eroded in the United States by the removal of the study of government (or civics) in our public schools. He pinpoints this quiet removal as happening 50 years ago, so it was after I graduated from high school.

I remember hearing a few years ago that in North Carolina the high school American History curriculum would begin with the Presidency of George Washington. I’ve wondered since then how the Presidency of George Washington would make any sense to a student who didn’t know that it followed an American Revolution.

If an American knows nothing about the Declaration of Independence – why it was written, who wrote it, when it was written, who we were declaring our independence from — and most importantly, how the signers of it risked their very lives by signing it – then they will not know what political conditions the early American settlers lived under.

If an American knows nothing about the American Revolution – why it happened, when it happened, who we were rebelling against, etc., then that American will not value what it means to be an American citizen. If they don’t know what those who came before us suffered through just to gain the right to vote, they will not value their right to vote. They will feel no obligation to vote.

If an American knows nothing about the Bill of Rights – why those ten rights were spelled out in the United States Constitution and what they are – then they won’t know when a US President or the US Congress or their State Legislature is taking away one or more of those rights.

If an American knows nothing about US history, they won’t know that July 4^th is more than just a day off from work when you eat burgers and hotdogs and shoot off fireworks.

In order to be a good citizen of the United States of America, you must know the history of the country. As Mr. Dreyfuss points out in his book, it was the system of public education in the United States in the early 1800s that made it possible for every child to learn to read and write. It made it possible for every child to learn the Pledge of Allegiance, to learn about colonial times, to learn about the American Revolution, to learn about the ugliness of slavery, to learn about the Civil War, and to learn about all the wars American have fought around the world in the name of freedom.

My two-cents’ worth: If you take that out of the public schools – and if you disrespect public education and public school educators the way the North Carolina General Assembly continues to do – then you lose the level playing field on which our country was built and you lose what binds us together as a nation.

Seeking the Historical Cook: Exploring Eighteenth-Century Southern Foodways, by Kay K. Moss

Reading this book after taking the Open Hearth Cooking Class at Hart Square Village on May 20 was very beneficial. The hands-on class was invaluable to me in writing historical fiction, and the book made a lot more sense to me having had the class.

*Seeking the Historical Cook*, by Kay K. Moss

The book covers how to interpret historical “receipts” as recipes were called in the American Colonial Era, and the importance of incorporating an 18^th century mindset when using the old recipes. Ms. Moss and her books are a goldmine for anyone doing research on frontier life in the Carolinas.

This book is illustrated and very detailed in cooking instructions, including the importance of getting the hot coals just right and judging the heart, cooking/baking time, and always having hot water on-hand.

Cyberspace fiasco since my last blog post

To say it was a frustrating week would be an understatement. My email service was disrupted for about 24 hours Tuesday into Wednesday. My Facebook account was hacked on Thursday. My LinkedIn account was hacked on Saturday. My Evernote account was hacked on Sunday.

Would be writers like me are told we must have a vast social media presence if we want to ever get published. We must have followers in the thousands and tens of thousands.

After what I’ve been through over the last few days, I’ve decided to remove myself from Facebook, LinkedIn, and Evernote. Each of those accounts had unique passwords. It bothers me that hackers can take control of my stuff without any problem; however, when I try to get an account back I must provide all sorts of documentation to prove that I am me. Life is short. I don’t foresee ever having time again for Facebook, LinkedIn, or Evernote. I’ll miss some things about Facebook, but the other two won’t be missed at all. Just for good measure, I’ll no longer be on Twitter either. It was a hassle anyway. I won’t miss it a bit.

If not having 40,000 followers on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. means I’ll never get my novels published, I guess that’s the price I’ll pay.

If you receive notification via Facebook when I’ve posted a blog, you’ll no longer receive those notifications because as of last Thursday, I have no control over my Facebook account. In fact, you won’t be notified about today’s post. Someone else, apparently in Beijing, has control of my account now. Facebook indicated it would take them 48 hours to verify that I am Janet Morrison. It’s been longer than that, so I guess they’re still just playing games with the hacker in Beijing. I regret that I didn’t get to tell my acquaintances on Facebook goodbye.

My blog is protected through a whole different server, etc., so I plan to continue to blog every week and treasure the lifeline it has become.

I envy Harper Lee and her manual typewriter. She got to just hide away in Alabama and write To Kill a Mockingbird with no worries about cyberspace. There’s something appealing about that era.

Speaking of birds… the three neighborhood cats must have miserable home lives because they want to stay in our yard all the time stalking our wild birds. In my spare time last week, I had to construct a barricade to try to prevent the cats from getting to the nest of baby Carolina Wrens in the hanging basket on my porch.

Thank you for the feedback I continue to get since posting To Write or Not To Write Historical Short Stories? What do you think? on May 29. All opinions are welcome!

Until my next blog post

I hope you have at least one good novel or non-fiction book to entertain and educate you.

With the smoke from the wildfires in Canada dissipating, we on the east coast of the US look forward to clear skies and some sunshine.

In case you’re planning a trip to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Cherokee, or the Blue Ridge Mountains this year, be sure to pick up a copy (paperback or for Kindle) of my vintage postcard book, The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. I packed as much natural history and human history into the postcard descriptions as Arcadia Publishing would allow. I think you’ll find it entertaining and painlessly educational.

Don’t forget the people of Ukraine. Believe me… I know my life — even with all my cyberspace problems — is easy compared to their suffering. I truly know that.

Janet

Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, Revisited

Even though we can’t show you an original copy of this declaration, it is written on our hearts as the descendants of those who whole-heartedly supported it as they prepared for the inevitable war against King George III of Great Britain.

The Americans’ beef wasn’t with the people of Great Britain – many of them were their relatives and friends – their beef was with the King – and they knew their friends and relatives back in Scotland were secretly wishing them well for they were also under the thumb of the King.

The year was 1775. The date was May 20.

The people of Mecklenburg County in the backcountry of North Carolina had had all they could take of King George and the oppressive laws and taxes he and the British Parliament continued to impose on the American colonists. After all, the reason most of them had left Europe was to escape monarchs who had little or no regard for their subjects.

The years leading up to May 20, 1775 had been tense. On May 2, 1771 a group of Mecklenburg County residents had taken matters into their own hands and blown up a shipment of munitions King Charles had ordered to be transported from Charleston, South Carolina to Rowan and Orange counties in North Carolina to put down The Regulator Movement.

The perpetrators of that gunpowder plot had been declared traitors and were still being hunted down by the Royal Government authorities when the county militias sent representatives to a convention in Charlotte to debate political conditions. The result was the writing of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence more than a year before the more famous one was written in Philadelphia.

The document set out the citizens’ grievances and declared themselves free and independent of Great Britain. Sadly, the original copy of the declaration was lost in a fire at the home of John McKnitt Alexander on April 6, 1800. The Declaration was reconstructed from the memories of those who had written it and signed it.

A recreation of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence.

There are Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence doubters today, but I have no doubt that it existed. It was followed just 11 days later by the Mecklenburg Resolves, which was a similar document.

Captain Archibald McCurdy of the Rocky River Presbyterian Church area of old Mecklenburg County that is present-day Cabarrus County, stood at the Mecklenburg County log courthouse steps and heard the Declaration read. He went home and told his wife, Maggie, they needed to make a list of the people they knew they could trust. There were a few Loyalists in the area.

Whatever you’re doing this Saturday, May 20, take a moment to reflect on what the brave people of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina did 248 years ago. If you live in the United States of America, ponder the stand they took on that day. The King proclaimed them to be in a state of rebellion, and the men who signed the document risked their very lives by proclaiming they were free.

Since my last blog post

Spring is finally in full force here in North Carolina. All I have to do is put a hanging basket of pretty flowers on a hook on the side porch and I can count on “Mama Bird” – a Carolina Wren – to build a nest in it. She’s done is for decades.

Having bronchitis and no set schedule allowed me time to do some reading last week. I have some interesting books to tell you about in my May 22 and June 5 blog posts.

I continue to remind folks on Facebook to purchase my local history books. I’m trying not to be a nuisance.

Until my next blog post

I hope you have a good book to read, including Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Books 1 and 2, as well as The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.

Don’t forget to visit my website (https://www.janetmorrisonbooks.com) and subscribe to my newsletter. I have special plans for May 20 and I can’t wait to tell you all about them in my July newsletter!

Make time for family and friends.

Remember the people of Ukraine.

Happy Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence Day on Saturday!

Janet

Janet's Writing Blog

Category: US History

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