Deep breath, and then a sigh. I have been so busy lately with so much stuff. I have now been working with the Historical Society for 2 years now. And I have been volunteering weekly and enjoy it more than I probably should. A lady that came in the museum the other day said something as I was telling her about what we had we started talking and she said, "I don't know if I want to look around or sit and talk to you." That was a great compliment for a person who likes to tell stories about this place that I grew up. Another lady I met one day wrote a book about Dunedin and the Fenway Hotel. It was a very slow day at the museum but as soon as she said she was published I was fascinated by every word she said. She was so nice once I told her of my interest in writing she asked me to join her writing group.
This bunch of ladies are so smart. They all have experience I don't as far as writing. To me writing is me and a piece of paper and pen or a blank screen and a keyboard. My brain barely engaged. My fingers know what to type sometimes when I have no idea what I need to say. So this group of ladies has not only inspired me to work on getting something I have written published but in the back of my head I have always wanted to get my Aunt Jan's manuscript published. It is about the Civil War.
She wrote about being a soldier and my great-great-great grandfather's part in the war. Speaking of battles and brigades and things I remember her researching when I was a kid. After travelling to Perryville, Kentucky she came home with a civil war button and a bullet for each of my brother and sisters.
The last couple weeks I started typing word for word her words. Matching her comma for comma. I had never sat down and read the whole thing until I finished last night. And as I got to the end I wondered how she would end it. I mean the battle that in that day was known to be one of the bloodiest battles the shear number of men lost just made me stop when you say 54,000 Union soldiers.Over 4,000 left on the battlefield is just so many people. For a comparison in 1860 in Louisville, Kentucky which is where my relative was from the population was only 100,000. Then I think about Bardstown Road probably the path they took marching from Louisville to Bardstown and then to Perryville. Well thanks to Google I know that walking that far would take about 24 hours. Now imagine being thirsty because they were short of water and the water they had was contaminated. It is October and probably cool at night again Google says 45 for a low and 68 for a high.
About 14 years ago Brian and I went to a re-enactment there at Perryville. The battlefield is now a park. There was a house that was still standing at that time that had been used by a doctor to try to help the injured. While we were there that day they had what they called a ghost walk in the evening it was like walking through a cemetery and having the ghosts stop and tell you how it was for him. They read letters that were written from the battlefield and told accounts of the battle. Then there is a part of me that was there that day. Edmond didn't know that over a hundred years later someone would write about him. Or that I would travel to the place one day. Or that I would come back years later with two more generations of his descendants. He didn't know any of that back then. I am not even sure why he was there. He had only been here in the US less than 10 years. Was he just trying to make money or did he believe in the cause or did he not want to deal with the death of his wife and his two small daughters at home. Whichever way it was for Edmond. I know it seems strange but I know some bit of me was there. Even though these are not places that I have ever lived I have visited many times in my life that somehow I am connected to that place. My mother's side of the family lived in Louisville since before the Civil War until 1962 when her family moved to Florida.
As usual I got a little off but someday 100 years from now one of my great great nieces or nephews may read these words and know that some part of them was here with me tonight. There is a part of my heart that is old as the sun and the moon. And it is in that old soul that I connect with things most don't.
My aunt ended with a short family tree and some of the documents from Edmond's time as a Union soldier. So I am getting closer to my goal of getting it published. I need to scan her images, maps and documents then I am going to try to send an excerpt to a publisher. I know when I do Edmond and Jan will be there. Wish them luck.
Showing posts with label Kentucky. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kentucky. Show all posts
Monday, November 25, 2019
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Kentucky Blue Blood
We have 2 weeks to go until our trip to Mammoth Cave. Gonna meet up with some family and see some sites. Go on a Cave Tour. Take a hike or two. Connect with some fresh air and maybe my nieces and nephew. Maybe teach them some of the things that I like. Show them what I see. History.
I have been to Mammoth Cave maybe 3 or 4 times before. And like I said before. My mother, grandmother and great grandmother before me have been there. We have pictures of my grandma and grandfather in front of a sign there maybe in the late 1930's. A picture of my grandma's mom and dad maybe the early teens. So the family has been visiting the park for over a hundred years. The kids are the 5th generation visiting this place that has stood still in time. Well not quite still but as for the rest of the world that is wizzing by just like the interstate passing by outside the park. The park makes us pull off that exit and stop a while. The land seems to move at a much slower pace. Which in turn makes you slow down a little. Not quite as much a rush. See the deer and the wild turkey as you drive around the park. Almost like they know that they are safe because their land protects them. Thanks to forward thinking people the progress of time stopped at the gate. And was asked to hold up awhile for the future.
Wish they still had the boat ride. It was great. Sunset cruise down the Green River. Now their is a job for me. I would get my Captains license for that kind of gig. See the racoons washing up before dinner some deer getting a drink. Just a lot of quiet green trees and cool breeze off the water. Kinda reminds me of another place I have visited.
These places make me want to turn off the tv go outside. Take a walk. Read a book. Not just take a tour have lunch and move on to the next place on our list of places to visit down the highway.
It makes me wonder if the tie back in time to the bluegrass of Kentucky and the hills is not deeper than my memories. Maybe it goes back further. Maybe somehow I know how peaceful it is there because it is in my blood. My very DNA has blue grass, green water and bourbon running through my veins. I really don't care for the bourbon but I thought it sounds good.
Just like Mammoth Cave when I visit Churchill Downs, I have been there before. Even been there on a race day for a Family Reunion. We had a box. This is not an affair to show up in shorts. There is a dress code. But I found it to be part of the experience. Sit at the table have a meal and a drink. When a race starts place your wager at a box where you don't wait in line and then walk out on the balcony and watch the race. Then back inside for another drink and drowned your sorrows or bask in the glory of a good race. Not a Derby but I would like to do it once. No hat for me that day but Another place the family has been going for a long time. I would like the kids to know that Grandma used to go when she was a young girl and hang out on the back side of the track with the jockeys. She would take mom and her sister to the track when they were kids. If I don't teach the kids who one will.
No one else is going to tell them that one of the their great great grandfathers built the base of the Daniel Boone statue in Cherokee park in Louisville a place we went when we were kids and my mom before that and hers too. See how the pattern goes so if not me who else will tell the kids that if they go to St. Louis Cemetery and you drive to the back and look towards the back wall there is a concrete statue of a old time English Bobby (policeman) when they see that statue and turn around their great great grand parents graves are right there along the road. There used to be a concrete curb that said Raser (their last name). And if you turn back towards the policeman at head to their 10 o'clock and walk half way up the hill is more family. Mathison's they would be my great great grandma's people as they say up there. And from there we drive over to Calvery Cemetery and stay on the road to the right and on a hill you will see a large statue of Jesus praying, right in front of him are some more family. Which is funny because in Sylvan Abbey here in Clearwater when you drive in and stay to the left find the same statue and my grand parents are in front of it about half way in from the road.
Does anyone else know or cares about this stuff but me. So it is gone once I am gone. I doubt my 3rd cousins that live up there take their kids to the cemetery. I don't even know anyone else that knows their 3rd cousins. It is only on my mom's side of the family tree this one branch that stayed in the same area for so long. Over 100 years, since the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln was president. And my family lived in Louisville.
During the flood in the 1937 when the Ohio River rose over 50 feet my grandmother's cousins had to stay at her house because theirs was flooded. There are signs on posts downtown that show that this was one of the worst disasters of it's time. When looking up at the post and try to imagine what it was like I am amazed. Another sign of the past that is ignored by the present. My mom said the only thing that used to be outside the flood walls were fishing shacks but not anymore. River front is water front and that is pricey land. Why would anyone build there? Because nothing like that has happened in years. Well we all know that sort of reasoning will not save you from rising water. Just ask residents of New Orleans.
All of this is history. My history. Emily, Ashley, Paul and Alex's history. Some of these people I knew some not. Some of the stories I have heard my grandma and her cousins talk about. Those memories are gone if I do not pass them on to the future. So what is the point. Well the point gentleman is they lived. (Line from Ever After one of my favorite movies.) I just want the kids to know that life did not start when they were born and will not end when we are all gone.
I have been to Mammoth Cave maybe 3 or 4 times before. And like I said before. My mother, grandmother and great grandmother before me have been there. We have pictures of my grandma and grandfather in front of a sign there maybe in the late 1930's. A picture of my grandma's mom and dad maybe the early teens. So the family has been visiting the park for over a hundred years. The kids are the 5th generation visiting this place that has stood still in time. Well not quite still but as for the rest of the world that is wizzing by just like the interstate passing by outside the park. The park makes us pull off that exit and stop a while. The land seems to move at a much slower pace. Which in turn makes you slow down a little. Not quite as much a rush. See the deer and the wild turkey as you drive around the park. Almost like they know that they are safe because their land protects them. Thanks to forward thinking people the progress of time stopped at the gate. And was asked to hold up awhile for the future.
Wish they still had the boat ride. It was great. Sunset cruise down the Green River. Now their is a job for me. I would get my Captains license for that kind of gig. See the racoons washing up before dinner some deer getting a drink. Just a lot of quiet green trees and cool breeze off the water. Kinda reminds me of another place I have visited.
These places make me want to turn off the tv go outside. Take a walk. Read a book. Not just take a tour have lunch and move on to the next place on our list of places to visit down the highway.
It makes me wonder if the tie back in time to the bluegrass of Kentucky and the hills is not deeper than my memories. Maybe it goes back further. Maybe somehow I know how peaceful it is there because it is in my blood. My very DNA has blue grass, green water and bourbon running through my veins. I really don't care for the bourbon but I thought it sounds good.
Just like Mammoth Cave when I visit Churchill Downs, I have been there before. Even been there on a race day for a Family Reunion. We had a box. This is not an affair to show up in shorts. There is a dress code. But I found it to be part of the experience. Sit at the table have a meal and a drink. When a race starts place your wager at a box where you don't wait in line and then walk out on the balcony and watch the race. Then back inside for another drink and drowned your sorrows or bask in the glory of a good race. Not a Derby but I would like to do it once. No hat for me that day but Another place the family has been going for a long time. I would like the kids to know that Grandma used to go when she was a young girl and hang out on the back side of the track with the jockeys. She would take mom and her sister to the track when they were kids. If I don't teach the kids who one will.
No one else is going to tell them that one of the their great great grandfathers built the base of the Daniel Boone statue in Cherokee park in Louisville a place we went when we were kids and my mom before that and hers too. See how the pattern goes so if not me who else will tell the kids that if they go to St. Louis Cemetery and you drive to the back and look towards the back wall there is a concrete statue of a old time English Bobby (policeman) when they see that statue and turn around their great great grand parents graves are right there along the road. There used to be a concrete curb that said Raser (their last name). And if you turn back towards the policeman at head to their 10 o'clock and walk half way up the hill is more family. Mathison's they would be my great great grandma's people as they say up there. And from there we drive over to Calvery Cemetery and stay on the road to the right and on a hill you will see a large statue of Jesus praying, right in front of him are some more family. Which is funny because in Sylvan Abbey here in Clearwater when you drive in and stay to the left find the same statue and my grand parents are in front of it about half way in from the road.
Does anyone else know or cares about this stuff but me. So it is gone once I am gone. I doubt my 3rd cousins that live up there take their kids to the cemetery. I don't even know anyone else that knows their 3rd cousins. It is only on my mom's side of the family tree this one branch that stayed in the same area for so long. Over 100 years, since the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln was president. And my family lived in Louisville.
During the flood in the 1937 when the Ohio River rose over 50 feet my grandmother's cousins had to stay at her house because theirs was flooded. There are signs on posts downtown that show that this was one of the worst disasters of it's time. When looking up at the post and try to imagine what it was like I am amazed. Another sign of the past that is ignored by the present. My mom said the only thing that used to be outside the flood walls were fishing shacks but not anymore. River front is water front and that is pricey land. Why would anyone build there? Because nothing like that has happened in years. Well we all know that sort of reasoning will not save you from rising water. Just ask residents of New Orleans.
All of this is history. My history. Emily, Ashley, Paul and Alex's history. Some of these people I knew some not. Some of the stories I have heard my grandma and her cousins talk about. Those memories are gone if I do not pass them on to the future. So what is the point. Well the point gentleman is they lived. (Line from Ever After one of my favorite movies.) I just want the kids to know that life did not start when they were born and will not end when we are all gone.
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