Here is an UP-date for you—November 24. That about as “up” a date we have. We are going to be opening the gift shop that day and the Café will be opening soon after that… probably within a few days. So what has happened between then and now, you ask? Let’s review.One of the things I have been doing as president of the woman’s club is something I like to call “This week in History”. I thought I would apply a little bit of that approach to tell the part of our story that has occurred since March.
May
On May 6, 1862, Henry David Thoreau died of tuberculosis. He was 44. His aunt asked him if he was at peace with God. Thoreau said, “I was not aware that we had quarreled.” The last clear thing he said was, “Now comes good sailing,” and then two words: “moose” and “Indian.”May 14–is the anniversary of the first English settlement in the New World. Explorers from the London Company landed in what would become Jamestown, Virginia in 1607.
Also, on May 14, 1804, Captain Meriwether Lewis and Lieutenant William Clark, set out from St. Louis on their overland expedition to the Pacific coast and back.
In Travelers Rest, in May, nothing particular happened at the Café @ Williams Hardware. There was some demolition in the area where the kitchen is to be built and the steps were moved inside from one place to another, but that’s about it.
June
It was on June 4, in 1919 that the 19th Amendment to the constitution, giving women the right to vote, was passed by the United States Congress. The movement for the women’s vote had gained momentum under Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, two women who had been born at a time in the 19th century when women had been barred from college and all professions, including the clergy. They couldn’t serve on juries or testify in court, sign contracts, keep or invest money, own or inherit property. Above all, they could not vote representatives into office who might have changed these laws.
In June, we were still waiting for Travelers Rest to issue our building permit. There was endless wrangling about fire suppression—sprinklers, fire rated sheetrock and on and on. And then there was the business about handicapped parking and access—I won’t even tell you that it was the same at our building as it was at City Hall—except we didn’t have the flagpole in the middle of the path for a wheelchair.
July
July 14 is the birthday of the singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie, born in Oklahoma (1913). He was one of the only American artists whose reputation never really suffered, despite his open affiliation with the Communist Party.Guthrie never finished high school, but he spent his spare time reading books at the local public library. He took occasional jobs as a sign painter and started playing music on a guitar he found in the street.Texas was hit by the same drought that created the Dust Bowl in the mid-1930s, and Guthrie followed workers who were moving to California, where he began to write songs about the people who’d lost their farms and their homes.
His songs grew increasingly political and became more and more sympathetic to the plight of people facing hard times during the Great Depression. Like many people at the time, he thought the Depression was a sign that capitalism had collapsed. He wrote a column for the Communist Party newspaper the People’s World. But he never officially joined the Communist Party. He said, “I ain’t a Communist necessarily, but I been in the red all my life.”
On July 14, in TR, Nancy and I (mostly me) appeared at a City Council meeting to complain about the delay in the issuance of our permit (if you’re keeping track, it’s been a really long time) One of the comments I made in my remarks to Council was this– If all new business is subjected to this arduous process that is longer than 4 months, as we have been, I fear the chilling effect on new business that will develop. We thought this was hilariously reported in The Monitor—If all new businesses objected to this arguing process…and really, that’s what it was—an arguing process. And then—ta-da! the next week, approved plans are delivered to the work site and actual work commenced.
So, then in July, especially toward the end of the month, things began to happen. The kitchen area was framed, sided and roofed. Part of the basement floor was cut out so that plumbing could be installed. And a retaining wall was built(now, it did take what we describe as a “right good while” to do that retaining wall—so much so that we call it the Great Wall, Part 1.
August It was on August 6 in 1965 that Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act that ended the long era of voter discrimination in many Southern states. Johnson had been delaying legislation on voting rights, because he thought it was too soon for it to succeed. But after a group of civil rights marchers were attacked in Selma, Alabama, he gave a speech on TV, calling for the passage of the legislation by Congress.
By August 6 at 13 S. Main, the electrician was at work, putting in miles, apparently, of conduit and then running wires. The roofers were not yet at work, I don’t think it was hot enough for them yet, but by the 3rd week, El Jefe and his crew were at work. Our sign was being fabricated and we had decided to hire our nephew Chris, the school teacher/soccer coach, to work with us. Holes have been cut in the wall and work begins on new restroom facilities upstairs and downstairs. And there is framing going on all over the place.
September to now
It was September 8 in 1900 that a hurricane leveled Galveston, Texas, and left more than 5,000 people dead. The storm kept up for 18 hours, with winds clocked at 120 m.p.h. Most of Galveston was built at sea level, and huge waves swept through the streets and flattened businesses and homes.
In Travelers Rest, it’s time to pour concrete for the patio downstairs. That’s when all the storms were threatening rain that never materialized, until they finally went ahead and poured the concrete. And then more framing for the screen porch and the downstairs restroom that sits on the patio and new windows and doors. Things are really beginning to take shape, but we really wanted to be open in July!
It was on October 7 in 1959 that the first photos were taken of the far side of the moon. People had been speculating for hundreds of years what the other side looked like, including Galileo. Finally, in 1959, the Soviet spacecraft Lunik 3 flew over the south pole of the moon. It took 29 pictures, and many people were disappointed to find that the far side of the moon looked a lot like the near side.
By October, the deck of the screen porch is completed and the sheetrock guys are hard at work. The hood is installed in the kitchen and a lot of ductwork is being done. On October 14, our sign was installed, just in time for the Harvest Festival. Also, just in time for the festival, the indoor plumbing works! We did set up a tent in the parking lot to showcase some of our wares and we had a great day. We discovered the sales potential for Roddy Rodgers great sketches of places around town and learned to operate our new popcorn machine. And, it has begun to be fall. One of the other things we have discovered is a nearby source for pecans. We just pick them up. And let me tell you, they make great pies. Yum! There’s one way we will be able to hold to our commitment to “eat local”.
So, now we have come to November. Fifty years from now, someone will look back and say on November 4, 2008, the United States elected its first black president. And in Travelers Rest, our deck has been built and it is big enough to land an airplane. We envision times when there will be music played on that deck. Charlie says he could drive his truck on it. The floor needs to be refinished and the electrician needs to install the light fixtures and the Dutton Refrigeration people need to install most of the kitchen equipment, so there is a lot that will happen in the next couple of weeks, but we think enough of it will be done that we can make it work. We have discovered that the man who tiled the kitchen floor is an Italian named Geno and not only does he do tile work on floors, he does other tile work as well. We truly have an Italian artisan who has created some lovely mosaic works that we will sell in the gift shop. That, perhaps, is the most unlikely discovery at the end of our journey—or is it the beginning? Time will tell, I suppose.