Honduras -- Another Anniversary

Fuertes Caminos '88

It hardly seems possible, but I know it is. 20 years ago this week I re-deployed from Honduras with my unit back to the states. The unit had been in Honduras for 8 months, I had been there for 6 1/2 myself. We lived in a Base Camp we had built. It was named for the symbol on our crest, the Powderhorn. Reveille was 0545, and lights out normally was between 9 and 10 at night. In between, our days were filled with many events, some nice, some not so nice, and others, well let's just say they were "interesting."

From the air, our base camp looked pretty much like base camps that the Army has built in many parts of the world. Of course this one was in the tropics and was located at 4,000 plus feet in elevation. It had pretty much everything we needed to live, albeit in a "Spartan" mode. We had food, shelter, water,etc.

Our purpose for being there was to build a road in a very rural, mountainous area of Honduras where there were very few roads. What roads they had prior to our arrival were nothing more than rutted paths that were impassable for all except the most determined person on foot during the rainy season (September through January most years). Thus, we were not really improving a road, though there had been one of sorts in the area before. We were going in and starting all over.

As I said, we lived in a base camp composed, for the most part of "GP Medium" tents. We lived in them, took a shower in them, and worked in them. We even, as you might guess, prayed in them.

We were not the first unit deployed to this area of Honduras to build a road, there had been several others prior to our arrival, and there were several others in the years immediately after we left. But ours was the largest in terms of personnel, and equipment, and we spent more time in country than any other unit deployed into Honduras to build roads.



I supervised 21 other Chaplains who rotated in and out generally on every 2 weeks. We had services, Bible Studies, Gospel Sings, Orientations to the history and culture of Honduras, Spanish lessons, and even a special service to honor Dr. Martin Luther King.

As with Army Chapels everywhere, it was very interdenominational. Thus it had both a Protestant/Roman Catholic setting (right), and a Jewish setting (left). There were no Islamic Chaplains assigned to Fuertes Caminos '88. There was one possibly two in the Army at that time, but they were not used in a remote situation such as we had .












At any rate, we went, we built, and we came back. And along the way we wrote down everything that we did. At that time, remember this was November 1987 to June 1988, we were the largest number of troops the Army had deployed to an overseas location since World War II. When all was said and done, we had over 15,000 involved. Thus, there were a lot of "lessons learned" by all of us, including the Chaplain section. These lessons were recorded, and then brought out and reviewed just a few years later by those who conducted the deployments for Desert Shield/Desert Storm. And of course, those "lessons" were reviewed by those who conducted the deployments for Operation Iraqui Freedom. Thus, in a certain sense, we were trail-blazers in more ways than just building a road in rural Honduras.

Graton WV and Philippi WV

Heading Home

Well, it is almost time to be heading home. But before we leave that section of the country, we had a few stops to make.

Grafton

First, we need to clear up some confusion. We found the sign pictured below in Philadelphia PA near City Hall a few years ago.

Now, as Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the story.

First, Anna Jarvis was not the first American to come up with the idea of Mother's Day. Julia War Howe, of Battle Hymn of the Republic fame, hit upon the idea in 1870. She tried to get the idea of a day to honor Mothers part of the American Scene for a few years, but ultimately gave up.

Anna Jarvis, who was the next, may have been living in Philadelphia when she hit upon the idea of honoring her mother, but she was most defintely NOT FROM Philadelphia. She was born in Taylor County West Virginia, Grafton to be exact. And the first official Mother's Day observance was not in Philadelphia. It was at Andrew's Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton West Virginia in 1908 (just ask Hillary and Chelsea). Andrew's M.E. Church merged with several other Methodist Churches in Grafton to form Good Shepherd United Methodist Church a number of years ago. The old church building was turned over to a local group that set up an organization to "promote" Mother's Day (Wanamaker is long gone and replaced by "corporate retailing"). And the building is now a "Shrine" for Mother's Day. And as we all know from the Election converage this spring, it holds one service a year, on Mother's Day. The rest of the year it is open for people to come in and visit.

And lastly, Ms Jarvis (she herself never married and never became a mother) protested vigorously the "commercialization" of Mother's Day. Her protests escalated up to actual physical protesting at various Mother's Day activities. Her feeling was that Mother's Day should honor Mothers, and not merely be a means to sell for things. Click here to read an article from Time magazine about her activities.

And of course, any visit to a town by me would not be complete without the obligatory stop at the local station. In this case, this is my third trip to the Grafton Station of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. It has been undergoing major renovation and I had heard they were through. Plus, the only time the light is good for shots of the front is in the evening. So, particularly since it is only a block from the Mother's Day Shrine, we could let one stop do for two shots. Incidentally, the multi-story building behind the station in this shot is the Williard Hotel. The Williard was owned and operated by the B&O Railroad. I suspect, most of its customers were crews on layover.

Philippi

Leaving Grafton, we followed the road down to the now-peaceful town of Philippi WV (we pronounce it Fill-i-pee). On May 14, 1861, Col. George Porterfield of the Virginia militia arrived in Grafton from Harper's Ferry Va. He was under orders from Robert E. Lee to organize the men who were forming units in the Grafton area. Unfortunately, there were few units forming in Graton. So after a few days he left for Philippi using practically the same route we used. When he arrived, he took what forces he had brought and combined them with the companies forming there.

He was followed Col. Benjamin Kelley of the Union forces. And on June 3, 1861 the first land "battle" occurred. It was not much of a fight, but what little there was occurred around this covered bridge (or actually the predecessor to this bridge, the original burned down in 1981). Click here to read more about this action.

And thus the war began.

From Philippi we crossed over towards Buckhannon WV in order to do some research at the library at West Virginia Wesleyan College.

After a few hours there reading old Annual Conference Journals, we finally made our way home.

WV State Parks -- Prickett's Fort

Prickett's Fort II

When I had visited the fort in September 2007 the interior of the fort was closed and I had to be content with walking around the outside. I knew, however, that during the summer they had "costumed interpreters" and both Alice and I wanted to see that part of Prickett's Fort. And so, we saw this trip as an ideal opportunity to get inside the fort (see above) and do just that.





But first, a confession to make. You see, I spent 9 months in the late 1960's as a costumed interpreter for the "granddaddy" of all costumed interpreter historical attractions, Colonial Williamsburg. Here I am in my "Colonial Best" outside the Power Magazine (I also worked at the Colonial Gaol). Thus, I approach these attractions from a different perspective from most people. I am, so to speak, a former "fellow" professional in the field and thus I tend to judge most of the "costumed interpreters" I meet thusly.



Let me just say that overall, I thought the folks we talked to at Fort Prickett did an excellent job, "professionally speaking."




Our first stop was actually outside of the fort at the Native American display on the grounds near the fort. This display consisted of the "Eastern Version" of the "tipi." It actually ended up being an early version of what is known of today as a "Domed Tent." It consisted of branches arranged in a circle and bent toward the middle. The branches were covered with a "fake" version of Bark Slabs. At the top was a smoke hole. The Interpreter who was there pointed to the fact that actually, this was not completely an authentic re-creation. The Slabs were normally overlapped at the bottom with a passage-way for air so it could rise up between the slabs and create an up-draft to keep the smoke going out the top of the tipi. But still it was a good job, and the interpreter also did a good job.

Another interpreter we visited, also outside the fort, was a blacksmith. Here again, while blacksmiths were around in those days, you would not normally find them working in the fort. He was making an axe head, again a typical tool. We talked about his work, and we also found out he was an archeologist of sorts and had participated in several "digs" of Native American sites in West Virginia.

Inside the fort, the main craft interpreter the day we were there was a weaver. When we arrived she was in the process of "counting threads" and getting ready to weave. The loom she was using dated back to the 1770's and had been made in the area (though she noted, not necessarily at Prickett's Fort). She also had several spinning wheels in the same location and demonstrated her spinning skills as well.















There was also an "Apprentice Tinsmith" at work, who doubled as the "shop keeper" at the "general store" they had inside the fort.


They also had 3 sheep in a pen in the fort. While obviously sheep need pasture to graze, it would have been normal, in times when the settlers were "forting up" for the sheep to be kept within the fort.













The last building we visited was the house built by the Job Prickett, the Grandson of the fort's "founder" Jacob. This house is an original and dates from 1857. Thus, it is on the Register of Historic Buildings, and is worthy of preservation in its own right. The house and the farm was occuppied by the Prickett family until the 1960's. In addition to the normal collection of 19th century antiques, there was also a collection of 19th century farm equipment outside the house.


In short, both Alice and I recommend that if you are in the area you need to visit Prickett's Fort.

WV State Parks -- Prickett's Fort

Prickett's Fort State Park

Since this had been a meeting of the Boone "Clan" and since the clan is most noted in American History for settling the "Eastern" Frontier, Alice and I thought it was a good idea to visit a monument to that era in our own state, particularly since it was only an hour away from the place of the re-union. Accordingly, on Sunday after church, when all the others had left, we ventured up the road to just outside of Fairmont WV to visit Prickett's Fort. This is a re-creation of a typical frontier fort that has been accomplished on the actual site where a similar looking frontier fort once stood.
Captain Jacob Prickett (the title refers to his rank in the local militia forces), built a fort in his cornfield located beside an inlet from the Monogahela River (the river is to the right, a shot of the inlet is below). His fort was used by local settlers in the area for most of the late 1700's. It even was visited once by Daniel Boone as he was on his way east with some Ginseng that he had gathered for sale back east.


We both had visited Fort Boonesboro State Park in Kentucky, a re-creation of the original Fort Boonesboro, several years ago. We had enjoyed the visit, but somehow, I did not think that Kentucky had done the best job they could at re-creating the fort. It was not until I visited Prickett's Fort last fall that I realized what the problem was. At Fort Boonesboro, (pictured to the left) the state of Kentucky had re-located their re-creation on a high bluff overlooking the original site which was along the Kentucky River. While this probably was better from a logistical standpoint, I thought it detracted greatly from the authenticity of the place.

At Prickett's Fort, the re-creation has been placed where it originally stood. Therefore, as one approached it, particularly from the River side, the most common approach in those days, you could get a better feel (see right) for what it was like to approach the original fort.

Unlike Fort Boonesboro, Prickett's Fort was a small installation. And in doing its re-creation the Prickett's Fort Memorial Foundation probably put too many buildings inside their re-creation (they even admit as such in their interpretation). Forts such as these were not meant to be a place of permanent dwelling, though indeed many such forts eventually became permanent places of dwelling, e.g. Fort Wayne IN, Fort Worth TX, Nashville TN. Rather they were strongholds to which threatened settlers would evacuate and live during times when Native Americans were making their presence felt. The term used by the settlers was "Forting Up." Thus, it is quite possible that at times the interior of the fort was as crowded as the current re-creation is.



To the left is the front gate from outside the fort. To the right is a shot of the interior of the fort.






All in all, we enjoyed our visit and would like to go back again. We also recommend it to anyone else with an interest in this era of our history.

West Virginia Day in Greenbrier Cty

West Virginia Day

On June 20, 1863, in the midst of the great event called, by most historians and others, the Civil War, this state was created out of the western portions of Virginia, composed of citizens who, mostly, were oppossed to the secession of Virginia from the Union. The validity of this act of Statehood has been debated for many years. The bottom line is that "legal or not" (whatever that phrase means in this time of "activitist courts"), statehood happened and it has remained a fact.

We chose to celebrate this day by going to one of our favorite spots in one of our favorite county in West Virginia. We went to the Blue Bend Recreation area, deep in the heart of eastern Greenbrier county.

The name comes, we think, from the color of the water, which is not really a Blue at all, but rather a Blue Green. Of course, when we lived in that area, we also found out that locals said the name stemmed from the fact that the water was always cold, even on the hottest summer day, and thus anyone who went swimming in it turned Blue.

Whatever the genesis for the name, the spot has alway rated up there as one of our all-time most beautiful spots. With tall trees (a lot of them Eastern Hemlock), and other flora, and lots of fauna this is a very popular place. This is a favorate spot for the fly fishermen and also a favorite hunting spot for many a "Great White Hunter" in search of deer, turkey, grouse, and even the occasional Black Bear.

But neither one of us are into the "guns & hunting" thing, even though we love small towns (sorry about that Obama) and so we were content to see some Mint in bloom, and the start of the Rhododendron blooms (sorry for the dark picture, but they are an under-story plant in the forest).

So, Happy West Virginia Day!

(You too, VP Cheney)

A Boone Gathering

The Gathering of the "Clan," Part II

You didn't think you'd get away with only one set of photos of all the Boones who gathered did you? Of course not. Here is another set, most of them by Alice.

We start off, of course, with the ones who started the whole meeting, the 3 Boone Cousins(from left to right), Harold (call him Ralph, call him Dan), Bob, and Alice.

Next we move to a shot of the younger generations, Megan (left), daughter of David, and Jennings (right), wife of Douglas, Boone.






Then we have a shot of Matt Archer (left), son of Charlotte Boone, talking things over with Bob Boone(right).







And then we go for a shot of (from left to right) Douglas, Harold, and Bob Boone.









And finally, we come to the rest of the Boones, the important ones, Barbara (left) and Charlotte(right).

A Boone Gathering

The Gathering of the "Clan"

Of course, the main reason for being at Tygart Lake State Park, was to gather together as a family. While not an "annual affair," re-unions of the Boones have occurred in past years. And while the participants and the venue have varied through the years, nevertheless, the format has remained the same.


You have various family members who bring along old photos and keepsakes. Sometimes, the persons in the photo are known. At other times, the persons are not known and so another photo can be discarded. On this occassion, Alice set up a special display of 6 generations of her side of the family. They were/are, (from right to left), Dress, "Grandmother" Ware, Grandmother Kathryn Boone, Rankin R. Boone, Alice B. Riecks (at age 3 or 4), Kathryn G. Riecks (age 17), and John Ahuia Kanne (age 7 months).

And of course you have many conversations with family members whom you have never met before. Here is a picture of Douglas and Jennings Boone discussing things with Megan Boone, daughter of David Boone. Douglas and Jennings were, in part, the reason for a get-together this year. They are missionaries with Wycliffe Bible Translators in East Africa (most recently living in Narobi Kenya), who are home for a year on furlough. Douglas is an experienced Linguistic Surveyor, while Jennings is a consultant to the translators (all of whom are from that area of the world). Megan, is a Junior at West Virginia University, majoring in International Studies.


Friday evening, and most of Saturday were devoted to these gathering times. People talked over past times, shared pictures both of times past, as well as recent adventures. On the left Bob Boone and "Harold" Boone are recalling times past, while Jennings and Douglas look through some old pictures. Alice Riecks and Barbara Boone are also discussing issues. On the right we see Steve Boone showing off his shots of his canoe trip through Voyageurs National Park with Barbara Boone while David Boone's wife, Annette talks with Steve's wife Jan.

And of course there were also many pictures taken of this re-union so that future re-unions will have something to see. And of course, some of us smiled for David Boone (pictured here), and some didn't. Some had their eyelids closed, and others didn't. Some were talking, gesturing, eating, others were perfectly posed. Some liked their picture taken, others hated it. But, hey, that is the way things go at a family re-union.

About 1 o'clock on Saturday the entire family adjourned to the dining room for the traditional re-union meal.

The highlight of the meal was the celebration of the "double" birthdays of Bob Boone (he will be 80 on the 28th of June), and Barbara Boone (who became 75 on the day we had the celebration).

All in all, everyone seemed to enjoy the time together.

WV State Parks -- Tygart Lake State Park

Tygart Lake State Park

From time to time my wife's family has held re-unions. They are Boone's, of Daniel's Family, but not a direct descendent of Daniel (as best they can tell). This year it was held at the Tygart Lake State Park and its Lodge near Grafton WV (more on this community in a later posting).

Tygart Lake was created when the Army Corps of Engineers built a dam across the Tygart Valley River in the mid- 1930's. This dam was one of many "New Deal" Dam projects. Most people who think about the New Deal and the daming of Rivers, often recall the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). While that was, and remains, a visible symbol of the New Deal, many forget that other water courses were dammed during that period outside the drainage basin of the Tennessee River. Plus many other dam projects were planned, and were started later, much later in some instances. I often think that FDR decided that the best way to get the country moving again, was to dam up as many rivers as possible. The Tygart Dam was completed in 1938.

It has two main purposes. Its first purpose is to keep a steady stream of water flowing down the Monogahela River even at low water during the summer. Just before the dam was constructed, the summer of 1935 to be exact, the water on the Mon. River had fallen so low that the coal tow barges could not move. Thus, the dam was built to hold back the "spring run off" and allow it to flow more evenly into the Monogahela River.

Of course, as with most of these "dam" projects, there were other "benefits to be realized." The most prominent one, in the case of Tygart Valley Lake, is boating. In April we had visited the park in order to make some final arrangements. What we saw then were a bunch of empty docks.

But this time, things were different! The docks were full and the lake was busy every day we were there. There were even boats out at night and during the worst of the Thunderstorms! Truly, such dedication is admirable, if somewhat mis-guided. It also helped me to recall in these days of expensive gas, the truism recently expressed, "If you have enough money to have a boat, you're not going to let a little thing like $4.00 a gallon gas stop you!"

But for those of us who did not have a boat, there was still the scenery. And it was very nice.