Hendersonville, being a tourist town - though not as much as Asheville - has lots of things going on throughout summer and fall. There is live music and street dances every Friday and Monday night in the summer. 40 - 50 shops along Main Street, including several restaurants with outdoor seating. It is a thriving place, at least right now.
This weekend is Living History Weekend. I didn't see the advertised moonshiners - kind of ironic anyway in a state that sells hard liquor only in state liquor stores (I think there are two in the county, but I could be wrong), and you have to be 21 to buy and drink a beer. No discussion about age 19 or 21 like in Iowa City! The effects of Prohibition are felt more keenly here in the Bible belt.
But I digress. We had lunch in a nice tea-room, reminiscent of Columns and Chocolates, except for their great selection of teas and the availability of "high tea." Then we moseyed down the street when we heard gun shots. We had just come by the square in front of the court house where the civil war enacters were camping out. Now they were shooting. Soon after that the Wild West gun fight began, and at the end the two "bad" guys were "dead." Wish it were always so clearcut in real life!
The Hendersonville History museum was nearby and open, so we walked through. They had an exhibit on different wars. As a newly naturalized citizen I felt a number of very contrasting emotions: pride to be part of this country, sadness about the futility of war, especially the 70 million civilians of WWII in which Germany was the enemy, embarrassment about the Cherokee nation being robbed of almost all of their land in forced cessations. Weirdest of all was to be among civil war re-enacters from the South. Now I don't consider myself a Yankee, certainly not by birth, but by philosophy I'm a Northerner. And these people represented a past that fought against that. It's like being in an enemy camp in disguise. I just didn't know what to make of it.
There is so much to learn about local history!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment