Friday, October 31, 2008

in Raleigh



Wait – I missed it. My own anniversary. This blog started on October 11, 2006, a little over two years ago. It has been a lot of fun and I hope you have enjoyed my musings.

This past Tuesday, I had a book signing in Chapel Hill. I had a great time and enjoyed the company. Back a few months ago when this opportunity came open, I asked my wife if she and the kids would be interested in going with me, spending the night, and going on to Raleigh on Wednesday. A special exhibit is going on at the Natural History Museum: the Dead Sea Scrolls. We really enjoy seeing this type of programming, and have seen the Treasures of Ur exhibit at the McClung Museum in Knoxville and the King Tut exhibit in Fort Lauderdale. She said yes, and we set up to be gone, which included creating a podcast for my wife’s classes. We were driving along on Tuesday, when what did we hear, but the “Anointed One” had announced that he would be in Raleigh on Wednesday. After we got to our room, we checked his schedule, and sure enough, it said ten am, and just a block from the science/history museum. Talk about a bummer! So, we had a slow morning, went out to eat, got in downtown Raleigh, and no parking. Worshippers were lined up for at least two blocks. We decided to head north to Oakwood Cemetery. From the cemetery, we could hear bits of the speech, and the throngs cheering. Regardless of how I feel about a candidate as an individual, I find the exhibited demagoguery appalling; our founding fathers would be horrified to see presidential candidates treated like Roman generals being made emperors by acclaim! We later learned that there were 25,000 people to hear Obama. They apparently all parked across the street from the museum. We did not get into the museum until 2:00 pm. While it would be nice if any politicians actually gave us some of the stuff they promise, we just want our morning back.

I did manage to sneak into the History Museum for a couple of minutes. They have the 18th NCT’s Branch flag on display, along with two flags of the 26th NCT. I did pick up a copy of the new book, Worthy of Record: The Civil War and Reconstruction Diaries of Columbus Lafayette Turner, edited by Kendrick N. Simpson. Turner served in the 33rd NCT.


I thought I would enclose a few images that I made at Oakwood Cemetery. The Oakwood Preservation Project members, including Jeff Morton, Charles Purser, and Tom Smith, are to be congratulated for their wonderful work on restoring the Confederate Cemetery at Oakwood.



1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Excellent photos at the confederate Cemetery at Oakwood. You also have a keen eye for photography, your photos are always very clear and centered...


Very true statement about that so-called "Anointed One."

Regards, Matt Parker