An Old, Colonial Church

St. Thomas Episcopal Church parish has been active for over 300 years. The church was built in 1734 in Bath, North Carolina. Both the town (1705) and the church building are the oldest in the state. Services are still held in the church each Sunday, as well as at other special times during the year.

Early in its history, St. Thomas Parish had more resources than most in the colonies. Through Dr. Thomas Bray's efforts to make appropriate books and pamphlets available to missionaries in the colonies, the parish had a library of 1,050 items. Donated in 1701, the library was first housed at a plantation in the parish but moved to the church when it was built. This would have also been the first library in North Carolina.

Early on, a Spanish clergyman, who could barely speak English and went unpaid for four years, baptized 635 people in a single year. Reverend John Garzia secured valuable gifts, a silver communion chalice from the bishop and two silver candelabra from King George II, when the church building was consecrated in 1744.

Today the church and adjoining ancient cemetery are open to tour. Don't miss it if you ever decide to see historic Bath. It's like a step back into history.

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Slavery in America

The first small group of slaves in America came to Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619. Because plantations had grown up around tobacco fields, landowners began to purchase more slaves to work their land. As other crops also became profitable, the slave system became entrenched in the colonies. By the time of the American Revolution, slavery was legal in all thirteen colonies. Some became house servants or craftsmen, but most were field hands.

After the revolution, Americans realized a lack of supplies had handicapped them during the war, and, since they no longer needed to look to Great Britain to produce them, the Northern colonies started industrializing. They'd never seen the same necessity for slavery as the South felt, and some began to think about forbidding the practice in their state. Many of the Northern shippers still made their money from the slave trade, however.

Conditions aboard a slave ship were often horrendous. Knowing that many wouldn't make it, they were packed in like sardines to increase profits. Shackled and with limited movement in the stuffy holds and no facilities, they lived among the filth and stench. Those who lost the meager contents of their stomach or the food didn't agree with their bowels added to the problem.

Charleston slave market

Once they arrived, they were taken to slave markets where they were auctioned off like cattle. Most of the cities had them, and a new, very different life began almost immediately. Their fate rested totally with the master who bought them. Slave quarters were always minimal, and the amount and quality of food varied.

We often think more of the large slave owners when we think of slavery, but most slave owners had less than five. As time progressed, it became illegal to bring more slaves into the country, and breeding the slaves became more important. Eventually, the differences in how citizens viewed slavery would lead to war.

Slave quarters at Boone Hall Plantation

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Why Did Jesus Have to Die?

God has an aversion to sin and will have absolutely nothing to do with it, because He is Holy; it is His very nature. Since sin is diametrically opposed to holiness, God  cannot be in the presence of sin. From the fall of Adam and Eve, we've all inherited a sinful nature, and we'd never be able to live in presence of God as we are. 

Death is the penalty for sin. In the Old Testament, the people tried to keep God's law, and, when they failed, they offered an animal sacrifice to pay their sin debt. But man grew more and more sinful and this became cumbersome and wasn't working well. Therefore, God sent the ultimate sacrifice, His perfect, sinless Son, to die in our place. Jesus’ sacrifice allowed us to trade our sins for his righteousness, so we can be in the presence of Holy God. He took our sins upon Himself, and this became His most agonizing time of the whole crucifixion ordeal, when God turned from Him for the first time ever due to our sins. 

Jesus had to die in our place to atone for our sins, and we have to accept Him as our Savior for us to live in eternity.  Only the death of God’s Son on the cross was pure and good enough to pay the price for our sins for all time. Jesus kept every one of God’s laws for us and then died for our sins, so we can now live under His grace and not under the law. Now, when we approach the throne of God, He doesn't see any of our sins, because Christ's blood washed them all away. He sees only righteousness, because of the trade we made when we accepted Christ into our lives.

Jesus’ death was like no other. His sacrifice on the cross lies at the heart of the gospel. How we answer that question of who Jesus is will be the single most important decision we ever make in our lives. Putting your faith in Jesus as God’s Son means forgiveness, love, and eternal life. We need to recognize that nothing else comes close to being as important in our lives as how much we surrender our hearts to Him. 

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My First Book Signing

My first book presentation and signing for Cleared for Planting went well. We held it in Powellsville Baptist Church's Fellowship Hall last Saturday, and people came out. I appreciated all the support and encouragement.

At the beginning, I gave a brief talk about myself, my writing, and Cleared for Planting. While I signed books, Oma Askew took up the money, and people mingled and talked. I also displayed some of the earlier magazine articles I'd written, and they looked at those. I heard several people say they hadn't realized I'd written so many.

Although the time was hectic in a busy sort of way, everything went smoothly. I'm very thankful Oma volunteered to help, because it would have been rough if she hadn't. I found I was comfortable in front of the group, but I did inadvertently skip some of the information I meant to share. The most important was the fact that all the profits from the book will go to a scholarship fund for missionary children.

This was my first presentation and signing, however, so hopefully I will improve as I go along. The next presentation is scheduled for Tuesday, April 7 at 3:30 p.m. in Whitaker Library at Chowan University. I hope I have as good a turn out. Please join us if you can. You don't have to come to buy a book. I'd just appreciate your support. If you'd like to hold an event with your group, contact me. If it's feasible, I will do my best to work it out.

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Aboard a 16th Century Ship

The Golden Hind II

The first time I walked aboard a reproduction of an early sailing ship occurred at a special exhibit at Jamestown, and I was surprised by how small it was. Francis Drake's ship, Golden Hind, was only a little bigger, and he hauled plunder. I wondered how a crew managed to live aboard such limited quarters and carry the supplies they needed. 

Elizabeth II

The Elizabeth II interprets what it was like for those ending up on the North Carolina coast at Roanoke in 1585. Not only did the ships have to carry crew and supplies, but they also held passengers to the New World and what they needed to bring. You can get a good idea of what this was like at the Roanoke Festival Park.

Galley

When bunks were available, they resembled shelves, and I couldn't imagine trying to fit on one, much less sleeping there. The kitchen or galley looked more like a small barbecue pit. The crank to pull up the anchor took up as much room as anything. If you've never toured such a reproduction, I encourage you to do so. I think it'll be an eye-opener.

Anchor crank

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Membertou Native Americans

In northeastern New England and Eastern Canada, the Membertou group of First Nations have been successful at carving their niche in modern society and maintaining their group identity. They're rightly proud of that.

These Native Americans are also known as Mi'kmaq or Micmac from the language they spoke. They're an Algonquin group. Originally  a nomadic people, they lived in the wooded forests during the winter and on the coast during the summer. They've always had a milder temperament than some of the other groups around them, like the Iroquois or Mohawk.

I visited the Membertou cultural center in Nova Scotia, where much of their heritage has been preserved. The museum is small but well done, both in the displays and the presentations. I wished I could have spent longer there than just a couple of hours.

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The National Quilt Museum

One of the world's best quilt displays, according to USA Today (11-12-2014), is in Paducah, Kentucky. Bill and Meredith Schroeder established the National Quilt Museum, and it opened to the public on April 25, 1991. The museum has a rotating exhibit with a permanent collection of over 300 amazing quilts. It has around 40,000 visitors each year.

I come from a long line of quilters. My great aunt made quilts and bedspreads and sold them to New York galleries. I've also quilted for years and have even appraised quilts. Yet, I found this quilt museum to be very impressive.

The National Quilt Museum is located at 215 Jefferson Street in Paducah, Kentucky. It's open from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Their phone number is 270-422-8856. If you're ever in the area, be sure to check it out. It's definitely "something to see."

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2. Phone: (270) 442-8856

Hassles of Blogging 

I packed up yesterday morning to travel to Stanly and Wilkes Counties to promote my book. I was careful to get everything I needed, including my books to sell. Two-thirds of the way there I realized I had forgotten my laptop. 

When I got to Oakboro, I borrowed my grandson's computer and took it to my house.  I couldn't get an internet connection. It wouldn't even pickup the connection I normally use. I went back to my daughter's house, got an internet connection, but couldn't log on to blogger. 

My husband is writing this in Powellsville as I dictate. There may not be another blog this week, depending on whether or not I can get the problems worked out. 

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Early Health Problems

Health in the colonies remained precarious, at best. Doctors were scarce, and they believed in bleeding patients for many illnesses. Anyone could dispense medicines, and diseases ran rampant. 

Bad teeth became one of the biggest problems. Today we know this can lead to all kinds of other health issues. Women often suffered more than men because of their child-bearing. In fact, many women also died trying to give birth.

Early on, typhoid fever and dysentery killed many, probably due to polluted water supplies. Malaria, often called swamp fever, might not always result in death, but it could be extremely debilitating. Smallpox resulted in a horrible death, and epidemics often occurred every 10 - 15 years. William Bradford wrote, 

"...the pox breaking and mattering and running into another, their skin cleaving by reason thereof to the mats they lie on. When they turn them, a whole side will flap off at once, as it were, and they will be all of a gore blood, most fearful to behold. And...they die like rotten sheep" (David Freeman Hawke, Everyday Life in Colonial America. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1988, p. 81).

Overall, people in the New England colonies seemed to have the best health. From the Chesapeake Bay

south had the worst. Yet, all of the colonies had it better than those in Europe because of more dense population and years of living in polluted conditions.

Although set in the early 1800's, health issues are problems in my historical novel, Cleared for Planting, now out. In Sown in Dark Soil,  which continues about the Moretz family and is the second book my publisher and I are working on, some of the characters from Cleared for Planting have died. Aren't you glad you live in a time of better health care?

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Why Is God So Different in the Old Testament Than in the New Testament?

Last year, I overheard two religion professors talking. They were having a hard time reconciling that the God of the Old Testament was the same God as in the New Testament. One talked about how in the Old Testament, God showed His wrath and frequently gave out punishment. Yet, in the New Testament, He showed love, grace, and mercy. "Why are the Two so different?" the other asked, nodding his head in agreement with the first.

"...and serve the Lord your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you" (2 Chronicles 30:8).

I was stunned. These men had Doctorate Degrees in Theology and should have known the answer. The answer is one word -- Jesus. Jesus makes all the difference.

God is no longer the God of wrath He was in the Old Testament, because He poured out His wrath on His Son. This happened on the cross, when Jesus took on our sins. He traded His perfection for our sinfulness, and in that moment, God turned from Him. 

"And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying ... my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46).

When we accept Christ as our Savior, we don't have to be perfect,

because Christ was perfect for us. We don't have to be punished for our sins, because Christ was punished for us. There may still be consequences, but Jesus bridged the gap, so we could experience God's love, grace, and mercy.

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Sown in Dark Soil

I had some very good news this week. My publisher emailed me that his wife had read Cleared for Planting and loved it. Therefore, he's ready to start the publishing process for the second book in my Appalachian Roots Series, Sown in Dark Soil, without waiting to see how the first one sells. I've already signed the contract, heard back from them, and we've begun the work.

Sown in Dark Soil is about Emma's grandson. It begins in 1854 on a plantation in Anson County, North Carolina, and moves to the Moretz farm in Watauga County.

Leah Morgan grew up on a plantation as her father’s favorite, and her sister, Ivy. is her mother’s. When their father dies and Mother tries to force them to marry men they don’t want, they leave with Ivy’s secret fiancé to go to his home in the mountains. On the journey, Ivy’s petty selfishness comes out, and Luke begins to have reservations, but he feels God

photo by Hugh Morton

wants him to keep his word. Even his Granny Em likes Leah better, and shes a shrewd judge of character. Leah finds it difficult keeping her sister on the right path, and Ivy causes one problem after another. In the end, all Granny Em, Luke, and Leah can do is depend on God to straighten everything out.

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Uncle Tom's Cabin

The book, Uncle Tom's Cabin, was released on March 20, 1852. From the very first, it drew a controversy, and the South soon banned it.The sentimental novel depicted some of the horrors of slavery. Most Southerns hated it, because it showed plantation owners and overseers in a bad light. African Americans later came to dislike it, because they thought Uncle Tom was portrayed as too docile and too subservient. The plays based on the book often heavily stereotyped the slaves also. Some critics even discredited the novel as too emotional, because it had been written by a woman.

Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote this novel, credited with laying part of the groundwork leading to the Civil War. She'd been born in Connecticut and taught at the Hartford Female Seminary. Most of the book was written in Brunswick, Maine, where her husband taught at Bowdoin College. She was a staunch abolitionist and wanted to aid their cause.

Uncle Tom's Cabin was first printed as a series in The National Era starting in June 1851 and was published in book form the following year. It quickly sold 300,000 copies, but then went out of print for a while. Still, it ended up being the best-selling book of the 19th century, and only came in second to the Bible in the 20th century.

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Basic Chicken Talk -
For National Poultry Day Today

Have you ever thought of having backyard chickens? Raising chickens is really not complicated, and many people are becoming interested. Of course, some have always kept them. The requirements are pretty simple. You'll need a safe place for them to rest overnight, like a coop. And, if you have neighbors, you'll probably want a fenced area.

Begin with at least three birds, a rooster and two hens. Chickens are social animals and will never do well alone. The coop needs to be at least a three-foot cube at the bare minimum for three chickens, and larger would be better. In fact, build it as large as you can, because you'll likely expand your flock, especially if you want to hatch some.

There are about 150 breeds of chickens and around 50 commonly found ones. Choose the breed that fits your needs best. Consider the following:
Eggs - number they lay per day, color, and size
Temperament - for example how adaptable are they to confinement and are they flyers or not. Also some are friendly with humans and others aren't.
Noise Level - this will be important if you have a low tolerance to noise or if you have close neighbors
Climate - some breeds do better in warm or hot climates, and others like it cool 
Uses - Some breeds are better layers, others are better for meat, and some are good for both

If you google "chicken breeds" you can find lists of the different breeds and their characteristics. I have fond memories of raising chickens growing up. There's something especially satisfying about going out each day and gathering your own eggs. Happy National Poultry Day!

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Boone Hall Plantation

Step back into antebellum times at Boone Hall Plantation in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, near Charleston. As a quintessential plantation, Boone Hall has been used for movie sets, book settings, and a means to understanding plantation life. The soap opera, Days of Our Lives and the mini-series, North and South filmed there. The movies, Queen and The Notebook, also used it.

Once a visitor starts down the nearly mile-long, oak-lined drive, the imagination takes over. The original land was given to John Boone in 1681 as a wedding present, and a wooden house was built on the site in 1790. When the property fell in the hands of Thomas Stone in the early 1900's, he wanted a grander house, and built this Colonial Revival style plantation house, which certainly fits the property. 

Many of the buildings on the property, however, are original, like the nine existing slave cabins. It's also still the longest continuous operating plantation farm. Boone Hall Farms have been going for over 320 years. You can buy some of their items at their market and eat at their restaurant just down the road.

If you're ever in the Charleston/Mt. Pleasant area, I highly recommend a tour of Boone Hall. Their interpretive programs are excellent and the time will be well-spent, especially if you're a history buff, like me.

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Luck of the Irish

I know you've heard the phrase, but you might not want anyone to wish you the luck of the Irish. Historically, the Irish haven't had much good luck. In fact, you might say, "If it weren't for bad luck, they'd have no luck at all."

Great plagues ravaged the island in the 7th century, and the people contended with Viking raids in the 800's. They were invaded by the Normans in the 12th century and were dominated by direct British rule for more than 700 years. A series of hard-fought military campaigns were launched against the Irish between 1534 and 1603. The plantation policy brought in thousands of Scottish and English Protestants to settle the land in hopes of bringing the island under control, but it made matters worse. The Irish were a stubborn lot. 

In the 1600's harsh penal codes took much of the land away from the Irish landholders, and this time was the bloodiest in Irish history. Between the 15th and the 18th centuries, many Irish set sail to the Caribbean as forced labor to work off their punishments for opposing British rule. Political unrest remained in Ireland, even into modern times.

Another devastating blow came in the 1800's with the Great Potato Famine.  Over one-third of the population relied on the potato for survival. When the blight struck and the potatoes rotted, thousands became destitute, thousands died, and thousands left their homeland, many coming to America.

No, the luck of the Irish isn't based on their circumstances but on their ability to deal with those circumstances. The Irish have a resilient nature and a persevering spirit. They have the remarkable ability to see a silver lining in anything and to laugh at themselves and their situations. This is why all my novels tend to have some Irish characters. May you have that kind of luck, too.

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