Writer of Creative Nonfiction, Fiction, Poetry and Master Photographer
North Carolina is a well-known retirement destination, offering everything from mountains to a beautiful coast and everything in between. While there have been some famous people to settle here after becoming famous, there are also some great legends and tall tales about others. One unsolved case is that of Jean Lafitte — a pirate, privateer,…
Most people are familiar with the Scopes “Monkey Trial” held in 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee. High school teacher John Scopes was put on trial for teaching evolution. The case drew national attention — which was exactly what city leaders wanted when they set up the whole thing. It was a PR stunt. Tennessee was one…
North Carolina is known as the “Old North State” and the “Tar Heel State.” The University of North Carolina’s mascot is the Tar Heels. But there isn’t total agreement on where the nickname started. When I was in elementary school, most of the attribution for the nickname had Civil War roots. The most common I…
In 1755, a law was passed by the North Carolina General Assembly for “relief of the poor and the prevention of idleness.” Later, in 1817, a tax was approved, and through private donations and will bequests, funding for the poor slowly came about. Not much was done formally until well into the antebellum period, when…
Going through school, it seemed we never got to the history I was most interested to know in class. It was rare to get much about the Revolution and forget the Civil War. It sure seemed like we spent plenty of time on the Greeks and Romans and Holy Roman Empire. However, we always got…