Writer of Creative Nonfiction, Fiction, Poetry and Master Photographer
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…
Most Americans have heard about how Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star- Spangled Banner” while onboard a British ship during the shelling of Fort McHenry in the War of 1812. (Technically, he was on an American truce ship tethered to a British ship) The poem went on to become our national anthem after being set…
The man was known as Omeroh, Moro, or Omar Ibn Seid and caused quite a curiosity in Fayetteville back in the early 1800s. The story goes that in 1810, John Owen — a man who later became governor of North Carolina — went to the Cumberland County jail and secured the release of a “strange-looking,…
David Marshall Williams was so good at hiding his moonshine stills and keeping his illegal business under wraps, even his wife didn’t know about it. However, on a fateful day in 1921, that secret came to light and almost cost Williams his life. Sheriff’s deputies raided his Cumberland County operation near Godwin where Williams and…
There have been plenty of movies made about America-Russia conflicts, the Cold War, the Berlin Wall. “Red Dawn” came out when I was a teenager and featured a Russian invasion of America. However, it seems lost to history that Americans actually fought Russians in Russia during the Russian Revolution. In 1918, America, France, Canada, and…
Americans are used to the tradition of the national anthem being played at the start of major sporting events. It was not preplanned. On September 11, 1918, Game 5 of the World Series was scheduled to be played between the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs. While it may seem like a modern theme,…
Most people think of the Eiffel Tower as an international icon, the symbol of France, and maybe sometimes, even King’s Dominion amusement park. But that wasn’t always the case. When the tower was being built (1887) for the Paris Centennial Exhibition in 1889, many thought it was an eyesore. It was originally only supposed to…
I’ve made no secret on this blog about my fascination of Zebulon Vance, who served as North Carolina’s governor during the Civil War and later as a senator. He was a flawed person — like all of us — but he was quite a character. But I truly enjoyed learning more about him while researching…
In the summer of 1842, Henry Shoemaker was working as a hired hand on a DeKalb County farm in Indiana. As the day wore on, he realized he’d forgotten to vote. He promised to vote for Madison Marsh, so he rode 12 miles to the polling place and cast his ballot. Marsh won by one…
“Dixie” — the song and the term itself — has fallen on hard times. Once a popular name for things from fairs and events as well as a catchy tune, the term has been a casualty of cancel culture. The song was actually written in 1859 by Daniel Decatur Emmett for Bryant’s Minstrel Shows, a…