I did a write-up on the Colonial Inn back in May. This historic building has come a long way. It is, now, finally open for business after being vacant and crumbling for nearly 20 years. I wish them luck. ~Vic
The evergreen Fir Tree has traditionally been used to celebrate winter festivals (Pagan and Christian) for thousands of years. Pagans used branches of it to decorate their homes during the winter solstice, as it made them think of the spring to come. The Romans used Fir Trees to decorate their temples at the festival of Saturnalia. Christians use it as a sign of everlasting life with God.
The Forrest House
12-05-2020Two tiny reindeer pulling a sleigh. Same Front Yard
12-13-2020
Click for a larger view.Lovely greenery. The Crawford House
12-13-2020
Click for a larger view.There is normally a pink bird house here.
You can’t see this house from the street.
12-13-2020
Click for a larger view.
Here’s to the Charlie Brown way of decorating. ~Vic
Just a few ornaments.
12-05-2020
Click for a larger view.Or, no ornaments at all. “It’s all fun and games until
Santa checks the naughty list.”
12-13-2020
Click for a larger view.
Natural ornaments are lovely.
12-13-2020
Click for a larger view.
And, if you don’t have snow,
make your own.
Winter Wonderland. Have a beer. Hot Tin Roof Bar
12-13-2020
Click for a larger view.
Youth/Family Category
12-05-2020
Click for a larger view.04-30-2019Lot 23
Site of Edmund Fanning’s House 1762 Eagle Lodge #19 1791 Masonic Lodge #71 1823 Civil War Hospital 1865
04-30-2020
Click for a larger view.
[For the next 15 days, I will be posting pictures of local Christmas stuff as Christmas Day draws near. If anyone wants to participate in their own Christmas Countdown and post local stuff from their area, hit me up with a link back. ~Vic]
Our residents and business owners are participating in a Gingerbread House competition. They are re-creating some of the historic homes and historic buildings. At some point, someone will be doing a re-creation of the Occaneechee Speedway (part of the birth of NASCAR).
A merchant brigantine, the Mary Celeste was built at Spencer’s Island, Nova Scotia and launched under British registration as Amazon in 1861. She was transferred to American ownership and registration in 1868 when she acquired her new name. Thereafter, she sailed, uneventfully, until her 1872 voyage.
[She was] discovered adrift and deserted in the Atlantic Ocean off the Azores Islands on December 4, 1872. The Canadian brigantine Dei Gratia found her in a disheveled but seaworthy condition under partial sail and with her lifeboat missing. The last entry in her log was dated ten days earlier.
She left New York City for Genoa on November 7 and [the] Dei Gratia departed for Gibraltar on November 15, following the same general route eight days [later]. [She] was still amply provisioned when found. Her cargo of denatured alcohol was intact and, the captain’s and crew’s personal belongings were undisturbed. None of those who had been on board were ever heard from again.
Image Credit: gutenberg.org
At the salvage hearings in Gibraltar following her recovery, the court’s officers considered various possibilities of foul play, including mutiny by Mary Celeste’s crew, piracy by the Dei Gratia crew or others and conspiracy to carry out insurance or salvage fraud. No convincing evidence supported these theories but, unresolved suspicions led to a relatively low salvage award.
The inconclusive nature of the hearings fostered continued speculation as to the nature of the mystery and, the story has repeatedly been complicated by false detail and fantasy. Hypotheses that have been advanced include the effects on the crew of alcohol fumes rising from the cargo, submarine earthquakes (seaquakes), waterspouts, attack by a giant squid and paranormal intervention. The story of her 1872 abandonment has been recounted and dramatized many times in documentaries, novels, plays and films and, the name of the ship has become a byword for unexplained desertion.
[Were] it not for Dr. Arthur Conan Doyle, struggling to establish himself as a writer prior to creating Sherlock Holmes, perhaps the world would not have ever known or cared [about the ship]. Conan Doyle’s short story about the ‘Marie Celeste‘ (he changed the name from Mary) turned a minor puzzle into one of the most famous legends of the sea. Nevertheless, we should recognise it was fiction, for which his editor paid 30 Pounds, […] a respectable sum in 1884.
It’s finally October, home month of jack-o-lanterns, ghosties, ghoulies, witches (the cartoon type), bats, spiders, skeletons, and the like, for the upcoming Halloween. I love wandering around to get shots of local decorations, much like Christmas. This post, however, covers some of my old stuff…stuff collected over the years (remember email forwards?)…stuff I didn’t take, myself, plus…a really cute video from 2005. I have no idea who took these. ~Vic
Seventy-three years ago, today, the infamous Flight 19 disappeared over the Bermuda Triangle in what was supposed to be a routine, three-hour exercise of combat training and navigation. Four TBM-1Cs and one TBM-3 Grumman Avenger torpedo bombers took off from NAS Fort Lauderdale at 14:10pm. Twenty-seven year old Navy Lieutenant Charles Carroll Taylor was the flight leader and pilot of FT-28, the TBM-3.
“Two hours after the flight began, the leader of the squadron, who had been flying in the area for more than six months, reported that his compass and back-up compass had failed and, that his position was unknown. The other planes experienced similar instrument malfunctions. Radio facilities on land were contacted to find the location of the lost squadron but, none were successful. After two more hours of confused messages from the fliers, a distorted radio transmission from the squadron leader was heard at 18:20pm, apparently calling for his men to prepare to ditch their aircraft simultaneously because of lack of fuel.”
“Radio conversations between the pilots were overheard by base and other aircraft in the area. The practice bombing operation is known to have been carried out because at about 15:00pm, a pilot requested and was given permission to drop his last bomb. Forty minutes later, another flight instructor, Lieutenant Robert F. Cox in FT-74, forming up with his group of students for the same mission, received an unidentified transmission.
Photo Credit: nasflmuseum.com
An unidentified crew member asked Powers (Marine Corps Captain Edward Joseph Powers, Jr., pilot of FT-36), for his compass reading. Powers replied: “I don’t know where we are. We must have got lost after that last turn.” Cox then transmitted: “This is FT-74, plane or boat calling ‘Powers’ please identify yourself so someone can help you.” The response after a few moments was a request from the others in the flight for suggestions. FT-74 tried again and a man identified as FT-28 (Lt. Taylor) came on. “FT-28, this is FT-74, what is your trouble?” “Both of my compasses are out”, Taylor replied, “and I am trying to find Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I am over land but it’s broken. I am sure I’m in the Keys but, I don’t know how far down and, I don’t know how to get to Fort Lauderdale.”
FT-74 informed the NAS that aircraft were lost, then advised Taylor to put the sun on his port wing and fly north up the coast to Fort Lauderdale. […] no bearings could be made on the flight and the IFF (transmitter) could not be picked up. Taylor was told to broadcast on 4805 kHz. This order was not acknowledged so he was asked to switch to 3000 kHz, the search and rescue frequency. Taylor replied: “I cannot switch frequencies. I must keep my planes intact.”
As the weather deteriorated, radio contact became intermittent and it was believed that the five aircraft were actually, by that time, more than 200 nmi (230 mi; 370 km) out to sea east of the Florida peninsula. Taylor radioed “We’ll fly 270 degrees west until landfall or running out of gas” and requested a weather check at 17:24pm. By 17:50pm, several land-based radio stations had triangulated Flight 19’s position as […] north of the Bahamas and well off the coast of central Florida.”
There is some question as to the exact time of Taylor’s last transmission (18:20pm or 19:04pm) but, he was heard saying “All planes close up tight…we’ll have to ditch unless landfall…when the first plane drops below 10 gallons, we all go down together.” By that time, the sun had set and the weather was much worse.
“Two PBM Mariner flying boats were dispatched from NAS Banana River in Melbourne, Florida (now Patrick Air Force Base), carrying rescue equipment. Less than a half hour after take-off (at approximately 19:27), one of the PBM’s (Trainer 49/BuNo 59225) radioed the tower that they were nearing Flight 19’s last assumed position. The rescue plane with a crew of 13 men was never heard from again.”
“At 21:15pm, the tanker SS Gaines Mills reported it had observed flames from an apparent explosion leaping 100 ft (30 m) high and burning for 10 minutes. Captain Shonna Stanley reported unsuccessfully searching for survivors through a pool of oil and aviation gasoline. The escort carrier USS Solomons also reported losing radar contact with an aircraft at the same position and time.”
A 500 page Navy investigation was published a few months later. Initially, blame was placed upon Lt. Taylor for mistaking the Bahamas for the Florida Keys and not listening to his subordinate officers. The report was amended to ’cause unknown’ when Taylor’s mother stated that the Navy had no evidence for their conclusions…no planes and no bodies. Lt. Taylor was listed as ‘not at fault’ as his compasses were not working. The disappearance of PBM-5 Trainer 49 was attributed to a mid-air explosion.
