31 December 2008

Folkston Revisited

Ok, so since we were in Folkston for the Find a Grave adventure anyway, I decided to take our train-crazy-toddler to the funnel. Unfortunetly, they were having a slow day, so we did not actually see any trains, but they have a new (small) museum that we stopped in. Above, we see Charlie demostrating what an alligator says.
"Choo choo! Choo choo! Choo choo!"
"Yes Charlie, lots of choo choos."
I guess this is how the office at thetrain station was supposed to look like back in the day.
Some various train related artifacts, here we see some lamps and oil cans
locks and keys
train books
Telegraphs and wire covers
The Hildegarde was one of the last recorded steamers to serve this area on the St Marys River. She began her service here in the 1890's and was sold in 1916 to a sugar refinery company in Savannah.
Using the public docks, she would come twice a week from the Fernandina area and stop at Kings Ferry which is about ten miles from Folkston on the St Marys. The boat would spend the night taking on mail, passengers and supplies to return the next day.
She broke her keel on a sandbar in South Carolina ending a small piece of history for this area.

30 December 2008

Askew Family

Ok, so today's Buddventure comes courtesy of Find a Grave. For anyone who has not checked out this website, you really should because it is amazing what you can do on it. Anyway, one of the things you can do is become a Photo Volunteer, so if someone is tracing their roots and finds out about family graves that they cannot visit themselves, they contact someone local to visit it and take a photo. Pretty neat, huh? So my first trip as a Photo Volunteer has brought me back to Folkston, to the Pineview Cemetery, pictured above. Since I expected this to be a quick easy trip, I brought the kid along with me to give mom a few hours off. Yeah, cemetery, not as small as I expected. Not even close. So I hope the photo requester does not mind, but I thought since the photos are taken I may as well share them on here so others who are interested can find them.
So here is the first Askew family I came across, right in the front of the cemetery. These graves are:
James Willis Askew
Apr 16, 1906
Sep 25 1989
Doris Alwyn Askew
Apr 22, 1908
June 6, 1998

Another Askew next to them, maybe their daughter since she died young:
Lucia Merle Askew
July 13, 1923
Sept 22, 1924

Here is the next Askew plot I came across, this one almost all the way in the back.
Albert L. Askew
Oct 23, 1893
July 24, 1986
His wife:
Mary I. Askew
Aug 9, 1898
Aug 10, 1982

Geraldine Askew Gibson
Dec 6, 1916
Feb 27, 2000

Claude Barnes Gibson
Jan 5, 1914
Sept 21, 2002

In memory of Albert Leon Askew Jr.
April 27, 1915-Mar 3, 1920
Son of Albert Leon and Mary Ida Askew

Geraldin Burney Dillard
Feb 9, 1943
Feb 4, 2008

James Larry Dillard
May 26, 1949

Dan George Burney
Oct 7, 1908
Apr 22, 1992
Mary Inez A. Burney
Feb 5, 1919
Sept 5, 1983
And finally, the last Askew plot (that I found) where the person I was looking for was found. This plot is almost exactly in the middle of the cemetery.
Here is my query:
Kittye Haralson Askew
Sep 28, 1893
Apr 20, 1960
Fred Davis Askew Sr.
May 7, 1891
Feb 25, 1971
Remember the Cowpens post? Well this man served on the Carrier USS Cowpens in WW2. Interesting, huh?
Fred Davis Askew Jr.
EM3 US Navy
World War II
Dec 13, 1927
Nov 27, 2000

Thomas Wallace Askew
Sept 26, 1915
Apr 5, 1951

Charlie loves Buddventures!

29 December 2008

On the ground

Ok, so since I showed you Woodbine from the air, I thought I would show what's here on ground level. This is the Camden County Courthouse square, which was shown on the previous post from the air. So to let you know what you are seeing, above is the old courthouse, which is in the top left of the aerial photo, on the eastern side of the courthouse square. The building below is the new courthouse, on the northern side of the square, therefore the top left of the picture. The bottom, or southern side of the square is the Sheriff's office, and nestled sorta in between the new couthouse and the Sheriff's Office, on the left side is the Bryan-Lang Historical Library.
The town of Woodbine grew out of Woodbine Plantation, founded on the Satilla River by John Bailey, then passed to his son Henry, and then to his children. The plantation, which grew rice, was then purchased by James King Bedell, now considered the town's founder. He was the one to grant land to the railroad, with the stipulation that the town that would grow here carry on the name Woodbine. The town was incorporated in 1908 and laid out in a "railroad strip community" style. In 1923 it became the county seat, and the old couthouse and square, designed by Julian de Bruyn Kops, were built in 1928. The library and Sheriff's office were added in the late 80's and the new courthouse was opened in 2004.
County monument to the armed forces.
Monument for police of Camden County who have fallen in the line of duty.
Supposedly, there should be a marker here somewhere for the county itself, but I have looked several times to no avail.

28 December 2008

Black Sea boats

Ok, so this article is a little old, but still interesting:
Adolf Hitler's 'lost fleet' found in Black Sea By Jasper Copping
Last Updated: 2:36am GMT 03/02/2008


The final resting place of three German U-boats, nicknamed "Hitler's lost fleet", has been found at the bottom of the Black Sea.
In pictures: Hitler's lost U-boats The submarines had been carried 2,000 miles overland from Germany to attack Russian shipping during the Second World War, but were scuttled as the war neared its end. Now, more than 60 years on, explorers have located the flotilla of three submarines off the coast of Turkey.
The vessels, including one once commanded by Germany's most successful U-boat ace, formed part of the 30th Flotilla of six submarines, taken by road and river across Nazi-occupied Europe, from Germany's Baltic port at Kiel to Constanta, the Romanian Black Sea port.

In two years, the fleet sank dozens of ships and lost three of their number to enemy action. But in August 1944, Romania switched sides and declared war on Germany, leaving the three remaining vessels stranded.

With no base and unable to sail home - the Bosporus and Dardanelles were closed to them because of Turkish neutrality - their captains were ordered to scuttle the boats before rowing ashore and trying to make their way back to Germany. However, all three crews were caught and interned by the Turks.

Now the submarines' hulls have been discovered by a team led by Selçuk Kolay, a Turkish marine engineer, who will present his findings to a shipwreck conference in Plymouth this week.

Mr Kolay established the boats' positions through research in German archives, interviews with surviving sailors and by sonar studies of the seabed.

He has already completed successful dives to the wreckage of one vessel, U-20, two miles offshore in about 80ft of water. He believes he has discovered another, U-23, at twice that depth, three miles from the town of Agva, but bad weather forced him to suspend diving until the spring.

He thinks he is also close to pinpointing the third boat, U-19, thought to lie more than 1,000ft down, three miles from the Turkish city of Zonguldak.

"It's one of the least well known stories of the war but one of the most interesting, " said Mr Kolay.

"It is a quite incredible story. To get to the Black Sea these boats had to be taken across the land, and once they got there they had no way out."
All three U-boats had been operating against British shipping in the North Sea. U-23 gained notoriety for scoring one of Germany's earliest successes, sinking a British ship off the Shetland Islands days after war began. It was later commanded by Otto Kretschmer, known as "Silent Otto", the most successful U-boat ace.

In 1941, Germany invaded Russia and decided it needed a presence in the Black Sea to harass Soviet shipping there. Unable to use the Bosporus, the only shipping route into the Black Sea, the boats were dismantled at Kiel and taken by canal to the River Elbe, and upstream to Dresden.

Here, they were partly dismantled and taken by lorry to Ingolstadt, on the Danube, and then ferried downstream to the Black Sea and Constanta, where they were re-assembled.

When Romania switched sides the crews were ordered to scuttle out of sight of the Turks so the submarines' locations would remain a mystery. Mr Kolay was helped by a map drawn by Rudolf Arendt, 85, the former captain of the U-23, showing where his crew came ashore.

Mike Williams, secretary of the Nautical Archaeology Society, said: "This is a significant find because these U-boats were all scuttled, so they should be intact, like a sealed tube. They are unique survivors of the war."

27 December 2008

Chasing the Redcoats

Ok, so this is a book I picked up at Ninety-Six as a substitute for another tour book I no longer had. This book certainly covers more battlefields than other tour books, though aside from the graves of Francis Marion and William Washington, it does not cover other war related sites. Each site location is accompanied by a short description of the battle that took place, though the descriptions are not nearly comprehensive. Perhaps the best idea would be to familiarize yourself with the battles before, then use this guide to travel. Its best property is probably its small size, just a small paperback compared to some of the larger tour books. It is also a cheap buy at just $12. All things considered, I highly reccomend it for any history chaser living or traveling in the Palmetto State. The book can be bought on Amazon here.
South Carolina's Revolutionary War Battlefields: A tour guide
R.L. Barbour
2002 Pelican Publishing
119 pages

26 December 2008

Palmetto State

Ok, so I stole this photo from the wife. It is the entrance to South Carolina from Georgia on 95. This setup makes it quite obvious that the residents of the Palmetto State have very strong pride in thei state's history and traditions.

24 December 2008

Bill of Rights Day

Ok, so this is a message my Dad sent me about the Bill Of Rights day celebration in Phoenix. I hate dabbling into politics on here, but the way I see it, this is a history blog, and we may well be in the middle of historic times right now. It's time for all of us to take a serious look at the world we live in and decide what it is we want and believe in. If you agree, then read on.
Bill of Rights Day, 2008, Phoenix, Ariz.
THE LIGHTER SIDE -- A Delightful Gathering (scroll down for darker side)
The Bill of Rights Day celebration in Phoenix, held this year at the Wrigley Mansion, showed the day's growing popularity since events began here in 2003. This reflected growth nationally since 1997, when Aaron Zelman and Richard Stevens worked together to reinvigorate recognition of this most auspicious day.More than 250 people -- the largest crowd so far -- packed the banquet hall and took part in the reading, food and drink, oratory by Patrick Henry (ably portrayed by Dr. Lance Hurley), and most important, a Town Hall discussion of the 217-year-old Bill's health and welfare.The reading was led by people from the community, and joined by those assembled:
Preamble and the 1st Amendment: Author Alan Korwin
2nd Amendment: KTAR Meteorologist Ed Phillips
3rd Amendment: Americans for Prosperity Arizona Chapter Tom Jenney
4th Amendment: Federalist Society and Institute for Justice Jennifer Perkins
5th Amendment: Attorney Richard Stevens
6th Amendment: Justice of the Peace Gerald Williams
7th Amendment: Ronald Reagan and Ron Paul Aide Joe Cobb
8th Amendment: ACLU Arizona Executive Director Alessandra Soler Meetze
9th Amendment: Republican Jewish Coalition Arizona President Amy Laff
10th Amendment: Arizona Council on Economic Education President and 4th Great Granddaughter of Patrick Henry, Elizabeth Volard
THE DARK SIDE -- Redress of Serious Grievances
It turned out that examining the abuses and usurpations of our government -- which the "declaratory and restrictive clauses" of the Bill of Rights are supposed to check -- is serious business, not just a Hallmark card opportunity.Those assembled expressed in no uncertain terms their anger that government had stepped so far outside its delegated boundaries, exercising unchecked powers, intruding into aspects of our lives that would have appalled the Founders, infringing upon or virtually eradicating freedoms we hold dear, and failing in its primary obligation -- the protection of our freedoms and rights. We found broad consensus on these points.This reading of the Bill of Rights is potentially a very dangerous thing.The government is not likely to take kindly to direct threats to its powers -- which the Bill of Rights specifically represents -- especially as it is held in hand by an angered people. The very idea that the people would take it upon themselves to examine government's abuses, usurpations of powers, abuses of authority, and contraventions of the very Bill that is meant to constrain government actions, is inflammatory.At what point do the people, oppressed and incensed by the abuses of government, act directly to limit and yes punish those responsible? When are "public servants," feigning to guard us against infringements, brought to justice?How is that government to react to this frontal assault on itself by the Fourth Branch of government, we the people? Do "officials" sit idly by and say yes, you're right, we screwed up, we'll leave you alone now? Or do they see the challenges as extra-legal, unwarranted foment, subversions of their unchallenged authority, and cause for retribution and retaliation? What do they tell their compliant press corps to tell the masses about all this?
By what means do the people rightly resist tyrannical, undelegated, unchecked abuse of power -- when elections and indignant letters to the editors have no effect? At what point does push come to shove? The people assembled asked -- where is the tipping point?We have very real concerns. The abuses are not imagined, not temporary, not short lived, not arbitrary, not about to dissipate on their own, and not acceptable.How It WentIf there was one common theme revealed in Bill of Rights Day 2008 this was it -- the federal government has overstepped its bounds with respect to the restrictions placed upon it by the Bill of Rights. Our rights are under assault. There was no disagreement. Too many felt the Bill of Rights was on life support.Our government is exercising powers it has not been given, and it's not acting to limit the abuse. No one realistically expects such change to come from within.There was inconsistent agreement on which abuses were worse, but there was unanimous consent that government had grown large, ugly and usurped powers it had no legitimate claim to take. The Tenth Amendment seemed to emerge as perhaps the most important and egregiously abused:The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.Just who is responsible for enforcing the Bill of Rights? Is Congress, or the Attorney General, or Senator McCain, or the Speaker of the House? Are they charged with the duty to enforce the limits on themselves? Pure experience reveals that to be ludicrous. The limits on government are enforceable only by the Fourth Branch of government -- we the people!The Bill of Rights was put into place by the Founders who recognized that government would naturally and inexorably exceed its bounds, acquiring more and more power. The Founders wrote basic rules for where that power must end. But they wisely left it up to the people to demand and enforce those limits -- government by its nature will do the opposite.Perhaps we have for a time neglected our responsibility under this document. It is time to renew our watchful eye over those natural and necessary limits on government, which the Bill of Rights demands. We are the guardians. The requirement to act falls to us.That's why Bill of Rights Day is dangerous. For if the people rise up and demand the limits placed on government, government is at risk. Its power and lifeblood are directly challenged by the very people it seeks to govern. The people's interest in limiting, regulating and governing those who govern threatens those who govern, and rightfully so. But so it should be in a free society.We reached some pretty dangerous conclusions that day, 250 members of we the people, in Congress assembled, in the magnificent Wrigley Mansion -- itself a free-market product of the very freedom we sought to preserve. The Fourth Branch of government examined the other three and found them lacking. We were not happy (although congregating that evening was pure joy).But who rises up, pitchfork in hand, and says enough? Surprisingly, many seemed at or near that breaking point, and these were decent and good citizens, your peers from around the neighborhood. How would government view that?We had recommendations on the table -- from prison terms for violation of oath of office to heads on pikes. Suggestions ranged from statutes to punish errant politicians to periodic criminal background checks for every government official in the land. Burning gasoline-soaked-tire destruction of photo-radar tax collectors that surveil the innocent. Jail for judges who subvert the law or invent their own. Fully informed juries. Tax revolt.We the people hungered for the common decency and rule of law we believe we are promised but that we do not receive. To a government bent on control and plunging headlong unbridled we edged perilously close to... well let's just say it got pretty uppity. I steered it away from a precipice more than once.Two hundred and fifty of my neighbors and friends packed into the Wrigley Mansion ballroom the night of Dec. 15 and examined the Bill of Rights. Well dressed, well mannered, well heeled, we assembled for a night of light ebullience, an evening of recognition, honorifics, celebratory drink and dining. We found ourselves in a ferment of redress of grievances.
Bill of Rights Day is not some mild mannered milquetoast celebration, it is functional. The government is failing us, exercising powers we have not delegated, interfering with our essence, eating out our substance. It is unacceptable, implacable, must not continue. The Bill of Rights, not government edict and largess, must prevail.We at Wrigley found ourselves appalled and unfortunately without consensus as to how to proceed. Author Claire Wolfe poignantly asked ten years ago, what do you do when it's too late to work within the system but too early to shoot the b@stards? Did she encapsulate the problem with this:"The ideal citizen of a tyrannical state is the man or woman who bows in silent obedience in exchange for the status of a well-card-for herd animal. Thinking people become the tyrant's greatest enemies."America needs 1,000 chapters of the Committee for the Bill of Rights, in 1,000 cities. A thousand points of light in this stygian darkness. We need to speak with a singular voice as the quintessential branch of governance. "You have no delegated power to take money from us in taxes and give it to businesses you deem poorly run. You don't. Whatever consequences you promise, whatever horrors you predict, you lack power to address the invented problems in this manner. You must cease and desist or face prison or worse."Like I said, this is dangerous stuff. How far away is the tipping point? When do the intolerable acts put pitchforks in the faces of the Dodd-Franks who insist on our passive compliance -- while undermining our banks and homes? When do the house and senate speakers and "leadership" cross the point of no return? They are moving in that direction with no signs of brakes.Who raises a hand when asked, "Do you want your taxes to go up?" How is it then that our elected officials keep raising our taxes? That's got a name. "Taxation without representation." When you have representatives but they fail to represent you, you are unrepresented -- while craftily deluded into thinking otherwise.It's wrong to cast this as some sort of partisan dilemma. This not about the Republicans vs. the Democrats. This is about the government vs. you.This is statism vs. individual freedom. The forces that have subjugated mankind since time immemorial are fighting the liberties that have created the greatest prosperity and abundance the planet has ever known. For all the political drawbacks of the classic "libertarian" philosophy, its underlying adoration of personal freedom, the right to be left alone, the right to do as you please as long as you harm no one, this must be rekindled. The late author and statesman Harry Brown recognized that government is a way for one group of people to impose its will on another group of people. We need less imposition and more free will."Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher."--Thomas Paine, Common Sense 1776
Those of you who missed the meetings this year, mark your calendars now. Bill of Rights Day, Dec. 15, 2009, falls on a Tuesday.Maybe we need to meet before then.
Respectfully submitted,Alan Korwin
Alan Korwin
Bloomfield Press
"We publish the gun laws."
4848 E. Cactus, #505-440
Scottsdale, AZ 85254
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http://www.gunlaws.comalan@gunlaws.com
Call, write, fax or click for free full-color catalog(This is our address and info as of Jan. 1, 2007)
If you can read this, thank a teacher.If you're reading this in English, thank a veteran.
"No one could make a greater mistake than he who did nothingbecause he could do only a little."--Edmund Burke

23 December 2008

Leavin, on a.... prop plane

Ok, so this is my first "mobile blogging"! Try to follow along here. The wife has been up in South Carolina for a while now, but when I came in, she came down to "visit" for a day. Then when we went on standown she asked her dad (did I mention he's a pilot?) to come down and fly me up there. No, not his house, to her mom's house near Charlotte. We're going to her dad's house near Columbia in a couple days. Then we will drive home to Georgia. Confused yet? I'm not sure yet that I'm not. Anyway, here is her dad's plane at the St Marys airport.
Starting lineup at the airport
Friendly reminder from your local submarine base. I love how the small sign says pilots are "requested" to not fly over the base.
Here's the base, looking out toward the piers.
Here's the rest of the base with all the admin buildings.
Crooked River, the jut of land above is where the state park is.
Woodbine, GA. Here is the Camden county courthouse complex
looks like some clearing operation going on
The Altamaha River above and below. The mouth of this river is where Oglethorpe created the town of Darien as a barrier for Savannah.

Nice farm yo.
Here's where we stoppped for gas
Gassin' up the plane
Nuke power plant at the Savannah river site. Oh by the way, that's the Savannah river too.
Another site at the Sav River site. Looks like a former plant site that has been decommed and is being disposed of.
Some kind of mining operation. I'm used to seeing these out west digging for gold or copper. Not sure what they're looking for here.
Lake Murray, west of Columbia SC.
Dreher Island State Park on Lake Murray
Monticello Reservoir, just north of Lake Murray. You can see the dam and power plant here that form the lake.
Charlotte, North Carolina
Catawba Power plant at Lake Wylie
Here we are, Rock Hill Municipal airport
Jacket at the Rock Hill airport of Robert Bryant
HOLDER OF WORLDS NON-STOP LIGHT PLANE RECORD
MIAMI, FLA. TO CAMDEN, NJ.
JULY 13, 1938 1051 MILES
IN 13 HRS. & 20 MINUTES