Comments for North Carolina Miscellany

Comment on Life History Of Otto Wood by maggie Wood

maggie Wood — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 02:30:56 +0000

I am also another one of Otto Wood’s great grandchildren. I believe there is more of us, then a lot of us realizes. My name is Maggie Wood, Ruben Dennis Wood is my father. And his father, my grandfather is Ruben Otto Wood (the twin boy that was mentioned in the post above.) I still live in High Point and my father just moved to Kernersville. I have an older sister, Samantha Wood East and the list keeps going on. My grandfather died in 1981, a year after I was born. I have found internet records that say Otto’s father’s name was Thomas Wood and his mother’s name was Ellen Staley Wood. And Otto’s grandparents names are Ruben Wood and Nellie Johnson Wood. I wish I could find more about the Wood family; like, what country did we come from and when did we arrive in America and does our family history go all the way back to the first known Wood? I heard that we are German, but I really have no idea. I enjoy reading about my great grandfather Otto and see what people have to say about him, even though sometimes it’s not very nice. Maybe, some more of us will be able to shed some more light on the Wood family genealogy.

Comment on Abe Lincoln’s Carolina Roots by Cherokee Empire

Cherokee Empire — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 16:20:01 +0000

Lincoln was also related to General or Officer Lincoln, Revolutionary War Hero of the Savannah Campaign. President Johnson, VP of the U.S. under Lincoln, worked for hero Lincoln in the Appalachian Mountains of the frontier. Is it coincidence that Johnson became VP under President Lincoln? President Lincoln also had relatives at Ocunalufftee Cherokee Town at Cherokee, NC, now on the reservation. Lincoln in fact was part Indian. Once reason he supported ending slavery is that some of his relatives were slaves. cherokeeempire.bravehost.com

Comment on Chapel Hill’s Eagle Hotel by Ron Aldridge

Ron Aldridge — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 20:56:27 +0000

I wanted to correct something from the above. The Railroad Hotel wasn’t opened til 1858, so it did leave several years for Miss Nancy to have served “students at her new house” until moving to Burlington for evidently about 7 years, returning to CH in 1865.

Comment on Chapel Hill’s Eagle Hotel by Ron Aldridge

Ron Aldridge — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 18:40:41 +0000

A comment on the historical content at the top. In the April 1, 2013 edition of the Burlington Times News, there is a story about the Railroad Hotel, a sumptuous hotel that was built by the railroad company in Burlington, which was then merely called “Company Shops”, because it was a huge railroad center. Anyway, the hotel was built in the 1840′s (at twice the budgeted cost!) and Miss Nancy Hilliard, evidently well known for her great cooking, was hired to run the hotel. She excelled there, but came back to Chapel Hill in the early 1860′s. So if the Times/News article is correct, then she did not sell the Eagle Hotel and continue serving students at her new house as the above states. Just fyi.

Comment on Bigfoot in N.C. by Margene

Margene — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:25:57 +0000

Let me remind everyone that thinks we’re just crazy…Gorillas were once just legends too. So were elephants. People were afraid to eat tomatoes because most people believed they were poisonous. Bigfoot stories were first told by the Indians in this country and there are tales of bigfoots all over the world, in every culture with different names. Just like the story of Noah’s Ark. In the Bible the story is told and so was told by Gilgamesh. THERE APPARENTLY WAS QUITE A FLOOD! So it may be if you are the one who hasn’t seen a bigfoot, then you are unlucky or in denial. I think Bigfoot corpses have been found but no one knew what to make of them. Now there is DNA and how are they going to break it to us that you are a monkey’s uncle? It kind of goes against the grain. Think about it. It could be the greatest conspiracy ever. And just because it is a conspiracy doesn’t mean it isn’t real. Study the case of the Zodiac Killer. He has never been found. The smartest people in the world are still trying to break the ciphers. The suspects and victims are all intertwined in coincidences. The more you study the less you’ll know. Okay, the JFK assassination. Unless you really believe Oswald acted alone you could spend the rest of your life trying to figure it out. The more you’ll read the more you’ll be convinced it is a huge web of deciet. It would be harder to just accept Oswald acted alone. Sometimes there just aren’t answers that can be pulled out of a hat. If you’re lucky from time to time you get some encouragement. People see ghosts and of course they couldn’t be real. But how come several people who don’t know each other or have any link to each other can all see the same thing? We try to think of answers but the more we come up with the more they confuse us. There are things in black and white but there are some grey areas where you just are left wondering.

Comment on Bigfoot in N.C. by Margene

Margene — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 16:57:22 +0000

I suggest you look for Bigfoot in Green Swamp in Brunswick County or in the Long Leaf Pine forest in Bolivia, NC specifically out on By-Pass Way near the Hunting Lodge.

Comment on First in Barbecue Editors, Too by Alex Albright

Alex Albright — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 22:19:47 +0000

Bill Harmon was introduced as barbecue editor of NCLR in the 1996 issue, which also includes the inimitable Jonathan Williams’ review of Ridgewood, “The True, Only, and Most Secret Entrance to Hog Heaven” and the disturbing “Smoke, Hog-Wild Hauling,” by Jake Grant, which for Mr. Vaughn will describe how we treat hogs before they become ‘cue. Not necessarily nice, but not often a part of our dialog. (One off-stage element of Jim Applewhite’s fine poem is the hog that’s the essential sacrament in “Barbecue Service” was raised & butchered by family, not factory; they knew what the pig ate.) What we sometimes thought of as the ‘cue issue of NCLR wound up being my last; my successor, Tom Douglass, edited the 1997 issue and continued the barbecue editor position. Bill wrote a third essay, intended for the 1998 issue, that was perhaps too outrageous a thing to be published. In it, among other things, he carries on a message machine interview (perhaps imagined) with Stanley Fish, I think it was, in which he tries to get Fish to respond to queries about ‘cue and the ‘cue series of books that Duke UP was then publishing, though in the end we discover that the ‘cue Fish is interested in is really Q, as in Queer theory.
Naming Bill as barbecue editor resulted, by the way, in the first mention of NCLR by the News & Observer, which for five years had pretended that we did not exist. I told staff that naming a ‘cue editor would get us that mention, but when Dennis Rogers called to complain about not being offered the position, I told him that one of our ulterior motives for naming a ‘cue editor was so we might get mentioned in the New York Times, a trick I see now has worked quite nicely for Texas Monthly.
I too look forward to Daniel’s book and I hope that he goes to Smithfield only after he has had his fill of Cobb’s, where (in Farmville) I would be glad to buy for him a pound of red oak-cooked ‘cue.

Comment on First in Barbecue Editors, Too by John Shelton Reed

John Shelton Reed — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 19:51:22 +0000

I’ve just kicked your question to the former editor of NCLR, who will have the answer. My recollection is that at one time there were 2 or 3 barbecue editors, although they didn’t actually write anything.
Check your in-box for an email from me about your visit to our parts.

Comment on First in Barbecue Editors, Too by Daniel Vaughn

Daniel Vaughn — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 16:41:53 +0000

Was it just the 1997 issue of NCLR where Mr. Harmon wrote as Barbecue Editor? I cannot find another mention. I’m sending for a copy now.

Comment on First in Barbecue Editors, Too by Daniel Vaughn

Daniel Vaughn — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 16:04:40 +0000

I guess we are geographically disposed to consider our two versions of barbecue the most important. If the KC and Memphis styles were in contention they might have spread beyond the city limits.

I wouldn’t miss a chance to meet a man of your barbecue stature. I’ll be in NC on 4/10 (east) and 4/11 (west) and based in Raleigh both nights. You can contact me at prophetsofsmokedmeat@gmail.com