A Langstroth hive with honeybees “bearding” on the outside. These bees are resting on the side of the hive cooling off during the summer.

Hand smokers are used to gently pump smoke into the bee’s space, calming and forcing them to the bottom of the hive. This gives beekeepers plenty of space to work.

A beekeeper’s hat and veil. Most keepers use protective gear of some type when assessing and working in their hives.

The summer is full of nostalgic sounds. The heat brings cicadas and bird songs; dusk brings on the free night show put on by mother nature. Between the lightning and fireflies, who could ask for more?

The buzzing, whirling, and breezes usher in a sense of freedom, producing fond memories in our minds. Some of my favorite sounds and many others in our area are the constant buzzing of our pollen-collecting friends, bees.

While North Carolina and its surrounding states have tons of native bees that aid in pollinating our trees, gardens, and flowers, the non-native honeybee has fascinated us since the mid-17th century. Honeybees are native to Europe, Africa, and Asia and traveled to America on English ships to be used in agriculture. The early 19th century saw beekeeping well established throughout North Carolina, with bee wax being an important exported good from the state.

Our ancestors used all parts of the hive; wax, honey, propolis, and the bees themselves. The wax was used and still is to make candles that smell nicer than the fat renderings originally used for candles. Honey, of course, is a natural sweetener that stores for long periods, never going bad if properly stored. Propolis is another resinous product produced by bees that aid in the building of hives. The sticky dark substance can fight bacteria, viruses, fungi, and inflammation, and sometimes heal the skin.

Folklore also surrounds our buzzing friends with superstitions that cast them as bringers of life. One major tradition is going to tell the bees when someone has died. The lore suggests that the bees will aid in the carrying of the soul to the next place and will produce abundantly for being kept in the loop. If a bee enters your home, you will have visitors soon. If a swarm of bees entered your home, it is a sign of an omen.

On a more practical side, bees were cared for and appreciated due to their pollinating superpowers. The many orchard farmers of our hollow and beyond used bees to spread pollen from blossom to blossom ensuring that the year’s yield of apples would be strong. Many statistics say that bees are responsible for 80%-90% of apple crop pollination. So, when you see bees hovering over your gardens, trees, and flowers try to leave them alone, they’re doing the hard work.

In North Carolina beekeeping had become such an integral part of the agricultural and hobby sector that apiarists or beekeepers from all over the state set a meeting on Jan, 11, 1917 in Winston-Salem starting the North Carolina State Beekeepers Association. The association grew adding chapters from the different counties of the state, and a full-time state beekeeper position at NC State University in 1975. In 1982 a state bee-keeping school was started by Dr. John Ambrose, in his position as the state apiarist. The program is still the largest of its kind in the country.

Surry County has its own beekeeper’s association that meets monthly to discuss various topics and offers a beekeeping class annually. My friend and Master Beekeeper Paul Madren is a member of this group and the 1st Masker Craftsmen Beekeeper in North Carolina. The goal of Master Beekeepers and Craftsmen is to help educate the public about the art of keeping bees. Paul has shared priceless advice with beekeepers all over our state.

This past week he shared some highlights with me: 90% of the pollen and nectar bees receive is from trees, not flowers, and each tree yields a different type of substance (glucose vs. fructose), dark honey is usually better for you, despite being referred to as “bad” honey. Paul also helped move the association into the digital age. At the state organization’s meeting last month he was received as the oldest, and longest member of the association.

You couldn’t choose a better place to get started beekeeping. We are privileged to have such knowledgeable mentors in our own county. Mount Airy is even designated as a “Bee Friendly City.” If you would like to learn more, and there is lots to learn, contact the Surry County Beekeepers Association or the North Carolina State Beekeepers Association.

Thanks to Paul Madren for his sage advice and stories.

Emily Morgan is the Guest Services Manager at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History. She and her family live in Westfield. She can be reached at eamorgan@northcarolinamuseum.org or by calling 336-786-4478 x229

The summer is full of nostalgic sounds. The heat brings cicadas and bird songs; dusk brings on the free night show put on by mother nature. Between the lightning and fireflies, who could ask for more?

The buzzing, whirling, and breezes usher in a sense of freedom, producing fond memories in our minds. Some of my favorite sounds and many others in our area are the constant buzzing of our pollen-collecting friends, bees.

While North Carolina and its surrounding states have tons of native bees that aid in pollinating our trees, gardens, and flowers, the non-native honeybee has fascinated us since the mid-17th century. Honeybees are native to Europe, Africa, and Asia and traveled to America on English ships to be used in agriculture. The early 19th century saw beekeeping well established throughout North Carolina, with bee wax being an important exported good from the state.

Our ancestors used all parts of the hive; wax, honey, propolis, and the bees themselves. The wax was used and still is to make candles that smell nicer than the fat renderings originally used for candles. Honey, of course, is a natural sweetener that stores for long periods, never going bad if properly stored. Propolis is another resinous product produced by bees that aid in the building of hives. The sticky dark substance can fight bacteria, viruses, fungi, and inflammation, and sometimes heal the skin.

Folklore also surrounds our buzzing friends with superstitions that cast them as bringers of life. One major tradition is going to tell the bees when someone has died. The lore suggests that the bees will aid in the carrying of the soul to the next place and will produce abundantly for being kept in the loop. If a bee enters your home, you will have visitors soon. If a swarm of bees entered your home, it is a sign of an omen.

On a more practical side, bees were cared for and appreciated due to their pollinating superpowers. The many orchard farmers of our hollow and beyond used bees to spread pollen from blossom to blossom ensuring that the year’s yield of apples would be strong. Many statistics say that bees are responsible for 80%-90% of apple crop pollination. So, when you see bees hovering over your gardens, trees, and flowers try to leave them alone, they’re doing the hard work.

In North Carolina beekeeping had become such an integral part of the agricultural and hobby sector that apiarists or beekeepers from all over the state set a meeting on Jan, 11, 1917 in Winston-Salem starting the North Carolina State Beekeepers Association. The association grew adding chapters from the different counties of the state, and a full-time state beekeeper position at NC State University in 1975. In 1982 a state bee-keeping school was started by Dr. John Ambrose, in his position as the state apiarist. The program is still the largest of its kind in the country.

Surry County has its own beekeeper’s association that meets monthly to discuss various topics and offers a beekeeping class annually. My friend and Master Beekeeper Paul Madren is a member of this group and the 1st Masker Craftsmen Beekeeper in North Carolina. The goal of Master Beekeepers and Craftsmen is to help educate the public about the art of keeping bees. Paul has shared priceless advice with beekeepers all over our state.

This past week he shared some highlights with me: 90% of the pollen and nectar bees receive is from trees, not flowers, and each tree yields a different type of substance (glucose vs. fructose), dark honey is usually better for you, despite being referred to as “bad” honey. Paul also helped move the association into the digital age. At the state organization’s meeting last month he was received as the oldest, and longest member of the association.

You couldn’t choose a better place to get started beekeeping. We are privileged to have such knowledgeable mentors in our own county. Mount Airy is even designated as a “Bee Friendly City.” If you would like to learn more, and there is lots to learn, contact the Surry County Beekeepers Association or the North Carolina State Beekeepers Association.

Thanks to Paul Madren for his sage advice and stories.

Emily Morgan is the Guest Services Manager at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History. She and her family live in Westfield. She can be reached at eamorgan@northcarolinamuseum.org or by calling 336-786-4478 x229

Making a homemade chicken creamy pie

This chicken pie is fairly easy because you use two frozen nine-inch pie shells and four boneless skinless chicken breasts. For this pie, you will need two nine-inch frozen pie shells, four boneless skinless chicken breasts, half can evaporated milk, one can Campbell’s cream of chicken soup, small jar Heinz chicken gravy, salt, pepper, half teaspoon poultry seasoning, one stick melted light margarine. Boil chicken until tender. While chicken is cooking, lay out the pie shells to thaw (this will be two shells for bottom and two shells for tops of the pies). De-bone the chicken breasts and place half in one shell and half in the other shell. In a bowl, mix the can of cream of chicken soup with jar of gravy and half can evaporated milk and stick of melted margarine, salt pepper and the poultry seasoning. Pour half the mixture on each pie. Cover pies with other two crusts, Pinch edges to seal the pies. Cut slits in tops of the pies. Bake pies on a cookie sheet in 350 degree oven for 45 to 50 minutes. One plus of these pies is that you can freeze them.

Starting late tomatoes from seed

As August moves along, it is time to start packets of tomato seed to be transplanted to the garden in late August or early September. The best varieties for early autumn are the determinate varieties such as Celebrity, Mountain Pride, Marglobe, Rutgers, Homestead, and Better Boy. To start tomatoes from seed, use a fine-textured seed-starting medium such as Jiffy organic or Hoffmans. For each seed variety, use a quart flower pot filled with seed-starting medium and allow a handful per pot to cover the seed. Measure enough for each pot that you need. Mix the medium with enough water to moisten it. Scatter the seed over the medium and cover the seed, label each pot with variety of the tomato. Repeat process with each pot. Press down the medium with your fingers for good soil contact. Use a spray bottle such as window and glass cleaner comes in to mist the pots each evening. They will develop two leaves in eight to ten days and be ready to plant in individual pots.

The impatiens have been showing their color

The annual summer charm is the impatiens in containers and hanging baskets as they provide colorful blooms on the porch, deck and in the hanging baskets. They really perform well in hanging baskets as they cascade over the sides of the baskets. They bloom in colors of bright orange, red, white, salmon, pink and wine. With a bit of care they will bloom all the way until frost. The impatiens is also known as “Mary’s Earrings” which is a pretty name for such an unusual flower. The bees as well as the butterflies are attracted to them.

Hard to beat taste of fresh tomato

It was Lewis Grizzard, the Mark Twain of 20th century writers and syndicated columnist for the Atlanta Journal and constitution, who said, “It’s difficult to think any thing but pleasant thoughts when eating a home grown tomato.” These are true words from one of America’s best columnists of the 20th century. A vine-ripened freshly sliced tomato, placed on bread smothered with mayonnaise on both sides and a sprinkling of salt and pepper also on both sides of the bread elicit thoughts as pleasant as you can think.

Starting the seeds of broccoli and collards

As we move through August, the time is ideal for starting broccoli and collards from seed for transplanting to the garden in mid-September. Purchase a bag or two of seed. Starting medium which is especially formulated for starting seeds. Buy the varieties of broccoli and collards you prefer. Use two quart-sized flower pots to start the seed in. Measure out two pots filled with the medium and two handfuls to cover the seed with. Add enough water to moisten the medium. Fill the two pots to within half inch from top of pots. Sprinkle seed from broccoli over top medium and cover with handful of medium. Label the pot because all cole family seed look alike. Repeat the process with the collard seed. Pat soil over the top of medium for good contact with the soil. Use a spray bottle such as glass cleaner comes in and spray a mist on the medium each evening. Keep the pots out of direct sunlight and preferably in the carport or porch. The plants will sprout in eight to ten days. When they develop two strong leaves, transplant to individual pots and keep out of direct sunlight. By mid-September, they should be ready to transplant to the garden plot.

Something different about the month of August is the fogs that occur on many mornings that may send us a hidden message about the upcoming amounts of snow we may receive in the winter months. Rise early before the sun burns off the fog and record the density of the fog and the date and whether the daily fog was heavy, medium, or light. August has 31 days, so record the fog each morning. As winter arrives, check the snow amounts during winter with the amounts of the fogs of August.

Making a batch of smooth apple sauce

The first of the apple harvest is coming in and you can purchase them by the bushel. A warm summer afternoon is a fun time to sit on a shady porch and peel a bushel of apples and make some apple sauce. Peel the apples and drop them in a canner of cold salted water to prevent them from turning brown. Peel all the apples and allow them to soak in the salted water for fifteen minutes. Rinse the apples in the canner of fresh water. Pour apples into the sink and rinse them off. Cut into one-inch chunks and place in canner of fresh water. Boil apple chunks for 10 or 15 minutes until you can stick a fork through them. Remove from heat, drain, and run through the blender in “puree” mode for several seconds. Pour the pureed apple mixture into jars that are sterilized and process in hot water bath canner for 25 minutes. An easier way is to process them in a pressure canner at ten pounds pressure for five minutes.

Taking care of summer roses

The knockout roses of summer are so pretty and are still producing blooms and will produce until the first frost. Roses now need a boost as we move into the second half of the summer. Roses need a boost of Rose-Tone organic rose food once a month until the end of summer. Use the water wand in shower mode to the base of the roses. Cut back long canes and dead head all spent blooms. Spray for leaf mites and Japanese Beetles.

The dew on August mornings linger all the way until afternoon. The dew is a sticky moisture that is not good for mowers and weed trimmers because it sticks to the blades and housings of the mower as well as the feet. Never mow lawn when the dew is still on the lawn. Wait until the sun dries the dew even if it takes until mid-afternoon. Another summer factor is never mow a lawn after an afternoon thunderstorm even if you have to wait until the next day to mow.

An organic, smelly, cure for insect bites

There is nothing more irritating than an insect bite or bee sting whether you are in the garden or on the porch or deck. We have a remedy for the bites and stings if you can tolerate the smell of an onion. Use a half an onion sliced down the middle and rub it on the bite or sting. This is a double cure because first of all, it will relieve the bite or sting and the aroma will prevent another bite or sting.

A quick shot for controlling the weeds

No harmful chemicals are involved in this weed killer solution that works quickly and well on hot dry, summer afternoons, with no rain in the forecast. Just fill a spray bottle with apple cider vinegar and spray the mist on the weeds, while you avoid misting vegetable foliage.

“Men and other men.” There are two kinds of men who will never amount to much: those who cannot do what they are told, and those who can do nothing else.

“Twin Natures.” A man was in court for stealing from a department store. The man said to the judge, “Your Honor, I’m a Christian, I’ve become a new man who did wrong. But I have an old nature also. I was not my new man when I did wrong, but my old man.” The judge responded, “Since it was the old man that broke the law, we will sentence him to 60 days in jail. And since the new man was an accomplice in the theft, we will give him 30 days also. I sentence you both to 90 days in jail. This case is dismissed.”

“Fun Pun.” If a nickle knew what it was worth today, it would feel like a half-cent.

“Fun Pun.” Why did the Cyclops have to close the school? He had only one pupil.

Editor’s Note: Reader Diary is a periodic column written by local residents, Surry County natives, and readers of The Mount Airy News. If you have a submission for Reader Diary, email it to John Peters at jpeters@mtairynews.com

From “all over” they came on 1940s weekends (Round Peak, Low Gap, Lambsburg and Pine Ridge) to a dilapidated log tobacco barn at the intersection of Pine Ridge and Lowe Roads in Surry County. It was little more than a wide place in Pine Ridge Road called “Easy Street” and after a hard week in the corn and tobacco fields, slaving away at the sawmill and making moonshine, it was fun and games time “down at The Barn.”

As told by local housewives, “All they do down yonder at that old barn is loaf around, guzzle moonshine, make music, play poker and act like they live on Easy Street.”

Truth be known, almost all were hard-working souls who “earned their keep” the only way they knew how; the hard way. For some, including my Pa, (according to Mama) the Barn was their doghouse; their second home, their port in the storm, their home away from home that generated fire and brimstone sermons in local churches and threats to “burn that sinful place to the ground.”

The barn leaned southwest, leaked when it rained and had seen better days, but (come Saturday afternoons and Sundays) a crowd gathered in and played the claw-hammer banjo, fiddle and harmonica, drank R C Colas, ate Moon Pies, and imbibed some of Round Peak’s best moonshine “made right up that holler up yonder under Fisher’s Peak.”

They talked about those not there; who got caught doing what and whom they did it with. They told of strange happenings, like the time William Senter’s barn ran into someone’s automobile. (The driver swore to God he was just driving along in the middle of the road minding his own business, when “here come that d… barn right out in the road in front of me.” That was the same barn William’s one-horse wagon wound up on top of one Halloween night. They told of a family who found a dead cat in their crock of molasses, “You know? They wasted nearly all them ‘lasses gittin’ that dead cat out.” (I sat on my bicycle and listened bug-eyed and almost lost breakfast.)

When the High Sheriff drove up outside, a miracle happened right there in broad daylight. All the cards, money, and moonshine vanished into thin air and the Barn became a house of worship. When asked what they were doing there, the answer was, “We’re holding a little prayer service here, Sheriff; don’t you see that sign up there that says, “Easy Street Church of God?” The Sheriff gave everybody his “dead-eye” look, shook his head, got back in his car and before he was out of sight, the good times rolled again.

Everybody had a great time, but those who had just got home from the Big War had the best time of all. They had seen Germany, Paris, Tokyo and the South Sea Islands and all agreed, there was no place on Earth like home and Easy Street.

We are surrounded by much in this life for which we can rejoice. We find ourselves rejoicing at the birth of a child, a marriage, a graduation, buying a new home, and a host of other significant events. However, it seems that we fail to rejoice when it comes to what spiritually and eternally matters. When was the last time someone heard us rejoicing in our salvation and what the Lord has done for us?

In writing to the Christians who lived in Rome we find Paul has much to say about salvation and what Jesus did for us on the cross. In Romans 8:14-17, he mentions several reasons we should rejoice and praise our Lord and Savior. When I look at this portion of Scripture, I see four reasons that stand out and I would like to share those with you.

The first reason we should rejoice is that “We have a Father.” When we are born-again into the family of God we are adopted by the Father and become children of God. In verse 15 Paul uses the term “Abba” when referring to God as our Father. This is a term of deep affection and endearment. It gives us a picture of saying I have a “daddy” in heaven. When we realize just how much our Father in heaven does for us, we have to rejoice that we are His children. He provides for us, leads us, protects us, loves us, and even chastises us. So, we must rejoice that we have a “Father” in Heaven.

The second reason we should rejoice is that “We have a Family.” In verse 14 we find that Paul uses the word “sons,” which is plural. That simply gives us a picture that when we were born into the kingdom of God we were also born into the “family” of God.

When we are part of the family of God there are some great benefits. We do not have to walk through this world alone; we have brothers and sisters to walk with us. When something terrible happens, we have someone to cry with us. When something good happens there will be someone to rejoice with us. There have been times when we as believers say, “If I had not had my brothers and sisters in Christ, I do not know how I would have made it through those tough situations.” We also know that being part of the “family” there are those that will pray for us, encourage us, exhort us, and love us. Being in God’s “family” is truly a reason to rejoice in our salvation.

The third reason we should rejoice is that “We have a fortune.” In verse 17 Paul talks about being “heirs and joint-heirs.” According to the Roman law of that day the adopted child would receive all the rights that a natural born child would have. Under Roman law a natural born child could be disowned by their father, but an adopted child could never be disowned. That means that we are forever part of the family of God. (Praise God).

The term joint-heir also means that Jesus, being the only begotten first-born Son, would receive a double portion of the Father’s inheritance. As a joint heir of the Father’s inheritance Jesus says, “I will share it with my adopted brothers and sisters.” We are part of the family of God that not only owns the cattle on a thousand hills but also owns the hills. Grasping such a truth gives us reason to rejoice in our salvation and the “fortune” we possess in Christ.

The fourth reason we should rejoice is that “We have a future.” I am thankful that as a child of God, He meets all my needs while on this earth, but when death comes and my journey on earth is over, it is not the end. As a result of faith in Christ we can have a future in the presence of the Lord in heaven.

Scripture teaches us, our limited minds cannot begin to imagine what heaven is like. I do know that the Bible teaches it will be a place where there are no more tears, sickness, disease, sorrow, pain, suffering, death, or sin. We will see our loves ones that have died in Christ, and there will be no sun light needed because the Son, Jesus Christ, will be the light of an eternal day. Having such a hope gives us a great reason to rejoice in our future.”

I want to encourage each Christian, share your faith with others by being found rejoicing in what Christ has done, is doing, will do for you through Jesus Christ. If you cannot rejoice today because you do not know this wonderful Savior, I encourage you to seek out someone who can share with you the life changing message of Christ. Then you, too, can rejoice in the salvation found in Jesus Christ.

Willie Byrd Williams was a schoolteacher and, like many people in Surry County, also a farmer. In 1913 he entered some of his corn harvest in a fair exhibit. It must have been some fine corn because he won for the best ear of seed corn.

He took that premium money straight to Dobson to buy a marriage license.

He and his sweetheart, Cornelia Jane Bray, were married for 57 years and raised their daughters, Ola and Minnie, in their Zephyr home just north of Elkin. They were also active supporters of the Zephyr Community Fair and the Surry County Fair for their whole lives.

Fairs and carnivals were a great excuse for people to come together and have fun. The Surry County Fair, from the beginnings in 1916, has scheduled hot air balloons, airplane stunts, side show acts, rides, and fireworks to entertain.

But their primary purpose in the beginning was much more practical. In the days before the internet, television, or radio, fairs allowed farmers and other businesses to promote their products to a much larger audience than they would otherwise be able to reach. They also provided education for young and old.

“The man who … fails to attend misses a fine opportunity to meet his neighbors and see what is being done by other people in the various occupations of life.” Mount Airy News, Sept. 25, 1919.

Farmers and business owners got to see new products that local stores were not able to carry or to see how seeds or fertilizers from various companies behaved in local soil with a reduced financial risk.

Companies such as Chesapeake Guano Company of Baltimore, Maryland, that specialized in fertilizer for tobacco in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, were popular in this region for decades. In 1886 they advertised in the Yadkin Valley News (predecessor to the Mount Airy News) that the judges of the NC State Fair in Raleigh granted their product the highest award for manure.

I know it’s tempting to chuckle at that, but for farmers it was no laughing matter. The right fertilizer combined with other progressive farming practices increased production dramatically at the turn of the last century. Corn yield went from 12 to 20 bushels per acre, wheat from 9.5-11.5. The US population was growing at an unprecedented rate, and the nation, with thousands of acres under cultivation and isolated from the direct damages of war, quickly became an important exporter of grain to feed a starving world. Successful farmers were vital to world food management.

George Hinshaw opened a general store in Winston-Salem in 1868 specializing in seed and fertilizers. He is credited with organizing the first three “Wheat and Cattle Fairs” in Forsyth.

Such events, if done well, brought people and money to a region, an economic jump-start for any community that hosted one. They were also an important tool to spread information on public health matters or better farming practices or to recruit for military service or civic organizations. But they were expensive to organize and needed a competent organization to pull local and state resources together.

It’s no surprise that soon after the trains arrived in Surry County, calls from local newspapers started encouraging people to organize a fair. The first mention I’ve found is in the Western Sentinel of Winston-Salem, Nov. 21, 1889.

“The News is pushing for a Surry county (sic) Fair next year. Winston wishes its Surry neighbors a big success.”

Though many communities across Surry, such as Zephyr and White Plains, held smaller fairs, it would take 27 years for the first county fair here.

In the meanwhile, Surry residents were taking special train excursions to attend the Catawba, Cumberland, and Forsyth county fairs and the State Fair in Raleigh. Several locals traveled to Chicago’s Columbian Exposition. With each passing year calls persisted.

“With all the progress and public spirit and wonderful achievements of Surry people and most especially the thrift and growth of Mount Airy and Elkin it looks odd to see such a grand county as Surry without a county fair. A fair properly managed would do more to stimulate farmers and manufacturers than anything else that has been tested.” Winston-Salem Journal, Sept. 25, 1907.

Finally, in 1916 the Charlotte Observer reported “Surry County is to have a fair this Fall” with a state charter and $50,000 in committed capital. A meeting in the opera house resulted in “more than a hundred business men (sic) and farmers” from across Surry and from surrounding counties buying shares at $10 each ($271 in today’s money) to fund the fair.

Mount Airy, the largest town in the county, was chosen as the location for many reasons, not the least of which was “the splendid system of sandclay roads.” Business and civic leaders such as Thomas Fawcett (founder of the First National Bank of Mount Airy), W. G. Sydnor (immediate past mayor of Mount Airy and president of the Workman’s Federal Savings and Loan), and JD Sargent (owner of the granite quarry) organized the Surry County Fair Association in June 1916.

Directors and vice presidents from every township in Surry and representatives from Carroll, Patrick, and Stokes counties signed on. They bought land from Dr. W.S. Taylor northwest of town. We’re not certain but it seems to be the same land where the fair is held today, the Veterans Memorial Park. They graded a racetrack, built exhibition buildings, and promoted the new fair relentlessly across the state.

The first fair was held in mid-November, the next two were mid-October, but in 1919 it settled in September where it would stay for a century before moving into August.

Whenever it is held, though, the fair remains exciting for kids of all ages, drawing the community together through good times and bad. If you’re headed to the fair this week, enjoy. If you’ve entered an exhibit, best good luck!

Kate Rauhauser-Smith is a volunteer for the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History with 22 years in journalism before joining the museum. She and her family moved to Mount Airy in 2005 from Pennsylvania where she was also involved with museums and history tours.

Dog days will end August 11

As of next Thursday, August 11, Dog Days of 2022 will come to an end. This does not mean hot weather will come to an end, but only the humidity will drop a little. Even with departure of Dog Days, we still have plenty of hot weather in store as we have only reached the halfway point of summer.

Checking out the pesky morning glories

As we deal with August, keep a close eye on those pesky morning glory vines and don’t allow them to choke out summer vegetables. One morning glory flower can produce a seed pod with hundreds of seeds. Morning glory vines also have roots like drill bits that reach deep into the soil. Pull them up by their roots and out of the garden before they reach the flower stage.

There’s still time to plant a turnip row or bed

The days of August are the time to plant a row of purple top turnips and give them a great start for an autumn harvest. You can plant them in rows or beds as August gets on its way. Add a layer of peat moss to the furrow when sowing turnips.

On August 17 the cat nights will begin. Did you ever wonder why cats prowl at night — it’s because all day long they take cat naps. Cats are always on the prowl at night and the night seems to belong to them. Cats are sort of like the month of August, unpredictable, finicky, restless continually searching as well as mysterious. Cats at night seem to be in a state of transition and typical of the whole month of August that pours out a lot of heat in daytime and cold dew at night. It is a month that days get shorter and nights continue to get longer. Cats are hard to figure out and many August days are hard to figure out and are as unpredictable as my cat. My grandma in Northampton County had several cats, and she had an old saying that cats drew lightning and when a storm was brewing, she would make sure they were not on her porch or near the chicken house. One thing we know about Cat Nights is the fact that they will be hot!

Making a tomato bread pudding

With an abundant harvest of fresh tomatoes you can use some of the harvest to prepare a tomato bread pudding. My grandma and mother always used leftover homemade biscuits in their puddings but we use hot dog and hamburger buns that are leftover and you can also use Caesar salad croutons for a flavorful tomato bread pudding. To prepare a fresh tomato bread pudding, place ten or twelve fresh tomatoes in a pot of boiling water for half minute, remove and place in a bowl of cold water. Slip off the peelings and core, the tomatoes. Cut the tomatoes into chunks and stew them until they break up and become soupy. Add one, stick light margarine to the stewed tomatoes, stir in one cup of sugar, half teaspoon salt, two beaten eggs, four hot dog or hamburger buns or one package Caesar salad croutons or break buns into small chunks one fourth cup light brown sugar, one teaspoon vanilla flavoring, half cup catsup, four drops Texas Pete hot sauce. Mix all ingredients together and pour into a 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking pan or dish sprayed with Pam baking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes. Sprinkle top of pudding with finely grated parmesan cheese or a layer of cream cheese.

The season of August fogs

We hope you are keeping a written record of the size and number of the fogs each August morning. Check them each morning when you first get up especially before the sun begins to burn them off. The fogs tell the types of snowfall the winter will bring. It will be interesting to see if the August fogs have any bearing on the number and amounts of snow the winter will produce. According to my Northampton County grandma, a heavy fog meant a heavy show, a medium fog meant a medium-sized snow, and a light fog meant a dusting, trace, or very light snow fall. Keep up with the fogs during the 31 days of August and see what the winter brings in snowfalls and amounts

Tomatoes ripen quickly in the August heat

In the heat of the August sun, tomatoes will ripen fast, on days when the sun bears down and no rain or thunderstorm is in the forecast, use the water wand in shower mode and water the base of the tomato vines, and not the foliage to prevent blossom end-rot. During dry spells, birds will peck holes in tomatoes to obtain moisture. To prevent this, harvest tomatoes before they get fully ripe and place them on the porch or deck to finish ripening. Apply powdered lime to tomato vines and hill up soil on both sides of tomato vines. You can also mix lime and water in a sprinkling can (about two quarts lime per sprinkling can). Add water to can and pour around base of tomato vines.

Keeping sweet bell peppers harvested

Sweet bell peppers should be almost ready to harvest as the August sun shines down on them. Sweet bells are easy to process and freeze. All you have to do is cut off the tops, split them and remove the seed, and cut peppers into quarter inch cubes and place in pint or quart plastic containers. When you need them all during the year, pour what you need and place container back in freezer.

Starting a late harvest of strike green beans

Strike is the very best variety of green beans for late summer and an abundant production. A row that is planted this week will produce a harvest during late September and into October. Plant the strikes in a furrow about four inches deep and apply a layer of peat moss in the furrow after sowing the seed. Apply a layer of Black Kow composted cow manure and an application of Plant-Tone organic vegetable food. Hill Soil up on both sides of the furrow and tame down with the hoe blade for good soil contact. Once they develop two leaves, apply a side dressing of Plant-Tone and hill up soil to cover it up. Apply water with water wand in shower mode if no rain is forecast during the week.

Rainbow of colors in the zinnia bed

The zinnias of mid-summer are showing off a rainbow of colors and attracting an abundance of attention from yellow and black swallowtail butterflies, bees, hummingbirds, goldfinches, and the majestic Monarch butterflies. When all these floral masterpieces are on display along with the tapestry of butterfly wings, they combine to perform a spectacular show.

The moon reached its first quarter on Friday, August 5. The moon will be full on Thursday, August 11. This full moon will be named “Full Sturgeon Moon.” The moon reaches its last quarter on Friday, August 19. There will be a new moon on the evening of Saturday, August 27.

Preparing an apple sauce pound cake

This is a very easy recipe for an apple sauce pound cake that could be called semi-homemade. All you need to do is mix a box of Duncan Hines caramel cake mix or spice cake mix (caramel is best), one three ounce box Jello instant vanilla or butterscotch pudding mix, four large eggs, one pint of apple sauce, one teaspoon apple pie spices, half cup Crisco oil, half cup milk, one teaspoon vanilla flavoring. Mix all ingredients well. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a tube pan with Pam baking spray, Pour batter into the pan and bake forty five to fifty minutes. The cake will be done when it springs back when touched or when a toothpick comes out clean. Better yet, you can tell by the smell when this cake is done.

June started off on a cool note and a few temperatures in the cool 40s and the overall average temperature for the month was 72 degrees. This caused a lower number of firefly counts for the first week in June. On June 8, the firefly count was 80 and temperature was 74 degrees; June 9, the count was 175’ on June 12, the count was 237. The count was 325 on June 16. On June 23, the count was 320. For most of June the average count was 260 each evening between 8:50 to 9:25 p.m.

The record number was June 29, it was 606. On that evening, the temperature was 78 and the humidity was 65. On that evening the fireflies were observed from trees to the grass on the lawn and all areas in between.

The ideal nights for counting were dry nights, lower humidity and no wind. Peak viewing is between 8:35 and 9:35 p.m.. Their numbers seem to dwindle after that. As Dog Days started, the number averaged around 100 or less. Best counts were between 70 to 79. On rainy evenings the number dwindles. High humidity affects their numbers.

In July on the first day of the month, we counted 536 with a temperature of 74 and humidity of 79. July 2 was stormy and few fireflies. July 3 was clear, humidity 84 and a count of 236. July 4, the temperature was 78 and humidity 69 and the count was 326. On July 6, the count was 159 with humidity of 85 and temperature of 81. As we reached Dog Days, the average count slowed considerably each night with humid conditions and evening thunderstorms.

Let us focus today on Hosea 4: 1-2. In this text we find that the Lord was revealing to Hosea there was a call for Israel to return to the Lord. Israel had strayed far away from God and was following paths of sins that totally displeased the Lord. The Lord called it a “controversy” which means to be in opposition to. The Lord was in opposition to the way that Israel was living, and they were bringing a reproach to the name of the Lord.

When we look at this text, we find the things that the Lord had controversy with: Israel had departed from the Lord in their worship. There was no truth in the land which meant that they were finding other gods and false religions to worship. There was no mercy in the land which means that people were ready to pass judgment on others but never wanted to admit the sin in their own lives. There was also no knowledge of God which meant they had forgotten the Lord; were not teaching their children about the Lord; were not going to a place of worship and were not faithfully doing the things that would bring honor and glory to the Lord. They were satisfied living apart from the Lord.

Israel had also departed from the Lord in the way they talked. In verse 2 Hosea told us that by describing the words they were using. Swearing and lying gives us a picture of those that used profanity; profaning the name of the Lord and were constantly lying about anything and everything.

Israel had departed from the Lord with their works because also in verse 2 we see three marks of decay: killing, stealing, and committing adultery. These were all very plainly forbidden by the Ten Commandments that were given to Moses by God. So, with all this we can see why God had a controversy with the nation Israel.

We live in the United States, which was founded on Christian principles, yet when we read this text and see that the Lord had a controversy with Israel, one must believe the Lord also has a controversy with our nation. Why, because we are doing the same things.

We have departed from the Lord in our worship. There is no truth because there are many false religions and teachings, and many people are being deceived into following these false teachings today. People also seem to be worshipping many things other than the Lord: things such as money, sports, material things, education, and the list could go on and on. There is no mercy because we are so easily ready to pass judgment on people who don’t think, talk and act just exactly like we do. So many times, we act as if we are without any sin in our lives and we condemn others. Scripture reminds us that “all have sinned.” There is also no knowledge of God because we have done everything possible to keep God’s word away from the people of our nation and especially the children. We have taken the Word of God out of our schools, our courtrooms, and many other public places. The saddest however may be that many have taken the Word of God out of our homes and churches. So yes, the Lord has a controversy with our worship.

We have departed from the Lord in our words. Profanity has become the accepted language of the day. It seems that we use it to be “cool” or to be accepted by the crowd and yes even those that profess to be Christians are using profanity regularly. We have also departed in our words by lying. People today seem to think nothing at all about telling an outright lie if they think it will help them or keep them out of trouble. We try to justify profanity and lying by saying everyone is doing it, but the Bible is plain when it tells us “To put off lying” and “let our words be acceptable in the sight of the Lord.”

We have departed from the Lord in our works. We have constant crime all around us, killing, stealing and adultery. These today are still just as much sin as they were when the Lord told Moses “Thou shall not…. kill, steal, or commit adultery.” Christian, sadly we cannot say “not me” because we do these same things. We kill by gossiping, backbiting, fussing, and fighting with one another. We steal each other’s blessings by tearing each other down. We commit adultery by being unfaithful to the Lord.

So yes, the Lord must have a controversy with us. Hosea 6: 1 tells us what to do to clear up this controversy. “Come and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up”. Solomon may have said it best in 2 Chronicles 7: 14: If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. It is time that we follow the Lord to end His controversy with us or God’s judgment will soon come.

Crooked Oak Primitive Baptist Church, established in July 1878, still stands on Pine Ridge Road in Surry County, a quarter-mile south of Crooked Oak Crossroads. The official name is “Zion Hill,” but locals call it “Crooked Oak.” There it sits under the shade trees with three windows on each side, a tin roof and two outhouses out back; a “His” and a “Hers.

As I remember, with no electricity the inside got a little toasty in the heat of summer and everybody fanned the hot air with card-board fans from the funeral home. Come winter-time, it was like being at the North Pole; even with a wood heater going full-blast. Whatever the weather, come Meeting Day, they preached, prayed and sang a joyful noise unto the Lord. When they sang, my grandma sang highest and loudest of all. When she hit an extra high note one memorable day, a dog howled outside. Then all the kids howled. Then everybody laughed. Grandma? She never missed a lick.

Foot-Washing Day always came on the fourth Sunday in July; the high social event of summer and the best time to meet all the neighbors who had not seen each other since the last Foot-Washing or the last funeral. It was the one day of the year when everybody went to church; including Pa, Mama and us boys. (So much for those who said about us, “Them Heathens never go to church.”)

The meeting came at just the right time to give everybody a hard-earned break from tending crops in the burning fields of mid-summer and they could hardly wait to get together, celebrate and share their huge back-logs of gossip, jokes and news.

On a bright July Sunday morning, they came “from all over” to that little white church on Pine Ridge Road. From Scrap-town, Garbraley, Flower Gap, Lambsburg, Pine Ridge, Round Peak, Beulah and Low Gap they came: along the hot dusty roads, riding in A-Models, T-Models, and some newer models. By farm wagon, buggy, horseback, muleback, bicycle and on foot they came and all wore their very best Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes.

The kids and dogs chased each other in the dirt and dust until all became the same color; the color of dirt. The women wore ankle-length dresses, home-made slatted cardboard sunbonnets and they too fanned themselves with cardboard fans from the funeral home. They bragged about their wonderful families, how well little Joey was doing in school, their gardens, how many cans of green beans they had “put up” so far and gossiped about the women not there.

The men wore brand-new bib overalls, with wind-up watches in the bib pockets, “chawed ‘baccer,” dipped snuff and smoked “roll your own” cigarettes made from “store-boughten” Prince Albert tobacco or from small cloth sacks of Golden Grain, also from the store. Those who had no money to buy smoked their own “home-growed ‘baccer” from Golden Grain sacks and nobody knew.

Some of the year’s best farming was done right there in the shade of the oak trees on Foot-Washing Sunday. With a cloud of tobacco smoke in the air and a sea of tobacco juice on the ground, the men traded guns, knives, horses, mules, cows, jokes, lies and talked about the good old days and the more they talked about them, the better they became. The discussions never ended about who got caught doing what and who did not, whose horse could out-pull whose mule and whose could run the fastest. “My mule can smell rain coming and your horse can’t.”

Every man was the proud owner of “the best durned huntin’ dog ever put on God’s Green Earth.” “My Ol’ Blue treed a coon one time and clomb right up the tree after it. That ol’ coon come tumblin’ down scared half to death and seein’ Ol’ Blue up in that tree scared me too.” “My Ol’ Bessie, she run a fox for two days one time and I thought I was gonna’ have to shoot ‘er to git ‘er to stop, but she finally did.”

On a Foot-Washing Sunday to remember, a red-headed girl from Lambsburg, Virginia came dressed as a cowgirl: complete with cowboy hat, vest, boots and two guns on her gun-belt. She was an instant hit with every man and if prizes had been given, she would have won by a landslide. Even with no horse, she was the main attraction and even I was impressed, because I had never before seen a real live cowgirl. (For some unknown reason, not a single woman was impressed.)

Zion Hill Cemetery was located just across the road; with a wooded area beyond, where some of the men sneaked in and sampled moonshine hidden there. As the day went on, they became experts on everything under the sun. Their fields of corn and tobacco became bigger and better and some almost became millionaires right there in the woods. Those who drank too much “took a little nap,” while their wives threatened to “burn them woods to the ground.”

One of our neighbors (Frank Coalson by name) parked his Dodge pickup under the shade trees and sold cones of ice cream and cups of lemonade from a brand-new No. 2 galvanized wash tub that had a chunk of ice floating around in it. According to my Pa, Frank’s lemonade was “Made in the shade, stirred with a spade and the best old lemonade ever made.” I agreed and figured I could have put away the whole batch all by myself.

Except for lemonade and ice cream, I’d had nothing to eat since breakfast and was in mortal danger of starving to death. To my way of looking, “all that preaching, praying, singing and foot-washing was a waste of time. Them people shoulda’ washed their feet at home like I had to do last night after wadin’ them mud holes. One good thing about the whole mess; if anybody died from hunger, there was Zion Hill Cemetery right across the road.”

Finally, just when I was about to meet my Maker, the meeting came to an end. Every family had brought food from home and the long tables (covered with white sheets) were loaded with more good stuff to eat than I’d ever seen. There were pies and cakes as far as the eye could see and it looked like every chicken in the country had been fried and brought there, which told me there were some tired people close by. Our chickens back home ran free and when we needed one to eat, we had to chase it down, which sometimes took the whole family and the dog. (We never failed.)

For most kids, (including me) it was the biggest and best meal of the year and nobody cared who ate how much. It was an awfully long time until next year, so, like everybody else, I dived in. No way was I about to go back home hungry. Until the eating began, it had been a slow day, but the sun then raced across the sky and all of a sudden, all the food was gone, all the big tales had been told and everybody headed for home. It was the end of a perfect day, but a sad time, because Foot-Washing Day at Crooked Oak Church would not be back until next year.

In the photograph: Crooked Oak Primitive Baptist Church in April, 2019.

As July wraps up, I couldn’t help but reflect on an exciting trend that has come back to the area and brought a wave of nostalgia and historical discovery with it. From Downtown Pilot Mountain’s Fun Friday ‘70s edition to the second annual Hippie Revival Festival at Miss Angel’s Farm, the ‘70s are back in Surry County in a big way.

The ‘70s were memorable for many things from the trends in fashion and hippie culture being in full swing, but the music of the decade really stood out. As a millennial, I remember every summer, saving up money and going to music festivals (such as the Vans Warped Tour in Charlotte). It was never lost on me that we had never really stopped trying to recreate the iconic music festivals of the late 1960s and 1970s.

This all had me wondering where young people from this area would have gone to hear live music and have their own music festival experience, and the answer? Love Valley just north of Statesville for the Love Valley Rock Festival of 1970.

Love Valley was, and still is today, a 2,000-acre town created by Andy Barker. Barker loved westerns and the stories of the wild west so much that he made an entire western-themed tourism destination in 1958. The creation of this town was truly interesting and exciting, especially for surrounding North Carolinians. Even here in Mount Airy, Bobby Atkins recorded a bluegrass song about the town at Stark Records in 1968, called Love Valley.

How did this Wild West wonderland become the location for “The South’s Woodstock”? Barker saw how successful other music festivals were and figured if he could get bands to play for free and people to pay $5 for a three-day ticket then he could make a good amount of money. His 22-year-old daughter Tonda also wanted to attend Woodstock the previous year, and though he thought she was too young, he allowed her to plan a music festival there in Love Valley with her 16-year-old brother, Jet. She originally planned to host 25,000 – 50,000 people if they were lucky, but no one could have expected what the festival would bring.

Because of the nature of the event, it’s hard to know just how many attended, some say 100,000 others speculated it could have been closer to 200,000, but regardless there was a huge turnout. The event strategically took place from July 13 – 16. Other major music festivals were happening in the south that July and people had traveled from all over to come and experience them.

At Love Valley, people were skinny dipping in a nearby lake and camping, and truly putting a Southern twist on hippie culture. One of my favorite stories includes, “…It was such a cool place. You had to ride horses. It was just like this Wild West town, and I can remember nights we were full of moonshine and LSD, having fake fights, and falling out of the second floor of the hotel with one of the guys in the middle of the street cracking a whip. It was nuts. I mean, it was crazy.”

This all caused quite a stir especially in more rural communities, and the event was a media frenzy with many local papers writing about it. Some were not ready to accept the ‘weird’ culture and concerned citizens from surrounding towns wrote to Andy asking him why he was having the event and voicing their concerns. Despite the concern from locals, the event went off without any real incident aside from a dispute between two rival biker gangs (Hell’s Angels and The Outlaws) though that was broken up quickly.

The bands that played at Love Valley truly helped set it off, some say that more than 40 bands showed up to play over the three days. Some of the best locally known were Kallabash out of Greensboro who iconically set off smoke bombs and finished their set naked, and lesser known Sacred Irony out of Winston-Salem.

The most well-known band to play was The Allman Brothers. They had an album out as a Southern rock band but weren’t extremely well known yet. Their performance was so well-anticipated though that they were booked to play at least twice and are thought to be one of the major reasons for the impressive turnout. The set list itself showed music to start at 6 p.m. and go to about 1- 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, and on Sunday a “Praise the Lord” service at the area stage from 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. and partying “until you couldn’t stand” starting back up at 2 p.m.

It seems unreal that less than an hour away, such a bizarre and amazing event took place. The reality though is that the Love Valley Rock Festival was so much more than anyone could have dreamed, and it had a fascinating impact on the community, artists who performed, and most importantly the participants who experienced it all. I can’t wait to see how else Surry County will embrace the ’70s, but as trends come back in style, I hope we can all bring the history back with it.

Cassandra Johnson is the director of programs and education at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History. She is a Carroll County, Virginia, native whose family has been exploring the Devil’s Den cave in Fancy Gap for generations.

The katydids are singing songs of autumn

Even though Dog Days are still with us, as the month of July comes to an end the katydids in the tops of mighty oaks are singing songs of the up-and-coming autumn. These unusual insects make music by rubbing their legs against their sides. They resemble large green grasshoppers. Their song is the same each evening and they remind us how slowly and subtly one season paves the way into another. Soon, the dews will become wetter and sticky and the fogs of August will be another sign that the season of fall is sneaking up on us. The crickets will join the katydids in singing of the coming change of seasons.

This is the season to start compost pile

As the harvest of some vegetable crops reach maturity, the time to start a compost bin or pile has arrived. The heat will quickly warm a pile of compost. The residue of spent vegetable crops and stalks or vines are great compost ingredients. Run the mower over them to break the garden residue down to speed up the compost process. Add grass clippings to heat it up. Add some Plant-Tone organic vegetable food or Black Kow composted cow manure to build up heat in the pile. Add peelings, hulls, and garden waste to the compost and add some water once a week. Stir the pile or bin twice each week as you add the ingredients.

The sights and sounds of midsummer

The humming birds zoom around and contend for nectar at the feeders. The birds of summer are active at the feeders and bees visit the annuals and perennials on the porch and deck. Butterflies and finches visit the zinnia bed. Thunder sounds in the distance as a storm approaches. After the storm runs its course, the garden plot will be filled with the glow of fire flies. Humid days, pop-up thunderstorms, and fire fly evenings seem to be summer’s calling cards.

Checking the rose of midsummer

The roses have bloomed all the way through the spring and early summer. With some extra care, they will bloom until frost. To keep them blooming, dead head all spent blooms, spray foliage for mites, insects, and Japanese beetles. Feed with Rose-Tone organic rose food once each month. Water once a week if no rain is in the forecast. Keep long canes trimmed back.

A bit of Saint Lammas weather lore

Saint Lammas Day will be celebrated tomorrow. On this day, it is said the grain begins to ripen and dew’s begin to get heavy. A bit of lore on Saint Lammas Day says that if his day is hot and steamy, look for winter to be white and creamy. We can certainly look for Saint Lammas Day to be hot and steamy because after all, we still have several Dog Days remaining. Don’t count on winter being too white and creamy. Winter is still more than five months away, and a lot of hot, humid weather is ahead before we can even think about the white stuff. One sure thing we know about Saint Lammas Day is that the halfway point of summer has been reached.

Connecting August fogs with winter snows

Tomorrow brings the arrival of the first day of August. The month also brings the arrival of foggy mornings. Are the fogs of August harbingers of the coming snows of winter? My grandma in Northampton County always thought they did, and so did my mother. They kept accurate records of each August fog and if they were light, medium, or heavy. They rose early every morning so they were in good position to observe and record results of the fogs. A heavy fog represents a heavy snow, medium fogs represented a medium snowfall and light fog would mean a trace of snow or a dusting of snow or just a covering of snow. Some of their observations were about as accurate as some of today’s forecasts.

Weather lore as August begins

The last full month of summer begins Monday with almost two more weeks of Dog Days remaining. The last day of the Dog Days of 2022 will be Thursday, August 11. A bit of winter weather lore to begin the month of August says that if the first week of August be warm, winter will be white and long. With Dog Days still in progress, we could very well see some more hot weather. August has plenty of weather lore as you will see in today’s Garden Plot. Even though winter is still a long way off, surely this bit of winter lore can be taken with a grain of salt.

A bowl of colorful dressed up green beans

For this summer recipe, you will need one quart fresh or canned green beans, one large diced white onion, one teaspoon sugar, half teaspoon pepper, one two ounce jar of diced pimentos, one can mushrooms, one can Green Giant Lesueur peas, one stick light margarine and half cup catsup. Mix all ingredients except green beans and simmer for fifteen minutes. Add drained green beans and half stick margarine and simmer for twenty minutes.

Tomatoes ripen quickly in late summer heat

In the heat of the midsummer sun, tomatoes will ripen fast. On days when the sun bears down and no rain is in the forecast use the water wand in shower mode and water the base of the tomato vines and not the foliage to prevent blossom end rot. During dry spells, birds will peck holes in tomatoes to obtain moisture. To prevent this, harvest tomatoes before they get fully ripe and place them on the porch or deck to finish ripening. Apply powdered lime tomato plants and hill up soil on both sides of the plants or mix lime and water in sprinkling can and pour around base of tomato plants.

The monarch butterfly with orange wings trimmed and bordered in black and white have decreased in numbers of 25% to 50% percent over the past decade. A lot of their decrease in population has been caused by the shortage of milkweed which hosts the egg-laying monarch butterflies. Milkweed is in shorter supply because of habitat destruction by development expansion, commercial enterprises, urban sprawl, and careless land management. Most of the land where milkweed prospered has been gulped up.

We are not much for the propagation of weeds, but in the interest of the survival of the Monarch and the hidden benefits of the milkweed, we are going to plant more flowers, scout for some milkweed and transplant it to the garden or try to locate some milkweed seed. After all, milkweed is a perennial and has beautiful purple and lavender flowers. We think this is a worthwhile project and we hope we can find some milkweed or milkweed seeds. Here are a few factors about milkweed: 1) Milkweed is a perennial. Monarchs and their larvae and caterpillars love milkweed. 2) Milkweed can be propagated from cuttings, the milkweed also develops seed pods and can also be rooted. (3) If you can find seed, milkweed can be planted. 4) Monarchs are also known as milkweed butterflies. 5) Monarchs migrate 1,600 miles each year to the mountains of western Mexico.

Keeping bell peppers harvested to freeze

Sweet bell peppers should soon be ready to harvest as the midsummer sun shines down on them. Sweet bells are easy to process and freeze. All you have to do is cut off the tops, split them and remove the seeds and cut into half-inch cubes and place in quart and pint plastic freezer containers. When you need peppers for recipes all during the year, get a container and pour out what you need and place the container back in freezer.

Starting a late row of strike beans

Strike is the best of a green beans for late summer harvests and abundant production. A row that is planted this week will produce a harvest before mid-September and produce until end of the month. Plant the strikes in a furrow about three or four inches deep and apply a layer of peat moss on top of the seed and also a layer of Black Kow composted manure and then an application of Plant-Tone organic vegetable food. Hill up soil on both sides of the furrow and tamp down soil over seeds in row with the hoe blade for good soil contact. Once the beans develop two leaves side dress with Plant-Tone organic vegetable food every 15 days. Apply water with water wand in ‘Shower” mode each week when rain is not in the forecast.

The rainbow of colors in the zinnia bed

The Zinnias of mid-summer are showing off a rainbow of colors and attracting an abundance of attention from yellow and black tiger swallowtails, bees, hummingbirds, sparrows, gold finches, as well as the majestic Monarch butterflies. These floral masterpieces are on display along with the tapestry of an array of butterflies, all performing a spectacular show of motion and beauty.

“Female football lover.” A man took his sweetheart to a football game. After the game, he asked her how she liked the game. She replied, “I like it, but I could not understand why the players fuss over twenty-five measly cents.” Her boyfriend said, “What are you talking about?” His sweetheart said, “Well, they were all saying get the quarter back!”

“Watered down.” A motorist, after being stuck on a muddy road, paid this farmer $50 to pull his car out of the mud. The motorist told the farmer, “At these prices you should be pulling people out of the mud day and night.” The farmer replied, “I can’t do that because every night I have to fill the hole with water!”

Editor’s Note: Community Comment is a periodic column in The Mount Airy News featuring commentary from community leaders in Mount Airy and Surry County.

Summer fun, enrichment activities, outdoor games, learning lessons, and exciting field trips describe a summer full of engagement for our students. Many of our staff dedicate their summer to make sure there is no summer loss for many of our children.

We expect 50% of our total population of students to be involved in some type of summer activity on our campus. It may be an athletic camp in soccer, basketball, football, basketball, or one of our other 27 sports. The students may be in our summer school program that allows them to work on academic areas that may be weak for them or strengthen areas where they have academic talent. Our enrichment programs in the summer are free to every child in our community. The Blue Bear Bus is out and about in the community reaching more than a hundred students and their families with amazing resources. 800+ students benefit from the many summer opportunities that Mount Airy City Schools (MACS) is able to provide.

Imagine a camp such as Baking Bears, where you are able to grow your culinary skills. You might also conduct fun science experiments at our many S.T.E.A.M. (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) offerings, learn about college at College Application Bootcamp, experience the arts at Arts Alive and Magical Music, or enjoy creating structures during Legos Extravaganza. Our S.E.E. (Summer Enrichment Experiences) camps have a little something for everyone.

The amount of adult educators it requires to put on these camps is a big undertaking. We feel blessed at MACS that more than 40 staff members show up to help lead summer programming. We all know how difficult it can be for high poverty families to be involved in meaningful activities, get three meals a day, and find appropriate child care while they are working. We are happy and excited to provide these opportunities for every single student.

The Blue Bear Bus is a favorite of the Mount Airy community. Any given day you see the decorated bus pulling into your neighborhood with activities for the whole family, academic support resources, along with educators ready to play games and have a lot of fun. The energy of the Blue Bear Bus team is second to none and the excitement they bring is contagious. Serving more than 100 students each week shows the popularity of this mission. Check out our link to show all of the great locations they will be visiting over the next few weeks. https://www.mtairy.k12.nc.us/apps/pages/bluebearbus

Everything from driver’s education, to teacher training, to cleaning and preparing schools is happening on our five campuses. There are custodians, school nutrition workers, maintenance workers, bus drivers, administrators, and many staff members who work twelve months out of the year preparing our schools for the upcoming school year. Any given day you can see basketball floors being stripped and waxed, classrooms being painted, maintenance occurring and planning happening. This feels busier than the school year for many of the staff members because they are onboarding new staff, working on licensure issues, and balancing budgets before the next school year begins. We are thankful for all of these everyday heroes that make a difference in the life of a child.

The summer is the best time to jump into one of our summer academic programs, our enrichment camps, or our Blue Bear Bus activities to see if you are interested in joining the Mount Airy City Schools family. We open our programs to all children, regardless if they are enrolled in another district, they are homeschoolers or they attend a charter school. Our programs are free to students with transportation and meals provided for city residents. We are the hub of the community and that only gets stronger during the summer.

If you are interested in touring our schools and seeing for yourself the amazing staff we have ready to serve you please check out our website and sign up for a tour http://bit.ly/MACStour Come see what all the excitement is about, Blue Looks Good on You.

2 Corinthians 4:1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

We are living in a time when our belief as Christians is being tested; our faith is being put under a microscope for Satan to see our every weakness. The very moral laws of God are being pushed aside and replaced by the evil heart of mankind. The Bible says in verse 4 of 2 Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not.

Satan has blinded the minds of the unbeliever, but God has given mercy and grace to those who have their faith in Christ Jesus. After we are saved through the blood of Jesus we have renounced, which means to give up, those hidden things (or things in secret of dishonesty), not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.

Apostle Paul is saying we don’t handle God’s word deceitfully which means don’t present God’s word in a way that keeps the truth hidden and gives false impressions. We are to present God’s word in truth so that we can be shown worthy in the eyes of people and in the sight of God. I have always in my 26 some years preached, sung, and wrote the truth of the gospel of Christ. I have taken the word of God from the KJV Bible for its face value and never tried to smooth over what God says is wrong.

The Bible is not a book for God to pat us on the back and say good job. That will come later on judgment day for Christians at the Judgment Seat of Christ if anyone should be so worthy. The Bible says; All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. 2 Timothy 3:16.

Now if you ever think you are perfect while you are here on earth you better step back and take a real close look at yourself. If anyone ever thinks they are perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works you are deceiving yourself and certainly not fooling God. God’s word is a goal that is set before us for correction of our sinful nature. I don’t believe anyone can reach God’s goal of righteousness on earth except the Lord Jesus.

We are running a race as a servant of God, not as a self-made saint before people. This race that we are running for God has road signs that are taken from the Bible like 1 John1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. So while we are still in the race we come upon the next sign that says in 1 John1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

We are not confessing our sins to keep our salvation; we are confessing our sins because of our sinful nature and keeping our prayer life in tip-top shape. But if you bypass that sign of confessing your sins the last road sign will pop up. 1 John1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. So we take time to talk to the Lord because we know and He knows we have sinned. We need and must have a regular prayer life because we are the sheep running a race for the Shepherd that speaks to us when we listen for correction and instruction. Jesus said; John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

God is holy and there is a barrier that exists between God and us when we come to Him with unconfessed sin in our lives. The Bible says in Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. That is the very reason you can’t put yourself upon a pedestal of righteousness as a human.

I’m trying to express the truth in a human-understanding way. Sometimes it takes loudly spoken words for folks to listen to the truth. I believe that God is using His word to scream out to His people today not to get caught up in this world of hate, to gather your children together and keep them under the shadow of God and keep them from using a false source of being in control without God in an animated world.

Mankind is out of control today because they are without God and the next generation is going to be worse. So don’t let that happen to your kids no matter how old they are. Teach them the road signs of the Bible now. If they belong to Christ, it will be a lot easier on them today than God chastening later in life, believe me I know.

In today’s world we can instantly contact each other at any time. Text, video, and even with our voices. It’s almost inaccurate to call the devices in our pockets “telephones,” but telephones were the first small step of mankind’s journey in instant communication. Let’s take a look back in time at the history of telephones in Mount Airy, Surry County and beyond.

The first telephone was invented by Scottish-born Alexander Graham Bell in 1876. North Carolina first began dialing in to telephones in 1879, the first being installed in Raleigh. The city also saw the first telephone exchange, and the same year, it was possible to place calls as far as Wilmington.

The introduction of telephones in rural areas of the South was largely thanks to the Rural Electrification Administration, also known as the REA. Established by Congress, the agency made it possible to bring electricity to isolated parts of the country and played a part in lighting up and bringing power to Mount Airy and its surrounds. Then in 1949, the REA reached a new phase, and began its work to also provide telephone lines to those outside of the big cities. While the REA did not build or operate facilities, it was integral to the introduction of telephones by offering start-up loans that allowed rural cooperatives to build their own service lines.

It was in 1951 that one of the major telephone companies in the area, the Surry Telephone Membership Corporation, applied for a loan of more than half a million dollars from the REA loan through the North Carolina Electrification Authority.

Surry Telephone Membership Corporation, which still exists under the name of Surry Communications, had its first telephone exchange in Level Cross, a small community just south of Mount Airy, in November 1954. The company’s telephone directory from the same year not only lists the names and numbers of its members and outlines the services it provides, but also includes instructions on how to dial using a rotary phone, and a reminder to “speak in a normal tone of voice, slowly, clearly and directly into the mouth piece” when making calls.

By 1957, Surry Telephone Membership Corporation had added exchanges in Westfield, Beulah and Zephyr. The monthly charge for a line was $3.25, with toll charges on all calls outside the member’s own exchanges.

Telephones had made it to Surry County by 1894. Those who had joined up to the service were called “subscribers,” with some of the earliest subscribers in the area being the Sparger Brothers Tobacco Factory, Blue Ridge Inn, First National Bank, C.F and Y.V. Railroad, Fulton Tobacco, and the Renfro Inn. Around the same time, a line from Mount Airy to Dobson had been newly built.

Many of the first telephones were placed in general stores, or other business establishments. One of the earliest records of telephones in Surry County is a 1909 notice announcing that Telephone Pay Stations had been installed at a number of general stores in Mount Airy, as well as Foy’s Hardware, Prather’s clothing store, and various other stores. The same notice announced that 5 cents will be charged for local connections.

Pay stations were a necessity when using telephones in their early years. To make a call, you would have to find an agent-operated telephone pay station to pay a fee and make your call. In 1888, William Gray began dreaming up what would eventually become public, coin cooperated telephones. His original had a bell attached which would alert the telephone operator that the person had paid for their call and could now be connected. The design was upgraded throughout the years.

Back in Mount Airy, the town’s telephone services were under the name of Central Telephone Company, formally Central Electric and Telephone Company, before it was separated from other utilities services in the late 1940s.

Back in Mount Airy, in 1947 the Central Telephone Company began planning to install underground telephone lines along Main Street. While assessing its feasibility, workers used power drills to explore beneath the street to determine what granite deposits are there, and whether the lines would actually be able to be placed around the granite. Around the same time, the company announced that additional telephone lines were being planned that would connect Mount Airy to Dobson and Winston-Salem.

The same year, the Central Telephone company filed an application with the North Carolina Utilities commission asking for a general increase in telephone rates. The company said rates would vary but would generally range from 25 cents to $1.25 per month for business service and 15-75 cents per month for residential. Long distance calls would not be affected by the proposed revisions.

As the years go by, we are constantly finding more and more ways to speak and connect with each other over physical distances, from Zoom to text messages, email to FaceTime calls. But it’s all due to the early work of those who saw the potential of the telephone that we have these services that make our lives just that much more connected.

Katherine “Kat” Jackson is a staff member at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History. Originally from Australia she now lives in King. She can be reached at the museum at 336-786-4478.

Editor’s Note: Reader Diary is a periodic column written by local residents, Surry County natives, and readers of The Mount Airy News. If you have a submission for Reader Diary, email it to John Peters at jpeters@mtairynews.com

This morning I walked out back of the house looking at the shrubs and flowers, while gazing at the sycamore, oak and pine trees. A red bird was hopping along on the fence. Robins and blue birds were flying from limb to limb in the trees.

It was quiet since the day had just begun. The grass was still wet from the heavy morning dew. My mind flashed back to the back porch when I was growing up in Surry County. Well, really a porch on the side of the house. But, since it was near the back, we called it the back porch. Every afternoon or evening, our family would just naturally migrate to the porch. We didn’t plan it, we didn’t talk about sitting on the porch. It just happened. Porch living was our way of life.

Dogs played around in the yard, but soon walked up on the porch to be petted and rubbed. We talked to them just like they were humans. I think they probably understood most of what we were saying. Pretty soon they were lying there in wait of a snack that would come later. Two or three cats were circling between our legs while constantly glancing over at the dogs in fear of being chased.

Mom might be stringing beans or peeling apples. A neighbor would probably drop by to talk about the crops or news about one of the neighbors. Often, we discussed a recent elementary or high school basketball or baseball game. In the summer, everyone talked about the Yankees or Dodgers. To us, there were no other teams. You were either a Dodger fan or a Yankee fan. And, you didn’t get along.

Neighbors would often drop off a “mess of beans,” several ears of corn, a basket of apples, a blackberry pie, or other assortments of food. Mom and dad always had a pitcher of “iced tea” for anyone on the back porch. Now, tea meant sweet tea. There was no such thing as unsweetened tea. That would be unheard of; it just didn’t exist. Of course, there was also a Pepsi Cola, a Big RC, a Big Orange (Nehi), a Cheerwine, or another bottle of pop that was available for the neighborhood kids. Yes, it was pop. The word soda or soft drink wasn’t in our vocabulary.

A front porch wasn’t quite a public room, but really close. It was a meeting ground between our family with friends and neighbors. Everyone could be seen; you could hear the sounds of neighborhood life. Neighbors knew one another and what was happening in our community. And because neighbors talked, laughed, and enjoyed each other’s company, news traveled fast.

When Dad heard about a plumbing problem, a leaky roof, a sick cow or horse, or someone in need of help, he just got up, jumped into the truck, and took off to offer help. Dad was really hesitant to ask for help, but eager to provide help. It was just a way of life. I think all of the families in the community really lived with this type of independence, but with compassionate hearts.

Sometime later, the backyard patio and barbecue became the focus for family living. People moved away from the porches; and with the proliferation of television, families moved indoors where rooms were air conditioned in the summer and heated in the winter. The living room recliner and the remote control eventually replaced back and front porch living. In fact, porches are now mostly little more than architectural decor.

Now, it’s usually the den, basement, or the family room at the rear of the home where families gather and relax in private. It is rare that neighbors and friends drop by for an uninvited chats and sharing of neighborhood news.

In many ways, the faster the pace of life, the more wealth a family accumulates, the more isolated and lonely we become. We won’t admit it, but our family, our children, and our friends are the biggest losers. We need our community far more than we are willing to admit.

Well, a lawnmower and weed eater outside just took me out of my reflections of living on the porch. Back into the house for now. Hoping the joy of front porch living is still alive and doing well in some areas of North Carolina.

Hope ya’ll have a relaxing and enjoyable summer. Try out the back porch!

Johnny Long grew up in the Beulah area of Surry County, graduating from Beulah Elementary School, North Surry High School, and later from UNC-CH, as well as Appalachian State University. He lives in eastern North Carolina, but still visits Surry County.

Ephesians 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

You go to a doctor whose name you can’t pronounce and whose degrees you have never verified, then he gives you a prescription you can’t read. You take it to a pharmacist you have never met. They give you a chemical you do not understand and most of the time you can’t even pronounce its name. Then you go home and take the pill according to the instructions on the bottle. It’s all in trusting and sincere faith.

Look at Joseph, Jacobs’s son, Joseph with the coat of many colors found in Genesis chapter 37. The story of Joseph is not all about Joseph. It’s not all about his brothers. It’s not all about Jacob. It’s about God. It’s about forgiveness; it’s about trusting in God for your life. It’s learning that God is in control and has a plan for your life.

Sometimes we feel that God has pulled the rug out from under us. Joseph must have felt that way because no sooner than he reached some heights he was brought back down. He was brought right back to where he started. In God’s plan for our lives He may remove the good from us to give us the better. Sometimes He may remove the better to give us the best. That’s what happened to Joseph.

Think of the example that Joseph’s life gives us. It is a Christ-like example. Joseph had the favor of his Father. He was despised and betrayed by his brothers. He was sold into slavery for a few pieces of silver. But Joseph was exalted to rule. Our Lord Jesus found favor with His Father. Our Lord was betrayed by His own people. Betrayed for a few pieces of silver but now sets at the right hand of God the Father.

Each of us has encountered situations where we just felt like throwing in the towel. We felt like the whole world was against us. We felt like no matter what we did things would turn out bad. We all have at some time said to ourselves, “No matter what I do things still won’t change.” Or we feel that we have gone so far down that there is nothing that can bring us up.

I don’t know about you but if I’d been around Jacob and the boys and had known Joseph, watched the events of his life from a distance; if I had witnessed the hatred of his brothers throwing him in the pit, selling him like a piece of furniture, being bought into the slave market, and then going on through hard times for the next 13 years, I’d think I’d be tempted to tell Joseph: “Looks like God has forgotten you. God’s has abandoned you.”

We turn to God at times when our foundations of our life start shaking and many times only to discover it’s God who is doing the shaking. God cannot work good things through us until He works deeply in our hearts first. With faith, forgiveness, and knowing that God is in control and keeping our fellowship with Him intact with prayer these things come a lot easier. I believe that’s the reason Joseph had forgiveness in his heart. His fellowship with God was never broken. The Bible says that God was with Joseph. When we choose to forgive I believe we become a trophy of grace like Joseph.

We might think that we know what is best. But God has a plan for every life and all we have to do is seek after His will. The Bible says in Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”

If you follow His ways. If you let Him lead you, if you seek after His will. You will find that there’s no one else who knows the right direction for your life but God. He can open doors that have been shut, He can close doors that no man can open. Nobody else can do that but God. He can give sight to the blind. He can make the lame man walk and the dumb man talk. No one else but God. “But God” can do anything but fail!

Love in Christ Jesus, Evangelist Ronnie Miller.

In the majestic hills, turns, valleys, and mountains of this region lie numerous natural resources waiting to be seen and understood. Our lands are old, retaining the stories of life before us. Crossing the line from Surry to Stokes county feels just like that. Without the roadside markers, it would be hard to tell where one begins and the other ends. The curves and bends lead directly into one another, making a spectacular scene.

One of the constant markers in our Surry/Stokes scene is the Sauratown Mountains. The Sauratown Mountain range is evidence of a once-mighty, ancient section of mountains that dominated the landscape. The quartzite rocks that remain form several notable mountains, one of those being Hanging Rock in Danbury.

The expansive landscape that is Hanging Rock State Park started its debut in society with the creation and operation of three mineral springs and their respective resorts. From the mid-1800s onward folks have traveled from all around to enjoy Stokes County’s natural resources, one of those sites still standing is known as Vade Mecum. These springs were believed to have healing qualities for those who drank the water.

April 1936 changed the dynamic of the area when several philanthropic organizations banded together to purchase the area. The Winston-Salem Foundation, The Stokes County Committee for Hanging Rock State Park, and others deeded their purchase back to the state to create a new park; more than 3,000 acres were donated.

The CCC, or Civilian Conservation Corp, oversaw the creation and carving of a recreational area out of Hanging Rocks surrounding greenery. By 1940 the group had created two dams aiding in the construction of a 12-acre lake, a stone and wood bath house that could accommodate 1,000 swimmers, a diving tower, a sand beach, picnic areas, foot and horse trails, and a 350-car parking lot.

On July 21, 1944, Hanging Rock State Park was dedicated and officially opened. The CCC camps were closed, and visitors began to make their way into the park. In 1948, a better road was built to help visitors get to the top of the mountain. The historic bathhouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991, and a new visitors center was built in 1993 which is currently being renovated due to water damage.

Hanging Rock State Park is hosting two CCC educational canoe experiences this month on the lake. There, folks can learn more about how important the CCC was to the park. Trails, camping, and wonderful experiences await visitros at this historic park. Start at Vade Mecum and take the curvy path to Hanging Rock; you won’t be sorry that you did!

Emily Morgan is the guest services manager at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History. She and her family live in Westfield. She can be reached at eamorgan@northcarolinamuseum.org or by calling 336-786-4478 x229

Romans 8:5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

Verse 5 of Romans 8 says “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.” That verse reminded me of when I was growing up on the tobacco farm. We had an old mule by the name of Kate. Kate was a good working mule but, it was another thing putting the bridle on her. Without the bridle, you could never get that mule to do what you needed her to do. Most of the time even with the bridle she wanted to do as she pleased. Her passion was to go back to the barn where she came from and that’s what she did many times.

Folks, many Christians are the same way even when the Holy Spirit tries to guide them. Our passion many times is to do as we please. On the other hand, some people over time will have a passion to go back into the world and they do. I have witnessed this many times over the years.

Another frightening category is some never let Christian friends know that they love living worldly or fleshly lives. They can be church leaders or pew warmers with perfect attendance. These kinds of people are the hardest ones to reach because they think they are ok, but there was no repentance and turning from their sinful lifestyle when or if they were saved. They only want a good standing in modern society by following the Christian community.

We live in a society today that teaches mankind is basically good. But the Bible says “All have sinned and come short of His glory.” It’s not other Christians or good people that saved us from our sins. It is Jesus Christ, God in the flesh and we as Christians are supposed to love, praise, worship and most of all follow Him. We are not to be guided by fleshly ideas. We are to listen when the Holy Spirit speaks with our spiritual ears. We are not to give in to Satan’s deceiving ways and without regular prayer, you will drift every time because a regular prayer life is the foundation of following the will of the Holy Spirit. In Romans 8 Paul puts it very plain in the last statement of verse 6 when he said “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. If you are a Christian you are to be indwelled, guided by the Holy Spirit.” You can’t have it both ways or you are carnally minded Paul says.

In verse 6 Paul doesn’t candy-coat the truth of the Holy Spirit. “6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Salvation is about believing, and accepting Christ as your Saviour by asking forgiveness of sins and turning from those sins. God sends the Holy Spirit to be with you forevermore. It’s not complicated. Asking God in the name of Jesus forgiveness of your sins by repenting of them, turning from those sins, and accepting Holy Spirit to guide, comfort, and seal your identity that you belong to Jesus Christ Son of the living God. Keep a regular prayer life by asking Jesus for strength and guidance in your daily life because our God’s love is an unbridled love and covers a multitude of sins.

Galatians 1:6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: 7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. 10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. 11 But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. 12 For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.

What is the gospel? I would say if you made a survey you would get more definitions of that question than you ever thought were possible. We live in a time when the gospel has been twisted, taken away from, added to, and changed to fit a secular society. So, if you were to take a survey you would get definitions just like those in Paul’s day and then some.

What is the gospel? The meaning of the gospel is “good news.” Well, what is the good news? Jesus died, was buried, and rose again. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:3 “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”

You have never preached the gospel unless you have stated these facts. These are the historical facts of the gospel which cannot be changed. How do we know they are facts? Because there were more than 500 people at once who saw our Lord Jesus after His resurrection. Also, you notice that Paul said 1 Corinthians 15:3 “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received.”

Paul received the gospel firsthand from Jesus Himself on the road to Damascus. The gospel is that of grace. That’s what the book of Galatians is all about. Grace from God through Jesus equals salvation. The Judaizers were bringing the churches into bondage through the law. This still goes on today. The very same false teaching that Paul saw in such a very short time of the gospel in his day. They were saying you must also keep all the commandments.

Those leaders of the Mosaic Law were following Paul into Galatians country. They couldn’t deny Christ’s death, burial and resurrection because there were too many witnesses but, they could say, “Yes Paul is right about those things but, you must keep the Law of Moses also to be saved.” This is the oldest of false teaching since Jesus ascended. It is adding something to the gospel of grace. It is doing something rather than simply believing something.

It is faith plus something rather than faith plus nothing. Every cult has something for you to do in order to be saved. You must do this or you must say that or you must pray this way or pray that way. In our religious society if we could go back in time and hear the testimonies of some who God says were saved many would question it. It is interesting that Paul said to the Philippian jailer, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” in Acts 16:31 and Peter said in Acts 4:12 “Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”

When you believe, the Holy Spirit indwells you and makes it real. Then here is what happens. 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” God moves in, changes your life, and gives you a new destination. Trust Him today as your Saviour because listen, if you should die without making that decision, tomorrow will be too late. Hebrews 9:27

Evangelist Ronnie Miller who is in charge of www.themillersbiblestudy.com

As time pushes forward, our collective technology advances at an ever-growing speed. Each year, new phones, computers, apps, and more are released, deeming their predecessors obsolete. It is so hard to stay ahead of the technology curve, that many consumers have adopted the “if it’s not broke don’t change it” rule.

These advancements have also discarded some technologies and training as unnecessary. Things such as watchmakers, cobblers, seamstresses, and milliners are not as common as they once were. Surry County has a long history of these forgotten trades and arts, including the art of crafting the shoe.

As a child growing up in Surry County, I hated shoes. My rural environment and lush grass begged for bare feet roaming; shoes were not at the top of my priority list, no matter how many snakes roamed my yard. However, as I grew older and became interested in my own personal brand of fashion, that changed. Shoes can make or break your day, with comfort and affordability being key.

Today we find ourselves roaming neatly lined rows of perfect boxes when we are in need of shoes. Our forefathers and mothers had slightly different experiences.

Shoemakers, cobblers, or cordwainers used to be sprinkled throughout Main streets and communities across the world. This handicraft was unique to the country or region with more than 15 different techniques for making shoes or foot coverings. Contrary to many popular fairy tales, cobblers crafted shoes by hand. Many craftsmen started out as apprentices at other cobblers’ shops, with each in a constant rotation of passing the craft onto the next generation. The many tools, machines, and materials took devotion and practice to master.

Sandals were some of the first styles of shoes created, followed by clogs and leather-bottomed shoes. Fur, leather, and wood were common materials for cobblers to use. Each shoe, during this early time, was hand-measured and created for each person individually. It wasn’t until the early 1800s that a machine was made to aid in the creation of shoes. Marc Brunel created a way to mass-produce boots for the British Army. Rubber soles didn’t appear on the scene until the late 1890s.

The Industrial Revolution changed the way we consumed many products, including shoes. Cheap labor, readily available resources, and rising consumerism helped evolve the “shoe” narrative. However, even during the changing times, families and individuals favored repairing shoes over buying new. Local cobblers and repair shops could replace soles, eyelets, and sides. They also repaired bags, purses, and other leather goods. Downtown Mount Airy had several shoe repair stores or cobblers through the years.

Belton Shoe store was one of those shops. In operation, for 86 years the Belton legacy included two generations of the Belton family using the craft. In their timespan, the cost of repairing shoes changed drastically. In 1971 a shoe repair could cost around $4.75, the same job in 1998 would have cost $28. The L.C. Belton Repair store was originally located on Virginia Street but moved to N. Main Street, near Snappy Lunch, where it remained until it closed in April 1998. Another name in shoe repair from the area was L.B Albertson Boot and Shoemaker, which was originally on North Main Street in 1895.Harold’s Shoe Shop 1933, and J.E Harrold Shoe Shop on Moore Avenue were some other notable names.

As with the column a few weeks ago about Watchmakers, it is hard to find a repair shop in a downtown atmosphere; Elkin, still boasts a repair shop on Main Street, Patti’s Leather & Shoe Repair. However, they are few and far-between. The U.S. has an organization named Shoe Service Institute of America (SSIA) which, before the pandemic, met annually to award prizes, talk about the shoe industry, and socialize. Like many other handy-crafts, the work was hard and rewarding, fueling life for many families across the region.

Emily Morgan is the Guest Services Manager at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History. She and her family live in Westfield. She can be reached at eamorgan@northcarolinamuseum.org or by calling 336-786-4478 x229

Editor’s Note: Community Comment is a periodic column in The Mount Airy News featuring commentary from community leaders in Mount Airy and Surry County.

The graduates of Mount Airy High School have finished their 13 years in public education graduating with more than $3.5 million in scholarship awards. Each graduate has had the chance to earn workforce credentials, college credits, and skills that will last a lifetime. Over 65% of our graduates participated in free college courses while in high school. This translates into an average savings of $6,700 each year that you would be paying in college tuition at a four year college. Over time this saves parents a lot of money. Congratulations to our graduates as they move forward to their next step of college, the military or the workplace.

Many of our graduates go to Surry Community College to finish out their two-year degree before they go into the workforce or onto a four-year college. Surry Community College is a great cost savings option as well as a way for students to decide which career path they want to pursue. Having a strong community college in our community is outstanding and a resource that all students should take advantage of exploring areas of interest or taking specific skill-developing courses.

Students also work on their workforce credentials and skills through Career and Technical Education (CTE) courses and assessments. Our high school students earned 480 credentials just this year and over 83% of Mount Airy High School students were proficient on CTE assessments. This is in comparison to 70% in our region. Seventy percent of our students achieved platinum, gold, and silver which shows that our students have the literacy, numeracy, and problem-solving skills that employers need in their workplace. Congratulations to Jason Dorsett, principal of Mount Airy High School, Olivia Sikes, CTE director, and the amazing team of CTE educators.

As we prepare the next generation of graduates, Mount Airy City Schools has been given almost $1.8 million to renovate our workforce development center through a statewide grant. This building was built in 1969 and has not had upgrades since then other than some paint and maintenance. We will have the opportunity to upgrade the HVAC, roof, walkway, and awnings. We will renovate the restrooms, create larger hallways, install an elevator, and make the overall environment accessible and inviting for all students and staff. Our county commissioners have contributed 5% of the overall costs to make sure we provide what is needed for our students.

This effort would not be possible without the leadership of our Board of Education and their foresight of our students’ futures. Our hope is to make improvements to the building, create access for handicapped individuals, and utilize up-to-date labs and equipment to prepare our children for the jobs of tomorrow.

We have programs that include drones, aviation science, and Adobe. Mount Airy High School offers health science for all health related careers, food and nutrition, engineering through Project Lead the Way, 3D modeling, and graphic design. We have construction, woodworking, and have added sustainable agriculture. This addition will allow for leadership development and laboratory work with a greenhouse on the campus. Our students can help build sustainable solutions in agriculture for our community.

Mount Airy City Schools has launched the Mount Airy City Schools Educational Foundation and has raised more than $50,000. Donors in our community have pledged an additional $40,000 specifically to innovative programs in our school system because they believe in the future of our children. We know that you do as well.

As you talk with administrators, educators, and our Board of Education, encourage them in their work to make sure all of the Mount Airy community has the workers needed in the future. We hope that our students will see the amazing opportunities they have right here at home and continue to work and grow in Mount Airy. If you are interested in contributing to our innovative programs or would like to have more information please see our website at http://www.mtairy.k12.nc.us or call us at 336-786-8355.

And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good?

This week I want to display the journey of Moses and God’s people into the Promised Land that initially started with a promise made to Abraham by God. Early in this column, it is essential to note that God has a promised land for each of us. Of course, that ultimate land of promise is in heaven with God in our very own mansion that has been built for us to reside in, but our promised land here on earth is found in the specific purpose He has laid out for each person individually.

You will see in Deuteronomy 10:12-13 the words of Moses to the Israelites as he prepared them for their Promised Land that was filled with a purpose for their descendants. The question posed here is what does God require of us as we journey toward that land, as we look toward residing in our purpose, or better stated, how to live a life that God desires us to live to the fullest?

As stated in the words of Moses is, five simple directives to fear God, please God, love God, serve God, and obey God. For the sake of space and time, I will not be able to go into deep detail about each of these points, but I can state that each of them can be found intertwined in the ten commandments found in Exodus 20 and echoed by Jesus in Matthew 22:35-40.

The verses in Matthew read this way, “Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, ‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?’ Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

There is a commission that we are to have an attitude of fearing, pleasing, serving, and obeying, but there is something about true love that helps us bring the first four right in line with God’s will for our lives. Paul in 1 Timothy 1-5-7 states that the commandants of our life should be derived from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. This pure heart that Paul talks about gives us our genuine desire to please God through service to others. This direct obedience to God’s Word shows that we are not scared of God but possess a fear derived from reverence and respect. John tells us in 1 John 4:7-10, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

My friend God is love. Whoever does not love does not know God because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

Fearing, pleasing, serving, obeying, and loving are simple requirements when we consider that God sent Christ to forsake it all for us to have freedom from the bondage of our sin. I have found that once we begin to understand 1 John 4, we begin not only to see why Deuteronomy is pertinent but you will begin to see the truth in Jesus’s answer to the lawyer in Matthew 22. That love should compel us to love others, which will result in a display of all the requirements needed to inhabit the promises from God. Jeremiah 29:11 states, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Love God, and I promise, friend, you will experience more than you can imagine.

May God bless you and keep you and allow his face to shine upon you and give you peace. God bless you!

Summer is reunion time for many families. A chance to gather with cousins, share stories and laughter and make stronger connections with those who share a common heritage.

The Burke family reunion is happening this weekend. For some that means coming home. For others this will be the first time in the area.

Members of the Burke and associated families have been instrumental in building business in Mount Airy and Surry County for 150 years. Though he came from humble roots, by age 21, William Walter (WW) Burke established a thriving dry goods store on Main Street and steadily built an impressive real estate business besides.

His father, James Marion Burke, was born to Irish immigrants in 1845 in South Philadelphia, the same neighborhood the fictional Rocky Balboa rose from. Even then it was a neighborhood of people of modest and limited means, mostly Irish, Scots, and free Blacks, working the factories, docks, and train yards, hoping to save enough to move uptown to a better life.

His immigrant father, also named James, was a bootmaker and within a decade owned his own small shop. The family moved to a nicer part of town and both he and his brother were working by the time they were 16.

In October 1864 James, then a tinsmith, enlisted in Company E of the 1st New York Artillery and served for the duration of the Civil War, a decision that left him hard of hearing.

We will likely never know what attracted him to Mount Airy but by 1870 he was working in the Brower shoe factory, cutting leather.

At the same time Lucy Hayes, recently widowed, moved with her eight daughters to Mount Airy where there was work in the Brower Cotton Mill. The six older girls (13-24) worked. The entire family was illiterate.

One of the girls, 18-year-old Ida, met James, perhaps walking to work, perhaps at church, perhaps a social gathering. Regardless, they married and bought a house on Pender Street where they raised six children, including their first-born, WW.

James and Ida ensured their children received an education and learned marketable skills. WW seems to have been a determined and progressive businessman from a young age, barely 21 when he opened his store. In 1901 he was a charter member of the Young Men’s Commercial Club of Mount Airy. The organization included many of the people who would shape the region’s economy and business landscape for much of the 20th century.

By 1913, WW was able to afford a large house on Pine Street and one of the first “horseless carriages” in the county when he bought a Hupmobile.

When he married Lucy Bell Taylor in 1907, he joined a storied family with deep roots across the region — roots that twine through the War of 1812 and reach to several patriots in the American Revolution.

Many of Lucy’s extended family were college educated, counting physicians, members of the state General Assembly, and business owners as well as farmers with large operations.

Her father’s grandfather, William A. Taylor, settled in Henry County, Virginia. The town that grew up around his farm was called Taylorville for many years until the name was changed to Stuart for a Civil War general who’d also grown up locally.

Burke turned his hand to a number of business ventures. He was one of the founding partners of Renfro Hosiery but sold out his share. He also bought several properties beginning a generations-long family involvement in real estate development.

History is so much more than important dates and the towering figures who loom large in our collective past. It is the daily sacrifice, hard work, and contributions made by the women and men of our families across generations. The important work of building communities is made by those who live and work in them and the seeds of success are carried on the winds as children branch out from their roots to new challenges and new locations.

Kate Rauhauser-Smith is a volunteer for the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History with 22 years in journalism before joining the museum. She and her family moved to Mount Airy in 2005 from Pennsylvania where she was also involved with museums and history tours.

Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”

I want to start today by saying God wants you to know He is right there with you today and forever. Last week I said we would look at the splendor of God, and realizing he is right there with you is the first step in recognizing that splendor. The writer of Hebrews is clear in stating this point by first saying He will never leave you and then follows that with the wording of never forsaking you.

As I counsel people, I ask them to list their fears, worries, struggles, and most of all, their weaknesses. Very rarely do I find people with the same list. Some express identical words but very seldom do the causes behind those words look the same. Paul states in 2 Corinthians 12 that he had a thorn in his flesh that Satan used to try to keep him away from God, but in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Paul states this, “And he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

As I titled this article, I debated on calling it “Finding Strength in our Weakness,” but quickly realized that although strength can be drawn from our shortcomings, it is imperative first to accept that power into our lives.

The disciple Peter experiences God’s splendor in Matthew 14:22- 33 when Jesus invites him to walk out to him on top of the water. Peter does excellent at first because he keeps his eyes on the Son of God (God incarnate), but when he starts looking around, he begins to sink! Jesus does not allow him to go entirely under but instead pulls him up to ask about his faith. I hope you find it humbling today to know that Christ is there to catch you and even pull you up out of the sinking water of life. Peter was standing on solid water one minute and then sinking the next. His cry to Jesus was, “Save me!” Such a simple sentence in words, but so strong when we scream it with meaning.

One more time, I want you to remember that God wants you to know He is right there with you, waiting to hear not only your voice, but he wants your heart, your mind, and your soul to desire that He is the force in this sinking world to save you. So quickly, our heart says yes to the ways God tells us to face the things of this world, but our mind drifts to other means. Sometimes our mind knows that He is the only way, but that same mind becomes clouded with things of this world. We lose sight of the splendor.

Paul tells us in Romans 12:1-2,” I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Today my friend I encourage you to seek God with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your soul. Look for Jesus and keep your eyes planted on him for your direction. Make a list of all your fears, worries, struggles, and most of all, your weaknesses, and one by one, give them to God, and he will set you on a path to strength. One last time, God wants you to know He is with you today and forever. May God bless you and allow His face to shine on you and give you peace. God bless you.

Summer has always kicked off in June which just so happens to be National Great Outdoors Month. A classic spot in my mind that provides relaxation, fun, and adventure is none other than the local cave, Devil’s Den.

Devil’s Den is not some hole in the ground, it’s a local feature that has promoted tourism for more than a century, assisted in early navigation and transportation, potentially housed fugitives, inspired folklore and stories passed down over generations, provided habitat for a host of unique wildlife, and so much more.

The cave is hidden right off the Blue Ridge Parkway on the south-facing side of the mountain in neighboring Fancy Gap, Virginia, a few miles north of North Carolina. When I say Devil’s Den, most people only think of the cave system. In reality, the cave lies within the roughly 250-acre Devil’s Den Nature Preserve on top of Harris Mountain. To know the whole story though you truly have to start at the beginning.

Millions of years ago, the shifting of tectonic plates pushed rocks up into the Blue Ridge Mountains that we see today, and some rocks at Devil’s Den have been dated as being 600 million years old. The cave is unique in that it formed due to the collision of the Appalachian and Piedmont rock encrustations which means rocks forming the mountains hit rocks forming the hills. That collision is why some rocks stand 40-50 feet tall around the cave and some have created gaps big enough for us to fit in to explore. The rocks of the cave are also interesting as they are made up primarily of metamorphic schist and granite and also include features such as several solid bands of quartz.

Shifts in the earth have closed off certain passageways over time, and there is no real record of just how big or deep the cave is. What is well known is there is an old ladder leading down on the left side. You can also eventually exit the cave further down the mountain following the creek.

There’s more to the nature preserve than just the cave though, there are also hiking trails. Today you can take a short hike along the Good Spur Trail, which is actually a part of the roadbed for the original Good Spur Road. Before the creation of the Fancy Gap Highway, the passage up and down the mountain was extremely difficult.

As interest in traveling west picked up in the late 1700s, the need for roads that could handle wagon travel began to pick up. These early mountain roads would seem more like a dirt trail to us today, but they were a big difference at the time. Flower Gap Road, first officially documented in May of 1750, along with the Good Spur Road, which was first documented in 1786, were two of the earliest established mountain roads in the area.

Aside from families traveling west, these roads were also important to farmers such as Robert S. Harris, whose family gave Harris Mountain its name. Robert Harris once lived on the land that is now the Devil’s Den Nature Preserve, and remnants of his old farm home built in the late 1800s are still part of the property. The land was passed down eventually to Edward Harris Carlan who donated the land to the public.

When visiting the cave, it’s interesting to remember that tourism has been bringing people there for more than a hundred years, since the 1890s in fact. During this time, they even had guided tours down into the cave that allowed visitors to travel hundreds of feet down.

It became a tourism hot spot in the 1920s following the Hillsville courthouse massacre of 1912. It was rumored that members of the Allen Family hid out in the cave as the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency searched for them, but this was never confirmed. There have even been stories over the years that the Allen family left treasure down in the caves to keep some of their valuables safe from the law, but that story too has been left unconfirmed.

According to local legend, the cave helped to hide not just moonshine makers, but the moonshine itself. It has been said that the caves have been used as a drop-spot by moonshine sellers in the past. There are many other tales about the cave such as people going in never to return, but oddly enough no one has ever reported seeing supernatural creatures or “The Devil.” In fact, the site gets its name based on its rock formations more than anything.

Overall, this local recreation area is more than meets the eye. All along the property, you can enjoy a variety of wildlife from deer to rare salamanders and unique migrating songbirds. Even ten years ago, they still offered tours of the cave, and though that service is no longer available, the caves are still free to explore. The caves close in the winter, but they usually open up to the public May-November. I hope you all enjoy getting out this summer whether you drive out the parkway, hike, or explore.

Cassandra Johnson is the Director of Programs and Education at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History. She is a Carroll County native whose family has been exploring the Devil’s Den cave for generations.

And they said unto me, “The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.” And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days and fasted, and prayed before God of heaven. Nehemiah 1:3-4

A typical thought is that when something is broken, it can never be fixed. Some would say it is ruined. Others may say it will never be the same again, but with God, that is not the case. I want to start this column by saying there isn’t anything that God can’t fix, and I will go further to say that God takes broken pieces and makes everything beautiful.

God’s people and Jerusalem in Nehemiah are only one of many examples in the Bible of God taking brokenness and creating beauty. As you can see in Nehemiah 1:3-4, the book starts with an emotional Nehemiah, but as you read through the twelve chapters of the book of Nehemiah, you will see beauty, miracles, and God-filled people. It is my favorite book about this transformational brokenness to beauty.

The process to get all this started is easily found in Nehemiah 1:4, “And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days and fasted, and prayed before God of heaven.”

It started with identifying the brokenness. This step can be challenging, I believe. If we are being honest, denial sometimes can be easier than admission. Think about it this way. You turn your car into a pole at the drive-through. You quickly look at the damage and start to reason how much damage has occurred. Anyone who has ever experienced this will know what I mean when I say ignoring the damage will lead to more problems.

When God incarnate came to planet Earth, Jesus found lots of damage that had been let go for way too long. Like Nehemiah’s perspective, we were broken, and God’s people needed to be fixed. This repair begins with us admitting that the dents, scrapes, and loose parts are present in our lives, and the master mechanic is Jesus. Listen to John 3:16-17, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but the world through him might be saved.”

Following Nehemiah’s truthful observation, next, we see the progression of steps. Take some time to mourn. God understands our emotions; after all, He created them, but then we have to hand them over to God. Fasting and praying is a whole topic in and of itself, but in short, it is our way as believers to give everything to God. It is the act of not letting anything distract us from what needs to be handed over to the One who can fix everything and make everything beautiful.

Listen to the words of Solomon in Ecclesiastes 3:11, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” The process is not in our control, not in our time, and not in our way.

These three statements might frustrate us, but it is the only way. God’s ways are higher than ours, and his thoughts are higher than ours. Trust and obey, for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey. Follow the process, and I promise you will experience the beauty that God will provide. Next week we will look closer at the splendor of our God, but until then, identify your broken pieces, hand them to God, and get prepared for the amazing things God will do in your life. God bless you.

In this day and age, most people will rarely have to use the services of their local funeral home, which is something to be grateful for. But that wasn’t always the case, and the public’s interaction with these businesses used to be much more prevalent — funeral homes used to also function as a basic ambulance service, and provided an early form of life insurance.

Before the mid 1800s, the care of the recently deceased was left up to the family. It was up to them to build coffins and sometimes even dig the graves. Times were harsh, living and working conditions were poor, which led to high mortality rates. Families preparing their deceased loved ones for burial was a common occurrence.

Luckily, for much of recent history, these duties can be designated to funeral homes, allowing the family to mourn without the added trauma. However, preparing for funerals has not always been the sole duty of funeral homes; they have historically fulfilled other roles in their communities.

Starting in the 1800s, funeral homes also fulfilled the essential service of transporting the sick and injured, much like a modern emergency medical service. Before the Surry County EMS program began in 1974, many funeral homes in Surry County had their own ambulances. Though it may seem strange to us now, it was a practical choice, as funeral directors were already on call 24/7 for funeral purposes. More importantly, hearses could be easily adapted to both function as hearses and ambulances due to their design and their size.

One of the first records of a hearse in Mount Airy is from 1892. Totten and Poole funeral home, which would eventually become Moody’s funeral home, was the first to purchase a hearse for the community.

In 1935, Ashburn and Calloway Funeral Home, having recently moved into its remodeled building on Pine Street, replaced its old combination ambulance and funeral coach with a new Chrysler. The vehicle was picked up by co-owner JE Calloway in Ohio and driven back to Mount Airy, where it was put on display for the public to view. An advertisement for this car promoted that it was equipped with hot and cold running water, electric fans for the summer, heating for the winter, and all first aid equipment that could be needed.

Another local establishment, Hennis Funeral Home, located on North Main Street and opened in 1942, advertised its ambulance service in 1942 as being available day or night, and only costing $2.50 for calls within the city.

In 1938, Moody’s Funeral Home purchased a new $4,000 Buick ambulance. With 140 horsepower, it was finished with a solid leather interior and was air conditioned. Moody’s went beyond the conventional ambulance, and as of 1946, was also the Surry County and surrounding territory representative for the Air-Ambulance Service of Durham. The planes were advertised as the “first fully organized aerial ambulance service in the US.” The air ambulance was said to be able to transport the sick and injured to any part of the US within hours and had a nurse in attendance on all flights.

The community was also served by Mutual Burial Associations, an organization under which subscribers could pay a fee which would collectively go toward the funeral costs of the association’s members. Locally, the Harrison Mutual Burial Association operated out of both Hannah Funeral Home and Moody’s. In 1931, the association paid for at least 80 members’ funerals in 1931, each costing between $50-$100. (between $951 to almost $2,000 today). Membership for Harrison Mutual Burial Association was a 25 cent fee in 1936, up from 10 cents in 1932.

Moody’s in Mount Airy’s is the longest operating funeral home. Its origins date back to the 1870s, when Bob Totten operated a coffin and furniture business in Mount Airy. When E.A. Hannah moved to the area from Indiana, he purchased Totten’s business, officially starting the business that would become Moody’s in 1902.

Wade Moody began working at what was then called “E.A. Hannah Harness and Coffins” in 1915 at the age of just 19 with a salary of $25 a month. Less than a decade later, Moody would become co-owner of the business along with D.E. Nelson, before becoming sole owner in 1932. After World War II devastated an untold number of families, the home was staffed for the most part by veterans of both world wars. Wade Moody was known at the time for playing a leading role in the local posts of the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars. As an article from 1948 states “Moody’s is not only an undertaker’s establishment but also the center of many civic affairs and ventures.” The business remains in the family to this day.

Katherine “Kat” Jackson is a staff member at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History. Originally from Australia she now lives in King. She can be reached at the museum at 336-786-4478.

For we walk by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7

As we open God’s Word to the book of Second Corinthians, we find the letter that Paul wrote to the church in Corinth. His letter carrier is Titus, an early Christian missionary and a student under Paul who has been asked to lead the Corinthian church. In his first letter to this church, he pointed out the problems, pressures, and struggles that resulted from the corrupt society that surrounded the lives of the people living in Corinth.

Regardless of the love Paul expressed to the Christians in First Corinthians, we find that some of these same Christians have been convinced by false teachers in Second Corinthians that Paul was fickle, proud, dishonest, and unqualified as an apostle. I think this is the appropriate time to include my title; there was more than meet the eyes of the church at Corinth. I am a firm believer that perception is reality to most people until reality becomes their perception. It is so easy to get caught up in the words and actions of others and dismiss the truth of what God wants to reveal to us each day.

I remember as a child, my parents and other mentors shared with me that I could not always trust the things people said and did. I also was taught that there is a difference between good things and God things. As I grew and matured, I attempted to keep these wise points in the back of my mind as I also kept Paul’s words in Hebrews 11 as a guide. Paul states in Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Again, this is our call to walk by faith and not by the things we see. This verse is a difficult concept to grasp, and is probably why this group of Christians in Corinth listened to the false teachers and judged the qualifications of a man that directly had a conversation with Jesus Christ (Acts 9:1-19).

In my title, another idiom I wanted to use is, “You can’t judge a book by its cover.”

The Bible teaches us as we encounter people, situations, decisions, etc., that we should open those books and compare them to the book that is our accurate guide of truth. This approach opens the eyes of our heart and mind in Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Just as his letter in Second Corinthians is written due to these false teachers, he gives this same warning to young Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:3-4. Paul’s words to Timothy states, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch though in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of their ministry.”

So let me end by saying that there is indeed more than meets the eye in this world. We are inundated with news, information, rumors, messages, and conversations every day. Each comes with some level of truth, but our job as Christ-following believers is to seek if it is the truth.

Our ears will fail us, our hearts will deceive us, and our eyes will trick us, but there is one source that will never let us down. That source is God. Let me close with this final verse as I encourage you to see truth as you walk in faith; 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” God bless you!

As time pushes forward, our collective technology advances at an ever-growing speed. Each year, new phones, computers, apps, and more are released, deeming their predecessors obsolete. It is so hard to stay ahead of the technology curve that many consumers have adopted the “if it’s not broke don’t change it” rule.

These advancements have also discarded some technologies and training as unnecessary. Craftspeople and workers such as cobblers, seamstresses, milliners, and watchmakers/repairmen are not as common as they once were. Mount Airy has a long history of these forgotten trades and arts, especially watchmaking.

Watches have been dangled from and worn on our bodies for centuries. The term “watch” appears in a multitude of documents through the years. For example, sailors and hunting parties took turns on “watch.” Many cities and towns also had watchmen, whose job it was to keep time for the community. This profession helped to keep work shifts running smoothly; they served as one big community alarm clock.

Some sources suggest that the first portable watches appeared sometime in the 15th century. These spring-driven watches needed to be wound in order to keep time. Issues such as accuracy and longevity drove horologists, a term used to describe individuals who work on timepieces or apparatuses professionally, to continue tinkering with the technology of the mechanisms themselves.

The late 18th century saw new technologies invented that aided in the cutting and manufacturing of time structural pieces that make watches work. Wristwatches entered the scene early, with Queen Elizabeth the first being gifted an arm watch in 1571, however wristwatches as we know them were not that common until military men began to wear them just after the First World War. Imagine, having to pull out a pocket watch on the battlefield.

After this time, almost everyone would have had a timepiece, and it was no easy job keeping the mechanisms working. At one time, after WW2, Mount Airy alone had more than 21 watchmakers. One of the more famed watchmakers from Mount Airy was Foye Lester Dawson (1923-2006).

Dawson owned and operated his own watch shop on Virginia Street in Downtown Mount Airy. Dawson’s Watch Repair Shop was in operation for 34 years. Inside you could see him with eyes sharp, working diligently over a timepiece illuminated by the work lamp he kept on his desk.

Dawson learned the horology trade through the North Carolina School of Watchmaking in Greensboro. After WW2 the U.S. Army offered training in various occupations for disabled veterans, watchmaking being one of those programs. He began his long career working in another shop for 23 years before venturing out on his own. His career in the watchmaking business lasted for 57 years. He was the longest, as well as the last, licensed watchmaker in Mount Airy.

While finding watchmakers on your Main Street is now uncommon, they still can be found. Several organizations still teach the art of horology, training up a generation of makers. The American Watchmakers-Clockmakers Institute is dedicated to continuing the long history of horologists in the United States. North Carolina also has two chapters of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors that hold meetings to keep this history alive.

Emily Morgan is the guest services manager at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History. She and her family live in Westfield. She can be reached at eamorgan@northcarolinamuseum.org or by calling 336-786-4478, extension 229.

Editor’s Note: Community Comment is a periodic column in The Mount Airy News featuring commentary from community leaders in Mount Airy and Surry County.

All students in the community deserve excellent education opportunities. As school districts compete for students, an unusual approach is found in Mount Airy to embrace all students no matter where they attend school. Mount Airy City Schools (MACS) believes that every single child in its community deserves to be prepared to graduate with the work-force and problem-solving skills necessary to succeed. This is regardless of whether they attend a private school, charter school, homeschool, or innovative traditional public school.

“Choosing Mount Airy City Schools is the best decision we have made for our child,” states a homeschooling family who has partnered with the system. In a recent visit from The Innovation Project (TIP), a non-profit organization that supports 17 school districts across the state, Mount Airy City Schools shared its collective vision. TIP has provided tools to districts that help them reach all children in their community with tools such as locating homeschool networks, gathering addresses, and contacts for homeschool families. TIP believes as a core value that every child is capable of reaching their full potential regardless of where they attend school. TIP has helped Mount Airy schools succeed in this endeavor. Mount Airy partners with many homeschoolers and has brought back more than 50% of students who have chosen charter school previously. This non-judgmental approach helps families make good decisions about where to attend school and helps create a family-school partnership creating success for their children.

On this visit to Mount Airy, attendees from 12 other school districts embraced the vision of creating a “hub of the community” in our schools. The group saw this in action starting with a visit to the Community Central Office. This office was recently renovated with money from the Surry County Board of Commissioners creating a control center over the past two years where meals, technology, and supplies were taken out to families during COVID. The office brings a lot of partners into this space including Surry Sunrise Rotary, The Mount Airy Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors, and other community groups creating a beehive of activity in the office serving others. TIP attendees toured this facility seeing where backpacks are filled and stored, food is taken in and sent out to families, and a presence of Surry Community College exists teaching college courses on our campus.

TIP and Mount Airy have been long-time partners working on innovative initiatives. One most recent was the beginning of a “micro-school” for thecity This is a small, 20-member school that allows students to learn at home most of the week. These students meet virtually with a certified teacher each day and come together once a week to conduct a “place-based” lesson. This hybrid approach helps students learn science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics lessons together such as planting a flower garden, cooking a meal, learning to swim, visiting the Greensboro Science Center, and spending time with the Surry Arts Council. During the TIP visit, students from the micro-school were on campus and showed the attendees their lesson that included creating a playground on paper, measuring and building a 3D model of the playground before bringing their ideas to life and sharing those out.

Visitors were so impressed that they wanted logistical information to see if a micro-school would work for them. One third grade micro-school parent noted, “Jackson truly loves the micro school. It has helped his reading improve over the last couple months. When I have any questions, his teacher is always quick to answer. I would recommend the MACS Micro-School to anyone. Not only is it a great school, but it has become a family and I truly appreciate his teacher for being so good to my child.”

Another component the city school’s vision to be the hub of the community was the description of the free summer enrichment experiences. In addition to typical summer school and athletic camps, Mount Airy offers more than 50 STEAM enrichment experiences. Over half of the students in the district attend a summer opportunity. This helps minimize the notorious summer slide and keeps students and families engaged with the school family. Program offerings include Baking Bears Camp, Camp for Mad Scientist, Preparing College Applications Camp, and many other engaging themes for students.

Our tour group made its way through the Blue Bear Bus that is used throughout the year and the summer to take STEAM on the road. The Blue Bear Bus, a vision of Polly Long and Jon Doss, takes technology, wifi, hands-on STEAM activities, meals, and love to the neighborhoods. When children see the Blue Bear Bus coming they know a day of fun is ahead. Attendees were extremely interested in this innovation and looked to replicate it in their communities.

The group then headed to Mount Airy High School where STEAM teacher Garrett Howlett and students showcased the Aviation Science and Drone program. Students shared all of the companies in the community that use drones and held a drone demonstration. Students Allie Bowers, George Kriek, Owen Greenstreet, and Jesse Bilyeu have earned their Part 107 small Unmanned Aerial System (sUAS) Pilot’s License. They can now fly drones for commercial purposes. Various administrators and teachers from other districts were excited and impressed to see how the students are prepared for careers.

The trip concluded with a visit to the Blue Bear Cafe, where students from the Occupational Course of Study class served cookies and specialty drinks. Student speakers shared their recent trip to Wilmington where they attended a TIP event and were tasked with the challenge of informing school districts how schools could improve. They shared testimonials of how powerful it is for students to be able to share strategies and ideas with district leaders to impact change in their own district. The Blue Bear Cafe also houses the entrepreneurship program that allows students to become entrepreneurs in high school. These students are part of the YESurry competition where they can pitch their idea to a pretend funder. The winning pitch does in fact receive thousands of dollars to begin their business. This partnership was made possible by a connection to NC State through TIP. Curriculum was provided between NC State and Will Pfitzner, a local entrepreneur who has also taught the class. Mount Airy City Schools visited NC State to see their entrepreneur lab and program and has one of the first high school entrepreneur programs in the state.

This event at the Blue Bear Cafe brought to life the joint mission of TIP and Mount Airy schools to make sure students’ voices are at the center of conversations and that innovative programs that are unique and different change districts for the positive. This event highlighted the impact of school districts, families, and community partners working together so that every child will graduate prepared to enter the workforce and live a life filled with success.

On Memorial Day we remember those who have died in military service to this nation, its allies, and ideals. We think of rows of white marble crosses, cemeteries decorated with small fluttering flags. We think of the sacrifices made, our eyes welling with tears and our throats growing tight at the thought of the young men and women who pay the price for our collective freedoms.

They have made it possible for us to enjoy life in our hometowns. As they struggle in the hardships of the frontline, we move through a mundane world, complaining about price hikes, or how our favorite team lost the game. In America we are so insulated from the horrors of war it’s sometimes easy to forget the realities our service personnel deal with on a daily basis. We find out about their deaths days or weeks later.

The Korean War was a vicious conflict almost lost in a century of influential military actions and tremendous economic growth. But 70 years ago hundreds of young men and women from this region served in those unforgiving hills. Today we remember a few who never returned.

What began as a civil war between communist North Korea and the Democratic south soon boiled over into what many people saw as a proxy war between the USSR and the USA. The third major military engagement in 35 years, the Korean War raged in a land most knew little about.

All the while life continued on the home front. Here is a look at what was happening back home, here in Surry County, along with significant events related to the war.

June 25, 1950 – Soviet-backed North Korean soldiers invade the Western-allied Republic of Korea. The North Carolina congressional delegation unanimously supports President Harry Truman’s orders to deploy troops.

What began as a civil war between the Communist north and the Democratic south, soon boiled over into what many people saw as a proxy war between the USSR and the USA. The third major military engagement in 35 years, the Korean Conflict raged in a land most knew little about …. All the while, life continued on the home front.

August 1950 – The Central Telephone Company, based in Mount Airy, is granted permission to raise rates across the region from Mount Airy to Boonville, North Wilkesboro to Yadkinville.

The Bright Leaf Drive-In opens, dramatically changing the local teenage social scene.

A polio outbreak has shuttered Wythe County, Virginia, causing the town’s baseball team to withdraw from the Blue Ridge League. The Bassett, Virginia, team steps in as the deep-seeded rivalry between Mount Airy’s Graniteers and Elkin’s Blanketeers keeps fans riveted.

The Surry County Selective Service Board reopens its office in the courthouse. They ask all to “register immediately after their (18th) birthday” and those who are already registered to update their information if they have moved or married since.

The local National Guard heavy artillery unit, the 426th, is given a 30-notice for mobilization.

American is returning to the battlefield.

Surry County men were not part of the first call in the draft for the Korean conflict. There had been a delay in getting the office reactivated but would be expected to send draftees in the second call.

Some, however, were already there.

Sgt James Crouse, 21, Marine, killed Sept 26. – State Highway Patrolman JP Rhyne of Mount Airy knocked on Claude and Gladys Crouse’ door with news no parent wants to hear. The family home was just across the Alleghany County line in Ennice. He was the eldest of the Crouse’ four children, named for his grandfather, Jim Crouse, who lived at Fisher’s River near Lowgap on old Hwy 89. He’d already served three years in the Marines and reenlisted in November.

Crouse was the first Alleghany County soldier to die in Korea. More than 177,000 North Carolinians served in the war, with 784 killed and 201 listed as either prisoners of war or missing in action.

January 1951 – Mount Airy breaks ground for the Reeves Memorial Community Center.

The Surry County Chapter of the Gold Star Mothers is founded, an organization for mothers of soldiers killed in action. The Mount Airy News reported more than 50 county mothers were known to be eligible from World War II losses at the time.

Corp. Winfred Nelson Dawson, Jr., 18, Air Force, killed Jan. 1 – One of nine children born to Winfred and Nellie Dawson of Ararat, Virginia, he was part of the storied 335th Fighter Squadron.

August 1951 – Mount Airy’s First Baptist congregation launches a major building program.

Pvt. Samuel Carlise Hamlin, 21, Army, Killed Nov. 21 – Part of Gen. MacArthur’s 1st Cavalry, Hamlin was posthumously awarded the Silver Star “for gallantry in action” in the Chorwon region of Korea.

April 1953 – Surry authorities struggle to bring a rabies epidemic under control.

Pvt. Merlin Marshall, 21, Army Medic, Missing in Action April 18 – One of the region’s last casualties, Merlin was last seen attending his fallen comrades of the 7th Infantry Division. His remains were never recovered, and he was presumed dead the next year. The White Plains High School graduate is remembered in the National Memorial Cemetery in Honolulu where the names of nearly 30,000 military personnel Missing in Action or Lost at Sea are inscribed.

May 1, 1953 – Mount Airy’s Martin Memorial Hospital is destroyed by fire.

The war was fierce but stagnant much of the time as troops dug in to hold ground, often in brutally cold temperatures, sometimes as low as 25 degrees below zero. Hostilities dragged on until July 1953 when an armistice was signed, and an uneasy peace was reached.

Often called the Forgotten War, the war seems lost in history between the better-known WWII and Vietnam. It is time we remember. The Mount Airy Museum of Regional History has very little information about anything to do with the Korean War and those who served.

If you have photos, letters, mementos, or family stories about people who served in this war, consider contacting curator Amy Snyder. Such items can be scanned or recorded so future generations understand the price of freedom.

Kate Rauhauser-Smith is a volunteer for the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History with 22 years in journalism before joining the museum. She and her family moved to Mount Airy in 2005 from Pennsylvania where she was also involved with museums and history tours.

Often History, with a capital H, is seen as highly academic. We, as humans, often overlook or dismiss day to day activities as historical; we discard little moments like fool’s gold to make way for the 24 karat events that are televised, tweeted, posted, and spread in mass media without truly seeing that these little experiences sometimes shine brighter.

Through the years, The Mount Airy News has documented the big and the small detailing the life of its readers and beyond. Vintage copies of the newspaper are treasure chests of local history. Some copies have small sections titled “Looking Back” that detail events from 25 and 50 years ago, much like the “Our History” columns do today. Here are some findings from the 1972 May issues.

Originally published May 16, 1947, 25 years ago in 1972, and 75 years ago this month, one blurb read: “Joe Dobson has sold his café business, operated as Main Street Grill to Neil Hennis and Lum Robertson who are now in charge of the place. Dobson is now spending this week catching up on fishing in the local stream.” With no Facebook to check in on our friends, local residents were informed via the newspaper. Social gatherings and events were shared in print, just as we do today. In an issue published on May 2, 1972, an observation was noted that on May 4, 1922 “Miss Fulton, Hedrick, and Bacon of the high school faculty and Mrs. Moorefield and children are camping at White Sulphur Springs.” A simple camping trip that is now 100 years was immortalized in print. Friends and family used this information to plan visits and outings. Granted this is much slower than our instant messaging now but it still got the job done.

Sometimes the news was so shocking that it was published outside the local sector. On May 23, 1947, a piece was entered about Sheffield, England. “Entering a dentist’s office to have a tooth pulled, George Henry Davison, 60, was given an anesthetic. He woke up a few minutes later with his teeth intact and found the dentist dead. He had suffered a heart attack.” After 25 years this type of story was still in favor to be printed.

Another story, originally printed on May 4, 1922, and is now 100 years old communicated that “The brick building on Moore Avenue formerly occupied by Billie Kings Cleaning and Pressing Business has been leased by J.L Banner and turned into an ice cream factory.” Now, if that’s not newsworthy, I don’t know what is.

So many other stories and community events have been recorded for all to see. If you ever find yourself wanting to step back in time and see what everyday folks in our area were interested in all you need to do is browse the newspaper archives, most of which are available online.

Emily Morgan is the guest services manager at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History. She and her family live in Westfield. She can be reached at eamorgan@northcarolinamuseum.org or by calling 336-786-4478 x229

A large, four-story building stands on the corner of North Main and East Oak Street in downtown Mount Airy, at 252 North Main Street. The building has occupied this corner for more than a century and has withstood all the changes that have occurred on the streets surrounding it.

Now known as the Main Oak building, and constructed sometime between 1905 and 1910, it has gone through countless renovations and changes, yet still retains many of its original details, such as its arched windows on the upper floor and its iconic, large storefront windows.

One of its early incarnations was as the F. L. Smith Hardware store. With the town of Mount Airy in boom and various industries springing up, there was high demand in the town for building supplies. As such, hardware stores became ubiquitous along Main Street. F. L Smith Hardware benefited greatly from all this new industry. The building then changed hands to Holcomb Hardware, and then over to Midkiff Hardware.

Its owner, John H Midkiff knew the building well, having been a resident of Mount Airy for the previous 21 years, and was an employee of F. L. Smith Hardware. In this incarnation, the store sold everything from wagons to tobacco and farming supplies. Under John Midkiff’s ownership, the store expanded, adding on a large storage warehouse located at the rear of the store, and also installed a modern (for its era) sprinkler system on the four floors of the building, making it the first store in town to have this fire prevention method.

Along with the flourishing business that the building housed, it also saw its share of the darker side of life. During the 1920s, Dr Harvey R. Hege’s practice was located on the second floor of the building, with Holcomb Hardware below. The dentist had lived and practiced in Mount Airy for more than 25 years and was by all accounts had many connections to the community and was very well respected.

Dr. Hege also flourished professionally. With the addition of a new X-ray machine in his office, the Mount Airy News wrote in a 1921 article that “with this addition to his already modernly equipped office Dr. Hege can now boast of one of the most completely equipped dental parlors in the state.”

However, what the dentist would become notorious for was his involvement in the murder of Curry Thomas, a Virginia farmer, in 1936. Just one month before his death, Thomas had married his wife Elise, who had previously worked for Dr. Hege at his practice. When they received a package in the mail, the couple assumed it was a wedding present. Instead, when they opened it, they set off the bomb that was inside, killing Thomas and severely injuring Elise.

Clues from the crime scene eventually led investigators in northwestern North Carolina, and to Dr. Hege. The dentist owned the very same typewriter which police were able to work out had written the shipping label of the deadly package. It is also said that Dr. Hege went right downstairs from his office and bought the materials for the package from Midkiff Hardware.

Dr. Hege denied all involvement and claimed he was away fishing at the time the package was sent, but his alibi soon proved false, and he was arrested.

However, before the case was brought to trial, Dr. Hege committed suicide in jail.

Legend has it that this unassuming building was at one time home to Mount Airy’s only speakeasy. In order to gain access, visitors were said to have to make their way to the top floor via a freight elevator. Not a sophisticated piece of machinery by any standard, the elevator was operated by a rope which would start and stop it. Once the rope had hopefully been pulled at the right moment to get out onto the third floor, visitors would be greeted by a small hallway, with a door with a small slot in it at the end of the hall. If the person looking through this slot approved of you, you were let in.

The elevator was the only way in or out of this building, so one night, when a party in the speakeasy was in full swing, and the rope for the elevator came loose, stranding the elevator in the basement, the visitors had no exit. There was no phone on this floor, in keeping with the secrecy of speakeasy and the cover story of it being used for storage, so the party-goers resorted to opening a window and yelling into the street for help. Unfortunately, the late hour meant the only ones still out on the street were the same people they were hiding from; the cops. We don’t hear any stories of the speakeasy after this point, but we can guess what happened.

Today, the building still stands on its corner, watching the hustle and bustle of Main Street. While the stories about the building have largely faded away, the building remains solid and standing, a testament to its varied history.

Editors Note: With the Main Oak Building in the news this week, we are taking another look at the history of the structure.

A large, four-story building stands on the corner of North Main and East Oak Street in downtown Mount Airy, at 252 North Main Street. The building has occupied this corner for more than a century and has withstood all the changes that have occurred on the streets surrounding it.

Now known as the Main Oak building, and constructed sometime between 1905 and 1910, it has gone through countless renovations and changes, yet still retains many of its original details, such as its arched windows on the upper floor and its iconic, large storefront windows.

One of its early incarnations was as the F. L. Smith Hardware store. With the town of Mount Airy in boom and various industries springing up, there was high demand in the town for building supplies. As such, hardware stores became ubiquitous along Main Street. F. L Smith Hardware benefited greatly from all this new industry. The building then changed hands to Holcomb Hardware, and then over to Midkiff Hardware.

Its owner, John H Midkiff knew the building well, having been a resident of Mount Airy for the previous 21 years, and was an employee of F. L. Smith Hardware. In this incarnation, the store sold everything from wagons to tobacco and farming supplies. Under John Midkiff’s ownership, the store expanded, adding on a large storage warehouse located at the rear of the store, and also installed a modern (for its era) sprinkler system on the four floors of the building, making it the first store in town to have this fire prevention method.

Along with the flourishing business that the building housed, it also saw its share of the darker side of life. During the 1920s, Dr Harvey R. Hege’s practice was located on the second floor of the building, with Holcomb Hardware below. The dentist had lived and practiced in Mount Airy for more than 25 years and was by all accounts had many connections to the community and was very well respected.

Dr. Hege also flourished professionally. With the addition of a new X-ray machine in his office, the Mount Airy News wrote in a 1921 article that “with this addition to his already modernly equipped office Dr. Hege can now boast of one of the most completely equipped dental parlors in the state.”

However, what the dentist would become notorious for was his involvement in the murder of Curry Thomas, a Virginia farmer, in 1936. Just one month before his death, Thomas had married his wife Elise, who had previously worked for Dr. Hege at his practice. When they received a package in the mail, the couple assumed it was a wedding present. Instead, when they opened it, they set off the bomb that was inside, killing Thomas and severely injuring Elise.

Clues from the crime scene eventually led investigators in northwestern North Carolina, and to Dr. Hege. The dentist owned the very same typewriter which police were able to work out had written the shipping label of the deadly package. It is also said that Dr. Hege went right downstairs from his office and bought the materials for the package from Midkiff Hardware.

Dr. Hege denied all involvement and claimed he was away fishing at the time the package was sent, but his alibi soon proved false, and he was arrested.

However, before the case was brought to trial, Dr. Hege committed suicide in jail.

Legend has it that this unassuming building was at one time home to Mount Airy’s only speakeasy. In order to gain access, visitors were said to have to make their way to the top floor via a freight elevator. Not a sophisticated piece of machinery by any standard, the elevator was operated by a rope which would start and stop it. Once the rope had hopefully been pulled at the right moment to get out onto the third floor, visitors would be greeted by a small hallway, with a door with a small slot in it at the end of the hall. If the person looking through this slot approved of you, you were let in.

The elevator was the only way in or out of this building, so one night, when a party in the speakeasy was in full swing, and the rope for the elevator came loose, stranding the elevator in the basement, the visitors had no exit. There was no phone on this floor, in keeping with the secrecy of speakeasy and the cover story of it being used for storage, so the party-goers resorted to opening a window and yelling into the street for help. Unfortunately, the late hour meant the only ones still out on the street were the same people they were hiding from; the cops. We don’t hear any stories of the speakeasy after this point, but we can guess what happened.

Today, the building still stands on its corner, watching the hustle and bustle of Main Street. While the stories about the building have largely faded away, the building remains solid and standing, a testament to its varied history.

Katherine “Kat” Jackson is an employee at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History. Originally from Australia she now lives in Winston-Salem. She can be reached at the museum at 336-786-4478.

With spring time comes tourists returning during the warm season. As much as I love to see families enjoying Main Street, the visitors I most look forward to are actually the thousands of birds who stop by. Many of us enjoy seeing new birds at our feeders, like tiny warblers and Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, Blue Grosbeaks, and even Scarlet Tanagers.

More than a hundred species of birds migrate through and to our region every spring, and though we all enjoy seeing the new addition to our feeder or on a walk, watching these birds has a rich history in our community. Did you know that International Migratory Bird Day is celebrated every year on the second Saturday of May? This holiday is celebrated all throughout North and South America, and North Carolina is certainly no exception.

This region is important to migrating birds during both the spring and fall. During the spring, thousands of birds leave their winter homes, ranging from South America all the way up to the far southern states of the US, and head north, hoping to find plenty of food and a good nesting spot. During their fall migration, we see other types of birds migrating from the north to find warmer weather during the cool seasons.

These birds come through this region for many reasons. We are a part of a long-known migration route for many birds, and some use the mountains to help navigate. The mountains and waterways also provide lots of food and nesting opportunities, and even events such as storms bring them through the area.

The movements of these birds have been noted for hundreds of years in this region. More than 350 years ago, the Saura tribe was known to hunt migrating birds for food, tools, and to wear. Some of those birds you can still see today, such as Thrush (Swainson’s and Wood are both still popular here) or maybe even a Snow Goose if you are very lucky nowadays. Not all of the birds they would have observed are still around today, though, with the infamous passenger pigeon being the prime example.

Early European settlers also observed and hunted migrating birds, more than 250 years ago. Moravian settlers were recorded as being especially fascinated with “exotic” migrants such as the Whippoorwills, which “calls only at night;” a fascination many of us here still share. They also relied on migrating birds as a food source, such as wild geese and the passenger pigeon. They would go from hunting these passenger pigeons by the thousands each winter to witnessing their extinction. In the fall of 1760, men in Wachovia hunted 1,200-1,800 pigeons in a single hunt one night. Here in Surry County in 1842, a flock roosting over four square miles stayed 17 nights. By the late 1800s, they would be gone from North Carolina. By 1914, the last passenger pigeon, which was kept in the Cincinnati zoo, died and the species was gone forever.

Modern groups would soon follow in the footsteps of past bird migration observers, but with the hope of conserving species rather than for hunting. In 1902, the Audubon Society of North Carolina was founded, and during this time, bird watching became a popular hobby as concern for losing species grew. Soon after, with the construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway here and a rising interest in parks, the Carolina Bird Club was founded in 1937. This initial club had members from all over the state, including Winston-Salem and surrounding communities, and they were dedicated to studying and conserving birds.

Bird watching is still a beloved hobby in this region, and the number of groups and opportunities has only grown. One of our most prominent groups is the Forsythe chapter of the Audubon Society, and they notably do migrating hawk counts every fall throughout the region, but the Pilot Mountain watch is a personal favorite. Every year, starting in September, counters will be out at Pilot, counting migrating hawks and birds of prey as they fly south. A few rare finds, such as Northern Harriers, have been seen, but broad-winged hawks are what we get the most of. Every year, thousands of these birds pass by Pilot, and with the local record being more than 10,000 passing by in a single day in 1993.

For centuries, the people of Surry County and the surrounding communities have watched these birds as they migrate through. Over the years, the intent has changed from hunting for nutrition to watching and conservation, but one thing hasn’t changed — we are simply fascinated with them. So, set up a backyard feeder or get out to a local park this spring (and fall) because you never know what new bird could be visiting.

Cassandra Johnson is the director of programs and education at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History. She has been an avid bird-watcher for more than 10 years.

“The ‘Y’ described as ‘the finest in the South,’ will be open to public inspection at the formal opening and the YMCA officials cordially invite the people of Mount Airy, Surry County, North Carolina, and Virginia to attend the long-awaited event. Over 3,000 people are expected to attend.” Mount Airy News, May 2, 1952.

May 4, marks 70 years since the Reeves YMCA center opened for the first time near downtown Mount Airy.

The recreation site located at 113 S Renfro Street has boasted decades of programming for children and adults alike. Families all over Surry County and beyond have used the resources of this community gathering place to stay in shape, participate in group sports, and cool off on hot summer days.

John M. Reeves, a Mount Airy native, donated $150,000 to a local YMCA project that was being promoted by J.F. Yokley within the county. This campaign began in 1943 and received attention and donors from all over the Mount Airy community and surrounding towns and communities.

The groundbreaking for the building happened seven years later. Some news articles consider Dec. 20, 1950, as the official date; others say Jan. 30, 1951. Regardless of the start date, this new project was projected to contain some of the newest technology and modern designs. The original building plans outlined a four-story structure; these were soon changed because of the availability of materials and other resources due to war-time constraints.

In February of 1952, the Reeves YMCA was granted a charter from the national organization, allowing the YMCA organization to run the center, while Reeves Community Center still owned the facility. The following months saw multiple news articles about the community center’s programs, staff, facilities, and funding. A large formal opening for the facilities was held on May 4, 1952, at 3 p.m. and this celebration even included a large parade down Main Street where many kids rode their bicycles. The project total came in at around $600,000 and had a lot to show for it.

Once opened, Reeves housed a state-of-the-art snack bar that served sandwiches and soft drinks, a dining space, and a fully equipped kitchen. The 10 Brunswick bowling alleys, a leader in the bowling industry, cost 10 cents for kids willing to set their pins, 15 cents for league games, and 20 cents for normal recreation. Two outdoor pools offered swimming and exercise and countless other equipment was added to the gymnasium and other rec rooms.

Through the years, some things have changed. In 1984, $1 million was raised to renovate the then 32-year-old building. The bowling lanes, snack bar, and kitchen were removed, as well as other edits helped to keep Reeves up to date on more modern recreation trends. In 1995 one of the two pools was enclosed to create an all-weather swimming facility.

Sometime during the 1970s, the original agreement with the YMCA was dropped and Reeves Community Center was self-operated. In 2005 the City of Mount Airy incorporated the Reeves Community Center under the umbrella of the Mount Airy Parks and Recreation. Today the center boasts more than 60,000 square feet of recreation space, including basketball courts, pools, cycling rooms, a sauna, and more. The facility is still offering group events, such as camps during the summer. Stop by sometime this week and say happy anniversary or simply get your sweat on.

Emily Morgan is the guest services manager at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History. She and her family live in Westfield. She can be reached at eamorgan@northcarolinamuseum.org or by calling 336-786-4478, extension 229.

Editor’s Note: Community Comment is a feature of The Mount Airy News, presenting commentary from community leaders in Mount Airy and Surry County.

Tucked between the campuses of Surry Central High School and Surry Community College lies an unassuming plot of land that has the power to grow into a powerful educational tool.

The site is the future location of a new Live Animal Lab, further solidifying the partnership between Surry County Schools and Surry Community College. The facility will be used by teachers at Surry Central High School in the Animal Science program and instructors at Surry Community College in the Animal Science degree program to offer hands-on instruction on raising calves, goats, piglets, and other small animals. Students from the high school and college will receive valuable training in the field of animal science in this cooperative lab.

While at the groundbreaking, I had the opportunity to speak with students from both programs and the excitement was immeasurable. The Surry Central FFA attended in their corduroy jackets and regaled me with stories about their classroom lessons, and how they will be further enriched by having the opportunity for additional hands-on instruction. One student, in particular, Morgan Hodges mentioned that students will get to experience the “real-world scenario of operating a farm which is going to be crucial to lifelong career success.”

This statement struck me. Though Morgan will be graduating this year and not get to experience the lab for herself, she was passionate about the project. She understood the impact this lab will have on future students and help shape their career aspirations. Other students felt the same, most emphasizing the opportunity for hands-on learning and putting concepts learned in class into practice.

It is my belief that this facility will serve as an inspiration to our students and future farmers. This facility will give them the chance to test concepts, gain real-world knowledge, and expose them to career opportunities they may not have thought about previously. Agriculture is still the number one industry in Surry County and the state of North Carolina, which makes this project an investment in the future of the industry.

I’d like to thank Dr. David Shockley and everyone at Surry Community College for their shared vision on this project, along with our team at Surry Central High School. The hard work of everyone involved in this project is going to truly make a difference in the lives of students and our community.

Surry County Schools is seeking additional funding to complete the agriculture barn project. If you would like to get involved to help make this vision a reality, please contact Ashley Mills, managing director of the Surry County Schools Educational Foundation at 336-386-8211 or by email at millsa@surry.k12.nc.us. The agriculture barn will undoubtedly mean a great deal to both agriculture programs at Surry Central High School and Surry Community College, the FFA, and the community.

Overlooked and taken for granted, it surrounds us in our daily lives. Often viewed as a messy and potentially stinky or costly necessity, it keeps us healthy and promotes cleanliness — plumbing!

Indoor plumbing in the United States is a relatively new innovation. Here in Mount Airy, it took many years and set-backs to give us the water quantity and quality we have today.

Water is a finite resource; the fresh water on Earth today is the same water the dinosaurs drank millions of years ago. The water cycle recycles the fresh water across and above the surface of the Earth; it evaporates, condensates, and precipitates.

Water is also one of the few substances that can exist in the three states of matter; solid as ice, liquid as water, and gas as water vapor. Earth is 75% water and of that percentage only about 3% of it is potable. Aquifers are a water bearing layer of rock sandwiched between other rock layers that are watertight and under pressure. When a well is dug, it taps into an aquifer and the unequal pressure forces the water to the surface. There are six artesian wells in the Lambsburg, Virginia, area. Springs on the other hand are naturally occurring instances of water rising to the surface and one such local spring is White Sulphur Springs.

Before the implementation of plumbing, early settlers would gather water from wells, ponds, or streams to use for cooking, cleaning, and bathing. Often, people would get sick from stagnant water due to the buildup of bacteria.

When nature called, the closest tree or quickly dug hole did the trick. Later, outhouses were developed. Always located downwind from the house and away from water sources, the outhouse gave shelter, privacy, and cleanliness for people to do their business. To wipe, people would use corn cobs, lambs ear, or the trusty pages out of an old magazine before rolls of toilet paper as we know it were invented.

The extent of indoor plumbing at this point was a chamber pot, which had to be emptied every day. It took many years for all homes in the United States to get indoor plumbing, and many homes in rural areas were still using outhouses well into the late 1900s.

A dependable supply system for water in Mount Airy took years to establish; a city sitting atop granite made for a challenge. In 1903, the city purchased water from a deep well owned by the Rucker-Witt Tobacco Company. Soon it was discovered it could not sufficiently supply water to the city and in 1904 construction began on a town well. This well could not meet the needs of the community as well, so a watershed (a land area that channels water from rain and snow to moving bodies of water such as creeks, streams, and rivers that eventually makes it to outflow points like reservoirs, bays, and the ocean) located on Creasey’s Branch, was chosen.

A dam was built at the location and a pipe line was laid to carry the water to a holding tank in town. This worked until 1910 and a new dam location, at Tumbling Rock Branch, was chosen to supply water. In 1913, the first water filter plant was built. Due to substantial drought during the 1920s, the city decided to tap water from Lovills Creek to add to the water supply, since it was the best source of water.

The City of Mount Airy operates two surface water treatment facilities. Operation at S.L Spencer Water Treatment Plant began in the late 1920s and is located along Lovills Creek. Operation at Doggett Water Plant began in 1970 and is located along Stewarts Creek, the largest water source for Mount Airy. There are 200 miles of water lines and 150 miles of sewer lines in the city.

When you walk down the street, take a walk along the Greenway, cook, do laundry, or go to the restroom, consider the pipes running beneath and how they bring fresh, local, clean water to you.

Justyn Kissam is originally from Winston-Salem and now lives in Mount Airy. She works at the Surry Arts Council.

Easter, no matter when it falls, marks the coming of spring and has been celebrated with exuberance for centuries. Many bits of farm wisdom revolve around “the signs” and Easter is an important milepost in the signs.

Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox which means the earliest it can happen is March 22 and the latest is April 25 in any given year — prime planting time for a number of garden staples.

The Herbalist Almanac of 1931, from the Dault and Lucy Sawyers homeplace in Shoalsm advised under the heading, “When to Plant, Harvest, etc. By the Moon and Moon Signs” that the lucky days for April that year were the second and third which were noted to be the best days to marry that month. That was Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.

“Plant Irish potatoes, bed sweet potatoes, put out onion sets, sow onion seeds, beets, turnips, carrots, parsnips radishes, artichokes and peanuts on the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 13th and 14th,” it continued. Soil was considered to be the most fertile on Good Friday according to wide-spread folk wisdom of the time.

Although the region had members of the Jewish faith, and, presumably, other non-Christian religious faiths from Colonial times, the vast majority of people across Surry, Stokes, Carroll in Virginia, and other counties of the area identified as some form of Christian. The earliest newspapers we have from the region give a great deal of ink to Easter folklore and religious reporting.

As Holy Week approached, newspapers of the region carried reporting on special worship services, commercial sales, community events, and outings.

In the early- to mid-20th century the churches of Mount Airy coordinated union Good Friday services, moving between churches from one year to the next and all the pastors taking a role in the three-hour services. In April 1943, when so many local men and women were engaged in the Second World War, the words spoken from the cross were presented as lessons on pardon, human care, loneliness, and human need.

Easter Sunday, of course, was, and still is, a heavily attended church service. The Elkin Times ran an article on April 15, 1897 about the Moravian tradition of musicians greeting Easter morn with brass instruments calling worshippers to the cemetery in the chill dark hours to commemorate the empty tomb. “The procedure of the service is so timed,” it read, “that the musico-prayerful (sic) rejoicing reaches its highest expression just as the sun rises.”

Other denominations tended to have quieter and later services with everyone wearing their literal ‘Sunday Best.’ Many letters and news articles from the 1800s through the 1950s indicate Easter services involved more music or other changes to the usual Sunday services.

“Rev. G.M. Burcham preached to 800 people at the Rock House on the Brushies, five miles from Jonesville last Sunday,” reported The Elkin Times April, 22, 1897. Though we find such reports over several years, we can’t find clear explanations of what this place was or where it was.

The holiday drew adult children to celebrate with family whether they were traveling in from a new home in Greensboro or Tennessee or coming from Salem Academy or Fort Bragg. Such trips were often noted in the Mount Airy News or Elkin Tribune.

If Holy Week involved more-than-usual time in church, Easter Monday took a turn to the secular. The Danville Reporter noted in 1909 a Stokes County superstition that working on Easter Monday would mean the loss of a cow so folks played with determination.

“Easter Monday promises to be more largely observed this year than usual in this part of the state,” reported the Twin-City Sentinel on April 9, 1914. “The events in different parts of the country will bring the people together for a day of social intercourse and can hardly fail to do good in that it will make the people realize more fully their oneness and engender a spirit of good fellowship.”

Kate Rauhauser-Smith is a local freelance writer, researcher, and genealogist.

A little more than two weeks ago, many of us got news we’ve all become familiar with, a tornado watch alert from the National Weather Service. That tornado watch turned into a tornado warning and an EF-2 tornado with winds reaching up to 122 miles per hour touched down outside of Hillsville, Virginia, in neighboring Carroll County, Virginia.

Like many families in the area that night, mine gathered in front of the television to watch the weather reports as we made plans about what to do if the power went out, roads were blocked, or a tornado actually touched down. Afterwards as I stayed awake listening to the wind snapping off branches outside, it hit me that tornado season had truly started.

Surry County actually ranks below average nationally in tornado occurrences, but we still have tornadic activity and a tornado season. Though spring is our official tornado season, they can happen any time of year. Surry specifically has a bit of history with late summer and fall tornados.

The tornado that touched down last month wasn’t the biggest we’ve ever had, nor was it the most powerful, the farthest traveled, or most destructive. But, to put it in perspective we didn’t begin keeping records of tornadoes until 1950 in the state of North Carolina (as well as much of the US). So, as we look back on the storm’s histories that have earned those accolades, recording weather history like this is still relatively new. I may not reference the biggest or strongest tornado that has ever occurred, but I can surely speak of the ones that we were able to record.

The only pre-database recorded tornado I could find for this area occurred in 1897. This particular twister hit the Mount Airy Furniture Co. which once resided where South Street is now. O. H. Yokley Sr. even recalled, “I remember that day; we had a privy (outhouse) next door to the packing room, and the storm blew it to the top of Bannertown Hill-about a mile and a half from here.”

Surry County is not prone to seeing very large tornados. EF-0 (40-72 mph winds) and EF-1 (73-112 mph winds) are the most frequent. The 2011 tornado that touched down in Cana, Virginia and destroyed a gas station on the side of U.S. 52 was an EF-0. Another local example of a small tornado is the 2010 twister that touched down on Highway 89 north of Raven Knob Boy Scout Camp that took down trees and caused minor structural damage.

One of the most memorable EF-1s happened in February 2016 when the community of Ararat, Virginia, just a few miles over the state line, was hit and hundreds of downed trees on the road along with multiple destroyed buildings were reported.

We every once in a while get an EF-2 (113-157 mph winds) like we did last month. Another example is the 2013 tornado that touched down in neighboring Stokes County on May 24, 2017, and left more than 900 homes without power. The September 2004 tornado in Henry County, Virginia (north of Martinsville) was also an EF-2 and arguably caused the most monetary damage of any tornado within this area, racking up $53.8 million worth of property damage to the city as it wrecked dozens of cars, hit a factory, and then barreled into a residential area.

EF-3 tornados (158 – 206 mph winds) are more of a rarity for the area. The closest ones we have had were three in the Winston-Salem area between 1985-1989, but the most historic happened an hour east in Rockingham County on March 20, 1998. This particular tornado was one of ten to drop in the state that day, and at roughly half a mile wide it traveled twelve miles reaching wind speeds of 170 miles per hour destroying 500-600 homes, countless businesses, and killing two people while injuring dozens more.

No reported deaths have been recorded due to a tornado in Surry County from what I’ve found, but we did have an out of season November twister in 1992 that resulted in 13 people being injured which set the record for the most injuries due to a tornado event.

There have been more than 40 reported tornados in Surry County since 1950 when we started truly keeping records, countless more before that, and all of our neighbors in surrounding counties have shared the same fate. The one thing they have always all had in common? They all thought it would never happen to them.

During the historic 1998 Rockingham County tornado their fire chief, Jake Hundley, was reported saying “The size and the magnitude of that tornado was just unexperienced around here. Nobody had ever seen anything that big.”

It’s an important time to remember that we may not have these events often, but they are a part of our history, and they can happen in our communities. So, the next time you get those National Weather Service alerts about tornados remember your history and stay safe.

Editor’s Note: Community Comment is a periodic column in The Mount Airy News featuring commentary from community leaders in Mount Airy and Surry County.

Mount Airy City Schools (MACS) has a motto to “Lead – Innovate and Serve.” We are very thankful for the innovative programs we have in our district. Our staff has the systemic understanding that when resources are scarce you look for outside resources. Over the past six years MACS has secured more than $4 million in grants. Many of these allow students access to cutting edge technology, workforce development programs, summer and afterschool programs, as well as incredible resources.

Teachers also benefit from additional pay to help with innovation, national and state training for innovative programming as well as the ability to partner with experts from around the country. These grants are usually start up grants and sustainability of the programs is built in from the beginning of the programs. The innovation will continue for generations based on these tremendous student-centered opportunities.

The Advanced Teaching Roles ($900,000) is a competitive grant that allows us to support students that may have gotten behind during the past two years. Our teachers can take on leadership roles and influence classrooms across the grade level. This grant builds on those teachers who are among the highest in growing children and use their expertise throughout the school.

Two of the grants support safety on our campuses. The School Safety Grant ($160,000) and School Safety SRO ($74,915) allows us to expand cameras and keyless entry into our schools. We were also able to expand to an elementary School Resource Officer who is able to build relationships with students, teach positive behavior, and maintain support for administrators. Reaching out for grants and creatively using outside resources has helped us keep our schools safer.

The Summer Bridge Academy ($47,377) and Summer Career Accelerator ($33,280) put an emphasis on our summer programs. We understand that many homes need support during the summer because parents are working. We have a wide array of offerings for students, usually more than 50 summer camps that are free to students and families. This is in addition to summer school where we focus on remediation or catching students up.

A robust summer program free to students, providing meals and transportation are critical for a high performing school district and thriving community. Mount Airy Parks and Recreation has been a wonderful partner in writing grants. They have helped secure grants that focus on summer programming, mentoring, and educational aspects of the community. Everyone working together can do great things for students.

Workforce development is critical for the community of Mount Airy. We want to make sure all children graduate with a plan and have success after high school in a career. The CTE Great Expansion Grant ($350,000) allows us to have an extra Career Development Counselor (CDC), Catrina Alexander, to expose all children beginning in the fifth grade to careers available to them.

These CDC positions including, Katie Ferguson, at Mount Airy High School show students how to use Xello, an online career exploratory platform, to narrow their interests and close the gap between students interest, readiness, and career availability in the region. These ladies set students up for a pathway of courses in Career and Technical Education as well as shadowing and internship experiences to find out how to match their passions with a lifelong career.

The Education and Workforce Innovation Fund ($180,000) supports SAFER Surry encouraging our students to go into careers in fire, police, and rescue. We know that public servants hold a special place in the community and are critical for Mount Airy. We want our students to understand these careers and see if they have what it takes to participate in these noble careers right here in our own town.

The Digital Learning Implementation Grant ($150,000) expands our understanding of how to use technology effectively. While we do not want students only on technology we know that almost every career now requires students to understand programming, web-design, complex databases, research analysis, and global communication that is only accessed through technology. Training for staff provides avenues to the world for students through technology. The staff need support with devices, training and experience to share this expertise with students.

Usually we are not able to access grants to support brick and mortar buildings but we have received an Athletic Facilities ($103,000) grant given out this year by the state. This is to help us keep our athletic facilities in great shape for our student athletes. The upkeep of the athletic facilities is much more than this grant but we are thankful for small amounts to help us keep HVACs, roofs, flooring, painting and other maintenance costs down for our athletic facilities.

Mount Airy City Schools partners with a lot of other educational non-profits and groups to do amazing things for students. We are currently involved in a General Assembly funded $8 million project that will build pathways for students to work in the high tech industry. The Innovation Project along with other districts in the state will partner with industry to provide opportunities for students from Mount Airy to go to work with partners specializing in high tech careers which will allow them to work here and partner with industries, such as Apple, throughout the world. These partnerships have also provided curriculum, resources and support from NC State and our entrepreneurship program as well as the ability to network with other innovative districts in North Carolina.

We are currently involved with grants totalling $1.8 million dollars. We have also applied for another $3.4 million in grants. We probably will not secure all of that funding but any funding above what the state provides will help students. While we have a futuristic vision for where schools will need to be tomorrow, we also have a vision for how to sustain programs started with grant funding.

We know that funds are not the solution for all educational issues, but if we have funds to invest in building capacity in our people innovation will be sustained for the next generation. We are thankful for Dr. Phillip Brown, Olivia Sikes and Penny Willard for their leadership in these grant areas. We are also thankful for a Board of Education which understands the need for a robust grant program.

If you are interested in hearing more about our programs please visit our website at https://www.mtairy.k12.nc.us/

“The gospel shows us a God far more holy than a legalist can bear and yet more merciful than a humanist can conceive.” – Tim Keller

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” – 1 Peter 2:9

Recently on Wednesday nights we watched The Chosen series. One of the things I like about that series is that it can help me to see something that has always been in the word of God in a framework that I had not realized before. I knew Jesus came to push back what was dark and that in His own perfect way fought against the brokenness of the world.

But in The Chosen I see that very clearly, but it strikes me that Jesus’ opposition isn’t coming from just one particular place, even though he is fighting one thing, it is actually coming from two places. The message and ministry of Jesus is at odds with Rome and at odds with the Pharisees. Jesus, intentionally and yet lovingly is pushing against both of those. He is pushing against one thing; he is pushing against unGodliness. But that one thing is showing itself in two different ways. It is showing itself as being anti-God and so Jesus confronts both; humbly, sacrificial, and lovingly.

He confronts Rome’s Godlessness. We know that his ministry confronts this because it is Rome that puts him to death. And we see Jesus’ ministry, both by himself and by his followers, call him Lord; an undeniably political theological term. His ministry preaches against the secular Roman culture that is all too prevalent in some of the churches New Testament letters find themselves in. It calls people to personally, culturally, lovingly fight against anything that would strip away the goodness of the reality of God.

This is not surprising. After all, if you have grown up around Christian culture or household you were taught how important it is to stand up for Jesus, and reject false doctrines of this world that say only the material matters, God is not real, or Jesus is not 100% God and 100% man. But Jesus does not just push against Rome; He pushes against the Pharisees.

The New Testament follows this example by not just pushing against Roman culture but also against religiosity. Rome was anti-God and the Pharisees were anti-God. Yes, they knew his name and they knew his word. They had learned about it since they were young, and had grown up in a culture steeped in it. And yet the way Jesus speaks to them absolutely says you do not know or represent the real God. Paul makes this same argument in the first century christian context of Galatians. Being furiously against demonic ideologies; and then telling us that demonic ideology is legalism, is Jesus plus, is seeking to measure up in works.

Satan is fighting in our current culture the same way he has always fought. From the very beginning when he deceived Eve he spoke half-truths that sounded right but in the end led away from God. And so what he may be doing now is pointing to one side of the aisle and saying look at how wrong they are and then whispering the lie in our ear “so the other side must be right.” “Look at how Godless that left side is; the other side must be correct. Look at how unloving and ungracious and unpeaceful that right side is; the other side must be correct.”

If we take an honest look at all of Jesus’ ministry and the whole of the New Testament, the reality we will be left with is the truth that Jesus does not belong to the left side or the right side of the aisle. He does not sit closer to one side of the voting platform than the other. No, Jesus Christ sits as king on his throne. Telling his followers what His kingdom is and what it looks like. Promising that this kingdom will come to fruition and asking those who carry his name and bare his mark live in the reality that he already made. Jesus is neither Democrat nor Republican. Jesus is king.

Often when we think of a unique mountain in our region, we automatically think of Pilot Mountain. However, rising above the treetops along the border of Alleghany and Wilkes counties is another mountain unlike any other in the area. A 25-mile long monadnock — an isolated hill, ridge, or erosion-resistant rock that stands in a level area of terrain — of granite, it is known as Stone Mountain and is located in Stone Mountain State Park in Roaring Gap.

An isolated mountainous area with bountiful natural resources, it is home to the Eastern Continental Divide. The first people in the area were the Cherokee and Shawnee, but the Great Wagon Road brought settlers of various European descent — English, German, Irish, French and Scotch-Irish — into the area during the late 1700s.

Alleghany County emerged from Ashe County in 1859 by an act of the North Carolina legislature. Within the county are seven townships and eight unincorporated communities with Sparta as the county seat. With the creation of the Blue Ridge Parkway in the 1930s and the creation of paved roads, ease of travel to the county increased.

The natural beauty of the area made it a vacation destination. The unincorporated community of Roaring Gap was established in 1890 as a summer resort with the help of the Chatham family, of the Chatham Manufacturing Company.

Occupying more than 14,100 acres, Stone Mountain State Park has something to offer for all. The defining feature of the park today is the mountain itself. Rising 600 feet above the valley floor is the light gray granite dome. Created millions of years ago from molten magma, over time wind, water, and other forces eroded the overlying rock and exposed the outcrop we see today.

There are camp sites, nine trails for hiking and two for horseback riding, waterfalls, fishing, picnicking, and rock climbing. Ecologically diverse, various species of trees, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals live there.

There are also exhibits and historic sites. Sitting in the shadow of the mountain and built in the mid-1800s is the Hutchinson Homestead. Complete with a log cabin, barn, blacksmith shop, corncrib, and meat house, visitors can learn about the life and work of the settlers of the area. The homestead was restored in 1998 and has original furnishings.

When the area around Stone Mountain was first settled, there were more than 60 homesteads. Due to the isolated nature of the area, farmers were self-sufficient. However, as more settlers arrived, a community developed and by the mid-1800s schools, churches, and a post office had been established. The Garden Creek Baptist Church was established in 1897 and is one of the few original churches that hasn’t undergone major repairs or remodeling in the area.

In the 1960s, local citizens began efforts to establish a state park to protect the Stone Mountain area for future generations. They approached the North Carolina Granite Corporation, which owned a substantial portion of the area needed for the park, and the company donated the 418.50 acres that included the Stone Mountain to be used for the park. That land was in turn used as a match for federal grants from the Land and Water Conservation Fundand the Appalachian Regional Commission to fund the purchase of additional land from the Corporation.

Stone Mountain State Park was established in 1969 and in 1974 it was designated a National Natural Landmark, one of 13 in North Carolina. The National Natural Landmarks Program is administered by the National Park Service and sites are designated by the Secretary of the Interior. To be named, sites must contain examples of the nation’s outstanding biological and geological features. We are so fortunate to live in such a beautiful, ecologically diverse historic area.

Justyn Kissam is the director of learning at Kaleideum in Winston-Salem.

“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” – Hebrews 10:24-25

Around two years ago I held my first service in a pastoral capacity for Rocky Ford Christian Church and what I mean by held service is me preaching to a camera in my living room on live stream because COVID had become a reality. After the right amount of time we began to meet at the church but we continued to play it safe by staying outside with members in the vehicles and me behind a podium on the front porch area. Then after some more time we moved back inside and encouraged masks and social distancing and hand sanitizers and all those things.

I start this article by telling you this because it is important to remember and realize that this reality was true for some congregations and individuals before COVID and it is still true for some congregations and some individuals now. And so how do we lay the undeniably New Testament command for brothers and sisters in Christ to gather across such things?

One, I think we do so humbly. We remember that our circumstance is not everyone’s circumstance, and that what is going on in our local demographic is not what’s going everywhere; in our world, in our nation, or even in our state.

We also wrestle with this command individually, the same way we do with all of God’s commands. What does God’s command for us to gather look like for me? And although I have continued to speak in a way that is regarding one to two hour interactions one day a week this verse sits in a context in this book, and in the grand story of the New Testament of something far more.

The New Testament would call brothers and sisters in Christ to absolutely always meet Sunday morning. What it would call Christians to do is to do life with each other as seen in the book of Acts, as with Jesus with his disciples, and as implied with Paul with his churches, and this means two things at least: Time and authenticity.

If you’re going to do life with somebody it involves you doing real time with them. Twenty-first century America is a busy, busy place and there are lots of things we can do that all in all are really good. And are good for us. But very few of those things are biblical things. And almost none of them are commanded with the same emphasis we see the command to do life together. Family is good. jobs are good. Social engagement is good. But those things do not negate or contradict the command of the word of God for brothers and sisters in Christ to be together.

The other thing this must mean is be authentic. To do life together is to be absolutely real with them. I grew up in the church and have spent thousands of Sunday mornings in worship gatherings which means I have probably heard some variation of the question “How are you?” tens of thousands of times. But I can tell you that less than ten times have I ever heard anyone answer that question without a smile on their face.

It’s not easy to be authentic or to be real. And yet when we look at the example of Jesus and his disciples or the book of Acts we see real authentic Christians with each other. Brother and sister in Christ I am convinced by the Holy Spirit and the word of God that you and I will not be all of what God has called us to be if we are not doing life with others who are in Christ.

If this building could talk, what would it say?

The National Historic Preservation Act began sometime in 1966 and since then Americans have been diligently seeking out, protecting, and preserving historic buildings and homes. Surry County, established in 1771, is no different. Each town, community, and hidden spot has secret gems to unlock and discover; from small one-bedroom cabins to large Victorian homes, Surry has a lot to protect.

The alluring town of Pilot Mountain, established March 9, 1889, has its leading land marker of the great knob, however it also has a historic downtown that showcases many prominent buildings. The old Bank of Pilot Mountain is one of those.

Laura Phillips, a North Carolina Architectural Historian, called the bank building, “the most architecturally significant commercial structure in Pilot Mountain.” The two-story Queen Anne style building began to be constructed sometime during 1900. The Pilot Mountain Sanborn fire maps from September of that year show the building in place. The details on the map read “from plans,” indicating that construction had started but was incomplete.

Once finished the building at the corner of Main and Depot streets stood with a domed turret with an octagonal roof. The two Flemish parapeted gables, more round than square, feature several curves with an appropriate piedmont at their center. While the building is narrow on the Main Street side, the structure stands as a demanding presence compared to some of the buildings in the row. The second story windows offer up the same curve as the gables, while the bottom is square with quarry-faced granite sills. The building was, and still is beautiful to behold.

The building’s notations in the National Register of Historic Places does not state an architect or construction team, we only know that the building was purchased and constructed to serve as a bank for downtown Pilot Mountain.

The Pilot Mountain Bank and Trust Company was established in 1900 and served patrons by the corner entry, through the domed turret. The second floor of the building was occupied by different businesses and practices from 1900-1930; professional offices, apartments, and even a doctor’s office/ sanatorium resided above the bank.

The building also played host to The Denny Brother Furniture company that was accessible on the Main Street side of the property before 1910.

The first bank failed in 1910 and was replaced in 1914 with the Bank of Pilot Mountain which occupied the building until 1994. The Bank of Pilot Mountain opened a new location in 1984, operating the original 100 E. Main Street location as a branch until it was sold to non-bank owners. The building is now owned and operated by Thornton Beroth as an antique petroleum memorabilia museum which you can visit by appointment only.

Buildings such as the Bank of Pilot Mountain make up some truly rich history here in Surry County. Taking an in-depth look into these places helps us discover the lives our ancestors lived and how our history can truly change lives. I encourage you all to take a stroll down any Main Street in our region and look for the history. You never know what you may find.

Emily Morgan is the guest services manager at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History. She and her family live in Westfield. She can be reached at eamorgan@northcarolinamuseum.org or by calling 336-786-4478 x229

Editor’s Note: Community Comment is a feature of The Mount Airy News, presenting commentary from community leaders in Mount Airy and Surry County.

The intentional work that Surry County Schools has placed in our career pathways and hands-on classes has left our students prepared for today’s workforce. Because of classes taken while in high school, many students are showing up for their freshman year of college or their first day on the job with significant career and professional skills. At Surry County Schools, we are focusing on programs that lead to in-demand, high-wage jobs and preparing our students for whichever path they choose after graduation.

Through initiatives like Career and College Promise, work-based learning, and other Career and Technical Education courses, we empower students to be successful citizens, workers, and leaders. Educational program offerings include agriculture, business, finance, information technology, engineering, family and consumer science, health science, and much more. Along with these courses, students can also pursue internships and apprenticeship opportunities based on their interests. Students participating in middle and high school CTE programs have earned more than 1,200 credentials, including ServSafe, AutoCAD, CNA, Photoshop, OSHA 10, CPR / AED, first aid, and many more.

In middle school, we offer a career exploration course that exposes students to many different career pathways. All students have the opportunity to explore the world of engineering and problem solving through our pre-engineering (Project Lead The Way) courses and computer science through our Computer Science Discoveries courses. Additionally, we are excited to offer agriculture in middle school for all our students. Students have the opportunity to hear from local business and industry leaders about many different career prospects.

In high school, there are a wide variety of CTE opportunities for students. Through our agriculture pathway, students can pursue courses in animal science and horticulture. Those interested in a future career in business, finance, or information technology can take classes in business management, computer science, and digital media. For students interested in family and consumer science, the district offers courses in culinary arts, counseling and mental health, and education training. The Health Science pathway allows students to take biomedical technology, health sciences, pharmacy tech courses. There are also offerings in marketing and entrepreneurship, such as sport and event marketing. Students interested in the technology, engineering, or design pathway are encouraged to take the pre-engineering program (Project Lead the Way) course. Additionally, construction, masonry, and project management are available for those interested in trade and industrial education.

Agriculture is the number one industry in Surry County and North Carolina. By offering agriculture classes in all four of our middle schools, Surry County Schools is creating a solid foundation for skills students can learn in their future courses and exposing them to opportunities to advance in agricultural careers. Surry County Schools is fortunate to partner with Surry Community College and offer certificates in animal science and sustainable agriculture. Additionally, students have the opportunity to attend NC A&T University through a 1+3 locally developed diploma agreement with Surry Community College, which allows students to pursue many different pathways in the agriculture industry.

Surry County Schools has been on the cutting edge of exposing students to careers in agriculture for many years. The district has integrated animal science into agricultural programs and has opened animal science labs at all traditional high schools. East Surry and Surry Central High School students study poultry science because of a partnership with Wayne Farms, while North Surry High School students have pursued livestock science studies through a partnership with Farm Bureau of Surry. Currently, the district is working with Surry Community College on plans for a future joint-use facility that borders Surry Central High School and the college. Upon completion, this facility will be an outstanding opportunity for students at both institutions.

Students are also encouraged to look at the wide range of CTE student organizations available for participation. These organizations help students by allowing them to expand upon interests they have developed through CTE. These include Future Business Leaders of America, Future Farmers of America, Skills USA, Health Occupations Students of America, Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America, and National Technical Honor Society.

CTE internships through Surry County Schools are directly related to both classroom instruction and the career path of the student. These internships include a variety of experiences aligned to the career interest of the student and can include: assignments such as a standardized reflective journal, a term project, and an exit presentation based on student goals and outcomes. The skills learned inside and outside of the classroom combined with goal-setting and periods of reflection create a unique experience for students working towards their careers.

Surry County Schools has also formed relationships with many local community and business partners, to secure internships and other work-based learning opportunities for students. Northern Hospital of Surry County has welcomed our interns and given them the vital hands-on experience with patients and equipment they will need to pursue their careers in the healthcare industry. The district has also had the pleasure of connecting with businesses such as Altec, Scenic Automotive Group, Surry Communications, Xtreme Marketing, and others who are invested in helping grow our student leaders.

Additionally, students can pursue additional internship opportunities through Surry-Yadkin Works. Surry-Yadkin Works is the first community-based internship program of its kind in North Carolina across a two-county region. This business and education initiative is the collaborative effort of 4 local public school systems across Surry and Yadkin counties, as well as Surry Community College with the goal to create a unique approach to a regional internship program. There are also partnerships with local businesses like Wayne Farms that bridge the gap between classroom instruction and 21st-century skills.

At Surry County Schools, we know that education and industry go hand-in-hand, and by working together, we can show the next generation of students what schools can and should be. The school system recognizes this link and understands that by investing in CTE programs, we are investing in the workforce and the Surry County of tomorrow. Benjamin Franklin famously said, “Good apprentices are likely to make good citizens,” and I wholeheartedly agree. The opportunities and skills learned through CTE and apprenticeship opportunities create a solid foundation for career success, lifelong learning, and good citizenship.

“Have you noticed that Jesus talked more about serving humanity than fulfilling your destiny?” – Naeem Fazal

And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” – Luke 3:10-11

The Bible calls us to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength and in the same passage it calls us to love our neighbor as our self. Now one way we see the Bible explain what this means is it’s continual call for us to be generous to our neighbor. We see this with Jesus’s story of the Good Samaritan — how he sacrifices his time, his money, his reputation to take care of this man who is near death. We also see when John the Baptist talks to a group listening to him preach, he tells them that if they have two coats, they should give one to the poor.

So, the universal biblical truth that we find all throughout scripture, and especially pointedly at New Testament believers in Jesus is that those who would call themselves Christians should be generous, overflowing or sacrificially loving to our neighbor.

What does that mean as we bring that forward nearly 2,000 years into our current culture and our current context? It means that as we live in one of the wealthiest places in the world, and as we have the freedom to work for a wage we are to freely and somewhat sacrificially give some of that away. Now I don’t know what the next week or months or years will look like for you and your pocketbook. I don’t know if they will be affected by things in this world far out of our control or not. I don’t know if your savings account or 401k will boom or take a massive hit because of the cost of living or any number of financial variables.

But what I do know is that the word of God has called me and you to be generous, and it does not stipulate the time. It does not stipulate our financial circumstances, it does not stipulate what our house looks like. So when things get lean it’s really easy for me to want to keep my second coat and stop being generous to those around me, but that is not the call of Christ. The generosity of Christ cost him his very life, and he calls you and I brother and sister in Christ to do the same. To voluntarily sometimes take up our cross, to die to comfort or even our own life for the sake of loving others.

Now what if these “others” are ungrateful or do not accept Christ? Well, once again in the example of Jesus — that did not stop him from being generous. Jesus heals ten lepers knowing that only one would come back. Their appreciation of Jesus as Messiah or even their appreciation of just what he had done for them was not the motivation for Jesus’ kindness. The underlying factors for his generosity was that he was generous and they were needy. And so fellow brother and sister in Christ, let’s model our savior and do the same. Let’s seek to be generous in loving our neighbor, making the only requirement that they are needy.

They say April showers bring May flowers, but I promise you there is a lot more work that goes into the process.

As warmer days become more frequent, some of us are thinking about outdoor planting, chores, and good ol’ summer fun. This was also true for many of our ancestors who worked the land in the gaps, hollows, and mountains of Surry and surrounding counties. To survive was to plan, a successful year was totally dependent on the readiness and preparedness of the farmer or planter. Traditionally, March is a little late to start getting ready for the forage and growing season, but better late than never.

Here among the lush evergreens and plentiful shrubs, an abundance of free food could and still can be found. Before diving further into the topic, it is important to note, never gather a plant unless you are 100% familiar with it. So many plants are deceptive and resemble tasty plants. Take for example the dandelion plant. While this plant is not native to North America it has been cultivated and used for its resources for centuries. The plant was brought to America by settlers and revered for its medicinal properties. Every part of the dandelion is good for you; the roots, leaves, and flowers. However, there is another plant called “catsear” that looks almost identical. One major way to tell them apart is to look at the stem; if it’s hollow inside, you are good to go. Dandelions fight high blood sugar, manage cholesterol, and reduce inflammation.

Many other plants, including dandelions, were harvested to make tinctures and tonics. Our ancestors knew how important it was to stay healthy during the planting and harvest season; with this in mind they would do everything in their power to stay fit including taking several tonics in the spring. Some common ones were sassafras or spicewood teas. Sassafras tea was consumed in the spring to “tone up the blood,” this native tree was considered a cure all, aiding in liver, stomach, and other ailments. Ramps, morels, meadow onion, nettles, and mustards were also gathered during the spring and summer season to add to or replace cultivated plants.

Warmer days also means bees. North Carolina and Virginia are home to more than 500 species of bees, mostly which are native. European honey bees were brought to North America sometime in the 17th century. Here in the hollow, bees were admired for their pollinating habits and some for their honey production; keeping honey bees close to crops and flowers was and is important to a planter’s success. Early spring is the time to feed hives that need extra food before the first pollen arrives. It is also time to make repairs to old boxes or beegums. Before bees were sold in boxes to beekeepers, our forefathers and mothers had to go hunting for bee trees or swarms. Late spring will see bees swarm to more favorable conditions. Many beekeepers search out these swarms to capture and give them a new home, keeping the history alive.

For what nature could not provide, homesteaders would buy from the vibrant pages of seed catalogs, local shops or pick from saved seeds collected from a previous harvest. In 1840 the first seed catalog was printed in America. These catalogs were distributed in January and February and offered a variety of heirloom and exotic seeds to farmers and gardeners. Careful planning and precision was put into crop placement and irrigation.

These are just a few of the preparations many of our ancestors took to get ready for the spring and summer seasons. I challenge you all to take up a spade or shovel and continue the hard, but highly rewarding work of our ancestors. I wish you all abundance and a happy spring.

Editor’s Note: Community Comment is a periodic column in The Mount Airy News featuring commentary from community leaders in Mount Airy and Surry County.

Mount Airy City Schools (MACS) is ahead of the curve in academic preparation. We accelerate children at every level. “Acceleration” means that we allow students to move faster through the traditional curriculum and work ahead. This is important because the state standards are just a baseline for how much can be and should be learned at each grade level.

BH Tharrington Primary has a nurturing program. This helps all children find their area of giftedness. We have individualized instruction for all children working at their pace and exposing many students to “above grade level” curriculum. An individual pathway makes sure all students are able to move at a pace that is comfortable for them.

The Academically and Intellectually Gifted program at JJ Jones Intermediate identifies students in third grade for a separate setting in fourth and fifth grades. This allows the students to move at a much faster pace than the standard curriculum and allows them to explore topics beyond their grade level. Our teacher can also compact the curriculum to help all students go at a pace that may include several grade levels. We have specialized equipment that allows fifth grade students who qualify to attend a middle school course virtually with a teacher from Mount Airy Middle School every day. While many schools across the nation have cut gifted programming, we have expanded it.

Our MicroSchool has helped students who need to move at an even faster pace and who may be two grade levels ahead. The MicroSchool allows students to be at home learning online for part of the week and enjoy a “place-based” learning experience once a week. This year they have come together for STEAM activities and experiments and many environmental excursions. We may have a first grade student learning second or third grade concepts and working with students from upper grade levels each week.

Another program, Dual Language Immersion (DLI) is so popular that it often has a waiting list. This program allows students to be fluent in Spanish and English, taking Spanish a majority of the day in K-second grade and 50% of the day in third through fifth. The DLI program has now extended to middle school where students will take advanced courses in Spanish and learn to apply their Spanish in many ways throughout the real world.

The middle school acceleration model encourages students who are ahead in mathematics to take advanced courses beginning in the sixth grade.

Once students have entered the eighth grade they have many options. If they are ready to take high school courses for credit, we offer our High School Accelerate where English I, Math 1, Earth and Environmental Science, Spanish I, and American History I are taken during their eighth grade. They take these high school courses face-to-face with experienced and highly qualified teachers. We even have students who have virtually joined our high school sophomore courses to make sure they are not held back but pushed forward.

Our North Carolina Association of Scholastic Activities challenges all students and helps them stretch their academic skills. Mount Airy Middle School has been able to win the statewide cup and place every year because of the amazing students we have and how well they compete across the state.

Our summer programs allow for all students to explore their passions. The summer programs are built around the theme of STEAM and match the summer program to students’ natural interests. The program in the summer is an extensive menu of free summer programs and activities from kindergarten through twelfth grade. We encourage you to watch for the menu of options coming soon.

The last piece of our acceleration puzzle is the high school academic program. The many pathways to success allow for all students to be involved in honors and college courses. Ninety percent of our students attend a two- or four-year university and taking care of their general courses in high school can save them thousands of dollars. The support system at Mount Airy High School allows students to take Advanced Placement courses for college credit while giving the students the support they need to be successful in those courses. The College and Career Promise Courses provide the opportunity for all children to take courses through Surry Community College. The credits they receive help them with college success.

The career and technical education courses also provide many certification programs and exciting internships with businesses right here in our county. Students can learn to fly a drone, become a pilot, become an entrepreneur, create 3D models, design websites, explore all health science careers, and learn to cook. All schools get the opportunity to travel and our strategic plan encourages us to return to traveling outside of the state and country. Many of these trips have included trips to Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and China. We can’t wait for our students to begin to learn outside the walls of our school again.

Our families love our ability to “accelerate” their children. We get feedback each year on this program and try to cater to the needs of students. We know every child is gifted, we want to find how they are gifted and use their educational support to match their gifts. If you are interested in our program please visit: https://bit.ly/3sYzcnf

For more information or if you want to become a Granite Bear please contact us and visit our website at : https://www.mtairy.k12.nc.us/

“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” – John Piper

And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” – Luke 10:27

A lawyer comes up to Jesus with a question. His question is “what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus, who regularly answers a question with another question, asks him “What is written in the Law?” To this the lawyer answers with our verse up above; the Luke 10:27 passage. Jesus tells him that he has answered correctly. It is this answer that I want us to look at in detail. What exactly does it mean?

It means, in general, that followers of Jesus, Christians, are people that love God with all of who they are. God is the sovereign ruler of the universe and there does not exist a square inch of reality that is not his; this includes every bit of you and me. The reality of Christianity, real Christianity, is loving God means giving him everything we are. And everything we are includes our heart, soul, strength, and mind.

To love God with our heart means to be passionately in love with God. Being someone who loves God does not simply mean you believe the right things, nor that your love is an action. Loving God is doing the right things and love is action, but loving God is more than those things. To love God is to feel love for God. God’s call for all Christians is to be in love with him. To be head over heels, puppy dog, boy just discovered girls aren’t icky, heart beating out of your chest, sweaty palms, emotional love.

To love God with our soul means to put the hope of our eternal self in his hands. For as long as people have walked this earth we have wondered about eternity and our place in it. So we have sought to find, and came up with, a way to ensure that eternity favors us. Some have put that hope in science and some in false religions and cults, but the truth is we all put that hope in something. The Bible calls Christians to put that hope in God: To trust not in our own ability to ensure our eternal reward, but to trust in the sacrificial work of Christ on the cross: That he lived perfectly and died for my sins and that even though I should die because of my sins I now get the eternal life that he deserves.

To love God with our strength is to love God with what we do. Once someone becomes a Christian they are given a new heart that seeks to please the one who loves us most, God. The call to love with our strength is the command to love with our hands and our feet; to let the new heart of Christ flow into our actions. Christ, in affirming the lawyer’s answer, is saying that to be one of his is to do what pleases him and what he has called us to. And not to do it because we have to or because it earns anything. But to do it because that’s what love does. Love seeks to please its lover.

To love God with our mind is to seek to know God more. When we love something, truly and deeply love something, we want to know all there is about it. New relationships often start with long conversations over the phone, or now through Snapchat I guess, because each person wants to know more and more and more about the person of their affection. People who love football spend hours looking at stats of their favorite players. Baseball junkies pour over baseball cards. None of this is mandatory. Instead, it flows from a heart that is in love. Love seeks to know and understand. To love is to seek to better know him and better understand him. He is found most directly in his Word.

This lawyer rightly says that to inherit eternal life one must love God with their heart, soul, strength, and mind. One must love God with all of who they are. Do you have eternal life?

Charlie Shelton recently passed away at the age of 86, having lived his life building successful businesses and bringing great change in and around Surry County, alongside his brother Ed. Their family on both their mother’s and father’s sides had longstanding ties to this region, with their ancestors being some of the many early settlers who made their living off the land during the pioneer days.

James Madison “Matt” Shelton, the Shelton brothers’ grandfather, began life as a farmer, just like his father before him, but eventually found his calling as a master carpenter. It was this career change that brought the family into Mount Airy from its outskirts. The family purchased a few acres of land and a rickety old house, where Matt would put his carpentry skills to use, building upon the house to add rooms for his children. While living in this house, Matt’s son George Reid Shelton, known as Reid, attended Franklin School, located on Franklin Road in Mount Airy.

Charlie Lee Badgett was both a tobacco farmer and a blacksmith. He and his family lived and worked on their White Plains farm. The family had 11 children, including his third daughter, Bertha Lillian. From the Badgett family’s house, the Blue Ridge Mountains made up the skyline to the north, with Pilot Mountain being visible to the south. Badgett would grow his tobacco, toast it, before bringing it into Mount Airy where it would be sold for 25 cents for a pound.

Badgett’s farm thrived in the bustling tobacco industry surrounding Mount Airy. In the early 1890s, the town had as many as 21 tobacco factories. However, the factories were soon hit hard by the so-called “tobacco trust,” which monopolized the tobacco industry with James B Duke of Durham at its helm. By 1910, many of the former tobacco factories had been converted into textile mills, with Mount Airy making its foray into the industry of furniture manufacturing.

In 1926, Reid Shelton had just finished up his barber training in Charlotte, and soon had his own chair in a barber shop in Winston-Salem.

When Reid Shelton was 19 years old, he crossed paths with a girl he had briefly attended Franklin School with, Bertha Badgett. Speaking years later of the school, Reid recounted ”That’s where I picked her out but she doesn’t remember me.” Now young adults, they began dating and were married, surrounded by their family on the property of Charlie Badgett’s tobacco farm on Oct. 23, 1926.

The newlyweds lived in Winston-Salem for a time, before returning home to Surry County and to Franklin Street, right across the road from the school where their paths first crossed. Their first son, Charles Madison Shelton, named in honor of both of his grandparents, was born in the early hours of May 12, 1935. Charlie’s younger brother Edward was welcomed into the family not long after.

When Charlie was around 10 years old, his paternal father came to live with the family. The younger Shelton adored his grandfather, and learned the manufacturing skills that Charlie would later utilize to rise to success later in life, by following his grandfather to the factories where he worked. Growing up, Charlie would also work for his maternal grandfather on his tobacco farm.

As he grew, Charlie was constantly finding ways to make an honest profit, from collecting soda bottles that earned him a penny each in deposits, to building and selling lawn furniture with the scraps he got from the factory where his grandfather worked. Taking after grandfather Badgett, by the time he was 16, he had begun planting tobacco.

The Shelton brothers founded various successful construction businesses and established a thriving vineyard that was instrumental in the designation of the Yadkin Valley as a viticultural region, the first in North Carolina. To support the growing industry, they also supported Surry Community College in establishing what is now known as the Shelton-Badgett North Carolina Center for Viticulture and Enology.

They were also instrumental in the creation of the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History, with the museum’s original first floor gallery, established through a major grant from the Shelton Foundation and dedicated in honor of the Shelton’s grandfathers.

Together with his brother Ed, Charlie would continue to tap into the spirit of innovativeness and industrialism that his ancestors drew upon to survive in the early days of settlement in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Katherine “Kat” Jackson is a part-time employee at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History. Originally from Australia she now lives in Winston-Salem. She can be reached at the museum at 336-786-4478.

© 2018 The Mount Airy News