Friday Recap - Part 2

I'm continuing on with my recap of my big tourist day on Friday. After crossing the Ohio River on the Augusta Ferry, we were in the downtown historic area in Augusta, Kentucky and ready for our next tourist stop.

Rosemary Clooney Museum - The Rosemary Clooney House is owned by Dr. Steve Henry, former KY Lt. Gov., and his wife, Heather French Henry, former Miss America (who was born in Augusta). The museum was established to preserve Rosemary Clooney's house, to open it to the public and to house memorabilia from her life and career.

Starting in 1980 Rosemary began calling Augusta's 106 Riverside Drive home. Located on the banks of the Ohio River in historical Augusta, KY, this was her retreat from the demands of her career and a haven for rest between performances all over the world.
The house is a beautiful Federal style home. I think I was most surprised by how small it was. Knowing that Rosemary Clooney owned a huge mansion in Beverly Hills, her house in Augusta was tiny in comparison. The house has just two bedrooms that are not very big. In fact, they have Rosemary's big brass bed in her former bedroom and it took up half the room.

• The house is filled with all kinds of memorabilia from Rosemary Clooney's life including:
• childhood photos from her years in Maysville, KY
• the largest collection of White Christmas memorabilia anywhere in the world
• costumes worn by Bing, Bob, Vera, and Rosemary, as well as sketches by Edith Head and Bob Mackie for designs worn by Rosemary including the iconic red dress with white fur muff that Rosemary wore in White Christmas
• building materials from the demolition of her mansion at 1019 Roxbury Drive in Beverly Hills

  Our tour guide was a hoot. She talked almost non-stop. She has lived in Augusta for over fifty years and seemed to know all about Rosemary, her family, and career. She shared some behind the scenes stories about Rosemary's personal life and relationships.

The museum also includes a bunch of memorabilia from movies that George Clooney has stared in or directed. His costumes from Up in the Air and Leatherheads are on display as well as a bunch of his movie posters.

You can check out the Rosemary Clooney Museum at http://www.rosemaryclooney.org/index.html

The Parkview Country Inn - After spending time at Rosemary's place, we were hungry and ready for lunch. My friend Roslyn recommended that we try the lunch buffet at the Parkview Country Inn. The Parkview Country Inn was constructed in the early 1800's. The Inn originally included a tavern. The tavern area is now the main lobby and sitting area. The Inn is operated as a bed and breakfast.
The lunch buffet was quite tasty. We even splurged and ordered dessert. I had black raspberry cobbler with ice cream. It was delicious! Over lunch we laughed and visited and Mari and Roslyn got to know one another better.
When we came out of the Inn, we had a little excitement in trying to get out of town to our next destination. They were getting ready for Augusta's Heritage Days Festival and they had the road blocked off by vehicles in one direction and by barricades in the other. We narrowly escaped being trapped in Augusta forever by sneaking down an alley and cutting through a parking lot and then we were on our way.
You can check out the Parkview Country Inn at http://parkviewcountryinn.com/

Maysville, Kentucky - We moved on down the road next to Maysville, Kentucky. Maysville is another beautiful historic river town along the Ohio. The architecture is amazing. I am in awe of how many of the historic buildings had been and are being restored. The downtown area is like stepping back in time. I could hardly take it all in.
According to Wikipedia frontiersman Simon Kenton made the first settlement in the area in 1775 but was forced out by the western battles of the American Revolution. Returning in 1784, Kenton built a blockhouse at the site of Maysville and founded Kenton's Station (frontier fort) at a site three miles (5 km) inland. Kenton met new settlers at Limestone, as the landing place was called, and escorted them inland to his station. In 1786 the village which grew up near Kenton's Station was established by act of the Virginia General Assembly as the town of Washington. By this time John May had acquired the land at Limestone and Daniel Boone established a trading post and tavern there. In 1787 the little settlement was incorporated as Maysville, though the name Limestone persisted well into the 19th century.

Maysville was an important stop on the Underground Railroad. The abolitionist author Harriet Beecher Stowe visited the area in 1833 and witnessed a slave auction in front of the county court house in Washington, Kentucky. Stowe included the scene in her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, published in 1852.

I wish we would have been able to spend more time in Maysville walking around the historic district. It's definitely some place that I want to visit again. You can learn more about Maysville at http://www.cityofmaysville.com/

Ripley, Ohio - We crossed the Ohio River again on the William H. Harsha Bridge which is a huge suspension bridge that is quite impressive. Once we crossed the river, we headed west again along the river towards Ripley, Ohio.
Colonel James Poage, a veteran of the American Revolution, arrived in the free state of Ohio from Staunton, Virginia in 1804 to claim the 1000 acres he had been granted in what was then the Virginia Military District. Poage was among a large group of veterans who received land grants beyond the Ohio for their service and freed their slaves when they settled there. Poage and his family laid out the town of Staunton in 1812; it was renamed in 1816 to honor General Eleazar Wheelock Ripley, an American officer of the War of 1812.

The proximity of the river and of the slave state of Kentucky on the opposite shore led to Ripley's role as an early stop on the Underground Railroad, a network of citizens helping slaves escape north to freedom. A number of prominent abolitionists lived in the town in the 1800s, mainly on Front Street near the river, including John Rankin, former slave John Parker, Thomas McCague, Thomas Collins and Dr. Alexander Campbell.
You can learn more about the history of Ripley at http://www.ripleyohio.net/

Rankin House - When we arrived in Ripley, we drove up the steep hill overlooking the town and Ohio River and arrived at the Rankin House. A National Historic Landmark, this was the home of Presbyterian minister John Rankin who is reputed to have been one of Ohio's first and most active "conductors" on the Underground Railroad. In addition, he wrote Letters on American Slavery, first published in book form in 1826, and among the first clearly articulated antislavery views printed west of the Appalachians. Letters on American Slavery became standard reading for abolitionists all over the United States by the 1830s. From 1822 to 1865, Rankin, along with his wife and children, assisted hundreds of escaped slaves in their trek to freedom. Located on the Ohio River, John Rankin's home (and Ripley, Ohio in general) were considered one of the first stations on this route of the Underground Railroad. It was here that Harriet Beecher Stowe heard the escaping slave's story which became the basis for part of her famous work, Uncle Tom's Cabin. John Parker, a Ripley abolitionist and former slave who was active in the Underground Railroad, wrote of Rankin, "At times attacked on all sides by masters seeking their slaves, [John Rankin and his sons] beat back their assailant, and held its threshold unsullied. A lighted candle stood as a beacon which could be seen from across the river, and like the north star was the guide to the fleeing slave." (see photo above)
Visiting the Rankin House was like standing on holy ground for me. I kept thinking about all of those who climbed that steep hill in their quest for freedom from oppression. I thought about the Rankin family and all those who risked their lives to help escaped slaves. Slavery is certainly the most vial institution ever conceived and we need to have landmarks like the Rankin House to remind us how far we have come as a nation and that there are still people today longing for freedom in our world.
You can learn more about the Rankin House at http://ohsweb.ohiohistory.org/places/sw14/index.shtml

Parker House - John Parker (1827-1900), a former slave, lived in this house, which has been designated a National Historic Landmark, from about 1853 until his death, and from this location planned many rescue attempts of slaves held captive in the "borderlands" of Kentucky. Born a slave in Norfolk, Virginia, Parker was sold at the age of eight to a doctor in Mobile, Alabama. The doctor's family taught Parker to read and write and allowed him to apprentice in an iron foundry where he was compensated and permitted to keep some of his earnings. Persuading an elderly female patient of the doctor's to purchase him, Parker, at the age of 18, bought his freedom from the woman with money earned from his apprenticeship. Parker moved to southern Ohio and around 1853 established a successful foundry behind his home in Ripley. Patenting a number of inventions from his foundry, Parker was one of only a few African Americans to obtain a U.S. patent in the 19th century. Though busy with his business, Parker was also active in the Underground Railroad and is believed to have assisted many slaves to escape from the Kentucky side of the Ohio River. Parker, who was well-known by regional slave-catchers, risked his own life when he secreted himself back into slave territory to lead fugitive slaves to safety in Ripley. Once the slaves were in Ripley, Parker would deliver them to Underground Railroad conductors in the town, such as John Rankin, who would harbor the fugitive slaves and help them to the next depot on the network. In the 1880s, Parker recounted his life as an Underground Railroad conductor in a series of interviews with journalist Frank M. Gregg. These interviews have recently been edited by Stuart Seely Sprague and published as His Promised Land: The Autobiography of John P. Parker Former Slave and Conductor on the Underground Railroad.
We had a great docent at the Parker House. He really knew all of the history and gave us a complete account of Parker's life. You can learn more about the Parker House at http://johnparkerhouse.org/

After our visit to the Parker House, we headed home. It was a long but really good day full of laughter, good friends, good food, and great American history. I am so grateful to Roslyn for doing all of the research before our trip and for driving us around. It was truly a day of blessings.
Thanks for being a part of my journey!

Habitat for Humanity Egypt Update

I first of all I want to extend birthday greetings to my Mom. Happy birthday Mom! I love you!

We received the following update from Habitat for Humanity Egypt at the office this week and I thought I would share with you about what is happening on the ground in the midst of the changes that are sweeping throught the country:

Egypt Update: Message from Yousry Makar, National Director of Habitat for Humanity Egypt


During the past weeks, Egypt has gone through some very tough events, which have left a great impact on all Egyptians in all walks of life. We thank God, though, for the way we dealt with the situation, and for the safety of all of HFH Egypt's staff and the staff and volunteers of our implementing partners in the communities. We also managed to evacuate two of our volunteers and the Resource Development and Communications staff member and her husband safely back to their country.
In that regard, I would like to thank all those who joined in praying from the Habitat International family. Please keep praying until things settle and people are safe. In general, house construction has been considerably affected this month and in January by these major events. HFH Egypt has not been able to achieve the forecasted program results for many reasons.

• Many of the daily laborers (who form part of Habitat for Humanity applicants and homeowners) have lost their work.
• Banks have been closed for most of the time since the demonstrations began. This has affected loan distribution and repayment.
• It is still very difficult to travel to Upper Egypt due to the unstable train conditions and schedules up until now.


It is still too soon to have a clear picture of the situation and events happening going forward as we are facing new events/conditions not just every day but even on an hourly basis. This makes it hard for HFH Egypt to develop a long-term plan in the current period. We are keeping a very close eye on the situation in our communities on a daily basis, though.
Very slowly, life is returning to normal. Curfew hours were reduced and are now from 12 midnight until 6 in the morning. I believe a long time is still needed before we will overcome all the economic and social consequences of such major events.
As the gap between the poor and rich is expected to increase, there is no doubt the need for what HFH Egypt provides in partnership with the communities we work in will increase. We appreciate your continued prayers for Egypt.

Blessings!
Yousry

I invite you to join me in praying for Habitat for Humanity Egypt and for all the people of Egypt as they discover what it means to live in true freedom. I also invite you to join me in praying for all people in the Middle East as countries are transformed as oppression gives way to liberation.
Thank you for your prayers and for being a part of my journey!

Born into Freedom

I heard a really wonderful interview on NPR on my drive home today after work. They interviewed Egyptian novelist Ahdaf Soueif. They wanted to get her reaction to the amazing developments in Egypt culminating in the resignation of President Mubarak. It was a bit difficult to hear some of what Soueif was saying because there was so much celebrating going on in the background when she was on the phone with the NPR reporter. It was clear from the sound of Soueif's voice that this was a time of great joy and expectation.
One of the things that deeply moved me was a part of the postscript to the interview when the NPR reporter said that many new babies being born in Egypt this past week were being named the Arabic words for Freedom and Revolution. The reporter went on to say that many pregnant women were hoping to be able to hold off giving birth until Mubarak resigned. In that way, their babies would be born into a free Egypt.
What a powerful testimony this was to the hopes and dreams of the Egyptian people. I hope you will join me in praying that this transition process will be peaceful and that the new government of Egypt will be democratic and respect the rights of all people.
Thanks for being a part of my journey!