Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “Catawba County”
Forty years ago my husband Tym and I moved to Catawba County. We had both grown up in in rural Illinois, a land platted in a grid. Directions were given by the compass. Go a mile north, turn left and go three miles west. But in this booming place with a gentler climate, we learned that locals navigate by where …
On May 26, I joined a small crowd at the Memorial Day ceremony in Eastview Cemetery in Newton, NC. I hadn’t been to such a ceremony in several years, and for me, it was a solid reminder of the phrase “freedom isn’t free.” We honored American service men and women for their sacrifice in the line of duty. There was …
If you’re like me, you’ve spent most of your working life in Catawba County. I hadn’t thought much about that until I attended docent training at the Museum of History on the Square in Newton. That’s where “The Way We Worked” will be exhibited from Aug. 10-Sept. 18. I will be one of the volunteers helping to guide visitors through …
I don’t remember a time before Billy Graham. And so I stood with the 300 people gathered on Feb. 24 at the Startown overpass on US 321. It was unseasonably warm, and many of us waited for an hour or more, watching the traffic whiz by as oversized American and Christian flags flapped from the overpass, waiting for North Carolina’s …
Recently my book club discussed A History of Catawba County by Charles Preslar. In 1954, Preslar, a local reporter, wrote the county’s story including the legend of a local patriot, Isaac Wise. The Wises are said to have lived at the head of the South Fork River. On a modern map, that’s near the intersection of Highway 10 and 321 …
I received an invitation to time travel last month and of course I jumped at the chance. For several years now, Judy Sigmon and I have portrayed 1840s herbalists during the fall festival at Hart Square, Dr. Robert Hart’s complex of log cabins. It’s the largest collection of original historic log buildings in the United States and it’s right here …