Looking Glass Rock

 

Yesterday morning, just after I laced my hiking shoes, I looked up at the portrait of my mother that hangs above the mantel and fireplace.  It's a portrait of her in high school, and one that her parents had in their home in Shorterville, Alabama.  Recently, I brought it back from Headland after selecting it as part of my inheritance.  Anyway, I looked at this lovely portrait, and spoke to Mother.  I said, "I'm going on a long hike today.  Watch over me.  No, actually, I want you to be with me."  A couple of minutes into my hike, for the very first time - and I have been on hikes all throughout this area  - I spotted a white squirrel.  Yes, a white one.  The funny thing is....Brevard, NC is the home of the white squirrel, and they have an annual festival to recognize it.  However, these squirrels are actually so rare, the joke Kade and I always had was that, to draw tourists in, this white squirrel "idea" was drawn up by the locals, and someone brings their spray-painted white squirrel out just for that festival, and the money pours in.  Again, I had been on numerous, numerous hikes and had never seen one.  And on a day that Kade, on her drive back from work, the exact same day, saw a black bear crossing a busy street in Asheville, when I explained what I said out loud to my mother, and then played this video, she was far more amazed by it than she was that bear sighting.  I'm the biggest skeptic, and question most things, but what are the chances?  Even if it's just a fluke or odd coincidence, I choose to see as a positive message from her.  It certainly made me instantly think of her, and made my day even brighter.  There was no greater lovers of animals - and squirrels, especially - than my mother.

The hiking destination was Looking Glass Rock.  And we would be sitting up on the rock, having a picnic.  Let's just say:  Mission Accomplished!

Source

 

The Looking Glass Rock Trail climbs about 1,700 feet in just over three miles (6.5 miles roundtrip, allow 4-5 hours).   - Source

Here are two of my videos:

The hike in and out, plus short clips from up on the rock.

This is solely footage from up on the rock.

 

“There is wisdom in climbing mountains... For they teach us how truly small we are.”

― Jeff Wheeler, The Wretched of Muirwood
 

Deep Gap Trail

This image was taken at Mount Mitchell State Park, just after hiking the Deep Gap Trail to Mount Craig with an outdoor enthusiast who has recently moved from Los Angeles to Asheville.  Now that I have gotten home from the hike, the funny thing is, I'm not so sure I made it all the way to Mount Craig.  I might have turned back a bit soon, thinking one overlook was the summit.  Luckily, since I live in the area, I can just go back another day.  It might have to be spring or summer, since it's getting considerably colder high up in the mountains. Like the start of winter up there!  The temp was a good twenty degrees lower.

 

The hike takes you through a Canadian-type, lush forest, with great aromas of the spruce and balsam fir trees. If you want to go farther, Deep Gap Trail continues for another 3.5 miles and crosses three more peaks above 6,000 feet to Deep Gap. There are some great camping sites at Deep Gap. The Deep Gap Trail proceeds beyond Mount Craig to other North Carolina high peaks including Big Tom and Balsam Cone.  - Source

Upper Whitewater Falls

  

                                 Upper Whitewater Falls, North Carolina's Highest Waterfall

 

Whitewater Falls is the highest waterfall east of the Rockies, falling 811 feet! The Upper Falls plummets 411 feet and is 60 miles from downtown Asheville in the Nantahala National Forest. It's on the Whitewater River in the Jocassee Gorge area of North Carolina. The 400-foot Lower Falls can be accessed from a different location in South Carolina.  - Source

 

To get these images below, we had to exit a platform area and climb down an embankment - not dangerous, but a bit of work - to a spot just below the platform, where we had unobstructed views.  That's as close as we'd get to these falls.  And when you consider that many people have died - 18, I believe - after foolishly walking along the sides of Upper Whitewater Falls, you'd know why we and most visitors practice caution when visiting.  Our plan Sunday was to also visit Rainbow and Turtleback Falls, which are in the vicinity.  However, we left early in the afternoon, rather than in the morning.  In hindsight, it's best to get started early.  And the other piece of advice I'd give:  If you are arriving from Asheville, Greenville, Brevard or any city, bring your own water and food items with you.  Everything in Sapphire, NC, especially at the "country store" leading to Upper Whitewater Falls, is a ripoff.  And don't expect prices on any items in the store....until you check out.  Crazy.

 

All Things Carroll

Family Crest (scanned by Judy Faye West)

my brother's Carroll crest

In the five plus years I've had this blog, on occasion, some special things have happened.  A pretty big one was receiving an e-mail this summer from a cousin I had never heard of.  Luckily for me, and truly anyone interested in any aspect of the Carroll family, he's an incredible resource.

Charles Loeffler

my cousin from Texas

July 8 

Hi, I ran across your blog a few weeks ago using Google and entering James Carroll and Rhoda Stephenson, just to see what might come up.  You have done a lot of good work on your family history.  Good for you.

I am a descendant of an older sister of your Major Carroll, born 1851.  My great-grandmother was Sarah Carroll (1844-1917) married to Henry Zachariah Parker (1828-1900).  They are buried in Ozark.  I have no photo of Sarah and only one of Henry.

My name is Charles Emil Loeffler, born 1938 in Texas.  My mother was Kate Ellen Lewis Loeffler, born in Dothan.  (1910-1995) Buried in Junction, TX.  My grandmother was Della Parker Lewis (1881-1927), buried in Cottonwood, AL.

I see that I am a little older than your parents.  I am sorry that you lost them already.

I have collected a good bit of information on my mother's family, etc. over the years and I have put a lot of it in Family Tree Maker.  I don't mind sharing with you what I have found on the family of Major Carroll and Sarah Branch.  Be glad to send you a report from my FTM program.

I found the information you put on your blog, about  your Uncle Watty to be fascinating.  I will look for it again as I have time.

Thanks for your interest in the Carroll family.

Cousin Charles Loeffler
Junction, TX
           

  

Aug 13  

Allen, here goes on answering your questions.  Sorry that I have no videos or any old photos.

I got interested in researching my mother's family about 25 years ago.  I always enjoyed looking at her family photos from Alabama and asking about the people in the photos.  My grandmother that is  the Carroll descendant died way before I was born.  Della Parker was born in 1881 in Dale County and died in 1927 when my mother was a senior in high school.  Some years later my grandfather Lewis married again and she was the step-grandmother that I knew.  We used to go visit them when they lived in Ponce de Leon and in Cottondale, Florida.  My grandfather died in 1954 when I was age 13. His was the first funeral that I ever attended.  He was buried in Cottonwood, Houston County, AL beside his first wife, Della Parker.  Della's mother was Sarah Carroll (1944-1917).  Sarah died when my mother was age 7.  I never heard my mother or any of her three siblings mention Sarah.  I did hear one of my aunts mention their grandfather, Henry Zachariah Parker, and said that he was well-to-do.  Henry died in 1900 before my grandparents married in 1903.

I have a nice write-up on the Parker side done by a cousin of my mother that was written in probably the 1950's.  I have a Parker cousin that recently did a large book about this family.  I helped her with a good bit of it.  When I first started off, I wrote to some of my mother's cousins still living in Alabama and they sent a lot of information on my Lewis ancestors.  I have also learned a lot about my Metcalf, Windham, Talbot, Ashburn, etc. lines.  And the line we have in common, the Carrolls.

When I got started on this, the internet had not kicked off.  In about 1990 my wife and I made a trip to SE Alabama.  We also went to the Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta on that trip.  I went to the Library in Ozark and found a lot of information and went to as many cemeteries as I could to look for family headstones.  On this trip I found the headstones of Major James Carroll and Penelope and also my Parker/Carroll great-grandparents in Ozark.  We went again to Alabama about five years later and I found more tombstones of other ancestors, some in cemeteries that were very difficult to find.  I found a tombstone of a great great grandmother that was way off the road lost in the woods that had died in 1856.  I found the old Windham graveyard in Dale County where there were many burials as recorded in about 1900, but only two gravestones remained in the 1995 timeframe.

One of the key books showing Carroll info is "Dale County Kin" by Lydia Hughes Grimes in 1984.  I am about a triple cousin to Lydia.  She descends from David Carroll, brother of Major James Carroll.  I bought the books, Heritage of Dale County, Alabama and Heritage of Houston County, Alabama, as well as the book, Cemeteries of Dale County, Alabama.  I have portions of other books which mention the Carrolls.  I have done some research in the DAR Library in Washington, DC.  I have corresponded with a good many Carroll cousins over the years and still do so from time to time.

Another valuable resource is Mark Valsame, archivist at the North Carolina State archives.  He has  been helpful to me.  I have a copy of most of the pages of his book published in 1991.  He is the one who debunked the Carroll "old-wives tales" about Duncan McCarroll or O'Carroll and James Carroll being born in Ireland.  Mark descends from both the Stephenson and Carroll lines in North Carolina.  His Carroll ancestor is Margaret Carroll, daughter of James Carroll and Rhoda Stephenson.

When I first got started on this I made my own genealogy charts on my first computer, but soon found that I needed a software program to keep everything straight.  I use Family Tree Maker.  I usually put info that I want to keep in my FTM program when I first get it and don't save paper any longer unless it is something like a will or something equally important.  You can get an idea of what I save from my file on Major Carroll that I sent you.

I found you a month or two ago by entering James Carroll and Rhoda Stephenson into Google and your blog came up.

If you want me to elaborate more, I can.  I am going to send you some of my notes on Major James Carroll and on James Carroll next.

Charles 

Cousin Al

 Solomon Stevenson, Sr. (~1715-1780)  had:

 Solomon Stevenson, Jr. (1740--1781)                    and                  David Stevenson (~1750-1808)

       they each had:

 Rhoda Stephenson (~1781-1861)                           and                  Jonathon Stevenson (1780-1851)

      they each had:

 Major James Carroll (1805-1878)                          and                  Mann Stephenson (1814-1891)

      they each had:

 Major Carroll (1851-1917)                                     and                   Malcus Stephenson (1838-1916)

      they each had:

 Penelope Carroll (1881-1961)                                and                   Luna Stephenson (1867-1938)

      they each had

 Major Watt Espy, Sr. (1907-1980)                         and                   Walter Lewis LaFon (1887-1950)

      they each had:

 Mark Carroll Espy, Sr. (1943-2012)                      and                   Pauline LaFon (1912-2004)

      they each had:

 Major Allen Espy (1971-  )                                    and                   Albert Gore (1948-  )          

 Looks like you and Al Gore are 7th cousins.   - Cousin Charles Loeffler, Carroll family historian

The Stephenson/Stevenson info pretty much came from Mark Valsame,   He is an archivist at the North Carolina  State Archives.  Easy to find him on Google.  He is also our cousin who descends from Margaret Carroll, daughter of James Carroll and Rhoda Stephenson.  - Charles

Click here to learn more about this autograph.

Tidbits from HNB Days

gift employees gave me at my farewell party

After I had left the bank, I returned a couple of years later and filmed this.

I will continue to add some captions and more photos.

Albany, GA News

My brother, Miles.  Profile in The Albany Herald, 2006.

 

And below is a segment from "On the Job with..."

 

Q. Do you have a role model or mentor in your career?

 

A. When I think about a role model, I think of my grandfather, Major W. Espy. When my great-grandfather, John Jolly Espy, was killed in an automobile accident, Major, at the young age of 25, became the president of a locally-owned bank in his father's place. Although he passed away when I was just in the fifth grade, I remember that he made others around him feel important. Although he operated a number of business ventures, including a bank, a mercantile store, a fertilizer plant, and farming operations, he was never prideful and always had time for others including his grandchildren. I never heard him gossip or say anything bad about his fellow man. He had a way of lifting those up around him. As I grew into a young man in Headland, people from all walks of life would remind me of what a great man Major was. To this day, I'll be in meetings with people that knew him well, and they will quote statements that he made decades ago. Certainly, my mother and father were good role models as well, but my grandfather has truly been an inspiration for my career.

 

Click here for the full Q & A

FDR

Photo Source

Back in 2008, during the hotly contested presidential campaign between Obama and McCain, I corresponded a little bit with an Alabama contact who likes discussing politics.  He had been watching the PBS special on American presidents - click here - and wanted to know if I had.  In fact, I had just watched the one on FDR, and it was fascinating.  It added to what I learned from visits to FDR's Little White House in Warm Springs, the numerous WWII specials I had watched on the History Channel, and the bits of various books about the Great Depression and WWII that I had picked up and read. I do remember, too, talking with Uncle Watty about FDR, specifically about Governor/Senator Huey Long of Louisiana and his rise to prominence, and how he posed a threat to FDR's political power.  That conversation with Watty revealed some of the conspiracy theories that swirled around in those days, especially after Huey Long was assassinated.

Anyway, the following is a little bit of my correspondence with the Alabama "pundit."

FDR was a cunning politician.  Also, the campaigns in the old days were very fierce according to records.  Abraham Lincoln was called an ape and Jefferson's name was dragged through the mud.  I think today's fighting is just a continuation. 

Of course, with FDR, JFK and presidents prior to them, the press was less apt to disclose personal info.  Hard to believe that FDR was able to hide his physical affliction from the masses.  A big part of me thinks that we Americans, if truly given a fair chance, would try hard to side with an underdog - in FDR's case, a handicap.  The irony is that FDR was a very talented politician and even with his crippling disease could still outmaneuver most in the political game.  Nonetheless, he went to great lengths to conceal his physical condition from the public eye.

People want to think their leaders are very strong physically, and politicians are keenly aware of this.  Joseph Stalin was a short man and tried to conceal this when possible.  High boots helped.  Apparently, though, his height was a bit of an issue for the "man of steel."

If you have a chance, see Hyde Park on Hudson.  Bill Murray - yes, that one - stars as FDR!  What are your thoughts on FDR?  Interestingly enough, on our trip to Boston in 2011, Kade, Uncle Jim and I, when we were in Albany, New York, were very close to the Hyde Park Home of FDR and Presidential Library & Museum.  It was just a couple of hours away, but in the opposite direction of where we needed to start our day when we were leaving Albany for a scenic drive to Boston.  We had to put the trip to Hyde Park aside.  Later, in New Haven, Connecticut, we were just an hour's drive from Mark Twain's Hartford home.   But a tight schedule, commitments in New Haven and then just pure exhaustion from having already driven a lot, eliminated going there.  I guess we have reasons to go back!

Watt Espy's Mother

Mary Jordan (Scott) Espy/Warren

1912-1958

Mother had been living in Texas at the time of her death.  Daddy (Major Espy), who had long been divorced from her, had her body brought by train from Texas to Alabama.   She is buried in the FBC of Headland Cemetery.  - Watt Espy, from interview notes

Mary was 1/4 Cherokee Indian.

The Wiregrass Farmer

February 27, 1958

Her grave on the right.  Next to her is her mother's grave.  And behind them are Mary's grandparents.  That grandfather was a doctor.  Incidentally, her father Walter Scott, who's buried in the Methodist cemetery, was also a doctor, as were his two brothers.  The link at the bottom will take you to more on the Scotts.

source

To read more about Mary and the Scotts, click here.  

Hitler's Pope

"There has never been anything more grandiose on the earth than the hierarchical organization of the Catholic Church. I transferred much of this organization into my own party." - Adolph Hitler - (The Nazi Persecution of the Churches" by J.S. Conway - Pgs. 25, 26 & 162)

Several years ago when Kade and I were in Hanoi for a short vacation - we had flown over from Bangkok - I watched a program one night on CCTV (China's version of National Geographic, PBS and C-Span).  It was a symposium on World War Two, one of my passions that developed after years of traveling and reading.  One particular aspect of the presentation really caught my interest.  Later, in a nice e-mail to Dad - I always e-mailed in a calm fashion, the way I'd try to talk with him or anyone else in person - I inserted the following blurb from the CCTV program, just to see how he would respond.  He had been e-mailing on variety of topics up to that point.  But he chose not to answer this one.  I later sent the answer to him. 

You know that now the 60th anniversary of the second world war is being marked. A month or two ago I saw a TV program where a Jewish professor, Russian diplomat and Chinese historian were asked what brought about World War Two and, in particular, the Final Solution to exterminate the Jews. What do you think the response was?

And in that follow-up e-mail to Dad, I shared the answer (below) and provided some background information (below).  And, again, no response.  Just some terrain he wasn't familiar with.  The irony was......it was new to me too.  That aspect, anyway.  I didn't get it Headland, growing up or in school.  Even at Samford University, I wasn't confronted with any of this.  Eventually, curiosity got the best of me, and my subsequent inquiries led me to sometimes unsettling discoveries.
 

The response that they gave was the fact that groups of people maintain beliefs that their way is the sole way to God.

There is evidence that the Catholic Church headed by Pius XII stood by as Hitler's plans went into effect. The Jews were called the "killers of Christ." Check out the link of Hitler receiving priestly support.   Just click here to see.....

What are your thoughts on this?  Does/Can a belief in a single way to God lead to genocides? 

Dupont State Forest Waterfalls

Joined some other hikers on a quest to visit three waterfalls in one day:  Triple Falls, High Falls and Bridal Veil Falls.  In all, we hiked approximately six miles. 
 

 

 a scene from Hunger Games was filmed here.