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CEDAR MOUNTAIN NEWS FOR THURSDAY 5-21-20

TWO SUMMER EVENTS CANCELLED

Because of the Corona Virus Pandemic, and with an abundance of caution, the McGaha Chapel Summer Sing-Along, which was set for Saturday, June 6, and the Robin Hood Barn Square Dance, set for Thursday, July 2, have both been cancelled. When we all feel safe enough, probably when a vaccine is generally available, we look forward to resuming these delightful community seasonal events. In the meantime, stay safe.

CEDAR MOUNTAIN SMALL AREA PLAN

Due to unforeseen scheduling conflicts, the Cedar Mountain Small Area Plan Committee meeting for May 28th has been cancelled. The Committee will resume its regular schedule on June 23rd.

For any questions, please contact Planning and Community Development at 828-884-3205. Thank you, Trisha Hogan, CMC, NCCCC, Clerk to the Board

CEDAR MOUNTAIN COMMUNITY CENTER

The center remains closed for the most part. However, restrictions are being relaxed. Plans for the June potluck have been cancelled.

If you have an event or meeting scheduled or need to schedule one, please check with Caroline Chambers regarding your reservation. Her number is 828-290-9662.

SHERWOOD FOREST FRIENDS

Sherwood Forest Friends has postponed our programs through May. We do plan to have information available on our website about each of the originally scheduled programs. We want everyone to know that Sherwood Forest Friends is still here and we are still providing entertaining and informative ways for you to spend your considerable time at home! Like every other group/individual on the planet, we are trying to figure out how to do our jobs in this unusual and unprecedented environment. We hope you check us out at www.sherwoodforestfriends.org . Thank you for your support!

FAITH CHAPEL

To Our Fellow Parishioners,

We hope all of you are healthy and safe given the recent events with COVID-19. This whole situation has caused us to prayerfully contemplate our path forward for this season. Top of mind has been the health of each of you as members of our parish balanced with the needs to join together in faithful worship. This is an evolving situation which could change over time and we met today to plot an initial path forward. Due to the uncertainty right now, we have decided to take the following steps:

  1. We hope to begin services the weekend of July 5th. That gives us May and June to see what the government and other churches are recommending before we open up. We will meet the second week in June to determine if we can open up and what policies we should put in place to guard everyone’s safety.

  2. We will not hold a picnic in July. We are discussing other possibilities in the late summer and we will make a determination later in the summer.

  3. We plan to offer Sunday school when we open which is currently planned to start the weekend of July 5th.

  4. We will not hold Children’s Church this summer. We felt that given the current circumstances, we would wait until next season to determine how we move forward with that.

  5. We do not plan to offer refreshments after the services this season.

We will continue to monitor the situation and we will communicate any changes as they occur.

Our revenues will be down this year, but some of our expenses will go on. All non-profits need your support, and if your budget would allow you to help with a gift to Faith Memorial Chapel, that gift would be gratefully received and prudently used. A gift can be mailed to Faith Memorial Chapel, P. O. Box 10444, Greenville, SC 29603.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your families. Please stay safe and we hope to see you later this summer!

The Board of Trustees

HELP OFFERED

John Wiseman and Kim Coram have offered to make sure that if anyone in Cedar Mountain is in need food or conversation to call them at home 828-966-5367. With schools out we are concerned that some local children may be going hungry, especially on the weekends. We are concerned about those who are laid off too. We want to help those in need in our community.

CEDAR MOUNTAIN HISTORY – PATTY STAHL

On May 4, 1954, the Greenville News published an article written by Shirley Crosswell that announced the near completion and opening of the Cedar Mountain Community Center. The schoolhouse, the former meeting place, had been dismantled and the children were riding the school bus to town. Finally, a new place to gather was almost ready. The land had been donated by Boyce and Helen Bishop, money had been raised and the men, women and young people had worked on evenings and Saturdays to pour the foundation, build the block walls, put on a roof, install electricity, plumbing and etc. Plans were made for the summer meetings and the first would be a country supper.

Country ham, big hominy, leather britches and fried apple pies were on the menu for this first meal in the building. Gardens had just been planted and so the cooks would use the foodstuffs that had been preserved from the year before. The hams were smoked in the late fall and apples had been picked and dried for the pies. Local folks would often take their sliced apples to the Cascade Lake Power plant to have them dried on screens near the generators. Doug Pace remembers, as a young boy, gathering around the big iron wash pot at the old Wrigley place with the Tom Garren family and others as the hominy was made from the large dried kernels of corn using either hickory or oak ashes for the lye. The leather britches were the green beans of the previous summer that had either been strung in lengths with thread or laid out on a screen to dry in the attic or on a porch. When dried they resembled wet leather pants that had shriveled. The dried pods were stored in canning jars, cloth, or paper bags, or in the freezer in more recent years. They would be soaked in water and cooked with a ham hock or a piece of fat meat for seasoning. This country supper would be followed by many ham, chicken, spaghetti, barbecue, potluck, and Thanksgiving meals in the following sixty-six years. The building now has an extra room at each end and the kitchen porch was enclosed to make room for larger stoves, refrigerators and prep tables. Here is the article as it appeared in the Greenville News, written by Shirley H. Crosswell, a summer resident of Cedar Mountain.

A Community Center at Cedar Mountain was a dream in 1953 and became a reality in 1954. Elaborate plans for summer were made for this new building. All winter the people have been working hard to make it so. While there is still much to be done, we do have a meeting place. As in so many rural communities where there is no longer a school to serve as a gathering place, there was a real need for a community center.

The building is of concrete blocks with aluminum windows and a concrete floor. The main room is thirty by fifty feet and there are restrooms, two porches and a kitchen.

The grounds are to be landscaped with native plants and shrubs. Much of the financial help is being given by the summer residents. The labor is being done by the local residents. Saturday is set aside as workday, with the women of the community furnishing dinner. Everyone is very proud of the fine substantial building.

Cedar Mountain has entered the North Carolina Community Development Program. All residents are interested in the varied activities and everyone is serving on some committee. As a part of this development program we hope to have telephone service at an early date.

The curb market will be in operation again this year. Many gardeners are growing and planting to meet the demand. Only local produce will be sold. A youth group is organized and will be active in summer recreation plans.

Ever hear of leather britches? Well, whether you have or not, be sure to plan to come to the Country Supper on Saturday, May 29th, where leather britches come into their own with country ham, big hominy, and fried apple pies, too. This is just the beginning of the summer plans.

There will be suppers, parties, and movies throughout the summer. The annual Tacky Party is to be in July. Cedar Mountain is looking forward to seeing all their friends this summer at the Community Center.

CHRISTINE'S COVID CORNER STILL STAYING HOME My grandchildren Calla & Cooper came by my home last week to plant my annual (flowers) into an old cauldron that Joe & I had brought here when we moved. Joe used to do this for me every year as a combo Birthday/Mother's Day gift. So my daughter brought these two over, wearing masks, to do the job for me. As I write this, in a lot of hard rain, the flowers are doing very well still. While here that day sweet Calla also got the chance to mow my yard, for her very first time!

MUSIC During COVID19 I have learned some new things about my grandkids. The greatest surprise to me is their taste in music! Imagine when the song "Old Town Road" came on and both my 15-year-old granddaughter and her 6-year-old brother started singing along! A friend, Margie Smith, has been sharing posts of her son who has a Masters in organ and is also a great singer in his church in Connecticut. At the same time, our friend Catherine Ritch (Guess) posts herself playing a familiar tune on Facebook every day; mostly on the piano but sometimes on a pipe organ! And you should hear her play the hammered dulcimer! Sometimes her 90-year-old father sings along. Catherine penned the book "Church in the Wildwood" the year she spent in Cedar Mountain. Even my family doctor from Brevard gets together with a few others on weekends and they drive to various neighborhoods or to the Farmers Market and play. They call themselves the "Corona Killers". My doc plays the bass guitar.

PET PAST TIMES REMEMBERED I called Linda Young yesterday and we started reminiscing about our silly pets. Linda's older cat is "Buddy", who used to belong to my Joe and was known as "Moe" then. Moe had a sister named Flo, and I took them both to a low-cost spay & neuter clinic while they were still kittens. Imagine my surprise when I went to retrieve them and the vet had added two letters to Flo's name, turning it into "Floyd". Turns out they were both males. Floyd passed away as a young cat but Buddy is still going strong; living it up at Linda's. I told Linda that Buddy/Moe was trained to come when I whistled, just like my pups would since they knew there was a treat awaiting them. She said the biggest mistake I made was teaching the cat to want to get fed at 6:30 am; the same time I fed all my pets. She said Buddy/Moe would come and jump on her bedroom door precisely at 6:30 am to wake her! Buddy has been with Linda over 2 & 1/2 years now and has a new kitty friend "Nozee" sharing their quarters.

NO TIME LEFT By now most of us will know what Gov. Cooper has planned for us this weekend as far as whether or not we'll be opening up more businesses while still practicing social distancing. Now I realize I am running out of time to get everything done that I had planned to do when the quarantine began! No surprise though; I just haven't felt like going through closets & boxes and gathering things to donate, all by myself. Maybe when we're allowed to work together once again we can share the load. I'll come and help you get organized if you'll come and help me! I'm striving to become a minimalist, somewhat. Or at least keep only the "essentials". That's still a lot, ha-ha. Email me if interested: chris_p_artist@yahoo.com

AROUND THE HOUSE by Linda Young

Up until recently things haven’t been too different for me. It’s just me and my two fur babies. However, I have lost two days in the last few weeks. I went to town on “Saturday” and I

was disappointed that the Pisgah Forest dump site was closed. I was a bit upset about that because I had a whole bunch of stuff to “dump”. I didn’t realize until Monday morning that I had skipped Saturday altogether, had gone to the dump on Sunday, and it was now Monday. I had planned to watch my church services online on Sunday and missed that. It is on our website though.

Those wonderful sunny days made me start on a project of beautifying my garage area.

I had burned an old recliner in the driveway many years ago (it grew on my property) and all the metal that was left over had been just sitting near the garage. Anyway all that and more is in my SUV. At least I hadn’t put any food garbage in there. Now I will have to take it in during this rain “event”.

Thank you for reading The Cedar Mountain News. Take care of yourselves. Stay safe, wear your face mask, and wash your hands frequently.

We’d like to hear what’s going on if you would like to share. Your contributions are encouraged and welcome.

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