NORTH CAROLINA: RALEIGH

 October 2022

On my last day I had several hours to kill after my son went to work and before I had to head to the airport, so I decided to take a look at North Carolina's capital city, Raleigh, named after Sir Walter Raleigh of Roanoke Colony fame. With a population of about 475,000, it is the 41st largest city in the United States, the 2nd most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte, and one of the fastest growing cities in the country. In 2011 was ranked by Time as the third most-educated city in the US. 

Andrew Johnson, the 17th President of the US, was born here in 1808. Other notables include Olympic figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi, American Idol star Clay Aiken, and writer David Sedaris.

I was headed for the capitol building, but I detoured when I saw Christ Episcopal Church, built in 1848 to 1853. I love this sculpture entitled Peaceable Francis.

Down the street and around the corner is the First Baptist Church, completed in 1859.

NORTH CAROLINA: CHAPEL HILL

 October 2022

Chapel Hill is a smallish city of about 62,000 in North Carolina dominated by the prestigious University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It is similar to the town where we currently live in both population and the university presence, but it feels a little more rural.  The climate is a bit more temperate than ours, and it gets about three times as much rain. Many of the streets look like this:

Since visiting Chapel Hill, I have learned that it is or was the home of many well-known folks, including former presidential candidate John Edwards, the musician Ben Folds, the author John Grisham, the journalist Charles Kuralt, novelist Betty Smith (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn), the  musician James Taylor, and author Thomas Wolfe (You Can't Go Home Again). Pretty impressive.

We had someone who wanted to go on a walk and hopefully chase that ball she was so lovingly guarding.

She got her wish. Not far from where our son was living when I visited are peaceful woods with wandering trails. The autumn colors were just beginning to emerge.

I was helping my kindergarten granddaughter with her "Flat Stanley" project where the child draws a picture of herself, then sends it "on a vacation" to visit a relative. The relative takes the child's self-portrait around and photographs it in a variety of places. It was fun to show "my granddaughter" the sights.

NORTH CAROLINA: KAYAKING TO THE THREE SISTERS SWAMP ON THE BLACK RIVER

 October 2022

My son Sam proposed that he and I have an adventure while I was visiting him in North Carolina--a kayaking trip. 

"Sure!" I said. "Sounds like fun!"

Clearly I had no idea what I had agreed to. 

The adventure started with a 120-mile south-southeast late afternoon drive to Wallace, North Carolina (population 3,300 and elevation 52 feet), where we had what turned out to be a very nice hotel for the night. On our way we passed field after field of ready-to-harvest cotton. What back-breaking labor THAT must be.

The next morning we got up very early and drove to the launch area of the Black River, arriving just before sunrise. The 50-mile-long Black River is a tributary of the Cape Fear River.  A "blackwater" river is one with a lot of vegetation decay that releases tannins in the water, making the water appear dark and brackish. While this kind of water will not support most hardwood tree species, it does create a unique environment that can't be found in other places.

We walked around a bit, admiring the scenery and appreciating the stillness. For a tributary river, the water seemed eerily motionless--much more like a lake or pond than a river.

NORTH CAROLINA: DURHAM

 October 2022

In the summer of 2022, our son moved from Utah to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to take a job as a risk assessment arborist for a tree company. I wanted to be able to visualize where he was living, so in October of that year I planned a trip to visit him. Bob couldn't go with me, so I went by myself. I flew into the Raleigh-Durham International Airport, a small- to mid-sized airport that was not too crowded and easy to navigate.

Our son had to work, so I spent the day seeing the sites with his girlfriend as tour guide, which was nice as I knew nothing of the area.

Our first stop was Bennett Place in Durham, the site of the final surrender of a major Confederate army in the Civil War -- General Johnston's surrender to General Sherman -- on April 26, 1865, which was about 2 ½ weeks after Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox. This was news to me! I thought it was all over after Appomattox.

An interesting fact is that Lincoln's assassination occurred on April 15, two days before the first day of negotiations here, but was reported to the generals on that first day, April 17. News traveled more slowly back then.

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA: THE BILLY GRAHAM LIBRARY AND FAMILY HOMEPLACE

After our tour of Charleston and Savannah, we returned to Charlotte, North Carolina, to catch our flight home. There isn't a lot to do in Charlotte, but everything we looked at mentioned the Billy Graham Library just outside of town. We had nothing else on our itinerary and an hour to kill, so why not?

Billy grew up on a 300-acre dairy farm a few miles outside Charlotte.  The 2,400 square-foot two-story home, where he lived from age nine until he went away to college, has been moved twice, first in 1984 to Praise the Lord's Heritage USA site (a religious theme park in Fort Mill, South Carolina), and then in 2006 to this site next to the Billy Graham Library (the building with the cross-shaped door/window), about four miles away from the original farm.

The site reminded me of the Joseph Smith Birthplace in Sharon, Vermont. Tasteful landscaping and native forest surround the complex, and friendly guides/missionaries are on hand to answer any questions.

The home is decorated in what the site's literature calls "the comfortable mixed style Mother Graham [Billy's mom] enjoyed in her later years, with items from various decades--including some original furnishings and memorabilia."

It is nice to breeze through the home, which is really a reproduction rather than a restoration, but the true attraction is the Billy Graham Library.  The term "Library" doesn't refer to its collection of books, although it does include "Ruth's Attic Bookstore," named after Billy's wife. The building is actually a museum detailing Billy Graham's life and work (similar to a Presidential Library) and a crusade center.

 There are several rooms that display memorabilia from Billy Graham's life and ministry:

This photo from 1947 shows the enormous crowds the twenty-nine-year-old Billy Graham drew for his sermons.  

Louis Zamperini, the Olympic runner and World War II Japanese prison camp survivor who Laura Hillenbrand wrote about in her fabulous book Unbroken . . . 

. . . attended a rally very similar to this one just two years later, and it changed his life.

Zamperini and Graham.  Read the story about Zamperini's conversion here.

I love the line-up on the marquee in this 1972 photo:

The bookstore, complete with a larger-than-life statue representing the Parable of the Sower, is impressive:

I think some of the seminary teachers I know would love this little statue:

While visitors are waiting for a tour, they can also visit the Graham Brothers Dairy Bar:

Since we were a bit pressed for time, we couldn't take the full tour, but we did walk through all of the exhibit areas.  There was quite a bit of information about the Grahams' lives, including Ruth Graham's childhood with her missionary parents in China and Korea:

On a full tour, visitors catch a bit of the revival spirit in this room:

Footage of some of Graham's sermons plays in another room:

At the end of the tour, guests are asked to commit to receiving Christ as their personal savior, and are given time to meditate,  pray, and speak with missionaries:

Guides/missionaries are friendly but not pushy, and I suspect our experience there was not unlike the experience an evangelical would have on Temple Square in Salt Lake City.

Just like LDS historical sites, the grounds around the house and complex are exceptionally well-groomed. Religious music was being piped through strategically placed speakers, creating a lovely, peaceful atmosphere. A Memorial Prayer Garden lies at the edge of the woods at the end of this cross-shaped brick walkway.

 Billy Graham's wife of 64 years, Ruth, died in 2007 and is buried in this garden area:

There is a nice spot for Billy right next to her:

Can anyone translate that kanji for me?

Regardless of your religion, I think the Billy Graham Library complex is well worth the hour or two it takes to visit.  Graham's influence on the Christian world has been immense, and it is interesting to learn a little bit more about his life and work.

If you are interested in the Louis Zamperini/Billy Graham connection, this is a fun video: