JULY 2020 Life at Crowfields Did You Know? Who wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence? The preamble, which begins with “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…” and in just five sentences, it lays out the entire American Inside This Issue philosophy of government. In regards to the writing of the Declaration of Independence, on June 7, 1776, a committee of five were tasked with drafting it. Roger Did You Know? 1 Sherman, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John From the Editor 2 Adams and Robert Livingston. They debated over who The President’s Report 5 should actually write the first draft. Jefferson wanted Update from Gifted Funds 7 Adams to do it, but the Massachusetts delegate refused. Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes An excerpt from a letter Adams wrote in 1822, recounts in the Garden 8 how he managed to convince Jefferson to do it. Activities and More in July 10 Governor Cooper’s “Reason first, you are a Virginian, and Virginian ought to appear at the head of this business. Reason second, I Phase 1 & 2 12 am obnoxious, suspected and unpopular. You are very Announcements and Reminders 13 much otherwise. Reason third, you can write 10 times Resident’s Contributions 15 better than I can.” From the Kitchen 16 Since 1776, there have been 120 declarations of independence issued by 120 nations and other The Crowfields Chatter is Edited by sovereign peoples. Jefferson wrote to a friend in 1795: Janet Moore and Published by Gayle Connell. If you have ideas, an “This ball of liberty…is now so well in motion that it will article or photos you would like to roll around the globe. At least the enlightened part of it, submit, contact Janet at 778-9300 or [email protected] for light and liberty go together.” America was not built on fear. American was built on courage, on imagination, and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand. --Harry S. Truman Page 2 From the Editor By Janet Moore In preparation for exterior painting, which begins for us the first week of July, Parker and I have been getting rid of stuff. Some of it, like the porch settee from our old place, has just never fit in, despite my numerous attempts to make it work. We uncovered cache pots for the orchids that had flourished in our large, sunny living room that looked out onto Westridge Drive. We sorted through garden tools, accumulated in the dismantling of our parents’ households, and asked ourselves, “Just how many shovels do we really need?” The answer was not nearly as many as we have. Funny how it often takes an outside force and a looming deadline, in this case the arrival of the paint crew on Monday, July 6, to rid ourselves of the dross. Suffice it to say that there have been numerous donations made to the WNC Bridge Foundation Estate Sale. There are times, of course, when want and need align. One such case occurred in 1949 when a group of Western N.C. businessmen, led by George Cecil and his fellow members of the newly-formed Western N.C. Agricultural Commission (WNCAC), took a road trip to Tupelo, MS. Cecil drove his car because, as one fellow-traveler pointed out, it was the only one guaranteed to get them down and back. They were on a fact-finding mission to learn about a successful rural economic development program. Along the way they saw mile after mile of abject poverty, Cecil recalls. “When we arrived in Tupelo, it was like night and day.” Instead of the sharecropper shacks, there were tidy houses and well-tended yards. Even the mailboxes were painted. “People had pride in what they were doing,” Cecil says. And there was an abundance of hope. At the time, there wasn’t much hope to be found in Western NC. Rural communities lacked electricity and running water. Families subsisted on small farms. Tobacco was the biggest cash crop. There were no interstate highways, only state and local roads, and many of them were in poor From the Editor By Janet Moore condition. The region was, as it had always been, isolated from the rest of the state. The man responsible for Tupelo’s renaissance was Morris McGough (pronounced McGoo). He’d grown up on a farm in Louisiana, raised chickens and participated in 4-H. He knew the challenges facing the rural South following World War II. And on the long trip home, Cecil and his fellow travelers decided that they needed to hire someone like McGough to ignite rural economic growth in the West. Cecil had a better idea. Why not hire McGough? They did, and the rest, as they say, is history. As executive director of WNCAC (later WNC Community Development and currently WNC Communities), McGough worked with TVA and various power companies to electrify the region. He partnered with NC Cooperative Extension to build the bedrock of his growth strategy, a robust network of community clubs that could address the needs and wants unique to each community. Who better to help them accomplish their goals than their counties’ Cooperative Extension Agents? That partnership continues today. Board members worked behind the scenes to ensure the timely completion of I-26 and I-40. From 1970-1989, McGough worked with the region’s legislators and Madison County native and Speaker of the House Liston Ramsey in particular to secure funding to build and then expand the WNC Farmers Market, the WNC Agricultural Center and Mountain State Fair, and NCSU’s Mountain Crops Horticultural Research and Extension Center in Mills River. The N.C. Arboretum is located here due to their efforts. In 2011, they secured the funding needed to build the Haywood County Livestock Market, following the closure of the remaining private market in Asheville. Those community clubs are still hard at work. As we navigate our way through the COVID-19 pandemic, they have become rural distribution points for surplus chicken and produce from local farmers. With restaurants closed or partially open, demand for their products has dropped precipitously. WNC Communities’ network has provided them with a ready market and the communities with needed food. From the Editor By Janet Moore Recently I had the opportunity to talk to George Cecil about the lessons learned from WNC Communities and its successes. “The basic tenents haven’t changed,” he said. Success starts with listening to what the community wants, and helping them achieve it, which creates success, which generates hope and ultimately builds pride. “You build from the bottom up rather than the top down.” It is my hope that this remarkable story of teamwork, motivated not for personal gain but rather to make Western N.C. a better place to live for everyone, will reach a wider audience. Currently I’m co-authoring a book about McGough, the organization he built, and the leaders he recruited. Many of those folks are gone. McGough died in 2011. My co-author Jay Fields and I are reaching out to those still living to capture their stories. We hope to have the book completed by year-end. I’ll keep you posted. For my part, I’m pushing to have my sections of the book completed before shoulder replacement surgery on July 9. Typing in a sling is no easy task. So, I’ll be taking a break from my regular column in August. The length of this one, more than makes up for that absence. Photography courtesy of Darrell Hardister The President’s Report Page 5 By George Watson Hello Neighbors, I certainly hope everyone is keeping safe and well in these troubled times. The BOD has continued to function even under these rigid restrictions. Thank goodness for ZOOM! With safety in mind, we have been brainstorming on an effective way to conduct our Members Meeting on July 30. At that meeting, we must have a vote on the amended budget and the proposed Nominating Committee. It is also a meeting where members may participate during the meeting with comments or questions as opposed to a regular BOD meeting, and that is important. At the moment, we are considering several small meetings in the breezeway outside the clubhouse. Whatever we do cannot be decided until we see what the virus impact is over the next few weeks. We will notify Residents in advance of how we will hold the meeting. No matter how it is held, whether small groups or Zoom, please try to attend. We have moved forward with our own “Phase 2" by opening the pool and the clubhouse for some limited activities. During this time, everything has restrictions, and these are posted outside the clubhouse and at the pool. I did want to mention, in case you haven’t seen it, that Duke Energy has made repairs from the damage done by removing trees to reposition their poles along Hendersonville Road and Overlook. They fixed our broken sidewalk, cleaned up, and planted grass behind our trees to stabilize the soil and help prevent erosion, replaced three of our trees that were damaged, and added gravel to the walking path. However, don’t expect any more work on the road widening project this year due to DOT budget problems and politics. Thank goodness they agreed not to take down any more trees until the project actually begins. We have had an excessive number of outsiders using our campus as a public park, walking, jogging, biking, walking dogs, and fishing. To address this, I spoke with the management at Weirbridge to put out the word that we are not a park and that we are private property.