Category Archives: Uncategorized

  The tree-stump tombstone in the photo above is typical of the era.  The tombstone is carved to look like a tree.  The limbs are cut from the tree. There is a small vine twining up the base and a flap … Continue reading →

Long before there was a PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals founded in 1980), there was the ASPCA (America Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals).  Founded in 1866 by Henry Bergh, the organization sought to educate … Continue reading →

About a decade and a half ago, AT&T reported that nearly 20 million more calls are made on Mother’s Day than on Father’s Day.  Father’s Day, however, had the distinction of being the biggest day for collect phone calls! My … Continue reading →

In an address to Congress on April 19, 1951, General Douglas MacArthur delivered the most rousing speech of his career, and one of the most memorable lines of all times–old soldiers never die; they just fade away–in the last paragraph of his … Continue reading →

Memorial Day was first called Decoration Day and was created out of the desire for Americans to commemorate the sacrifices made during the American Civil War. More Americans were killed in the Civil War than any other war that Americans … Continue reading →

The crown with the initials V. M C. is a symbol representing the Supreme Council of the Royal Arcanum, a membership organization founded by John A. Cummings and Dr. Darius Wilson in Boston on June 23, 1877.  The State of … Continue reading →

The Knights of Pythias, a society based on the Greek story of friendship from 400 B. C. between Damon and Pythias, became the very first fraternal organization to receive a charter under an Act of the United States Congress. Pythians … Continue reading →

The symbol above marks the grave of a woman who belonged to the Order of Pythian Sisters.  The organization is the auxillary organization for the Knights of Pythias.  On October 22-23, 1888, the Order was founded at Warsaw, Indiana, by Pythian … Continue reading →

The word morel comes from the Latin word maurus meaning brown and refers to edible mushrooms from the genus Morchella.  Around the country, Morel mushrooms are called many names—molly moochers, dryland fish, sponge mushrooms, hickory chickens, merkels, and miracles—but whatever you … Continue reading →

Not far within the gates of the Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta is an eroded and faded ornamented-top marble tablet, the inscription lost to the elements.  But for the survey done of the cemetery in the 1930s by Franklin Miller Garrett, the name … Continue reading →