QUARANTINE BLOG # 317

February 10, 2021

Born on December 19, 1875 in New Canton, Virginia, Carter Godwin Woodson was the fourth of nine children born to parents who had been slaves.  Growing up in Virginia during the late 19th century in the Reconstruction Era, Woodson had few educational or employment opportunities.  In pursuit of a new life, he and his family moved to Huntington, West Virginia where he worked in the New River Gorge coalfields to help supplement the family’s income. 

At age 20, Woodson had saved enough money from his days as a coal miner to begin his formal education at Frederick Douglass High School in Huntington, one of the few black high schools at the time.  He received his diploma in just two years, and then earned his first collegiate degree from Berea College in Berea, Kentucky in 1903.  At the University of Chicago, he earned another Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree, both in 1908.  In 1912, he earned his PhD in History from Harvard University, making him the second black American (only following W.E.B. Du Bois) to graduate with a PhD from Harvard.

Woodson’s desk at the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.

Around the turn of the 20th century, as he began his own academic career, Woodson noticed a glaring hole in the educational system in the United States.  African American history was not included in current curriculum.  His tireless efforts saw him nationally recognized as “the Father of Black History.”

In 1916, Woodson started the academic publication The Journal of Negro History, and The Negro History Bulletin in 1937.  In 1921, he founded the Associated Publishers, Inc., a publishing company that took on works that other companies would not, such as the writings of black scholars and women on African American and African Diaspora history.

👉  Amy suggested that the Quarantine Blog take a look at waterfalls and bridges, so today we begin with the most famous covered bridges in America, the Bridges of Madison County, Iowa.

Robert James Waller wrote one of my all-time favorite novels, The Bridges of Madison County in 11 days.  On leave from his teaching job at the University of Northern Iowa, Waller was photographing the Mississippi River with a friend when he decided to photograph Madison County, Iowa’s, covered bridges.  This event, alongside a song Waller had written years earlier about “the dreams of a woman named Francesca,” gave him the idea for TBOMC.

There is so much emotion in the story that finally resolves itself in Francesca’s devotion to and love for her family.  The book was made into a movie starring Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood, and while preparing this section I learned that it was made into a Broadway play that featured Kelli O’Hara as Francesca Johnson and Steven Pasquale as Robert Kincaid.

I have been searching YouTube for pieces of the musical, which, very disappointedly, I never saw, and I found “It All Fades Away” sung by Steven Pasquale.

Well, that’s a long way to go to introduce the real covered Bridges of Madison County, the largest group of covered bridges – seven – that exists in one area in the western half of the Mississippi Valley.  I’m only featuring three.  You can see all seven at The Covered Bridges website.

First, “Cedar,” built in 1883, was the last bridge open to vehicles.  In Waller’s novel Cedar Bridge is where Francesca Johnson goes to meet Robert Kincaid to help him take photographs.  Cedar is also the bridge on the novel’s cover. After being nearly destroyed by arson, Cedar Bridge was rebuilt and was re-opened to the public on Covered Bridge Festival weekend in 2019.

Second, “Hogback,” built in 1884, the Hogback Covered Bridge measures 97 feet and is in its original location in a valley north of Winterset, Iowa. Hogback gets its name from the limestone ridge which forms the west end of the valley.

And “Roseman,” which is featured in Waller’s story.  At 107 feet in length it sits in its original location.  In TBOMC Roseman is the bridge Robert Kincaid seeks when he stops at Francesca Johnson’s home for directions. It is also where Francesca leaves her note inviting him to dinner.

👉  This one comes from our “Stupid Government Decisions Department.”

In 2005, British developer Patrick Diter started construction on a 32,000-square-foot, 18 bedroom mansion he built in Provence, France, for $70 million.  Now he is being ordered to tear down the palace which took 4 years to complete because he seemingly built without the right permits. 

Diter had a building permit, a verbal one from the mayor’s office, but he reportedly began work on the property before receiving an official paper permit.  And the permit supposedly didn’t cover all the major work he did.  But after all the huffing and puffing the major sticking point is loud parties.  Diter’s neighbors claim that the noise has made life in their own French chateaus unbearable.

Diter has not conceded to tearing it down and may escalate the decision to the European Court of Human Rights.  If the house is still standing in June 2022, Diter will rack up charges of $600 each day, which is only about $220,000 a year.  The QB votes he pays the fine.  It would take the $220,000 a year in fines 318 years to equal the $70,000,000 construction costs, and Diter probably won’t live that long.

If you want to see more pictures of the incredibly beautiful Chateau Diter, and read the unedited story, click here.

👉  Here are a couple more from our “Old People Have More Fun Than Anybody Department.”

👉  “Jesus Is the Sweetest Name I Know” was written by Lela B. Long.  In 1924, gravely ill and in deep distress, she called Peter W. Philpott, pastor of the Moody Church in Chicago, Illinois, to come to her hotel room and pray for her and two members of her family who were with her.  Philpott prayed and while talking to her led Lela to the Lord.  Five years later Rev. Philpott was preaching in Los Angeles and Ms. Long saw an newspaper ad for an upcoming meeting.  At the conclusion of the service she gave him the words and music to this hymn, one that she wrote “in remembrance of the day you introduced me to the most wonderful person I have ever known.”  Enjoy this recording by the Acapella Heritage Singers.

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