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Friday, August 18, 2017

The slow seduction of a Yankee

by Joe David

I grew up in Chicago, amidst skyscrapers, lost in the glitter of big-city living. What I knew of Virginia (and America’s heritage) came straight from my history books. My schoolboy ambitions were to live in the East and rock and roll to the hard beat of New York City.

Little did I know by accepting a job in Washington, D.C., many years ago that New York City would never be in my dreams again. “Are you crazy?” A Manhattan school chum had said, after learning of my resolve. “You want to abandon this for the South?

But it was too late.

While living in Georgetown, on the wrong side of the Potomac River, I was fascinated by what laid beyond the Key Bridge. The historic beauty and dignity of Virginia began to lure me over the bridge and into the picturesque hamlets beyond Northern Virginia. Nothing was the same for me after that. Although I always loved the adventure of world travel, visiting the Roman and Greek ruins along the Mediterranean, discovering the hidden civilizations deep in the jungles of Asia and South America, and even sampling the beauty and dignity of ancient palaces in picturesque countries, when my holiday was over, I still returned home to Virginia with a profound appreciation for what I had here. What is the magic that has kept me loyal for more than 30 years? Why of all the places in the world does this one state in America make me feel settled and comfortable and at home?

The answer is quite simple. I like being near our link to our past — to the historical cornerstone of our civilization. Everywhere I turn, there are markers to remind me. There is the James River, where
early settlers courageously created a new life, the great plantations where our Founding Fathers lived while building a nation, and the rolling hills where important historic battles were fought to free men. But most of all I love Virginia’s respect for its past and its tenaciousness at preserving it. To me, Virginia is a living museum of quiet and comfortable communities, surrounded by historic realities, which keep residents grounded and protected from today’s shifting values.

Although removed from the exciting beat of New York City, I find the longer I stay here, the less the boy within me yearns for the bright lights and congestion of big city living. Each day in the Virginia countryside has become a new day of satisfying discoveries. Several years ago, for example, while traveling America collecting material for a book on recreational cooking schools, I discovered to my delight that Virginia’s culinary contributions were as sophisticated and original as the best anywhere, and the settings for some of its cooking programs were as or even more impressive than those elsewhere. The Inn at Meander Plantation (a former home of Thomas Jefferson’s close friend Joshua Fry), the Inn of Little Washington (a facsimile of a French inn in the center of an authentic early American village), and Clifton Inn (an 18th century trading post once owned by Jefferson’s daughter on the edge of the Rivanna River) are all examples.

When my northern friends ask me, why I have become a Virginian — a Southerner? I simply answer, ‘Because of all the above, and much, much more.”

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

"the great plantations where our Founding Fathers lived while building a nation...on the backs of slaves"

Anonymous said...

No one denies slaves built it. You can not change history, and shouldn't try to suppress or forget it. Our children need to learn from the past, not from radicals on the far reaches of each side. Personally, I am conservative economically, I'm not religious. I am a scientist, and an environmentalist. I'm pro second amendment. I come from a mixed heritage, with ties to both sides of the Civil War. I am tired of being deemed a racist because I don't agree with all the philosophies of the Obama administration or the fact that many of the confederate monuments should remain.

Anonymous said...

4:25. Nobody's trying to change history but that doesn't mean they should have to LOOK at it every single day as a glaring reminder of their past.

Anonymous said...

Virginia sucks. Anyone says otherwise is lying. Food, people, atmosphere and jobs ALL SUCK!! In 3 months GTFOH.

Anonymous said...

There is no one alive today that has any "reminder of of their past" that involves the Civil War. So yes, you are trying to change history.

Anonymous said...

Like The Bumper Sticker Says: VIRGINIA IS FOR LOVERS !

Anonymous said...

Now if only they could learn how to drive there. lol. Any place is as good as you make it. People are people. Not everyone you meet is an idiot, but they are spaced out well enough that you meet one every day.

Virginia has some beautiful scenery, as well as upstate NY, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, etc. Some people think skyscrapers are beautiful. In my younger days, I fell in love with Philly and that city life. (I came from a very small town with a post office, small grocery store, and one traffic light. So it was exciting to me to live in Philly for a time.

Mafia wars were going on then and every day someone would get shotgunned at an outside cafe or a nail bomb would explode while he was entering his house. But we had Rizzo and his stormtrooper cops to keep us safe back then. (Rizzo is now one of the targets for the statue killers lol.)

I wouldn't walk around those streets in Philly now with body armor and an Uzi. That's how much it's changed, for the worse.

I've lived in a lot of different places but always came back to the shore. But even now the shore has changed, for the worse. It still has good people and good areas but overall it is a much dangerous place now. Cities like Salisbury, Princess Anne, Crisfield, etc., while not having murders every day, they do have murders. That was almost unheard of 30-40 years ago.

I don't think there is any ONE cause for any of this. I think it is a combination of things. Like the turning away from God, more drug use which leads to more crime, weak or non-existent morals, loving the creation more than the Creator, pride, gluttony, greed. All these things and more.

No one can change the world by him or herself but they can change themselves and be the change they wish to see. It isn't weak to be nice and polite to others. You are not a wuss if you take a few minutes and help someone out. You are not a softie if you try to be neighborly.

You can be "hard" and not a "victim" when it's appropriate but not every minute of every day. Just my opinion. And I'm sure it's not for everyone.