A Tar Heel
Brigadoon
There’s one day a year when ilie old
ways conic* baek to llelwood.
«?/
ROBERT I.. WILLIAMS
landlord said the snake was harmless.
"It's sorta hard lo tell what kind it is
with it all mashed up like that. It's not a
copperhead, but there's probably a
nest of them up under the house. You
watch for them and let us know."
Comforting words to a city girl
Something else surprising to us was
the reaction of our menfolk when we
returned home. They fell sorry for the
"poor little snake"! Even hinted it
wasn't a fair fight!
That's what a woman gets for being
courageous and independent.
That's not the end of my snake
story. In fact, it may not even be the
middle.
I’ve decided I’m home to stay. Fur¬
thermore. I've met a wonderful Rowan
County man and married him.
We first moved lo one of the great
snakey areas of the world. Gold Hill. I
was told if you see one copperhead,
there are two you don't see! How ex¬
citing!
One summer evening, a small cop¬
perhead appeared on our kitchen floor.
James threw his flashlight at it and
when batteries and springs flew
everywhere, he did what comes
natural, he beat the snake to death with
his bare hands. I had an excellent view
from my perch on a dining room chair,
bare feel close together.
James' father. Samuel White Cran-
field. died of bloodpoisioning when
James was five days old. but he was
known in the Franklin Community.
Potncck Road area of Rowan, for
picking up copperheads by their tails,
snapping them like a whip and splitting
their heads. It's a family tradition . . .
killing copperheads.
Tiny Belwood. smallest town in
Cleveland County in population and
largest in land area (the founding fa¬
thers had to expand the city limits to
two miles in order to find enough peo¬
ple for the town to be chartered), is in
one sense like the legendary Brigadoon
of Scotland. In the Lernerand I.oew e
musical by the same name. Brigadoon
exists for only twenty-four hours every
century.
Belwood. however, exists one day a
year as a community of eighteenth or
even seventeenth century farmers and
craftsmen, and during that one day the
people arrive at church on horseback,
at least some of them do. and the
preacher himself rides in as part of the
procession.
Others walk, their
Лоог
dres¬
ses trailing along the grass or in the
dust at the side of the road. And.of
course, some come by horse and bug-
gie. to the brush arbor church (which
also exists only one day each year) for
an old-fashioned worship service,
which includes all of the ingredients of
a by-gone day observation: the sing¬
ing. the "speaking." the lesson for
children, and. by no means least im¬
portant. some good hand-shaking fel¬
lowship and renewed acquaintances.
Heritage Day
The folks at Belwood don’t do it up
in an expensive fashion: they simply
do it right . Virtually no money is spent .
no buildings are erected, no speakers
are hired to deliver inspiration or pa¬
triotic addresses. At this year's July
celebration, which is called "Heritage
Day." Mrs. Edith Lutz, state rep¬
resentative. noted in her special talk
that she was born and reared in Bel¬
wood community, educated and mar¬
ried there, and reared her own family a
short distance from the old rock
church where she spoke at the out¬
doors meeting.
The celebrants are not seeking rec¬
ognition. nor are they espousing any
causes or attempting to start any
movements. They simply believe in
their church and their community, and
they feel that their heritage is one of
value, one that perpetuates the basic
principles of American democracy and
Tar Heel values.
In a very real sense, the day is the
most exciting of the year for many of
the community members. After the
meeting or worship service, which in¬
cludes the congregations of several
area churches, there is the genuinely
We've moved to Rockwell now. to
town, but never mind ... I still get to
see copperheads.
James, a 23-year tree man. is either
cutting back trees out of the power
lines, or driving a big tractor-hush hog
along right-of-ways, or if he gets lucky
. . . catching a copperhead!
l ast week, he brought home a cop¬
perhead 42 inches long minus the head.
He ran over him with his tractor, got
off and killed him with a stick . . .
careful not to damage the skin.
His hobby?
He makes some of the finest cop-
perhead hat bands available anywhere.
All you have to do is bring him a
copperhead or be patient ’til he can
chase down one big enough!
I can't wait!!
ie
THE STATE, SEPTEMBER 1911
