The Trip to Rugby
Oct. 24th, 2005 06:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rayvyn2kOn Saturday morning, hubby and I rose early, showered, packed and loaded up the cats' food and water. We got in the car and headed out on our adventure! Instead of our usual McDonald's breakfast (a tradition for us whenever we start out on a road trip), we stopped at Jack In the Box for one of their Ciabatta Breakfast sandwiches. Oh. My. God. For several minutes, there was nothing but yummy noises coming from both hubby and me. That sandwich is a heart-attack on Ciabatta bread, but it was sooo good.
So, we got onto the interstate and made our way to Rugby. What a crazy ride THAT was. The road was kind of crowded, but there were quite a few entitled assholes who thought they had to "get ahead" of everyone else and did so by weaving dangerously in and out of traffic. Hubby and I just shook our heads and hoped they got caught by the cops before they crashed.
It didn't take as long to get there as we thought it might, so a couple of hours later, we arrived in Historic Rugby.
After stopping by the old schoolhouse (which for now is the visitor center) to buy our "tickets" and to see a short film on the history of Historic Rugby. After we saw the film, we decided to see if we could find lodging for the night and left to go to the Bed & Breakfast down the road. (We found out later that we could have checked from the visitor's center--live and learn.) It turns out we picked a weekend during which they were holding a "Ghostly Gathering" that night, so there was no room at the Inn--or anywhere else, for that matter. So, a bit disappointed, we made our way back to the visitor's center and joined a tour which was just beginning.
The tour consisted of three buildings, the 1887 Episcopal Church, the 1884 Kingstone Lisle house and the 1882 Thomas Hughes Free Public Library.
The folks who moved to Rugby in the 1800s were mostly "second sons" of the landed gentry of England--the men who were not the "heirs" to the property, but who were limited in the type of "work" they could obtain. They were expected to "starve like gentlemen" on the allowance they received from their fathers. These were the men (and women) that
Thomas Hughes encouraged to relocate to the Cumberland Plateau of Tennessee.
These "gentlemen" named their houses, just as they were used to back home. The first house we visited was called "Kingstone Lisle". I posted the picture of the outside of the house in my previous entry. I also took a picture of the gorgeous flowers which were growing near the fence.
The house is furnished with authentic furniture which had been either left or handed down through the years, including this beautifully carved piano.
After I took that picture, the tour guide told us there was no flash photography...doh! But she didn't get mad because she hadn't told me before! All of the rest of the indoor photos were taken sans flash.
For example, the stove in the kitchen...which was described as the "Cadillac of stoves" for that day:
Next, we went to the Church. Here is a picture of hubby standing outside of the church listening intently to the tour guide.
Inside the church. The fleur de lis painted on the back of the sanctuary is the same paint that was used in 1887. It has not been touched up at all. Hubby said it was probably varnished, but it is in wonderful condition. The stained glass windows didn't show up very well, but they were gorgeous. All of the glass in the windows was original. It was the typical 'wavy' glass you find from that day.
And last, but not least, we visited the awesome library.
Their book collection is all first editions, and it is a wonder to behold. Book lovers like hubby and I were just itching to take a volume down and thumb through it, but alas, the collection is for looking only, not touching. The library has one of only two complete collections of "War of the Rebellion" which is an encyclopedic history of the Civil War. The other collection is in the Smithsonian.
Cornell University has transcribed it all. The only things they have done to protect the books is to add UV film on the windows and restore the ceiling which had been basically destroyed by leaks.
After we finished the tour, we strolled along and visited the Commissary where we bought some biscuits (shortbread cookies for you Yanks), blackberry jam, Yorkshire tea and a souvineer mug (another tradition of ours, we have mugs from every place we've visited except for Las Vegas!).
By this time, it was about 2:30, so we went over to the Harrow Road Cafe in the hopes of obtaining some authentic British fare. Unfortunately, the food was good, but hardly authentic. We get more authentic pub food at our local pub in Lebanon, TN called "Lady Godiva". So, we were a bit disappointed. But it is lovely outside, like the rest of the buildings there.
After we finished, we drove up to where the graveyard is on top of Beacon Hill. Hubby wanted to do the scenic walk, but I was kind of tired, so I stayed in the car and worked on the next chapter of my fic! He took a picture of Thomas Hughes' mother's gravestone. She came over and lived in Rugby to support her son's efforts and died there, too.
Hubby took the 2-3 mile trail and snapped lots of pictures of which I will bore you with only two:
After he finished and returned to the car, we decided we would head on home. When we arrived back at the interstate, I groaned and said, "I wish we could just take another way home, through the regular roads." Hubby noticed the state highway sign "70N", and said he thought that road went straight through to Lebanon, so he said, "Why not?" and we just went for it.
I would like to encourage all of you reading this to take the road less travelled by as often as you can. We had the best time, just talking, laughing, oohhing and ahhing over the scenery all the way home. The time went by so fast, it seemed like before we knew it we were back in familiar territory. And we didn't have any of the stress or headaches that sometimes come from travelling on the interstates because there were no idiots on the road we were on. We travelled through several small towns and saw some awesome homes and beautiful landscapes. I highly recommend it!
Well, that's basically it. When we got to Lebanon, we stopped by our pub for a drink and a snack before heading home. The kitties were glad to see us! I told hubby we have to stop being lazy and do the whole weekend trip again. The entire thing, including gas, admission, food and souvineers cost less than a hundred dollars. Well worth it. This was the best anniversary yet. I can't wait for next year!
So, we got onto the interstate and made our way to Rugby. What a crazy ride THAT was. The road was kind of crowded, but there were quite a few entitled assholes who thought they had to "get ahead" of everyone else and did so by weaving dangerously in and out of traffic. Hubby and I just shook our heads and hoped they got caught by the cops before they crashed.
It didn't take as long to get there as we thought it might, so a couple of hours later, we arrived in Historic Rugby.
After stopping by the old schoolhouse (which for now is the visitor center) to buy our "tickets" and to see a short film on the history of Historic Rugby. After we saw the film, we decided to see if we could find lodging for the night and left to go to the Bed & Breakfast down the road. (We found out later that we could have checked from the visitor's center--live and learn.) It turns out we picked a weekend during which they were holding a "Ghostly Gathering" that night, so there was no room at the Inn--or anywhere else, for that matter. So, a bit disappointed, we made our way back to the visitor's center and joined a tour which was just beginning.
The tour consisted of three buildings, the 1887 Episcopal Church, the 1884 Kingstone Lisle house and the 1882 Thomas Hughes Free Public Library.
The folks who moved to Rugby in the 1800s were mostly "second sons" of the landed gentry of England--the men who were not the "heirs" to the property, but who were limited in the type of "work" they could obtain. They were expected to "starve like gentlemen" on the allowance they received from their fathers. These were the men (and women) that
Thomas Hughes encouraged to relocate to the Cumberland Plateau of Tennessee.
These "gentlemen" named their houses, just as they were used to back home. The first house we visited was called "Kingstone Lisle". I posted the picture of the outside of the house in my previous entry. I also took a picture of the gorgeous flowers which were growing near the fence.
The house is furnished with authentic furniture which had been either left or handed down through the years, including this beautifully carved piano.
After I took that picture, the tour guide told us there was no flash photography...doh! But she didn't get mad because she hadn't told me before! All of the rest of the indoor photos were taken sans flash.
For example, the stove in the kitchen...which was described as the "Cadillac of stoves" for that day:
Next, we went to the Church. Here is a picture of hubby standing outside of the church listening intently to the tour guide.
Inside the church. The fleur de lis painted on the back of the sanctuary is the same paint that was used in 1887. It has not been touched up at all. Hubby said it was probably varnished, but it is in wonderful condition. The stained glass windows didn't show up very well, but they were gorgeous. All of the glass in the windows was original. It was the typical 'wavy' glass you find from that day.
And last, but not least, we visited the awesome library.
Their book collection is all first editions, and it is a wonder to behold. Book lovers like hubby and I were just itching to take a volume down and thumb through it, but alas, the collection is for looking only, not touching. The library has one of only two complete collections of "War of the Rebellion" which is an encyclopedic history of the Civil War. The other collection is in the Smithsonian.
Cornell University has transcribed it all. The only things they have done to protect the books is to add UV film on the windows and restore the ceiling which had been basically destroyed by leaks.
After we finished the tour, we strolled along and visited the Commissary where we bought some biscuits (shortbread cookies for you Yanks), blackberry jam, Yorkshire tea and a souvineer mug (another tradition of ours, we have mugs from every place we've visited except for Las Vegas!).
By this time, it was about 2:30, so we went over to the Harrow Road Cafe in the hopes of obtaining some authentic British fare. Unfortunately, the food was good, but hardly authentic. We get more authentic pub food at our local pub in Lebanon, TN called "Lady Godiva". So, we were a bit disappointed. But it is lovely outside, like the rest of the buildings there.
After we finished, we drove up to where the graveyard is on top of Beacon Hill. Hubby wanted to do the scenic walk, but I was kind of tired, so I stayed in the car and worked on the next chapter of my fic! He took a picture of Thomas Hughes' mother's gravestone. She came over and lived in Rugby to support her son's efforts and died there, too.
Hubby took the 2-3 mile trail and snapped lots of pictures of which I will bore you with only two:
After he finished and returned to the car, we decided we would head on home. When we arrived back at the interstate, I groaned and said, "I wish we could just take another way home, through the regular roads." Hubby noticed the state highway sign "70N", and said he thought that road went straight through to Lebanon, so he said, "Why not?" and we just went for it.
I would like to encourage all of you reading this to take the road less travelled by as often as you can. We had the best time, just talking, laughing, oohhing and ahhing over the scenery all the way home. The time went by so fast, it seemed like before we knew it we were back in familiar territory. And we didn't have any of the stress or headaches that sometimes come from travelling on the interstates because there were no idiots on the road we were on. We travelled through several small towns and saw some awesome homes and beautiful landscapes. I highly recommend it!
Well, that's basically it. When we got to Lebanon, we stopped by our pub for a drink and a snack before heading home. The kitties were glad to see us! I told hubby we have to stop being lazy and do the whole weekend trip again. The entire thing, including gas, admission, food and souvineers cost less than a hundred dollars. Well worth it. This was the best anniversary yet. I can't wait for next year!
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Date: 10/25/05 04:17 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 10/25/05 01:11 pm (UTC)