Rugby preserves a failed utopia
from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A slant of late afternoon light falls across the stacks at the Thomas Hughes Free Public Library, illuminating the elaborate gold-leaf lettering on the book spines in the Victorian collection. Among the nearly 7,000 volumes here — donated by the leading publishers of the late 19th century — not a single one was printed after 1900. It’s an antique bibliophile’s dream, this jewel box of a reading room, so unexpected on a back road about 90 minutes outside Knoxville. But it was once part of a bigger dream (one that never quite came true) that brought prominent Englishmen here to the Cumberland Plateau in the 1880s, leaving an imprint that’s still felt today.
A strange confluence of events created Rugby, a remote outpost of Queen Victoria's empire in Tennessee's rugged northeast corner. When a recession left scores of factory workers unemployed in the Northeastern United States in the 1870s, investors bought up land to lure them South with promises of independent lives on farms. Word of this enterprise somehow spread to England and reached the novelist, social reformer and Member of Parliament, Thomas Hughes. Read more here.
Chasing Bianca Capello in Florence
from Arttrav
From her portrait on walls of the Uffizi gallery, the Grand Duchess of Tuscany stared out at me, begging to be reconsidered. Reviled in her time as a spy, witch, and even murderess, Bianca Capello’s life spans the middle years of the 16th century, swelling with every romantic element imaginable: doomed love, treachery, alchemy and poison. The reckless daughter of Venetian aristocracy who became first mistress, then wife to the dour Grand Duke Francesco de’ Medici, Capello made few friends in her adopted city and died under mysterious circumstances in 1587, just a day after her husband. But while she may not have left a sterling legacy, she left her mark on Florence, and her presence can still be felt today. Retracing her footsteps provides a fascinating glimpse into an often-overlooked period in Florentine history. Read more here.
Bianca Capello Portrait by Allesandro Allori from the Uffizi Galleries
On the road: bookish asheville
from Book and Paper Fairs Blog
F. Scott Fitzgerald slept here. Zelda died here. Ringed by range after range of mountains in Western North Carolina, Asheville is haunted by literary ghosts, but its writing scene is still very much alive, with authors including National Book Award-winner Charles Frazier and Water for Elephants author Sara Gruen making their homes in town. There’s a rich variety of independent bookstores staffed by well informed booksellers, and a lively book arts scene developed here in the early 2000s with a good number of book artists and letterpress printers still in the area today. Coming to Asheville? Put these places on your list.
BOOKSTORES
Perennially on national lists of best independent bookstores, Malaprops has been a vibrant local institution since 1982. The café is a local gathering space and the selection of books is matched by outstanding bookseller expertise. Book events are held nearly daily, with lots of signed copies on hand as a result. 55 Haywood Street,
254-6734. Read more here.
Spring break getaways with kids
from the Atlanta Journal-Consitution
While summer vacation stretches on seemingly forever, spring break is compressed, usually into one week or less. The challenge is on: How do you and your family make the most of this limited window of time to relax, discover, let loose or learn? Here’s a range of ideas to help you plan.
Fairy tale forest. Less than 45 minutes south of Louisville, Kentucky, Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest is a magical forest inhabited by giants. Inspired by Grimms' fairy tales, Danish artist Thomas Dambo created three site-specific wooden giants, each one about 25 feet tall. Situated within walking distance of each other in this 16,000-acre forest, these spectacular trolls, as the artist calls them, are made from recycled wood and meant to inspire wonder. The Olmstead-designed arboretum is a lovely place to spend the day, with 40 miles of trails and kid-friendly educational programs. After the kids explore, parents may want to make a stop at the Jim Beam Stillhouse across the road or head into Louisville where more kid-friendly fun awaits at attractions such as the Louisville Zoo and Louisville Slugger Museum. Read more here.
LEAPING OFF THE PAGE: 10 LITERARY LOCATIONS TO VISIT WITH KIDS
from Bootsnall
“There ain’t nothing that is so interesting to look at as a place that a book talked about,” says Tom Sawyer in Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer Abroad. Bad grammar aside, Tom’s remark captures what’s great about literary travel. A good author breathes life into a place and the characters who live there, inspiring readers to see it for themselves.
Kids are perhaps the most devoted readers of all—when they love a book, they really love it—so a chance to connect with a favorite author and the places he or she wrote about can make a lasting impression. These 10 literary locations—from the house Tom’s fictional house was based on to a recreation of Sherlock Holmes’ office—introduce kids to the classics and may help them find new favorites. And even if you aren’t traveling with kids, these locales are sure to please any literary lover. Read more here.
An Insider's Guide to Hot Springs, NC
From RootsRated
On any given summer weekend in Hot Springs, North Carolina, pack-laden hikers and paddlers in wetsuits can be seen traversing the sidewalks of this tiny, no-traffic-light Appalachian Trail town, population 575. Acoustic music drifts from the open doors of taverns and the occasional train whistle echoes through the valley.
Surrounded by Pisgah National Forest, Hot Springs is only about 25 miles (40 minutes) from Asheville, but it feels a world away. Adrenaline may be pumping on the Class III rapids of the French Broad River which runs through the center of town, but on the main drag, Bridge Street, the pace is nothing but slow Southern town, with a certain mountain charm that has to be experienced to be understood.
And it's no surprise that people have been experiencing this place for over a century. The mineral springs, for which the town is named, first brought tourists here in the 1880's, but it's the Appalachian Trail, which literally runs down the main street here, that has given Hot Springs a reputation as an outdoor destination. Read more here.
Consider the Iris
From The Florentine
Legend has it that on St. Reparata's Day in the year 405, the Goths had Florence under siege, and the city was failing badly. Suddenly, St. Reparata appeared in the midst of the fighting, holding a blood-red banner emblazoned with a white iris, and with that, the fortunes of the Florentines turned, leaving them victorious.
In gratitude, the city adopted the symbol for its coat of arms. After the Guelfs routed the Ghibellines in the late thirteenth century, the colors were reversed, and the red lily on a field of white became the symbol of Florence that we see today.
While the image of the iris may inspire Florentine pride, the actual flower has inspired a multitude of practical applications through the ages. The violet-scented rhizome (rootstalk) of the iris, which is called orris root, has long been harvested, dried, peeled and pounded to make powder used for washing clothes, hair, and teeth or used medicinally as an expectorant and decongestant. Left intact, it has been chewed as a breath freshener, carved into rosary beads, and given to babies as a teething aid. The ‘juice' from an iris blossom was even said to lighten freckles.
During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, ‘iris green' was a rare, coveted pigment color used by manuscript illuminators and painters. The flower had to be harvested in bloom while the sap was running. The ‘juice' of iris florentina petals-which appears bluish or purple when steeped in boiling water-turns green and thickens when mixed with alum.
Perfumers have long distilled orris root powder with steam to create an essential oil for use as a fixative in fine perfumes. The Tuscan iris was once so important in perfume making that in the August harvest season, a direct train left Florence to Grasse, France, one of the world's top perfume-making locations, filled with sacks of orris root from local farms. Because it takes two to four years of drying the rhizome to achieve peak perfume, the iris was an expensive material. It has now largely been replaced with a synthetic substitute. Read more here.