Attending a Traditional Square Dance

(submitted by Ron and Anita Adamson)

We spent the weekend in the Country Music Park, an RV campground in Cortland, NY.

That’s us on the end.

It’s an attractive park in the country, with a lake and the RV sites around the perimeter.

The park was developed in the 80’s to provide a home for the New York State Country Music Hall of Fame. When I called to make the reservation, I was told there was a square and round dance this Saturday evening.

After arriving, we talked to a few of the “local” campground residents.  When we inquired as to the level of the dance, we were met with blank squares.  Is it Mainstream or Plus?… “I don’t know, just square dancing”.  What about the round dancing?  “Oh, just everyone does their own thing? …although there are some “two steppers”.  We weren’t sure what these responses meant.

On arriving at the dance, held in their Opry Barn, we found out!  A live country western band, Doc Weismore and Real Country, played, featuring classic country from the 60-70s era. 

Ron talked with Doc, the leader of the band and caller.  Doc didn’t know anything about levels, but it was “easy”…they probably did a few things we weren’t familiar with, but he’d help us. We’d be fine, according to Doc.

At the first song, dancers filled the floor for casual dancing.  We soon picked out the “two steppers”.  They were dancing what we’ve seen in the past as couple line dancing, but each couple had their own routine.

About 20 minutes later, the lights were raised, and  Doc Weismore announced, “Square Dance Time”.  I (Anita) told Ron, I’m not dancing the first tip…we’ll watch and see what they’re doing”.  Well, wouldn’t you know it… 2 squares formed, and they needed one more couple.  I held Ron back, but no one got up, so reluctantly I went.

Finally, it dawned on us… they dance what is know as “old time or traditional square dance”.  The only calls we recognized were allemande right, dosido (they pass left shoulders instead of right), and right and left grand (they repeat it twice, passing up your partner the first time, and you end up at home).

If you’ve never danced traditional, the “calls” are patterns.  Couple #1 performs a set of moves, interacting with each of the other couples in turn.  Then couple #2 has their turn and so on.  Much of it was very different dancing from what we know as square dancing, but easy to follow.   Each song contained patterns different from the others, with the exception of the three calls mentioned above.  We were told there are no lessons for Traditional Square Dance; you learn by doing.  There are generally no clubs, no “attire”, no organization to speak of; you just find a place offering square dancing on a Saturday night.  Evidently, that’s what most square dancing (if not all) in this area means.

We had a lot of fun, and didn’t break down any squares.  Each tip was made of 3 songs, no patter calls.  It was our first time to square dance to a live band as well.

The dancers seemed glad to have us, and eager to help us out.  In fact, we have found everyone we’ve encountered in the state of New York to be friendly and welcoming.

I don’t have any photos that I took.  When not square dancing, the lighting was too low for photos, and when square dancing, we were on the floor. 

However, I did find this you tube video of traditional square dancing.  While not a routine we followed last night, it’s similar. 

If you ever have the chance to try Traditional Square Dancing, go for it.  Doc was right, you’ll be fine!

 

From Virginia to New York

From Virginia, we traveled through the edge of West Virginia, with it raining most of the time.

           

Next came a few miles in Maryland, again in the rain.

    

Traveling farther northward, the rain was not coming down quite as hard, and we enjoyed the country scenery of Pennsylvania.

      

We found a cute little park in Pennsylvania, Lickdale Campground.  The campground is a shady area near a creek.  They also have a campstore with ice cream shop and rent canoes. 

   

    

What I liked most about the park, though, was their imaginative use of flowers.

     

          

    

The next morning, we were back on the road again, once more in the rain.  For a season when much of the country was in severe drought, ironically, we had rain almost every day of the trip!

 

Shenandoah National Park – Skyline Drive

The main feature of the Shenandoah National Park is the Skyline Drive stretching 105 miles from the northern end to southern end of the park. 

When we made plans to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway end to end this summer, we noticed that the Skyline Drive takes off where the Blue Ridge Parkway ends, so we decided to extend our drive through the park.

When making plans for a location you haven’t visited, you tend to have preconceived ideas of what you will find there to explore.  In my mind while planning, I envisioned the Blue Ridge Parkway as being very scenic, but not necessarily containing historical locations with interpretative centers and displays.  On the other hand, I expected the Skyline to be more historical than scenic.

I had really romanticized the Shenandoah Valley itself.  We saw nothing different driving through Shenandoah Valley itself than you would see driving any road through farmland.

With the establishment of the park in December 1935, the core of the park's development was completed by the beginning of WWII and, to a great extent, the mountains were released to nature.

No doubt about it, the Skyline Drive was scenic, but had we gone just for that drive, I would have been disappointed.  There were no historical displays to speak of except at the two Visitor Centers.  In fact, Shenandoah National Park consists of a relatively small area on each side of the Skyline Drive, and hiking trails are about all it has to offer besides the drive.

On the other hand, as you already know if you follow our blog (Blue Ridge Parkway Posts) the Blue Ridge Parkway was literally filled with historical stops.  Just shows how off our misconceptions can be.

We took a day and a half to drive the Skyline.  It was hard to get crisp looking pictures because of the ever present haze, but there are some that I like.  Those can be viewed by clicking on the collage below.

 

Traveling the Blue Ridge Parkway from end to end

This year, between July 15 and August 4, we traveled the entire 469 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway, taking our time. 

Having a 5th wheel RV, we did not want to pull it over the grades and curves of the Parkway, nor did we wish to be encumbered with it at pull offs. 

Instead, we elected to find campgrounds near the parkway.  This wasn’t always easy,and often we found ourselves farther from the Parkway than we would have liked. 

We didn’t drive on the Parkway daily, but usually took 2-3 days between excursions to explore the area we were in and to enjoy the relaxation of the campgrounds.

Surrounding this post are some of the many flowers we found in bloom on the Parkway.

Below are links to each drive.  Keep in mind that we drove the Parkway opposite the way it was laid out.  We started at the southern end.  Also, because we had to drive from different locations to access the parkway, some of the posts are written as you drive it in a northernly direction, others in a southerly, depending on the order I took the photos.

Any photo that you wish to view larger, click on it and you will be taken to a separate tab or window.

Once you have clicked on a link, you can progress forward on the drive by clicking “Newer Post” at the bottom of the post, or backward by clicking “Older Post”

BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY

Preview

A Short Look at It’s History

Milepost 396-469

Milepost 396-330

Milepost 330-295

Milepost 295-254

Milepost 254-199

Milepost 199-154

Milepost 154-120

Milepost 120-46

Milepost 46-0

Blue Ridge Parkway – MP 46 – 0

The dawn of a clear day seemed a good omen for our last drive on the Parkway.

I could get used to this view out our front door.

Our first stop was at Yankee Horse Ridge (legend is that during the civil war, a hard-riding Union man's horse fell and had to be shot at this location), site of a short stretch of reconstructed narrow-gauge railroad track once known as the Irish Creek Railway.

     

A short trail leads through the woods to Wigwam Falls. 

Boulders are numerous, some quite large.

Ron pauses on a small bridge to view the falls.

In the summer, there’s not much water flowing over the falls, but it’s easy to see why it got it’s name, both from the shape of the rock and the fall of the water itself.

I was so intrigued by this tree root and rock…it’s difficult to tell where one ends and the other starts.

 

A little farther on, we passed a tree farm.  Seems odd for a commercial farm to be right on the Parkway, since all commercial traffic is banned from using the Parkway.  However, there are many small local roads alongside the Blue Ridge that give access to residents and farms such as this.

In the nearby valley a fog was quickly forming, resembling smoke.

For a short distance, we were engulfed by it as well.

20 Minute Cliff is a unique local oddity.  In June and July during corn-choppin’ time, the cliff serves the folks in White Rock community below as a time piece.  Twenty minutes after sunlight strikes the rock face, dusk falls on the valley below.

This iron marker is mounted to the stone ledge at Raven’s Roost.

It’s a fantastic view.

    

The last stop on the Blue Ridge (going north) is the Humpback Rocks Visitor Center.  Here authentic structures have replaced the long gone originals of the William J. Carter farm.  This is the best portrayal of a mountain farmstead that we have seen.  Re-enactors were on hand to talk about the lifestyle.

 

Ron found the weighted wooden gate interesting.

The counter balanced weight of the rock makes it easier to open and close the gate, preventing it from dragging on the ground.

The garden contains tobacco as well as vegetables.

The one room cabin is furnished.  The loft contained another bed.

This gentleman talked of the hardships and rewards of living in those past days.

When not in use, the quilting frame was raised out of the way.

He was nice enough to lower it and show me the quilt in progress.

   

The Churn Dash pattern blocks are antique, discovered after an elderly lady passed on.  A local quilter finished the top so it could be displayed here.  The blocks had been pieced as a “friendship” quilt, common to the era, when each neighbor lady contributed a signed block to a quilt.

    

He pointed out the small quilt on the wall, and talked about quilt blocks relationship to the underground railroad.  For example, the blue block has a Bear Claw pattern in the center.  This signal to those slaves seeking their way to safety in the north, “Take the high road through these mountains where the bear walks”.

A small herb garden grows out back.  In such hard times, women often tried to add a touch of beauty to the daily life with a few easy to grow flowers from seeds saved year to year.

   

Chickens are everywhere.  I imagine the lady of the house shooed them out with her broom.  Note the wooden checkers.

Close to the house sat the chicken house where the farmer could hear any “varmits” during the night.

     

Have you ever seen one of these?  This is a simple chicken brood coop.  It protected the mother hen from foxes, but allowed the baby chicks to explore the nearby area.  Threatened, they could easily return to protection under mama’s wings.

Out front two men demonstrated the use of wood working tools of the day. 

    

We had never seen honey bee hives like these “bee gums” made from hollowed black gum trees.  The rock on top was removed to provide access to the honey.

    

This is the root cellar, providing dark, cool storage for fruits, vegetables and smoked or cured meat.

     

The barn was crude and cold, but served its purpose, storing livestock, feed and equipment.

     

Every farmer had razorback hogs that ran wild in the forest eating acorns and chestnuts.  In the fall the best animals were rounded up.  Can you imagine chasing down a wild pig through the woods?? When caught, they were placed in a pen such as this, and fed corn to fatten them before butchering for meat to cure for the winter.  These pens were considered bear proof.  Sliding away the pole across the center top provided access to the other poles just lying across the top, opening the pen.

The spring house provided water as well as a “refrigerator” for milk and eggs.

     

This strange contraption was used to store ashes cleaned from the fireplace.  When full, water was poured through.  The liquid draining at the bottom was lye.  When mixed with old fat and meat drippings, lye produces a crude, harsh soap, hard on the hands, but working well for laundry.

This gate, joining properties together, was sometimes referred to as a “courtin’ gate”, where sweethearts could steal a kiss.  The way it is configured allows humans to walk through, but not larger animals such as cows.

     

And thus ended our enjoyable trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway from end to end.  If you would like links to the entire set of posts, they can be found by clicking here.