Topics Include:
Radio Show Host Stephanie Abrams was in attendance at the October memorial service for Pulitzer Prize-winning author Frank McCourt. McCourt is most famous for his acclaimed memoir “Angela’s Ashes” as well as two additional volumes of memoir: “‘Tis” and “Teacher Man”. McCourt referred to publishing as an author as his “Second Act”. Prior to writing the series of autobiographical works McCourt had served in the United States army (stationed in Germany during the Korean War) and was a teacher in the New York City public school system for thirty years.
The service included a series of slides, video and audio that covered the span of Frank McCourt’s life. Former students of McCourt were in attendance, one of which Stephanie says is a New York Times bestselling author. Speeches were given by several people including New York City schools chancellor Joe Klein. Klein announced that a high school devoted to creative writing was being founded in McCourt’s honor. The school is expected to open in 2012. Stephanie says New York has many specialty schools for music, art and science and finds the focus of this school equally commendable.
An award winning Broadway performer sang one of McCourt’s favorite songs at the service; Geoff Mach’s “I’ve Been Everywhere”. The song is the Travelers411 radio show’s theme song. It played alongside slides of Frank traveling all over the world throughout different periods of his life. There were several places Stephanie recognized in Bangkok, France, Spain and elsewhere in the world.
McCourt was quoted as saying "F. Scott Fitzgerald said there are no second acts in American lives. I think I've proven him wrong”.
For more information see Stephanie’s blog entry on this.
Shirley Plantation in Charles City, Virginia, is Virginia’s first plantation. The land was granted to Sir Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La War, in 1613. West named the property after his wife, Lady Cicely Shirley. When West passed away his widow sold the land. Edward Hill purchased the property somewhere between 1638 and 1651. There were three generations of Hills who lived at the Plantation. Edward Hill the fourth died prematurely and had no male heirs. His sister Elizabeth Hill married a wealthy bachelor John Carter, son of Robert King Carter, and the Hill-Carter union and their offspring was the start several of generations of family members to live at the property.
Shirley Plantation is North America’s oldest family owned business. It contains all original structures with its Main House constructed in 1723. All seven buildings on the site are original structures with nothing refurbished or reproduced. Visitors are permitted inside all of them. The design of the property is a Queen Anne Forecourt. There are two L shaped barns, two outbuildings and the main house. In the original design there used to adjacent flanks that formed a box or court structure. Also on site are the stables, an ice house, a pool barn/store house, a laundry, kitchen building, pump house, corn crib and pigeon house, or dovecote, which is a circular building in which pigeons were raised for table fare.
Randy Carter, Deputy Director of Marketing and Projects for Shirley Plantation states that visitors to the property will first turn off of Route Five onto Shirley Plantation Road. This gravel road leads to a “majestic driveway” consisting of a quarter mile of white and red oaks as well as maples that were planted by Carter’s father twenty years ago. As guests pull up to the parking lot they will see the main house in the foreground and all the outbuildings in the background. Guests next walk up the main path, pass through the two L shaped buildings and purchase tickets in one of the outbuildings. They will have full view of the Main House and the James River directly behind it. Carter states that the James River was the “main artery of commerce for Jamestown and America” during a period of the nation’s history.
Jamestown was founded six years prior to Shirley Plantation. Colonists discovered that the site, built on swamp land, had brackish or salty water unsuitable to drinking and most farming. John Rolfe introduced a strain of tobacco however that was successful. Tobacco plantations were built all along the James River, including Shirley Plantation.
In 1958 Randy Carter’s father was still farming the land. He received a lot of interest however from people who wanted tours of the grounds. A tour business evolved gradually and Carter went into tourism full time in 1972. Randy Carter grew up in the household as it became a tourist destination. He describes it as somewhat like “living in a fishbowl” but that it also made tourism a familiar trade to him. He continues the business today.
Shirley Plantation hosts at least one event each month. This Halloween the property will host a book signing with Beth Brown, author of “the Haunted Plantations of Virginia”. There will also be a ghost walk on the grounds with a focus on the resident ghost “Aunt Pratt”. This is the one time a year that the Carter family permits visitors to see the family cemetery.
Travelers411 Community Forums - This interview's thread
http://www.travelers411.com/forums/showthread.php?t=799
For more information visit http://www.shirleyplantation.com
Mike Bedsworth, Co-owner & Innkeeper of the Carriage House Inn Bed and Breakfast in Lynchurg, Virginia joins the “Travelers411” radio show. Stephanie introduces him as “a man who knows what a bed is worth”. Lynchburg is located in the central part of Virginia between Charlottesville and Roanoke in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains along the banks of the James River. It is in the very middle of the country between Maine and Florida. It is two hours, fifteen minutes west of Richmond, three hours west of Williamsburg and an hour west of Charlottesville.
The property is an 1878 Italianate mansion originally owned by the Watts family. Richard Thomas Watts and his wife Emma had eleven children, though only five made it to adulthood. Watts was in the hardware business and had a chain of stores across central Virginia. Richard Thomas died in 1910. His wife died the following year but without a will. The siblings decided that their unmarried sister, Mary F. Watts, would get the house. Mary F. later did marry and have a family and sold the house during the thirties to local businesswoman Lena Fore. Fore operated the houses as a bed and breakfast called the “Cabell and D Street Tourist Home”. Lynchburg was a main railroad hub in the first half of the 20th century and Lena hosted many soldiers and sailors during the Second World War. She later fell ill and her sister, Sallie Fore Tabb, was made her public guardian. Tabb sold the house at auction. It was converted to apartments and went through a series of owners between 1984 and 2003.
Michael and Kathy subsequently purchased the property and spent four and half years renovating it. The proprietors were formerly in the real-estate business but had the desire to find an old house to convert to an inn. They went in search of historic homes located between Michigan and the Carolinas but struggled to find a house that was exactly what they were looking for. After spotting the house online, Mike Bedsworth and wife Kathy drove down to Lynchburg the next day and bought the property.
The house originally consisted of five bedrooms, four and a half baths, two parlors (a lady’s parlor and a gentleman’s parlor) a library, a dining room and a kitchen. It spans approximately 5,500 square feet. There is also a 3,300 hundred square foot carriage house in the backyard. Today the property has a total of six guestrooms, four in the main house and two suites in the carriage house. The carriage house will have its grand opening on October 27, 2009. The building was modeled as a meeting and event center with two luxury suites located in the upper part.
The Carriage House Inn offers several special promotions and packages. One package is specific to the season. It is called “sleeping with ghosts”. A local company did an afterlife investigation and claimed to have recorded the voices of deceased children in the house. Bedsworth states that Lynchburg is an old city and has a lot of stories. Each year the Lynchburg Historical Foundation has ghost tours through historic neighborhoods in the city. The old city cemetery also does ghost tours. The Carriage House Inn is partnered with these efforts and will cater to guests who have an interest in the paranormal year-round.
Travelers411 Community Forums - This interview's thread
http://www.travelers411.com/forums/showthread.php?t=800
For more information http://www.thecarriagehouseinnbandb.com
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Fun Fact:
Click here to listen to Stephanie’s interview with Sir John Leslie as he tells ghost stories about his home estate Castle Leslie and other family ancestral homes. Sir John Leslie’s father Shane Leslie published a collection of ghost stories.
Guests Include:
Randy Carter, Deputy Director, Marketing and Projects, Shirley Plantation, Charles City, Virginia.
www.shirleyplantation.com
Mike Bedsworth, Co-owner & Innkeeper, The Carriage House Inn B&B, Lynchburg, Virginia.
www.thecarriagehouseinnbandb.com
Topics Include:
Kim Noltemy, Director of Sales and Marketing for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, returns to the Travelers411 radio show to discuss the upcoming holiday season for the Boston Pops. Noltemy states that anyone who has watched Conductor Keith Lockhart at work “knows how much energy and fun he brings to the stage”. The Pops perform over thirty performances within a very a narrow timeframe but, says Noltemy, “with Keith every single performance is like the first”. Furthermore, Stephanie agrees, “the fun is contagious”.
Tickets for the Holiday Pops went on sale mid-September. There are shows scheduled December 9, 2009 through the 27th. Performances happen daily with sometimes as many as three shows a day. Weekend evening shows are the first to sell out but there are still many tickets available. The kid’s matinees are also extremely popular. These concerts are shorter, have a kids sing-along and crayons for the children in the audience to color with while they’re watching the show. There are also special food items on the menu and a post concert meet-and-greet with Santa Claus.
Symphony Hall has offered cabaret seating for over a hundred years. This is not true with every performance but all seating on the orchestra level has the possibility of being removed for specific concerts and events. These concerts have wait staff and concert goers are served a full menu on the orchestra floor. The straight, flat floor is arranged with tables and chairs so that guests can get comfortable as they watch the chorus and nearly a hundred pieces of orchestra perform.
There are many fantastic programs scheduled for the fall in Symphony Hall as well. The Boston Symphony Orchestra is already in the midst of its 2009 season. An upcoming series includes Beethoven symphonies as well as some wonderful guest artists. Flutist Sir James Galway had a big birthday bash this summer at Tanglewood and the celebration continues in Symphony Hall November 9th, 20th and 21st. Another special guest artist is violinist Joshua Bell who is scheduled to perform November 24 through December 1, 2009. There is a Brahms violin concerto scheduled for the end of the fall and a Yo Yo Ma performance in early January.
Click here to listen to Stephanie’s August 30, 2009 interview with Conductor Keith Lockhart.
Travelers411 Community Forums - This interview's thread
http://www.travelers411.com/forums/showthread.php?t=798
For more information http://www.bso.org and http://www.bostonpops.com
Radio Show Host Stephanie Abrams’s studio in Berkshire County is located across from the One West restaurant at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. She recommends checking out Chef Lee Masten’s fantastic menu.
For more information visit http://www.berkshirecrowne.com/onewest.php
The annual Mobile International Festival is what Radio Host Stephanie Abrams refers to as “an incredible project that creates the opportunity for the diverse cultures that make up Mobile, Alabama to share with one another and with visitors from around the globe”. Stephanie says that beyond the sheer entertainment value of the event, the festival brings a level of outreach and understanding that allows for a sophisticated exchange between a wide assortment of cultures and communities. The festival was originally started by an American doctor. She and her husband lived in Japan after World War Two and her life abroad inspired her to help create a venue for a gathering of people from different countries to unite and find common ground.
The Mobile International Festival began in 1983. Estela Dorn, the current Executive Director, had emigrated from the Philippines and moved to Alabama to be with her husband, a Mobile native. In 1985 the couple visited the festival and Dorn knew she had found an organization that she would like to become involved in. She felt a connection to the display of diversity as she herself was an immigrant. What she saw was a profound grassroots effort started by people proud of their heritage and glad to be showcasing their culture. Mobile is a sea port city and thus already very international. Dorn says “we’re just reinforcing what the city is already all about”
The festival is celebrating its 26th anniversary this year. Estela Dorn has been involved with the event for twenty four years. When she became involved she was immediately made Chairperson for Public Speaking. She became involved in the public schools system and eventually became head of the festival. She has done work as a fundraiser, grant writer, promoter and community advocate. Dorn, alongside the Education Coordinator, is mainly helped by several dedicated volunteers. The festival is held every year at the Mobile Civic Center and Expo Hall. In 2008 organizers had to use an adjoining facility due to the festival’s immense growth in recent years. The event has needed an increasing amount of space for cultural exhibits and displays of entertainment.
Dorn feels that in addition to reaching out to people from around the world the Mobile International Festival is a way to give back to the local community. Since its inception the city of Mobile has become increasingly more involved as it has seen the tremendous cultural significance of the festival. There are several corporate and community sponsors and the State Council of the Arts is also a supporter. The festival is an important asset to educators in the region. Festival organizers bring students to the center to demonstrate the cultural advantages of travel. Thursday November 19, 2009 and Friday November 20, 2009 are days dedicated to students from Alabama and nearby states. November 21, 2009 the festival is open to the general public in what is referred to as “family day”.
Exhibitors include associations, (such as the Filipino American Organization of Mobile, various heritage societies etc.) families, cultural groups as well as representatives from seventy countries around the world. Dorn says that some members just carry the flag of their nation while others have food booths, cultural exhibits and performances. Dorn says that the diversity is perhaps most evident in the food at the event. Dorn says “people have a hard time picking out the best egg roll” as they find that the ones from Indonesian, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand are all very different. This is true of the curries from Southeast Asia contrasted with those from parts of India.
Dorn says that one member from Brazil makes her own chocolate candies. She serves several chocolates with bits of pepper inside. This is common in Brazil but is now featured in many gourmet confectionery stores. Dorn was pleased to have first tried the specialty chocolate at the festival and also tells about a French member who serves crepes with Nutella geared towards kids and a Ukrainian member who makes a popular stuffed cabbage dish. Central American countries have plantains, Puerto Rico serves ceviche and Laos has a different take on salad. There are also several regional groups who interpret culture from other countries such as the Puppet Arts Theatre group based in Jackson, Mississippi which models itself on European puppetry styles.
Travelers411 Community Forums - This interview's thread
http://www.travelers411.com/forums/showthread.php?t=667
For more information visit http://www.mobileinternationalfestival.org
Guests Include:
Kim Noltemy, Director of Sales & Marketing, Boston Symphony Orchestra.
www.bso.org
www.bostonpops.com
Estela Dorn, Executive Director, Mobile International Festival, Mobile, Alabama.
www.mobileinternationalfestival.org
