a.d. elliott - Take the Back Roads

Dear Henry, A few days ago, Fish and I stumbled upon the most fabulous little mountain lodge in Pembroke, Virginia, and wouldn't you know, there is a story there. In 1751, Christopher Gist of the Ohio Land Surveying Company came across Mountain Lake. It was owned by George and then Joseph Chambers before selling the property to Henley Chapman. The lake was then known as Salt Pond, and cattle were regularly salted there until after the Civil War.   The area also boasted of a stagecoach stop, and the first lodge was built in 1851.  General Herman Haupt bought the property in 1857 and renamed it Mountain Lake. The lodge was still primarily used as a stagecoach and rail stop and provided accommodations to travelers rather than leisure seekers. In 1900, the hotel was purchased by the Porterfield Family, who also began hosting music, dancing, and other entertainment for guests. The hotel briefly boasted of an all-female orchestra from 1922-1925. Guests usually arrived by stagec...

Dear Henry, Book 11, Sophocles's Ajax, of the Bucket List Book Adventure ( read about that here ), is done! Let me tell you all about it.   It is thought that Ajax is the oldest of Sophocles's seven surviving plays and that it was written sometime between 450 BC to 430 BC. The rest of the play's history, including when it was first performed at the Festival of Dionysus, is unknown. The Greek warrior Ajax was the son of King Telamon and Periboea and a grandson of the god Zeus. He was always described as a physically powerful man trained by the Centaur Chiron and second only to Achilles in skill. He fought Hector twice, with both fights ending in a draw (Zeus had aided Hector), and finally, Ajax was the one who won the battle to get the body of Patrocles back from the Trojans. Ajax also fought with Odysseus to get Achilles's body back after Achilles was killed by Paris. It was this joint mission that caused problems because both men felt they deserved to have the armor ma...

Dear Henry, I've been following Father Mike Schmitz's " Catechism in a Year " podcast on the Hallow app, and a few weeks ago, on day 96 (CCC 679), he read the doctrine related to final judgment. Father Mike mentioned that the entire story of our life will become, essentially, public knowledge. And I found myself struggling with this information quite a bit. You see, I have a significant problem with shame. Most of the shame stems from being, until my early twenties, a product of my upbringing, and even now, I still feel the need to justify those years to imaginary people. I spend a lot of time dwelling on the parenting and social mistakes I made while learning to be something other than the small, vulgar person my parents raised me to be. And finally, I feel both shame and the need to justify my decision to imaginary people about my decision to cut off contact entirely with my drug-addled parents and those siblings who have embraced those same addictions and behaviors...

  Dear Henry, Book Ten, Sophocles's Philoctetes, of the Bucket List Book Adventure ( read about that here ), is done! Let me tell you all about it. Sophocles wrote Philoctetes during the Peloponnesian War, probably around 410 BC. The play was first performed at the Festival of Dionysus in 409 BC and won the festival.   The story is about Philoctetes, a Greek archer gifted by Hercules his bow after Hercules slowly dying in agony after wearing the shirt of Nessus (a gift from his wife, Deianeira), had kindled his own funeral pyre to hasten his death. No one but Philoctetes would light the fire, and as a reward, Hercules gave him the bow.   Philoctetus sailed with Odysseus's Greek army to battle at Troy, but while on the isle of Chryse, he inadvertently trespassed at the shrine of a nymph and was bitten on the foot by a snake. The wound turned necrotic, laming Philoctetus, and created a terrible smell. Unable to cope with Philoctetus's illness, Odysseus abandoned h...