Pictures from the Waterway 5k

I wanted to post these while the race wasn't too far in the past. I'm planning on posting more house pictures on the www.historic-hertford.com site in the next day or so...and possibly beginning the three next phases. I'm going to list people by surnames so they can be tied together with the homes and businesses, and I'm going to post inputs for local churches, and graveyards. I know that having accurate records of a graveyard can be of great help to folks who do genealogy. We will accompany both with pictures and as much information as possible...

Soon I'll be getting more people involved, also, and things will start growing with greater speed. Anyway...here are the pictures. Me first, then Billy, and then Stephanie...I came in last in my age group - but I expect to do better in the Hertford race on the 27th of October.







Onward!

The Waterway 5k and Early Morning Fog

Well, Billy, Steph and I made it through the 5k on Saturday - not in the championship form we hoped for, but hey...for Billy it was the first race ever, and Steph only intended to walk...fun was had by all. I got a 31:27 and Billy came in somewhere around 27 minutes. Next race? Hertford, 27 October. If you haven't signed up, and you are at all inclined to do so, you should sign up now. You can do so at the Trailblazers website: Trailblazersnc.org. They have an online registration system, as well as contact info. Billy and I signed up already, so we'll see you there - the race starts at the tennis court right around the corner from our house.

This morning I had a good run, two miles in 18:26 - which makes me wonder what happened on Saturday. The fog was so thick you couldn't see half a block ahead of you, but it was great weather for running.

The web site - Historic-Hertford.com - is coming along well. I've added the functions to allow local organizations to put up their contact information, local events to be recorded and presented, and an announcement board. More to follow. Today I begin the tedious task of making the pages of the site pretty and uniform - adding that professional touch. Hope to see you on the site where we can watch the history of our little town come to life.

DNW

Elizabeth City Waterway 5k Run/Walk

This seems to be the season for road racing. Two of our household will be running in both the Elizabeth City Waterway 5K and the upcoming 5k in Hertford in October. In the first one we'll be representing my company, VectorCSP - wearing our company colors proudly. In Hertford, we'll be racing only a few blocks from our house, and will likely be a bit more casual. I also expect to announce the Historic-Hertford.com site at that race and hand out some flyers, hoping to get people involved in filling in Historic data, making suggestions, and improving the site.

Anyway, you can visit the site for the Waterway 5k (this Saturday) by clicking the picture below - it's linked to the race site. It's an image of last year's race. Just imagine a really fast runner in there and plaster my face on him ...

In reality, it's my son Billy that has the best shot. He's run miles as fast as 6:05 in preparation...

You can read about the Perquimans / Hertford race at Trailblazers NC's Website

See you on race day. And if you run across this and have time - please check out the growing site over at: The Historic-Hertford Home Page

Dave & Family

Burning HIstory - The Thomas B. Walters Home Gone

The Thomas B. Walters home, a tall, worn old Colonial Revival home that has guarded the mouth to Skinner's Creek since the 1800s, was burned tonight. It didn't catch fire from careless kids, or catch a stray bolt of lighting after all the years. It was burned on purpose by the local fire department with several local luminaries looking on.

This saddens me in ways I can't describe. Sometimes it seems as if the only people interested in preserving the history of our town, our state, and even our country, are people who have moved in way after the fact. This house needed a lot of work. It had some issue with fiberglass, I'm told, that made renovation expensive and difficult...but let's be serious. The land it stands on was bought by developers from out of town. They intend to plaster the bank of the river with million dollar waterfront houses, and the old Walters house was just in the way. They had the money, time, resources, and everything else necessary to fix it - and they chose to tear it down. It's the way things work. It's the way we forget the lessons we should remember, and disappoint generation after generation of our forefathers.

This home belonged to a prominent farmer near the end of the nineteenth century. It was two stories with tall square columns out front. It had a smokehouse and was backed up against the river. I think the developers missed the boat. At whatever cost, the best thing they could have made of that old home was a gateway - the offices, whatever -- the first thing people saw on the way into the new waterfront houses. People come to live in places like Hertford because they are quaint, historic, and filled with history. The more of that history they bulldoze and burn, the faster this whole town will shrivel up and become a memory.

I intend to do what I can to prevent it from happening. The new site is semi-live at:
Historic Hertford

Check it out...drops us a line, or a comment. Help us fill in the data and make it something to be proud of. Help us remember our past before that's all it is. Before it's too late, and there's nothing to save.

Here's to you, Thomas B. Walters. I'll be researching you, and I'll be writing more on this soon.

Until then...keep the memories alive.

If you know anything about Thomas B. Walters, or that house, I'd love to hear from you.

--David

An Exciting New Hertford Site is Underway

I've begun piecing together the website I hope will begin collecting the history, stories, memories, and facts about Hertford, NC and recording them so they are never forgotten. To keep the explanation simple, I'm using skills learned at my day job to create an interactive history. Currently, all that exists is a database and a couple of pages that link to it. There is a form where you can input certain information about Hertford Houses. This data is stored and presented on another page, along with a link. We will build the links one at a time - each to another house in Hertford, with historical information, a place for people to enter photos, stories, and comments, and links to the people who lived there, designed the building, and interacted with it. Next will be a database for people, but I want to start by getting the city in place.

When I'm done, I expect to put up a map of the area, broken up into lots. There will be links on the side, and you'll be able to enter a year - press a button, and only the houses that existed in that year will populate the map. It's ambitious, but I think history is important...so there you go.

Interested readers can check out my progress by watching here - and by checking the following link: The Hertford Houses Web Page

Onward!

DNW