Pentecost Presbyterians

This morning we had a quick breakfast with Jeanie in the hotel, then loaded up our belongings and checked out. Then the four of us – AnnAdell, Jeanie, mom and myself – headed to First Presbyterian Church for morning worship. This being Pentecost Sunday, we were greeted with many congregation members dressed in red. A couple asked about our visit, and we shared with them that our ancestors had helped establish this church back in the 1700’s when it was called Fourth Creek Presbyterian Church. We enjoyed the accomplished Sanctuary Choir, a song led by the Sunday School Class for Special Needs adults, and a nice message by Wes Pitts, who is a young man filling in with all pastoral duties while they are without a pastor. He is not yet through his ordination process, and did a great job of carrying the service nonetheless. Mother and I loved his words of benediction about the Holy Spirit going before us, beside us, above us and behind us.

After worship, we set out for lunch, which was going to be another visit to K&W at Jeanie’s suggestion. However, their line was long, as was that of Cracker Barrel, and AnnAdell needed to get on home. So, we said our goodbyes. Mom and I lunched at one of our favorites, Zaxby’s, and planned our next steps.

First, we went back to the Fourth Creek Presbyterian burial ground to see if we could find some of the headstones that were needing photographs on Find-a-Grave. The trees in the cemetery are huge! Lots of old markers here, and we would have spent more time had we not been in Sunday clothes… and had there been an ant-less bench for mom to sit on while I browsed.

We decided to drive out to the Fort Dobbs site just to see what we could see, even though it would be closed. After that, we made our way through Wilksboro and on to Boone, where we are to spend our next few days in the quiet mountain cabin of John Mollet. It may be quieter even than we thought, though, as we have yet to connect to the wifi successfully. You don’t realize how many things you rely on the Internet for (like posting blogs and making hotel reservations) until you don’t have it.  We were able, though, to successfully communicate enough to make plans to have dinner with my second cousin (the daughter of mom’s first cousin) Laura Bryant Eagan tomorrow.

We stayed in for the evening and worked on a puzzle, ate food that we brought with us, and watched the beautiful sunset over the Appalachians. We tested methods for mother to gain access to the bed (which is as tall as she is… almost) and then I fell asleep on the couch… accidentally… while mom was reading books about sites to see in the area.