Re: It Was Ten Years Ago Today ...

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: :  ... (or thereabouts)! Pre-production of some movie they called "The Last of the Mohicans" was in full swing. The script that you see on this site was the then current version. Locations were picked. The cast was set - and some, in training so that they'd be in top physical condition to best simulate the struggle they were to portray. Sets, if not built, were well underway in someone's mind. A cardboard & styrofoam model fort, that now sits in my workshop out back, was the recipient of constant stares & daydreams by director Michael Mann as he mapped out the action of about a third of the film on it.

: : At that time, not a single actor, to become a household name in MY household, was known to me. Russell Means, of course, was, but he wasn't yet an actor (some might debate that!). Wes Studi was an image, a fierce Pawnee warrior from "Dances With Wolves," but I didn't know him by name. Table Rock Mountain? Lake James? Chimney Rock Park? Never heard of those places, though I had visited Linville Falls back in 1983 on a wonderful trip down the better part of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

: : Our life was in turmoil at that time. We had been settled in an old Revolutionary War home, way back in the woods, for nearly seven years. Our family was a mere 6 people back then, and two of our 4 children were born in that home. It was a great place to raise children, just 80 miles north of NYC, yet on 1500 acres of near wilderness, filled with abundant wildlife, meadows, beaver ponds, old settlement foundations, cemetaries, and road beds ... dating back to the pre-Revolutionary era ... It was there we had our Mohican neighbor, and it was there we were unknowingly being drawn to this very place in time ... but, I stray ...

: : Turmoil ... yes. Our comfort zone was deteriorating, as the property owners were planning to sell the house. They did offer it to us first, but we just couldn't afford it. We had to move. Moves are always unsettling, but especially when you HAVE to & really don't WANT to. So, very relunctantly, we looked around & found an old farmhouse in the small town of Amenia, NY in which to live for a time. Around the time we moved in, the Fort William Henry scenes were being shot, 800 miles away on the banks of Lake James. The real Fort William Henry was a hellava lot closer, just a short distance to our north.

: : During this time, and even prior, in fact, we had been considering a move elsewhere. It's a long story, but to cut to the chase, a brother-in-law of mine was in the market for a farm somewhere in rural America. His search, partly on my recommendation, eventually focused in on western North Carolina. And then, he bought a 180 acre, or so, farm in the small hamlet of Green Hill, between Rutherfordton & Lake Lure, NC. As the crow flies, it was just about 3 miles from Chimney Rock Park, and, in fact, on days when there was no haze, you could actually see the Chimney as you drove down the road to the farm.

: : The French were demanding surrender at Fort William Henry, from a beleagured Colonel Munro, while we were facing a monumental decision of our own ... My brother-in-law would not be able to move to NC for at least a couple more years. He needed to find someone willing & able to caretake the place in his absence. For several reasons, he chose us. Now, how many people would you find who were in the midst of raising a, shall we say, rather large family, whose income was derived from a secure government job, the USPS, who were not just young kids starting out ... who would just shuck it & relocate? Well, we were just the folks to try it!

: : So, we came down for a week or two to check out the area. We sat out on the farmhouse porch - the farmhouse that was to be our home for the next couple or three years before we bought our present home in Marion - in the evenings, smelling the sweet NC scents, listening to the solitude & the whipporwills ... soaking it all in ... deciding ... and all the while, Magua & Uncas were embroiled in a life-or-death struggle up there on the cliffs, just a few miles away.

: : You know the rest ... a short time later, we took our own plunge ... a major gamble ... I quit my Postal job, we packed up, and hauled all our belongings down Interstate 81 to start a new life, away from the New York life we had always known. We moved to North Carolina. Right around the time Chingachgook was saying goodbye to Uncas, up there at Table Rock, were were about to bid a fond farewell to New York.

: : By the time we set up shop in our new home, the film crews were gone ... save for that short stint the following August when they re-shot a tiny little piece up at CRP ... but Fort William Henry was still standing, at least for another month or so ...

: : And that's what was happening in our lives 10 years ago when "The Last of the Mohicans" was being planned & shot. The rest, as they say, is history. Come this Gathering, it'll be exactly 10 years, to the day (Sunday), that principal photography began on this film. And what were YOU doing?

: : What's new?

: : * We've added, finally, to our French & Indian War Hot Spot Map.

: : * A bit more on "The Campanion Guide."

: : * A brand new, and possibly controversial, dispatch from Fort William Henry, "From The Ramparts."

: : * The Magua Meter has been installed on our Wes Appearance at the Gathering Page. (Please get those raffle tickets reserved just as soon as you can!)

: : Look around a bit ... the place is chock full of new bits & pieces that I bet a lot of you have never seen ...

: : About The Gathering ...

: : With "The Companion Guide" occupying much of my brain's mental capacity, we're still vigorously working on The Gathering. Of prime importance is being sure we get Wes & company here, but there's other stuff, as well. Looking over the plans, I really feel this one has the potential to be the very best Gathering of all. All the pieces are there. I am greatly looking forward to it. Still, we tinker ... we have a couple of possibles in the bag that, if they pan out, will enhance the experience even more. If not, we're still in great shape! And that's all I'll say on that. Weather permitting, I'll be making my Second 2001 Gathering Field Trip next weekend ... either back to Elk Hunt territory or over to the River Walk falls & the movie theater to perform an experiment ... Whichever I don't do, will be slated for next month ... What I want to know is, are you guys still up for it? I mean, I hope you haven't been scared off by the descriptions of me passing through here of late (and not even counting Marcia's delightful photo of me!) ... everything from an anorexic ceiling-banger to a fat old tempermental Charles Manson-type ... Shall I say, that I'm probably somewhere inbetween?

: : And that's your MohicanLand News for this week ...

: : BANG! ... back at'cha!

: Hey Rich,

: Did You Ask Are We Up For This Years Gathering?!....Honey, I"M PACKED! Can't Wait To See All Of You Again!
: Till Then,
: Stay Strong with Love, Kathleen


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