Presidents Day Post

Anyone who watches the news or reads the paper around here will recognize our local civic leader Georgia Verdier. Ms. Verdier is a frequent writer for the Star-Gazette and president of the Elmira-Corning chapter of the NAACP. So it was with great anticipation that I began to read her oped piece.

I was not disappointed. The penultimate paragraph (almost saving the best for last!) deals with our own local history makers. Naturally Verdier mentions my personal hero (practically a patron saint!), John W. Jones. But in a sweet sidelight, she touches on Henry Washington, who brought his mother Mary Ann here, who became a cook at Quarry Farm, where Mark Twain wrote a few of his novels.

If you follow this link, it will open a PDF (takes a few seconds)--go all the way down to 1868, where the story is highlighted in blue.

Finally, in a separate block on our oped page, there's a short piece on golfers William and Renee Powell. William Powell was the developer (design, construction, proprietor and operator) of Clearview, the first course specifically for African-Americans, and his daughter Renee became one of only three blacks to play on the LPGA tour. While the Powells are not Elmirans, but this is a huge golfing area, so we surely can claim them as heros, too. More information on the Powells here.

This is a great town to live in during Black History Month for any history buff.

pb

Little Pond