Reflections on History Day 2014
By Lynn Hoke
History Day is an annual event culminating in the 2017 Bicentennial. Each event highlights a particular era in the history of the Episcopal Church in North Carolina. This year, historians traveled west to the Church of the Holy Cross, Valle Crucis, to highlight the story of our mission efforts in the mountains.
With a mission outpost that endures today, the Rt. Rev. Levi Silliman Ives put Valle Crucis, North Carolina on the map back in 1842. On June 7, 2014, 40 church-history enthusiasts used maps, GPS devices or detailed instructions to snake along Route 194 to this same mission site, now a multibuilding complex housing the Church of the Holy Cross, Valle Crucis, and the Valle Crucis Conference Center at the Historic Mission School. They were there to celebrate History Day 2014.
Participants hailed from all three North Carolina dioceses. Members of Holy Cross offered gracious hospitality throughout, including well-informed docents at both the history exhibit in the Bishop Ives Cabin and at Saint John the Baptist Church. Lunch in the conference center dining room allowed us a short walk and some lovely mountain views.
The heart of the annual History Day is a set of presentations, one to provide a wider historical context and one to focus on local clergy, lay members, institutions and ministries. The Rev. Dr. Stuart Hoke charted the historical background for the Oxford Movement and the subsequent Anglo-Catholic ethos in the Episcopal Church, which emphasizes personal, spiritual and social transformation over and above its more superficial reputation of being all about “smells and bells.” The Rev. Scott Oxford highlighted the careers of various Episcopal clergymen whose ministry and mission work centered on the mountain population of Western North Carolina. Of particular interest was Deacon William West Skiles, part of the original Valle Crucis monastic community who remained a faithful mountain missioner following the community’s dissolution in the late 1940s. Shortly before his death in 1862, Skiles realized his dream of establishing St. John the Baptist Church in Sugar Grove, four miles north of Valle Crucis.
Following the formal presentations, our group carpooled to St. John’s, which is now used as the summer mission of Holy Cross. Barring periodic flooding, the 9:00 a.m. service is held there each Sunday in the summer. With no organ or piano in the chapel, the congregations rely on various guest musicians. They rely on parish members, too, to add to the grace of St. John’s. An icon of St. John created by one member is brought to and from the church for every service. Another member, also an artist, grows flowers in her garden and arranges them each week for the altar and entrance hall. Other members help keep the garden, cemetery and extensive grounds in good order. After ample time to enjoy the chapel and grounds, we stopped on the way back to Valle Crucis for a guided tour of the historic Mast General Store, featuring commentary about many of the vintage utensils, implements and other items on display above and around the current merchandise.
A dozen of us took this History Day opportunity to stay an additional one or two nights at the Valle Crucis Conference Center. Our reserved space was in The Mission House, built in 1896, soon after the Valle Crucis Mission was revived; the site is now on the National Register of Historic Places. The full front porch offered us not only restful rocking chairs, but also reliable Internet connections. Nine bedrooms with various numbers of sleeping spaces met our needs, along with three bathrooms to share, a kitchen and two large common rooms. On Friday night we joined the local crowd at Music in the Valle, an informal bluegrass concert series held each summer week at the Valle Crucis Community Park. Before and after meals we talked informally – mostly about Church history. On Sunday morning several of us returned to Saint John the Baptist for the lively full-chapel Pentecost service complete with old-timey hymns accompanied by saxophone and guitar. After refreshments on the lawn, we headed home with heads and hearts full.
One of our weekenders described his experience as “a perfect blend of learning and social activities.” I will second that and invite you to join us for the 2015 blend in Raleigh.
FUTURE HISTORY
History Day 2015 will take place at St. Augustine’s University, Raleigh, and History Day 2016 will be hosted by St. Mark’s, Gastonia. For more information or to request details as they develop, please contact [email protected].
