Two Good Lessons

Today, we spent the day in downtown Abbeville. We needed to run some errands, so we decided to make it fun.
First, we checked out the historic opera house. It was too gorgeous inside NOT to take pictures to share. There is a community theater that still runs out of it here. Tracy is trying to persuade me to audition for a play here sometime. ... ... ... It's been a LONG time since I've been on stage, but maybe someday once the new job settles down and the kids are too cool to hang out with me anymore. This picture doesn't do the theater justice, but you can see one of the side, private boxes for the audience. The stage is off to the right.

Then we did a historic walking tour (complete with a stop for ice cream) that took us past some gorgeous old homes--all the while we learned about the Civil War history here in town. Turns out that it all began here on what is now called "Secession Hill" where leaders of South Carolina decided to secede from the Union. And there are stables downtown that were used by the Confederacy, and the fountain pictured here was used as a trough for Confederate horses.

Also, the area used to be a non-combative hospital area, and we visited a cemetery where both Union and Confederate soldiers are buried. These here are place markers for Confederate graves (CSA=Confederate States of America).


Then there is the Burk-Stark mansion where Jefferson Davis's generals convinced him to surrender to the North, which he did, officially ending the Civil War. They give tours of the mansion, so stay tuned for a post when we actually take the tour.
So all in all, you could say that the Civil War began and ended here in Abbeville.

So on to the real story-- as we were walking on the tour, Matt decided to give Jakob and Ava one of his famous "history stories"--to tell them about the Civil War, so that they know why these sites are important. No sooner did he get past the idea of state's rights, when suddenly Jakob took over, telling us all about the Civil War! And in a lot of detail too! We found out that he learned all about the War this past year in school. What they don't teach kids in first grade anymore! When I was his age, I think I was just learning to master coloring and spelling my name. And I'm still working on the coloring. And then the boy asks to go to the library to get books about the Civil War. Man alive!

Lesson Number Two: In the middle of our discussion on war, Ava looked at Tracy and ever so innocently said, "Mommy, instead of fighting, they should have just *talked* about it?" It's amazing how clear kids can make things. (then Jakob, realizing that half of his cousins live in the North, added, "yeah, then you wouldn't have cousins fighting against cousins.") Quite an amazing discussion to have with kids.

Ok, this post is getting long, but it was a great day! And a good history lesson from Jakob, and a great lesson on peace from Ava.