Immediately following the National Board of Management meeting on Oct. 12, over 80 NSDAR members, including the President General, National Executive Committee, Vice Presidents General, and State Regents from across the country, boarded 2 charter buses to take the NSDAR 2019 Sunshine School Tour. This week long trip, made during the first year of an administration, visits 5 of our 6 DAR schools. Some of you may have followed our journey via Facebook, but for those not on that social media platform, I wanted to give you a recap of our experience.
We picked up our boxed lunches and headed for our buses for the first leg of our trip – Washington, DC to Abingdon, VA where we were scheduled to spend the first night at the Martha Washington Inn. Located across the street from the Barter Theatre, the state theater of Virginia, the hotel is only about 30 minutes from my house. A sweet expected visitor brought moon pies to me on behalf of the TSDAR to treat all of our bus participants to a state specific snack as we traveled through TN on Sunday.
Saturday evening Florida State Regent Kay Yarbrough provided our entertainment, inspired by the first ladies with a game and first lady themed tables and hats for us to wear for the evening. Our table was the Mary Todd Lincoln, and we were provided flower wreaths to symbolize the flowers she was known for wearing.
After kicking off the trip with such a memorable first night we awoke first thing Sunday morning to depart for Hindman Settlement School, in Hindman, KY. Bags had to be at the bus by 6am for us to get loaded and rolling in time for the 10am program. Of course every road trip needs a stop at Walmart to pick up everything we forgot to pack and it served as our rest stop as well.
Hindman Settlement School was established in 1902 by two DAR members, Katherine Stone and May Pettit. In 1921 the school became a DAR approved school. Currently they are one of the 6 schools that receive funding from the NSDAR Friends of Schools Fund and from the Junior Membership Helen Pouch Fund. While not a traditional school, Hindman has evolved with the times and has created programming that meets the needs of the community around it, including its dyslexia program. During the 2017-2018 year 190 children were served in just that program.
Once to campus, we made our way to a large tent where we had a wonderful Sunday service, complete with gospel songs ending with certificate presentations to states that had given significant donations to the school in the previous year. I was happy to accept one on behalf of all our Tennessee daughters. After the service and a delicious home style meal of Kentucky favorites, we were able to explore the campus and interact with students in the dyslexia program.
At 2pm we headed for our buses to make our way to North Carolina for our next stop Crossnore. What an odd feeling to be in my hometown, but not get to stop to see my family as we crossed through Kingsport on I-26 before cutting through the mountains to Blowing Rock, NC where we were scheduled to spend the second night. As we passed over the Tennessee boarder you will be proud to know that Rocky Top was sung with great gusto by those of us sitting in the back of the bus. Bus participants were also treated to mini-moon pies and a brief history of Kingsport.
While short, the stop at Hindman was meaningful. Having been there before during the Young School tour in 2013, I was impressed with the changes to the campus that have been made in just 6 years. I encourage you to visit if you are in the area and see what they are doing for their community, not just with the dyslexia program, but with their Foodways Program that helps feed local households, and their Cultural Heritage Program that is keeping traditional folk arts, music, and writing alive. For more information on programming and events please visit www.HindmanSettlement.org.
Next time — Crossnore School and Children’s Home.
In Service,
Cecile
