Bragg Family South

Whew!  Bragg Family South survived another frantic holiday season, and are slowly getting ourselves ready for a new start in 2020.  Tomorrow, Hope and I go back to work, and our kids go back to school.  But first, here's a quick recap of our December and holiday season...  The picture above is of the recently restored Taylor House and interpretative center in eastern Drew County (about a half hour from our house in Monticello).  The big house in the back was originally constructed in the 1840s and was one of the first large homes in this part of Arkansas.  After years of neglect, the University of Arkansas-Monticello acquired the home, a couple nearby family cemeteries, and some other related structures, and got grants to start a restoration process.  You may recall some posts on this blog over the years where Bragg Family South helped on various archeological projects at this site--these helped with the restoration. While not yet quite done, the ...

And what has Beth so dismayed, while Stephen and Hope have big smiles?  Why, the Wade Clock Museum (https://www.visit.msstate.edu/clockmuseum/) at Mississippi State University!  We walked through this neat if rather unusual venue while waiting for Kenny's campus tour at MSU.  This was the first stop on our Thanksgiving week adventure east... After a long drive in a driving rain, we arrived in Virginia.  Because of how much driving we had to reach our first main objective, we didn't stop and see too many places.  We did, however, make a stop at a curious (if underwhelming) winery near "Peaks of Otter", and then a short drive to Thomas Jefferson's nearby personal retreat called "Poplar Forest" (https://www.poplarforest.org/).  While most people will be more familiar with his main home, Monticello, Poplar Forest is an architectural gem that provided us a number of insights into this complicated man: The picture above is in the dining room in his P...