It's the central theme in the movie, Gone with the Wind. Land, Scarlett, it's the land. Yes I know it's a love story, but isn't the love of land also love? Tara, the plantation her father owned was mentioned over and over again. It's the land. In the beginning of that film her father talks of it.
I'm no scholar of that film and I have never read the book but that's what I get out of it. It's a feeling I can understand. Yes it was a plantation, a plantation during a sad time in America. I get the whole thing. The civil war changed all of that. And Scarlett held onto the land. By hook or by crook she held onto Tara. It's the land that endures. Yes after all the characters are dead and gone, and ownership of the land has been passed to another, the land endures.That has always been so.
I was reminded of that yesterday as I browsed old copies of a newspaper. The East Hampton Star is the name of that publication. It's banner proclaims, " it shines for all " a noble sentiment indeed. Still published to this day I question the validity of that banner statement. From what little I have read of the modern version the bias is obvious, as it is in most publications these days. Communicating the news is business these days, dependent upon the ability to generate revenue, more entertainment than informative. In that quest to keep the revenue flowing into the coffers you do have to know who to entertain! Hint, the ones with the largest pocketbook are generally the ones. But I was reading past issues, issues from way back. I discovered that in 1904 my great grandfather Floyd P Lester was hauling dirt to the property of Mrs. Lorenzo Woodhouse when tragedy struck. One of his horses stepped into a deep hole and was injured. The severity of the injury was enough to have to put the horse down.
Seems like a little thing today but it has a connection to the land. You see the dirt was being hauled for a construction project. Mrs. Lorenzo Woodhouse was building a Japanese garden. They were all the rage back then, in the early twentieth century. Remember it had only been fifty years since Commodore Perry had sailed into Tokyo bay ending two hundred years of Japanese isolation. People were interested in all things Japanese.
Mrs. Woodhouse, being a woman of great wealth could certainly afford such a luxury. Her garden would eventually cover eight acres. In 1951 Mrs. Woodhouse would donate that garden to the village of East Hampton. An enduring gift of the land.
Today that land is called the Nature Trail, or duck pond by the locals. It being in the heart of the village of East Hampton I can't imagine the value of that property. It would easily soar into the millions of dollars. My great grandfather lost a horse in the construction phase. Whether he was compensated for that I couldn't say, but it is highly doubtful. That great grandfather Floyd worked for Mrs. Woodhouse for many years following that incident says there weren't hard feelings anyway. I have a picture of him standing in her yard, raking leaves some years later. Who owns her home now I couldn't say. But what struck me was the enduring gift of that land. The land remains although I suspect most people have no idea who Mrs. Mary Woodhouse was, or indeed, ever heard the name.
Interesting to note is Lorenzo Woodhouse, husband to Mary is credited with the founding of Guild Hall, also in the village of East Hampton. Now it was recorded that Mrs. Woodhouse in her presentation to investors proclaimed, Guild Hall would be a bastion of culture in the cultural desert that is East Hampton in the winter months. Yes, the Woodhouse family would bring culture to the land. This came about because of the " artist " colony that had formed in East Hampton and the surrounding area. This had been going on for quite a number of years. The artists escaping the trappings of the " modern " world to relax, paint, and create in the serene wilderness of East Hampton. Here was an empty canvass! There was no culture to be found there. Guild Hall stands proudly to this day, on Main Street, in the Hamptons. It also has endured.
Through all of this the land has endured. The landscape has certainly changed a great deal over the years. Oh I hear there are still secluded spots, small patches of land left untouched. The road I grew up on remains unpaved to this day. There is a small sanctuary across the street from that road that has been there ever since my earliest memory. I have been told it is to remain so in perpetuity.
As I browsed through those old editions of the East Hampton Star I ran across a letter I had written to the editor. I had forgotten all about that, having written it forty two years ago. It was January of 1977. The letter concerned the ability of a common man, a local man, to acquire land in his home town. Even then I noted how the land was being consumed by the wealthy. The land was being purchased for a playground! Well I noted that the Village was considering spending a half a million dollars on a playground. A half a million dollars was a considerable sum in 1977. Today I read where the median value of a home in East Hampton is 1.4 million dollars! I'd say that was out of reach to the common working man. The land remains but the people do not.
I think that is what Gone with the Wind was really all about. Things change and the land remains. That land will always be home to someone. The land holds the history that people create. That history lies there, waiting. No matter where the person goes, home remains. And home remains unchanged in our hearts. I have walked the trails in that garden, walked through the woods of my ancestors. Often I was unaware of those connections. Great Grandfather hauling dirt to build a Japanese garden I would come to know as the Nature Trail. An incident that happened one hundred and fifteen years ago unearthed. I feel as though I own a piece of that land, I can claim it, a connection to the land. And that is what Scarletts' Dad was trying to tell her.
I'm no scholar of that film and I have never read the book but that's what I get out of it. It's a feeling I can understand. Yes it was a plantation, a plantation during a sad time in America. I get the whole thing. The civil war changed all of that. And Scarlett held onto the land. By hook or by crook she held onto Tara. It's the land that endures. Yes after all the characters are dead and gone, and ownership of the land has been passed to another, the land endures.That has always been so.
I was reminded of that yesterday as I browsed old copies of a newspaper. The East Hampton Star is the name of that publication. It's banner proclaims, " it shines for all " a noble sentiment indeed. Still published to this day I question the validity of that banner statement. From what little I have read of the modern version the bias is obvious, as it is in most publications these days. Communicating the news is business these days, dependent upon the ability to generate revenue, more entertainment than informative. In that quest to keep the revenue flowing into the coffers you do have to know who to entertain! Hint, the ones with the largest pocketbook are generally the ones. But I was reading past issues, issues from way back. I discovered that in 1904 my great grandfather Floyd P Lester was hauling dirt to the property of Mrs. Lorenzo Woodhouse when tragedy struck. One of his horses stepped into a deep hole and was injured. The severity of the injury was enough to have to put the horse down.
Seems like a little thing today but it has a connection to the land. You see the dirt was being hauled for a construction project. Mrs. Lorenzo Woodhouse was building a Japanese garden. They were all the rage back then, in the early twentieth century. Remember it had only been fifty years since Commodore Perry had sailed into Tokyo bay ending two hundred years of Japanese isolation. People were interested in all things Japanese.
Mrs. Woodhouse, being a woman of great wealth could certainly afford such a luxury. Her garden would eventually cover eight acres. In 1951 Mrs. Woodhouse would donate that garden to the village of East Hampton. An enduring gift of the land.
Today that land is called the Nature Trail, or duck pond by the locals. It being in the heart of the village of East Hampton I can't imagine the value of that property. It would easily soar into the millions of dollars. My great grandfather lost a horse in the construction phase. Whether he was compensated for that I couldn't say, but it is highly doubtful. That great grandfather Floyd worked for Mrs. Woodhouse for many years following that incident says there weren't hard feelings anyway. I have a picture of him standing in her yard, raking leaves some years later. Who owns her home now I couldn't say. But what struck me was the enduring gift of that land. The land remains although I suspect most people have no idea who Mrs. Mary Woodhouse was, or indeed, ever heard the name.
Interesting to note is Lorenzo Woodhouse, husband to Mary is credited with the founding of Guild Hall, also in the village of East Hampton. Now it was recorded that Mrs. Woodhouse in her presentation to investors proclaimed, Guild Hall would be a bastion of culture in the cultural desert that is East Hampton in the winter months. Yes, the Woodhouse family would bring culture to the land. This came about because of the " artist " colony that had formed in East Hampton and the surrounding area. This had been going on for quite a number of years. The artists escaping the trappings of the " modern " world to relax, paint, and create in the serene wilderness of East Hampton. Here was an empty canvass! There was no culture to be found there. Guild Hall stands proudly to this day, on Main Street, in the Hamptons. It also has endured.
Through all of this the land has endured. The landscape has certainly changed a great deal over the years. Oh I hear there are still secluded spots, small patches of land left untouched. The road I grew up on remains unpaved to this day. There is a small sanctuary across the street from that road that has been there ever since my earliest memory. I have been told it is to remain so in perpetuity.
As I browsed through those old editions of the East Hampton Star I ran across a letter I had written to the editor. I had forgotten all about that, having written it forty two years ago. It was January of 1977. The letter concerned the ability of a common man, a local man, to acquire land in his home town. Even then I noted how the land was being consumed by the wealthy. The land was being purchased for a playground! Well I noted that the Village was considering spending a half a million dollars on a playground. A half a million dollars was a considerable sum in 1977. Today I read where the median value of a home in East Hampton is 1.4 million dollars! I'd say that was out of reach to the common working man. The land remains but the people do not.
I think that is what Gone with the Wind was really all about. Things change and the land remains. That land will always be home to someone. The land holds the history that people create. That history lies there, waiting. No matter where the person goes, home remains. And home remains unchanged in our hearts. I have walked the trails in that garden, walked through the woods of my ancestors. Often I was unaware of those connections. Great Grandfather hauling dirt to build a Japanese garden I would come to know as the Nature Trail. An incident that happened one hundred and fifteen years ago unearthed. I feel as though I own a piece of that land, I can claim it, a connection to the land. And that is what Scarletts' Dad was trying to tell her.
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