Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 10, 1994 TAG: 9407150052
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: E3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ERIC D. RANDALL
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But this Fourth of July was different. I was astounded to read that the Explore project was finally a reality!
My first thought: Maybe there's a story here for my newspaper. (I write for USA Today.) My second thought: Better check it out first.
I went with my friend Joe from Blacksburg. We paid our four bucks at the park's entrance and stepped into the woods.
Please, I thought to myself, let this be good. I knew the community had invested a lot of time and effort in the project, and I hoped I would see something worthy of mentioning to USA Today's travel writer.
Our first stop was a tomahawk-throwing demonstration by a volunteer in a Daniel Boone outfit. I thought only Indians threw tomahawks, but the Daniel Boone guy explained that Indians often traded them to frontiersmen, who threw them at targets for sport. He invited adults and children from the crowd of about 30 people to throw his hatchet at a playing card mounted on a large wooden target.
One brave woman stepped forward. The crowd stood about 20 feet behind her.
``What do you think so far?'' Joe asked me.
``I see crowds!'' I said. ``I see nature!'' I stared at the woman with the hatchet and the crowd behind her. ``I see a lawsuit in the making.''
The hatchet landed harmlessly in the grass. We moved on.
At the food tent we bought cherry vanilla ice cream ($1.75 in a waffle cone). All around us were people wandering about in pre-revolutionary and 19th century dress. I wondered if these volunteers and Explore staff members would be in character, speaking only as people of their time period would speak.
I found the answer in the German Bank Barn (circa 1800), where we found a woodworker wearing a straw hat and suspenders. He greeted us: ``How's that ice cream?''
``It's good,'' Joe said. ``You ought to try some.''
The man said he couldn't. ``I'm lactose-intolerant.''
The Lactose Intolerant Frontiersman explained how he made furniture without nails. He showed us several of his tools, including a hand drill with a steel shank.
``Now, that's a modern tool, isn't it?'' I asked.
``Yes, it's about 40 years old,'' the frontiersman said. ``A woodworker in the 1800s would have used one like it, but it would all be wood. Our preservationist here has one that is in perfect condition but he won't let it out of his sight.''
``That's why he's a preservationist!'' Joe said. We said goodbye and wandered down a path past the Barnett House (circa 1780) and the McClure-Baker House (circa 1840 and 1902). Well, at least that's what the signs said. There was nothing on either site besides a square of foundation stones.
``See these two houses?'' I said. ``They had one heckuva party last night.''
Joe shrugged. This was like going to the zoo and finding the lion and tiger cages empty, he said.
We visited the schoolhouse and the Hofauger Farmstead, which were actual buildings. We saw a nice wool-spinning demonstration and listened to a fellow strum a dulcimer. We heard an Explore staffer in a gingham dress joshing with a tourist examining a kitchen kettle.
Tourist: ``What's for dinner?''
Gingham woman: ``Leftovers.''
Joe and I wandered back outside and bought fried chicken dinners at the food tent. There was no place to sit, so we sprawled on the grass.
``Well, I guess this is what happens when a locality tries to do Disney,'' Joe said. ``It's a good idea, but just incredibly undercapitalized.''
We munched our chicken in silence.
Explore is Roanoke in miniature, I said as we left. A fine place for families. Simple, unpretentious and good-humored. But not quite ready for prime time.
``So you're not going to tell USA Today's travel writer about it?'' Joe asked. ``Oh, sure I will,'' I said. ``In about 10 years.''
Eric D. Randall, a business writer for USA Today, is a former Roanoke Times & World-News reporter.
by CNB