Union, Hash, and Gone With The Wind

i've just come back from a really cool trip down to south carolina with my family. it was the 100th anniversary of tabernacle baptist church, which is the church that my grandfather grew up in, and also where my grandmother's father preached for 8 years. they had a big homecoming, so we went down with grandmommy and also took the opportunity to see some family that i've never met before. i'll try my best to chronicle the events without giving you the paul hamm novel. here goes.

the first thing that happened before i even left new jersey was that i realized i had booked my flight for the wrong day. the plan was that mom was going to drive down to virginia on wednesday, and then thursday she and aunt kim and grandmommy were going to drive to south carolina so they could pick up tiffany and me at the airport early friday morning. i threw a small wrench in those plans when i discovered that i booked my flight for thursday instead of friday. because i didn't feel like waiting at the airport in charlotte all day thursday, i drove down with my mom on wednesday instead. the drive down to union the next day was pretty uneventful, so i'll skip that part.

thursday night we got to the bed and breakfast in union, which was the most beautiful place i have ever seen in my whole life. it looks like tara from gone with the wind. there were five bedrooms. mom and grandmommy had one, aunt kim had one, uncle dave and aunt mary had one, and i had one that i was sharing with tiffany. we basically had the run of the place. friday morning i got up extra early with aunt kim to go get tiffany in charlotte, which was totally worth the early morning because after that we went to bojangles. (i am going to take a little detour here to tell you about bojangles. they only exist in the south. if you want an amazing breakfast biscuit sandwich, this is the place. mcdonald's pales in comparison.) after we picked up tiff we met mom, grandmommy, uncle dave and aunt mary at the smokehouse grill in jefferson for lunch. we ate with grandmommy's first cousin, and his son and daughter and grandson. the men all have the same name. harley jackson rushing. coolest name ever, but i digress. after we left there we drove around and looked at places that were connected to my family. we saw walter gulledge road, gulledge cemetery road, jake gulledge road, and a cemetery that was chock full of gulledges, hancocks, and rivers'. i think at one time or another my family may have ruled that town. i also found out that my ancestors were pirates! we spent most of the rest of the day getting lost going back to union.

saturday was a really fun day. we went to my mom's cousin jay's house and had lunch with his family. his two youngest sons had a good time with me and tiffany. his wife robin made some killer banana pudding. after we left there we headed back to union to see the house that my great-grandparents lived in, and the park where my grandparents met.

sunday was the big homecoming at tabernacle. the service was really fun. there were a ton of people there, and they did a drama where people wore period clothes and talked about the founding of the church. they were pretty good actors! the music in the service was awesome. they had a big choir and everyone was really into it. we got up and danced! it was nice to be at a church where people in the congregation were really involved. it was very lively and fun. i got to meet a lot of people that grandmommy knew when she lived in union, and a couple of people that mom played with as a kid. the food at the lunch was amazing. there was hash (which i cannot describe to you. you need to take a trip down there and go to midway barbecue. it's worth it) and sweet potatoes and a ton of banana pudding!

the trip back was nice, and i managed to convince mom that leaving grandmommy's to drive back to nj at 11:30pm was a bad idea, which was a good thing because the next morning when we started out my sparkplugs kept misfireing and we had to stop at a dealer in maryland to get my car fixed. all in all, it was a very nice trip and a really cool experience.

this is the inn we stayed at. amazing!

tabernacle baptist church

my great-grandfather, Rev. J.D. Gulledge

historical drama at church