A me rican Es s e nc e
American Essence
M AY 2 0 2 2
FO R E V E RYO N E W H O LOV E S T H I S CO U N T RY
Earning His Spurs Rodney Howard is a rodeo champion ready to carry on the traditions of his forefathers
Gone RV-ing Why going on the road is a truly American way to experience freedom
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Contents Features 8 | The Unsung Guardian of the Zoo Horticulturist Dennis Carter creates a delicate balance of diverse flora to enliven zoo visitors and animal residents alike.
12 | Rodeo Star
13-year-old Rodney Howard is living up to his family heritage as an aspiring rodeo champion under the loving tutelage of his grandfather.
16 | An RV Way of Life
Desperate for a change of scenery? For many, an RV is more than a weekend getaway; it’s a one-way ticket to a simpler and happier life.
22 | Smooth Sailing in Maine
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A couple’s love for the sea came to fruition onboard a windjammer. Now, people can book the experience for themselves—with fine dining, relaxation, and more.
36 | Veterans’ Untold Stories
28 | A Frontier Path
40 | Why I Love America
A veteran soldier reflects on America’s hard-won freedom and its moral call to protect all that is right and virtuous.
Ever the dedicated learner, legendary marathoner Ted Corbitt applied his knowledge of running to improve his physiotherapy practice.
30 | Wheels in the Wilderness
History
A Love of Learning
42 | The Art of the Decoy
60 | Harmel Academy of the Trades
46 | The Plow That Changed History
64 | College vs. Trade School
Sprawling across three southern states, the historic travel corridor Natchez Trace Parkway is imbued with 10,000 years of history. Aislinn Graves wants to inspire fellow wheelchair users to explore the “wild places,” to improve their physical and mental health.
32 | A Tale of Two Dougs
In body and in spirit: a man goes on the trip of a lifetime to remember his dear friend.
34 | Route 66
From the whimsical Bottle Tree Ranch to the secret hideout of a notorious outlaw, follow our stop-by-stop guide to the iconic highway—full of history and wonder. 4
Independent filmmaker Larry Cappetto recounts stories of brave veterans to remind youngsters of the price of freedom.
We take a peek at the fascinating origin behind this artsy hunting tool, and its evolution over time. John Deere’s groundbreaking innovation is the perfect embodiment of the rags-to-riches American Dream.
50 | Worth the Fight
What were the motivations behind the brave men and women who powered America’s fight for independence?
54 | A Battle and a Proclamation
The bloody Battle of Antietam set the stage for President Abraham Lincoln to make a historic announcement.
58 | The Marathon Man
At this postsecondary school, mechanical skills, faith, and character development go hand in hand. While there is no surefire path to success, encouraging children to pursue their own passions can lead to greater fulfillment.
68 | The Indispensable Knots
Knot tying is more than a quick fix to a practical problem—it’s an underrated art. AMERI CAN ESSE NCE
22 74 | For the Love of Reading
Early literacy assessment combined with a creative approach to teaching phonics can better ensure that no child gets left behind.
78 | Memories All Tucked In
As the school year wanes, students are trading books for memory capsules full of dreams.
Arts & Letters 82 | Book Recommender
98 | Greek Revival in America
As a young nation, America admired the near-perfect designs of ancient Greek architecture that epitomized the strength and power of democracy.
The Great Outdoors 104 | Virginia Capital Trail
This scenic path takes cyclists on a historic tour through America’s oldest colonial sites, with sites of interest and restive spots galore.
“The Double Life of Katharine Clark” is a heart-thumping read on the fight against communist suppression. The novel “Red Burning Sky” is a moving World War II tale of rescue, courage, and honor.
110 | Backpacking Essentials
84 | The Vanderbilts’ Country Home
112 | Mount Rainier National Park
George Vanderbilt’s Biltmore House, in North Carolina, is a grand monument to America’s Gilded Age.
94 | The Gilded Châteaux
This Vanderbilt ode to opulence and style stood out from the sea of brownstone homes in post-Civil War New York.
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Are you ready to break out of that sedentary lifestyle and hit the road? Review our list of must-bring hiking gear to ensure your adventure is a success. Home to formidable glaciers and meadows teeming with life, this national park and the sleeping volcano at its core exemplify the great, yet terrifying, beauty of nature.
118 | A Serene Respite
An old estate and its lush grounds in Long Island, New York, provide time and space for contemplation.
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Features | Generation to Generation
Rodeo Star
Young Rodney Howard is continuing his family’s lineage of cowboy sporting, under loving guidance from his grandfather WRITTEN & PHOTOGRAPHED BY
Karim Shamsi-Basha
LEFT & ABOVE
13-year-old Rodney Howard enjoys riding and training with Grandpa Ronald every day.
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hirteen-year-old Rodney Howard looks like he galloped right out of a Western movie set. He’s sporting leather cowboy boots, wide-legged jeans, a belt with a huge silver buckle, a flannel corduroy long-sleeve shirt, and a worn-out cowboy hat. This is not your souvenir-shop cowboy hat. This hat has seen some action—rodeo circuit action. The outfit goes along with Rodney’s life dream of becoming a rodeo star. Before Rodney spoke about his dream, he practiced his lasso techniques with his grandfather and mentor, Ronald Howard. The two cowboys ran their horses back and forth in a field behind Ronald’s home in McCalla, Alabama. They swung the lassos over their heads, then threw them forward, as if to catch a calf that was trying to escape. Afterward, they settled on two ancient rocking chairs on the front porch.
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Rodney Howard looks like a 50-year-younger version of Grandpa Ronald. He has been competing on the rodeo circuit and has recently won four belt buckles and the International Miniature Rodeo Association World Senior Champion title. Grandpa Ronald is proud of his grandson. “I taught my grandkids to ride as soon as they were old enough to keep their heads up, about 1 year old. I learned to ride following my grandpa. Then, I went to trade school but kept on riding. I also started teaching other people how to ride.” Later in his life at the age of 40, Grandpa Ronald began competing in rodeo. He excelled in two sports: team penning and team roping—separating cattle into pens and catching cattle by the horn using a rope. He still competes, but his highest prize is not from rodeo competitions. “Now, I ride with my grandson. It’s the best thing in the world. How many grandpas can say they ride 13
Features | Generation to Generation
with their grandson for hours every day? I talk to him about everything, and I hope he is listening,” Ronald said, grinning at his grandson seated next to him. “We sometimes compete, Rodney and me, and I let him win.” They both laughed. But Ronald is not the only one who loves riding together. “I love riding with my grandpa. Not many his age can ride for five hours, but he’s fit and can do it. It’s cool,” Rodney said. Rodney travels all over the state of Alabama to compete with his grandfather. He loves many things about the sport, but riding a bucking horse (commonly used in rodeo events) is his favorite. “It is so much fun. Some might think it’s scary to ride a bucking horse bareback, but I love it,” Rodney said. In addition to bucking horses, Rodney competes in team roping. To him, rodeo is much more than a sport. “This’s my big dream that I’m following. I want to make the NFR one day—National Finals Rodeo. That’s the Super Bowl of rodeo,” Rodney said. Rodney pulled his phone out and showed his grandfather the last video of him competing on bucking horses. Ronald beamed with pride as he watched his grandson ride what appeared to be an insane animal running faster than a bullet while jumping in all directions. In the video, Rodney shakes his grandfather’s hand before going out to ride. Rodney grinned. “I always shake Grandpa’s hand before the horse takes off. It’s my good luck charm,” he said. Rodney pointed to the crazy horse trying to throw him off. “I love riding these bucking horses. Some might think it’s scary, but you get this insane feeling, and your heart beats super fast. Like I said, it’s my dream in life.” Then he gazed at his grandfather, adding, “After school.” Ronald grinned and patted his grandson on the shoulder. “School comes before the rodeo. He can attend a college that offers a rodeo scholarship.” Grandpa Ronald stood up and declared it was time to ride again, and Rodney followed his mentor toward the barn. On the front porch, the ancient rocking chairs slowly settled. They are there to usher in practice every time—every run consisting of fast horses running, lasso throwing, and big dreams coming true. • LEFT Rodney Howard loves the thrill of competition and is the winner of many awards on the rodeo circuit.
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Generation to Generation | Features
vvv “I always shake Grandpa’s hand before the horse takes off. It’s my good luck charm.” — RO DN EY HOWARD
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Features | Sailing
Smooth Sailing in Maine One windjammer becomes the culmination of a couple’s desire to share their love for sailing, and a dining destination WRITTEN BY
O
ne could say that the husband and wife co-captains of the J. & E. Riggin windjammer were destined to one day own and command this particu-
lar vessel. Justin Schaefer and Jocelyn Schmidt both grew up on the water. Justin, at just a year and a half old, was introduced to sailing by his captain father. The family would sail their 30-foot fiberglass sailboat along the south shore of Long Island most summers. Justin jokes that his mother wouldn’t allow his father to take Justin on the boat when he was under a year old. To keep the child safe, Justin’s father took a child’s seat that’s typically used on the back of bicycles and bolted it to the sailboat. “So when my father had to go forward or down below, or do any sort of boat handling, he would plop me into the seat and strap me in so he could take care of whatever needed handling,” Justin remembered.
Part 1: Setting Sail Growing up on a sailboat, Justin said, meant that boating, but most importantly sailing, was an important part of his childhood and teen years. At as young as 4 or 5, he was helping his father with the sailboat. In 2006, when he was 13, Justin’s dad found out about the Maine Windjammer Association, the largest group of windjammers and schooners in the United States. When the literature arrived, his father was drawn in particular to the J. & E. Riggin. “He liked the way she looked, how low and sleek she was. He thought it just looked like a really good sailing boat,” Justin said. His father booked a cabin for a weeklong cruise for the family, and 22
Jill Dutton
Justin “fell in love with it.” “I had always been sailing, but this was so much different from what I was used to; fundamentally it’s all the same, but everything was so much bigger. It’s just all block and tackle [a pulley system], manual, no winches [a mechanical tool for controlling sails], gaff rig, wood—it was just fascinating. And the crew to me back then—I just idolized them. They were like these rock star figures, the captains and the crew. And I was drawn to it, captivated, and sucked in by the J. & E. Riggin.” The regal schooner was originally an oyster dredger built in 1927. Rebuilt to accommodate guests in 1977, and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1991, the J. & E. Riggin fits 24 guests and six crew members. After that first season aboard the schooner, Justin’s family returned the following year and sailed multiple times as guests. Soon, Justin was working as an apprentice on the J. & E. Riggin, then a deckhand, and later as mate. The season he was made mate was also the year he met Jocelyn on the docks. Both were 21, and Jocelyn was working on education boats teaching sailing. She got her start in teaching history onboard sailboats during her college sophomore year, when she studied abroad with a friend. They boarded the boat in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and island-hopped around the Caribbean, where Jocelyn said she studied the history of the islands while sailing for three weeks. She became enamored by the idea of a boat as a teaching environment. “I had been studying a more traditional education, but I realized that experiential learning was so much more effective for me. Learning on a boat, you can see practically why you need to AMERI CAN ESSE NCE
Justin Schaefer and his wife, Jocelyn Schmidt, both grew up on the water. They are now co-captains of this windjammer.
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History | Innovators
The Plow That Changed History An indebted blacksmith named John Deere created a better tool that eventually spawned a modern big business WRITTEN BY
David W. Swafford
D
roves of Easterners were moving westward in 1836, searching for a fresh start and submitting to their faith in the future. Among them was a determined but heavily indebted 32-year-old Vermont blacksmith who had temporarily left behind his pregnant wife and four young children to try his luck on the distant frontier. His name was John Deere. In his native Green Mountain State, this man had lost his father as a young boy. At age 17, he apprenticed under Captain Benjamin Lawrence of Middlebury to learn blacksmithing. By 1829, married to Damarius Lamb and living in Leicester, twice he chose to build a shop of his own, and twice he saw his business burn to the ground. He built a third shop, but by then creditors began calling on him. With the real and present threat of debtor’s prison hanging over his shoulders, the frontier beckoned him. “The immediate inspiration [for the big move] was [his] being arrested for debt by a Leicester deputy sheriff on Nov. 7, 1836, and discovering after bailing himself out that there was a lien on his property,” reported the Rutland Herald on the bicentennial of this blacksmith’s birth. 46
An illustration of an early prototype of a John Deere plow. ABOVE LEFT
LEFT A man of grit and determination, John Deere worked tirelessly to increase farming efficiency.
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vvv He was a man of undeniable determination and grit. Having little choice, he left for the frontier in December and settled in Grand Detour, Illinois, a hundred miles west of Chicago, where the Rock River makes a stark bend from the south to the west. His courage demonstrated that America really is home of the brave, generation after generation, in war and in peace. At Grand Detour, he found his skills in immediate demand. And, as fortune would have it, by the following spring he had struck on a simple idea that would change the world. ISSU E 5 | M AY 2 02 2
The Enduring Legacy Today, the John Deere brand of machinery is as well-known as Ford cars, Kellogg’s cereal, and Dove soap. In 186 years, the company Deere launched has grown into an international manufacturer and distributor of agricultural, construction, lawn & garden, and forestry equipment. Currently valued at $44 billion, it takes its place among the Fortune 100 and employs 75,000 people around the world. To think—such a corporate behemoth began from Deere’s humble solution to a vexing problem that faced all Midwestern farmers in the early to mid-19th century. He learned that tillers in the heartland faced a problem their New England brethren never faced: The thicker and loamier soil of the Midwest, topped by stubborn grasses, clung to the plow share and gummed up the blade. Farmers on the prairie had to make frequent 47
stops to clean off their plows, signifying a considerable loss of time (hence, money). Not only did the conventional plows clog up, but they were made heavy in order to furrow into the soil. Being a man of undeniable determination and grit, Deere seemed called to solve that vexing problem. One biographer says, “In personal appearance Mr. Deere was large, well proportioned, strongly built, and had been blessed with strength capable of almost unlimited endurance. In his better days, he would stand at his anvil from five in the morning till nine at night, building plows, shoeing horses, etc. … His feelings were near the surface, and he was singularly sensitive to pathos.” On the way toward developing his widely received all-steel plow, he came up with his most enduring legacy: the self-scouring moldboard. He knew cast-iron could be highly polished by rigorous grinding, sanding, and buffing, and he applied that knowledge to his plows. He fash48
ioned the blades from kite-shaped pieces of cast iron, 12 inches across, which he would bend concave and reinforce. On the bottom edge he added a strip of sharpened steel for better penetration of the earth. The result was a much lighter blade that could cut into the most challenging of sods. Furthermore, the soil would not stick to a concave surface so highly polished. Deere had found a way to immediately ease the farmer’s burden and save tremendous time in the field. During this stage of his operations, he was supported by an associate-benefactor named Leonard Andrus, the founder and leading figure of Grand Detour. Andrus lent him the money to succeed. In 1838, he sold 3 plows. In 1841, 75. In 1843, 400. At that point, he paid off his Vermont creditors and signaled for his family to come to Illinois. The Company’s Growth In 1847, the Deere family moved to Moline, Illinois, on the Mississippi River. The move facilAMERI CAN ESSE NCE
Innovators | History
vvv Deere found a way to immediately ease the farmer’s burden and save tremendous time.
ABOVE RIGHT An early version of John Deere’s single bottom moldboard plow made around 1845 in Grand Detour, Ill. This plow is on display at The Henry Ford Museum. ABOVE The Deere & Company logo in use from 1876 to 1912.
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itated access to greater and easier transportation of his supplies and end-products. For a few years, he went into partnership with R.M. Tate and John M. Gould. At about that time, the United States started producing slabs of cast plow steel. The very first order was filled by John Deere. The first year in Moline, the partnership produced 700 plows. By 1850, 1,600. By 1857, 10,000. In that year, Deere bought out his partners. In 1858, John brought in his son Charles. Neil Dahlstrom, Branded Properties and Heritage Manager at Deere & Co., co-authored “The John Deere Story: A Biography of Plowmakers John and Charles Deere.” From that work, readers learn of the extraordinary team that John and Charles Deere were. Whereas the father was all about product development, product quality, and company integrity, the son was all about business growth and industry matters. Together, they began growing the company through acquisitions. The next major development for Deere & Co. after the plow was the tractor, and from there,
many other things. John would outlive his wife, Damarius. A couple years after her death, he married her sister, Lucenia. Hiram M. Drache of Illinois Periodicals Online, a digital imaging project at the Northern Illinois University Libraries, reminds us that that to till an acre of land with a hand-held spade required 96 hours. To plow an acre with a crude wooden plow took 24 hours. With John Deere’s first plow, it took between 5 and 8 hours. And by 1998, a 425-horsepower John Deere 9400 four-wheeldrive pulling a 15-bottom plow (15 blades) could till an acre in just over three minutes. According to Drache: Never in history has an acre of land been moldboard plowed with less physical effort by the plowman. Never has the soil been better tilled, nor has it produced more. Today the work is performed 1,800 times faster than the person who spaded the acre, and 122 times faster than with the plow of the mid-1800s. Everyone who enjoys the abundant supply of inexpensive food should be grateful for John Deere and his plow. Dahlstrom says the last Deere family member to serve as CEO was William Hewitt, who retired in 1982. Hewitt was married to Patricia Wiman, the great-great-granddaughter of John Deere. The company’s first direct public offering of stock was in 1952. Deere & Co. was incorporated and began trading as its present-day legal entity on August 1, 1958. • 49
Arts & Letters | Architecture
The Vanderbilts’ Country Home The Biltmore House in North Carolina is a grand monument to America’s Gilded Age WRITTEN BY
Bob Kirchman
The Biltmore House façade with mountains in the background.
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Architecture | Arts & Letters
G
eorge Washington Vanderbilt II, the youngest child of William Henry Vanderbilt, first visited the mountains of North Carolina at the age of 25. He fell in love with the highlands near Asheville and returned the following year, with his mother, Maria
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Louisa Vanderbilt, to begin purchasing land for a country home. Maria Vanderbilt was seeking a place with a mild climate and healing mountain springs, and George was looking for a “place in the country.” When most people think of a country home, they think of a modest dwelling that requires
minimal upkeep. When you are the son of the richest man in America, and the grandson of one of America’s most prominent entrepreneurs, you might have grander visions. Young Vanderbilt wanted to create an estate that would produce much of its own food—a model of sustainability. Looking at the distressed condition of much of the Appalachian forest, George wanted to create a planned approach to the stewardship of these lands. Enlisting the help of prominent landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted and pioneer forester Gifford Pinchot, he laid out a model estate. He named it “Biltmore”
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Arts & Letters | Architecture
LEFT In an 1892 photo, (L to R) purchasing agent and agricultural consultant Edward Burnett, architect Richard Morris Hunt, landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, George Washington Vanderbilt, and architect Richard Howland Hunt, son of Richard Morris Hunt. BELOW The Italian Garden, with the Biltmore’s library terrace seen in the background. RIGHT The Walled Garden, with a conservatory on its grounds. BELOW RIGHT Palms dominate the Winter Garden.
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after the Dutch town of “Bildt,” the family’s ancestral home in the Old World, and “more,” an Anglo-Saxon word for rolling countryside. Biltmore’s 125,000 acres became a model of stewardship, guided by the hands of Olmsted and Pinchot. Many residents of the area found employment tending these beautiful gardens, and a village grew on the property. Vanderbilt hired noted architect Richard Morris Hunt to design the buildings of his estate. Hunt and Biltmore traveled to Europe, seeking inspiration and furnishings. The village and its centerpiece, All Souls Episcopal Church, stables, shops, and dairy were conceived by Hunt, the great Beaux-Arts architect. For the church building, Hunt chose a Romanesque Gothic style. The village and shops were modeled after a small English village. For George Vanderbilt’s residence, he looked to another influence—the Loire Valley of France, which was home to some marvelous 15th- and 16th-century châteaux. Blois, Chenonceau, and Chambord became Hunt’s models as he crafted a home ISSU E 5 | M AY 2 02 2
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American Essence FO R E V E RYO N E W H O LOV E S T H I S CO U N T RY
Celebrating America’s contribution to humanity. American Essence magazine focuses on traditional American values and great American stories. www.AmericanEssence.com PUBLIS H ED BY
BRIGHT Magazine Group