Centennial Years

[showmegal]

Does anybody have enough age on them to remember the Centennial years? I was alive but still in diapers so, needless to say, don't have a whole lot of memories of things back then. Would appreciate hearing about anything anyone recalls. Thanks!

[ole]

Anything in particular?

[hoosier]

Showmegal, I assume you're talking about 1961-65, the years when the centennial of the Civil War would have been celebrated.

I would have been 12-16 years old at that time, but I can't say I remember much about any Civil War centennial events. I was living in upstate New York at the time, which put me a long way from Civil War sites of any significance.

In those days, there weren't nearly as many television outlets as there are today. You didn't have a History Channel or a Learning Channel or a Discovery Channel constantly trying to fill out their schedules with programming focusing on historical events. I think all we could get where I lived was three TV stations - ABC, NBC, and CBS. Maybe PBS was around, too, but I'm not too sure about that.

I'm sure the coverage will be vastly more extensive when the sesquicentennial begins in another six years.

[sockknitter]

showmegal and hoosier, I was about that age in 1961-1965 also, living in various small towns in the upper midwest. Some of the towns weren't even 100 years old. I do remember hearing about a few nearby towns celebrating their centennials around then. This involved the men growing beards and the women making pseudo-1860s dresses & bonnets for parades or contests. That seemed to be the extent of remembering history: local only! The towns' cemeteries held graves of WBTS (almost always called Civil War in those times and places) veterans but no veterans were living at that time to be honored. I really don't remember any marking of the WBTS except a few articles in national magazines like Life.

The only connection to the war I was aware of at that time was one great grandfather (then dead) who was in the memories of still living descendants, but they hardly ever talked about his military experiences. His 3 years in the army were but a small portion of his long life.

I'm sure it would have been very different if battles had been fought where I grew up!

[showmegal]

Thanks, everyone. I guess it was mainly in Virginia that attention was drawn to it. I grew up in Northern Virginia and my folks had saved several brochures printed from 1961-63. Some are the tour maps for Manassas, Fredericksburg, the Custis-Lee mansion, etc. One is titled Virginia Civil War Centennial, another is for Virginia's CW Centennial Center in Richmond, which must be long gone. There are a couple about the Shenandoah Valley, too. My mom, now 78, doesn't remember much about it, and my dad died before I became interested. The way life goes, I guess.

[ole]

I'll have to go with Sockknitter and Hoosier, I don't remember any real hoopla until Ken Burns rolled onto the scene. Maybe in some of the eastern and southern states, but South Dakota was a part of Dakota Territory which had recently been part of Minnesota Territory, no hoopla there.

At the time I was living in Iowa. Any hoopla was overshadowed by the deaths of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, and Richie Valenz. Sorry.
Ole

[sgtcsa]

Showmegal,
I must tell you, that I too was brought up and raised in Northern Va. The Centennial of 1961-65 was something I remember just slightly, As I went into the military during that exact period, that is why the centennial means a lot to me, yet, not a lot about the activities that the State of Virginia participated in. I purchesed a 'Civil War Centennial' tag for my car, just before enlisting in the Air Force, and I still have it, by the way. My Mother worked for the County of Fairfax, I was able to get one for a reduced price, and just being out of High School, and remembering much about the conflict, learning it not only in school, but stories from my ancestors, living in the Shenandoah Valley.

So, as for remembering the centennial, I do, and I don't. I spent all four years away from my State, serving in Oklahoma, and then in the U.K. But, there were things I did know about some of the activities that took place throughout the South. My parents sent me some newspaper clipings about some of the events that took place in our State, and I still have those, as well. So, even though I didn't see any in person, I did find out a little about some of those celebrations that took place.

With regards,
SgtCSA

[larry_cockerham]

I was in a small town in the mountains of western North Carolina. Not much action during the Civil War in that area and as I recall folks weren't too excited. Mostly worried about President Kennedy in 1963. I was a junior in high school. We had lots of televisions but no big celebration that I recall.