Staunton, Virginia- Thursday, October 15, 2026

      It's the second weekend in this month of craziness, and Scott is off again.  This time, he's headed back to Staunton, Virginia, for the first time in probably 12 years.   He and his parents are off to see a Statler Brothers show.  Sort of.

     It’s hard to overstate how important the Statler Brothers have been in Scott’s life. As the Statlers wrote in their song about the Blackwood Brothers, “We bought up every album, every picture, every single. Their autographs were the only things free.” We’ve got piles of souvenirs with their name likenesses on them. In fact, if Scott wrote everything it was possible to write about them here, Julie would probably revive her old accusation of him and his family being “Statler Stalkers.” Suffice it to say that he has probably seen them in concert more than 20 times, and his parents have probably seen them more than twice that number. Probably the most memorable times among these were the several trips we took to Staunton, Virginia, their hometown, to see them in their annual “Happy Birthday U.S.A.” celebrations and in the off-season to tour their offices.

     Staunton ended up being a key part of Scott and Julie’s lives together. She worked in the Staunton City Schools for three of her most enjoyable years as a teacher. Scott worked in two bookstores there and ended up eventually seeing all four of the Statlers come in. Most notably, we spent two years living in a house directly across from their offices, which they had converted from their former elementary school. However, we haven’t been back to Staunton in about a dozen years, going back to 2014.

     During the COVID shutdown, Don Reid, lead-singer and chief song writer for the Statlers, published a book called, The Music of the Statler Brothers: An Anthology.  Scott was excited to get. In it, Don re-listened to every track that they had recorded and reminisced about the origins of each of the songs. Earlier this year, Scott saw that “Shenanarts,” a community group in Staunton, was going to be performing a musical based on that book, featuring the songs of the Statlers. The show is called “Some I Wrote- A Musical Story of the Songs of the Statler Brothers” and it is going to be performed for eight nights only. His parents were very interested in it too, and when tickets went on sale (on July 4th, appropriately enough), Scott’s dad was able to get tickets for opening night. It was soon completely sold out for all of the performances and people are supposed to be coming from at least 25 states to be there.

     Scott took two personal days off of school this time and left the librarian in charge to teach the students about databases. After school on Wednesday, Julie, Abby and Buttercup took him out to his parents’ house. He got to have one of his favorites, meatloaf, for dinner with them. They spent a little while watching some videos that Scott found on the Internet that were promoting the show, but mostly he spent his evening grading school work he had collected so that he wouldn’t have to worry about it this weekend.

     We got up early, got ready, and were on the road before 7:00 am.  Dad drove the whole way.  Scott spent the time tucked in the backseat.   Scott was a little puzzled why no music was played on the trip down, but he was content to not have to drive this time.  He read comics and a book he brought and dozed off a few times instead.  The GPS took us a familiar way for the first half of the trip, but around halfway through Pennsylvania it took us a new way.   We came through Cumberland, Maryland, which looked like it might be a cute little town along its canal, and then through parts of West Virginia that haven't seen before.  We arrived in Staunton about the time we had originally thought. 

     It's funny how little Scott recognizes but at the same time, how much he recognizes.  We came into town and passed Don's house.   Scott pointed out the post office where Julie scraped the curb and got a flat tire.   We're staying at the hotel across from the Hardee's that we often went to, and in fact we went there for dinner.  We then drove through Gypsy Hill Park, and past the old Statler offices and "our" house.

      Shenanarts is located in the building where Lee High used to be, only a short walk from our old house.   The performance is in what must have been the high school's auditorium.  Shortly after 6:00, we parked in the lot below and climbed the many steps in front because we saw that people were already starting to arrive for the 7:00 show.    When Dad purchased the tickets, he got us seats near the back on the right, because he knew Don, Harold and their families had sat in that area when they went to see their sons perform.  Shortly before the show was to start, Scott noted that the entire row to our left, in the center, was empty even though the show was supposed to be sold out.  Sure enough, Don and his wife Debbie showed up shortly before the show was to begin, along with a bunch of other people to fill in that row.  (It was about that time that the usher moved us out of our seats to make room for four more people.  We're pretty sure we were in the right seats, but he was obviously trying to hurry people in and the show was about to start, so it wasn't worth trying to argue.  We could still see Don from where we were.  Maybe Julie's right.  Maybe we are Statler Stalkers.  Maybe.)  Scott did get a low quality picture of him when Don was standing at the back of the theater during intermission.

    We had a chance to see the scenery as we waited for the show to start.  It was obviously designed to emphasize both the Statlers and their Staunton roots.  To our left was the original bench and street light that were featured on the Statlers' television show.  They were standing in front of a panel that was meant to look like Dad's favorite duck pond in Gyspy Hill Park.  To our right was a painting of Wright's Dairy Rite (aka "Hamburger Dan's"), and a table and set of chairs that were probably on loan from them.  In the center was a street of important buildings in Staunton, including Pufferbellies toy store, the Marquis building with its round tower, and Trinity Episcopal Church.  In front of that backdrop was the stage for the seven piece band, which included red, white and blue stands in front of them, just as if they were the Cowboy Symphony Orchestra behind the Statlers.  

     Finally there were nine stools staggered in front of the band for the main performers.  There were four men and five women, which was an interesting mix.  They each had a chance to be the featured singer on a song, and there were many combinations of quartets that were made and more harmonizing behind that.  The singer that sounded most like a Statler was the tall bass singer, but it's important to note that tonight wasn't really about doing impressions of the Statlers.  It was a chance to re-interpret the songs, in much the same way that Daily and Vincent or Wilson Fairchild had done.  The addition of female voices meant that they could often carry the high tenors of Lew or Jimmy, even though there was a male that could take that role as well.  Some songs lend themselves well to women's voices.  "New York City" became a duet between two characters, for example, and "Who Am I To Say" was sung with the pronouns that Harold's daughter Kim had originally written it with.  "My Only Love" and "More Than a Name on a Wall" also worked great with female voices.

     The format of the show was well chosen.   They opened with "The Statler Brothers Song" as written by Will and Langdon Reid.  What followed was basically a list of the Statler Brothers' greatest hits, in roughly chronological order.  The first act was from the era with Lew, and after the intermission, the second act focused on the era with Jimmy.   Before nearly every song, the performers used Don's own words to explain its story.  The words were taken directly from Don's book, though they were sometimes edited for brevity or directness.   Each of the performers took turns reciting his words, and they often changed who was speaking, but it never really got confusing.  The result was a beautiful framing device to place each of the important songs in context, and that made each one all the more meaningful.  Because of the new emphasis that this reading style placed on Don's words, it wasn't hard to rediscover new aspects of the song.  Scott has certainly read and heard the story of the line "And Bobby, I'd love to see him again," from "Carry Me Back," but the way it was told tonight made it stand out as something new.

     There was a very large television screen that hung over the stage.  It was usually used to list the title and writer of each song, but occasionally it also showed pictures and video of the Statlers themselves from various eras.  It best use, though, was when it illustrated songs like, "Pictures," "Do You Remember These," "The Class of '57" and "Whatever Happened to Randolph Scott," where the images were chosen to illustrate the lyrics.  During "More Than a Name on the Wall," the screen showed names and pictures of Staunton and Augusta County's men who were lost.  

    The show was ultimately very satisfying and worth the trip.  It lasted from 7:00 to well after 9:30, and included something like 34 songs.  When we checked earlier today, the previously sold out show on Friday had a few tickets available because of cancellations, though they were single seats, scattered throughout.   When we got back to the hotel, we checked to see if there were still any available.  There was only one.  Scott grabbed it, so he will be returning tomorrow night.

 

Plattsburg & Valcour Bay- Sunday, October 11, 2026

      The reason for this weekend in the month of craziness is the 250th Anniversary of the Battle of Valcour Bay (a.k.a., the Battle of Valcour Island).  Here's a good example of how educational these weekends are for Scott.  Truth be told, he didn't even recognize the name of this battle before this weekend, but has found it to be an extremely interesting and even important engagement in the Revolution. 

     The situation was this: General Guy Carleton, the British governor of Quebec, had repulsed an invasion of his province by the Americans and the Patriots had left there broken and in shambles.  Carleton used the opportunity to invade up the corridor of Lake Champlain.  American General Benedict Arnold, before he had become the infamous traitor, worked to build a small American fleet on that lake in order to help defend it.  Arnold knew the British had more guns and more boats, so he tried to set a trap for the British.  He positioned his boats in a line across the channel between the mainland and Valcour Island, and then tried to bait the British to engage him in the narrow passage, where the British wouldn't be able to bring all of their guns into the action.  Ultimately, the Americans lost, and many ships that weren't sunk in the ensuing battle were eventually destroyed in an effort to keep them from being captured.  Arnold had lost here, but had bought the Americans a little bit more time.  Upon reaching Fort Ticonderoga, Carleton decided not to try to face the winter here and turned back towards Quebec.  That delayed the capture of that fort until the next year, 1777, and the Americans used that time to continue to build their forces into what they would eventually use to force the British surrender at the Battle of Saratoga.

       By chance, Scott was able to get a hotel that was walking distance from the beach where this morning's activities were going to be.  We left there car parked there when we left the hotel at about 9:00 am.  We crossed the mostly empty main street to a convenience store- a "Stewart's Shops," a chain that Emma remembered from her time in the Hudson Valley.   We had a "second breakfast" there before heading to the Plattsburgh City Beach.

     What we will probably remember most from this morning is the wind and the cold.  We were just wearing hoodies but we would have been justified in wearing winter coats instead.  The wind was so powerful that the re-enactment was almost cancelled entirely because the boats couldn't make it out onto the lake against the heavy gusts.  Really, we had come down to the beach too early, since the doings weren't scheduled to begin until 10:00, but the hotel and car were just far enough away to make it impractical for us to walk back there and return again.

     The local Daughter's of the American Revolution chapter sponsored today's ceremony as they have every year since 1895.  In many ways, it was an oddly planned ceremony.  It was as if they weren't sure where the people were going to gather for it.  A large tent had seats for a band and a stage for the people who were taking part in the ceremony, but they were facing the beach.  No one wanted to stand down on the beach this morning with the cold winds blowing.   Nearly everyone there was standing between the tent and a large building that offered a tiny bit of a shelter from the wind.   Before the ceremony began, the master of ceremonies who was hosting had the common sense to turn the podium to face the crowd, but the loudspeakers were still facing the lake.  

    The US Navy Band Northeast from Newport, Rhode Island, played for about a half hour before the speakers began.  The Daughters of the American Revolution and some local politicians had turns to speak.   The mayor of Plattsburgh seemed to be a bit of a goofball.  He couldn't be found when it was his turn to speak, and when he finally did show up he was probably the only person in the crowd who was wearing shorts!  The honor guard of the American Legion post was dressed in Revolutionary War uniforms that didn't look too bad, but the were wearing modern shoes and glass and carrying rifles that were from a much later time period.  They raised the flag and fired a salute before taps was played and two bagpipers played Amazing Grace.  Scott was excited to see hear Stanley Ransom sing some of his song, "The Battle of Valcour Bay."   Scott had only just discovered this song earlier this week and had loaded onto his mp3 player this morning.  Ransom, who was known as the "Connecticut Peddler," and has a number of different CDs available with different themes.  He is elderly now and needed assistance while standing at the podium.  He made the wise choice of only singing four of the 13 verses of the song and didn't try to play his guitar in the cold.

    A re-enactment, of sorts, followed the ceremony.  We had watched the re-enactors struggling with their boats through the ceremony, and no one seemed surprised that they weren't going to make it very far out onto the lake.  There were about a half dozen small boats, a few with masts, but most with oars.  All but one stayed in the shallow area where it would have been deep enough to wade in if anyone would have been silly enough to try it on this cold day.  They fired small cannons in turn, apparently representing Arnold's line, while the boat further out on the lake must have been the British fleet.   People began walking down to the beach to get a close look at the boats, and since they were somewhat blocking the view of the people who stayed back on the sidewalk, so we decided to join them down on the beach.  We got a really close look at the boats by doing that, closer than spectators usually get at a re-enactment.  Scott was a little disappointed that he wasn't going to hear the historical narration from that distance, but after we returned to the tent area, we found that he was only just beginning the "good part" about the battle, so we stayed and listened for most of the rest of that.

     We decided to leave before the commemoration had fully concluded and went back to a restaurant we had passed on the walk down- Gus' Red Hots.  It was a quirky local place, and we welcomed the chance to sit and warm up.  The food was not bad, but not great.  Emma got a soup that was so bland that she said the only thing that she could taste was the oyster crackers.  Scott got a red hot with "Michigan Sauce" (which was like chili without the beans), mustard and onions, along with a second hot dog that was covered with macaroni and cheese with bacon.  They weren't bad, but we don't expect we'd come back here if we ever get to Plattburgh again.

    It was now about 1:00 and Scott had another stop he definitely wanted to go to.  We set the GPS for the Peru Boat Launch about 15 miles south from where we were.  Here was the spot closest to the location of the actual battle.  Across the water, we could see the distinctive looking lighthouse on Valcour Island.  The actual island can only be visited if you have your own boat or kayak to get there.  But here at the boat launch we were looking across the waters where the action took place.  A monument to the battle was recently relocated here and Scott wanted to get a picture of himself pointing at the October 11th date.  He took some time to read the historical panels nearby and talked with a friendly couple who had taken a Benedict Arnold themed trip.  

     Scott had one more stop on the want-to-do list, but we weren't sure if we were going to have time to try it.  The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum was almost an hour and a half away in Vermont, and closed at 4:00, but they seemed to have a lot of exhibits and activities related to the Battle of Valcour Island.  It would be close and would postpone our arrival back in Cheektowaga to probably close to midnight, but Scott decided to try it.  Just before the bridge to Vermont, Scott saw the sign for the state park that had the remains of Crown Point.  Scott swerved into the park to take a quick peek at the ruins of the fort here.  It was built by the British in the French and Indian War and was an important fortification in the Revolution as well.  Scott didn't know if there was anything left to see there, but he was pleasantly surprised to find very impressive looking ruins and fortifications.  But if he stayed too long here, we wouldn't make it to the Vermont museum before they closed.

      We arrived at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum shortly after 3:00 so we would have less than an hour to explore the site.  It was much bigger than we had expected from the pictures we had seen, and they were wrapping up a busy day of activities about the Battle of Valcour Island.  They had many people there because of that and were making use of a field across the street for overflow parking.  We entered through the gift shop.  Admission is based on donations because the site is run by the state of Vermont.  The first exhibit building that we saw was probably the one we wanted to see anyway.  It was filled with relics that archaeologists have recovered from Arnold's fleet.   Some wooden pieces of his vessels were there including one from the Royal Savage that still had a musket ball embedded in it.  By far, the most dramatic exhibit in this building was the pieces of the cannon from the gunboat New York.  The cannon had exploded in the battle and killed a young lieutenant named Thomas Rogers and seriously injured to others.  Several of the pieces of the cannon were recovered by archeologists and are mounted in the central display of this collection.  The final piece of the cannon was recovered this past July.  Throughout this building, panels describe the phases of the battle and brilliantly colored paintings illustrate many of its notable moments.

     In the center of the grounds of the museum, near a very large map of Lake Champlain that had been unrolled for the day's events, was the replica of the gunboat, Philadelphia.  The original Philadelphia was recovered from the lake bottom and is now displayed in the Smithsonian Museum of American History in Washington as the oldest surviving vessel in the US Navy.  The Philadelphia II was built in 1989, and until recently, still sailed Lake Champlain.  A failure of the ice protection caused it to sink into the lake a few winters ago.  While the ship was raised again, it had been heavily damaged.  Today, visitors can climb onto the boat and see it up close.  There were a lot of friendly, knowledgeable interpreters that wanted to talk to us too.  We learned that these two boats had no keel (and Emma was proud that she knew what a keel was), and this fact gave both of the boats a flat bottom but also made it a very slow vessel.   The docents pointed out the mast of the boat, which could be seen a little ways away, laying horizontally,  as well as the oars that would have to be used if they needed to go into the wind.

     At four o'clock, we called Julie from the parking lot and let her know we were starting the long trek home.  The drive was made difficult because it gets dark so early now, and just as we were entering the Adirondack Mountain region, it started to rain.  Scott stopped at a convenience store in Lake Pleasant to use the bathroom and found a long line for it.  While he was waiting, he had a slice of pizza for dinner even though it tasted like it had been rotating on the rack for a while.  There was an interesting board where people could record moose sightings.  We gassed up here but had lost about a half an hour while we were here.   We didn't see any big animals, thankfully, but Scott saw about a half-dozen young turkeys and Emma saw a red fox.  When we got to the Thruway, Scott was tired and Emma offered to drive.  That was good, but she was not used to our big car and the sensitivity of the controls.  A state police officer pulled us over just east of Clarence, apparently because she was swerving enough that she kept crossing the white lines.   He seemed to understand and let us go with a warning.   We got back home about 11:30, quite tired.