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                          History in your own backyard
                                        
Thanks to a random link to Cracked.com [1] from my friend Hoade (damn him for
sucking me into Cracked,com, but buy his book [2]!) I spent the past several
hours reading article upon article (like this hasn't happened [3] before [4])
when I came across this very interesting fact about Brevard, North Carolina
[5].

I lived there for only five years, but I still have a soft spot for the
place, even thirty years later. At the time, I thought it was very cool that
the town was the county seat for Transylvania County [6] (how cool is that?).
Little did I realize that there was a secret NSA (No Such Agency)
installation [7] just outside of town.

And now, I just learned that there was a shooting war between North Carolina,
South Carolina and Georgia over what later became Transylvania County [8],
known as The Walton War [9]. It started out as a place no one wanted but
after some urban development and accurate surveying, everybody wanted it, and
were willing to fight for it (even up till 1971!).

Why did I not learn this in school [10]?

I mean, I can understand not learning about it in Florida schools, but I
attended school in Brevard [11]! This was local history! With shooting and
stuff! And by local, I mean, passing a battle field on the way to my friend's
house (and a mile from the school [12] no less!).

What will I learn about Brevard next? Maybe mutant circus squirrels taking
over the town [13]? Hey … wait a second … 

[1] http://www.cracked.com/
[2] gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2011/12/20.1
[3] gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2008/01/15.1
[4] gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2011/10/10.1
[5] http://www.brevardnc.com/
[6] http://www.transylvaniacounty.org/
[7] http://www.mountainx.com/article/11656/Land-of-the-Sky-Spies
[8] http://www.cracked.com/article_18512_5-lesser-known-completely-ridiculous-american-civil-wars_p2.html?wa_user1=4&wa_user2=History&wa_user3=article&wa_user4=recommended
[9] http://www.chattoogariver.org/index.php?quart=W2005&req=walton
[10] http://www.tcsnc.org/cms/One.aspx?portalId=3155217&pageId=12691405
[11] http://es.tcsnc.org/
[12] http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=US-276+S&daddr=US-276+S%2FGreenville+Hwy&hl=en&geocode=FWl7GQIdT70R-w%3BFThPGQId0uMR-w&sll=35.218978,-82.721107&sspn=0.017039,0.024505&vpsrc=6&mra=me&mrsp=1,0&sz=16&ie=UTF8&ll=35.218978,-82.721043&spn=0.068156,0.098019&t=m&z=14
[13] http://whitesquirrels.com/about-white-squirrels/

Email Sean Conner at sean@conman.org

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