All Posts By

Joscelyn Dunlop

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1934: The Last Rebel Yell

In 1934, FDR was the first President to visit Roanoke County, Virginia, since George Washington had 200 years before as a young surveyor and soldier. FDR was to race through Salem (our home town) on his way to honor the new World War I veterans’ hospital nearby. The locals crowded about a right turn where his car had to slow…
Joscelyn Dunlop
March 8, 2024
Blog

The Fire That Failed

I’ve never written of this episode in the history of Marion County, Fla., but then, I don’t think anyone else has either.  However, so much time has passed, with most of the witnesses long gone, I feel it’s time to mention it for posterity’s sake. Back in the late 1960s, there was a very active chapter of the Weathermen in…
Joscelyn Dunlop
August 19, 2020
Blog

Florida Cowboys

Reading on the Abbeville site articles about the South and the West, I was reminded of my newspaper piece on Florida as the Wild Wild (South) East, which had a popular run.  It was inspired by a Frederic Remington article describing his adventures in Florida with cowboys in the 1880s.   Our county (Marion, named for Gen. Francis Marion) was as…
Joscelyn Dunlop
December 21, 2017
Blog

Explaining Trump to the Brits

Of the four Christmas cards I received from the UK this past December, three of them had the same request:  explain the Trump phenomenon. This is my reply: America has had a bloodless revolution.  It remains to be seen what will really happen once the New People take over Washington.  No doubt much can (and maybe will) go wrong, but…
Joscelyn Dunlop
February 21, 2017
Blog

The Birthday Surprise

Martha Jane Davis (Campbell) was born in Reed Creek, Henry County, Virginia in 1840. Her mother died when Little Mattie was two, and, her Turner grandparents (who lived nearby) took her to raise. A pretty child with auburn curls and gray eyes, she soon became the spoiled darling of her grandmother, who preferred being called "Grahma"(Grandmere) possibly because she had…
Joscelyn Dunlop
November 12, 2015
Review Posts

An Effective Diplomat

One of America's most successful diplomats of the 20th century, was Horace C. Holmes, who spent over 30 years in the diplomatic service. Most of that time was spent in what are now called Third World countries, where he became known for being able to change the minds of those he was trying to help---even though most were firmly convinced…
Joscelyn Dunlop
July 21, 2015