We’re camped at Kings Mountain State Park adjacent to Kings Mountain National Military Park.  The campground is lovely with mature trees and good facilities.  Our pilgrimage across the southern mountains goes well.  Our stop at Cherokee was nostalgic.  Our friends are aging.  Imagine that.  We found even older friends of mine at Panther Brook in Georgia.  Our stay there was relatively short but provided time to walk and dine together on several occasions.  We joined the couple to attend their worship service.  That is always moving.

We are here for five nights.  History brought us to this location in the high Piedmont on the border of the two Carolinas.  The battle fought nearby was “pivotal” in the Revolutionary War.  Whereas the Battle of Brooklyn was a disaster for Patriot forces, the Battle of Kings Mountain started a chain of events that drove the English from the American South.  General Cornwallis had warned the Southerners to behave, or else.  The "or else" particularly concerned the mountain people after reports of English atrocities reached them.  They knew they would not behave and so banded to avoid the "else."  When the little battle on Kings Mountain ended Dixie remained as firecely independent as the North and the English crown could not isolate the rebellious North. 

The event was not pretty or glorius, but the result was profound and for the better.  So, we come here to see the place and to appreciate what was done there.  I am always saddened that the more important Revolutionary War receives so much less attention today than the Civil War.  The latter refined the nation, but the former created it.

Curiously, the battle was fought within York County SC.  I write from the York Public Library.  We are here for a few days before continuing on to near Atlanta.  We will leave our rig there and fly to San Francisco to visit Alex and make a small road trip with him.  Wish us well on our travels.