Nick getting a lesson in Moonshine 101 from Mr. Williams of Franklin County, Va. Photo taken at Mabry Mill, Floyd County, July 2011.
Last night we watched the movie Lawless. It was really good! For those of you unfamiliar with it, it is based on the book The Wettest County In The World telling a story about moonshine and the Bondurant family in Franklin County, Va.
After watching the movie, I remembered our trip over to Mabry Mill last year. It was there that we met Mr. Williams, who I introduced to you on this post. I thought I remembered his name as Franklin Delano Williams but I might have gotten confused with the other Franklin Delano and just thought that was his name. I do know it was Delano Williams though, that's for sure. Anyways, I wanted to learn more about the nice man we met so I tried a few google searches to see if any stories popped up that had been written about his experiences. I did find this interesting story on moonshine in Franklin County called Still Cookin' that was written in 1997. It mentions a Charles Delano Williams, a 63 year old moonshiner that had had some troubles with the law. That certainly sounds like my Mr. Williams so maybe his name is Charles. If anyone knows, I would love for you to clear it up for me, please! I guess it's because of my love of genealogy that I have to go about and set things right! It's kind of an obsession for me!
I did order the book, The Wettest County In The World so I'm excited to read that when it gets here.
One thing I find strange though about the movie is that most of it was filmed in Georgia and I don't understand why they wouldn't film it in Franklin County? Hmmm, kind of seems that they should have doesn't it? I wonder how the residents of Franklin feel about that.
Another neat thing that I want to share with you today is that I just learned that GE filmed a national commercial right here in my county, Botetourt! It was filmed in a teeny, tiny community called Nace. You can view the commercial below :)
Oh, and just one more thing! I found this great group of paintings while I was at Black Dog Salvage the other day. Some of you know Gill over at Sunny Brook Farm and if you don't know, go check his blog out, you'll love it. But as I was saying, he mentioned that he has some paintings displayed there and so I was on the lookout for them when this painting of the truck drew me over and low and behold, the artist is none other than our Gill! Love his artwork and the colors he uses! This Saturday coming up, Black Dog Salvage is holding a Christmas Party and Mr. Gill will be doing a painting demonstration. If you live nearby, you should definitely attend. I am going to try to make it!
And I almost forgot...I got a message about a new blog called Roanoke Music Scene. There you can find all sorts of information on Roanoke's music, past and present. It's really a cool blog! Besides linking it here for you, I have added it into my sidebar under "Virginia Blogs"....
I guess that's about all I have to report for now! Linking up with Nancy and Lisa with Rural Thursday! It's a blog hop so hop over!
sad news...Rural Thursday is no more :(
You certainly have been busy gathering information! I'm going over to the other music blog right now to check it out.
ReplyDeleteWow that sounds wonderful.
ReplyDeleteI also love Mr Gills artwork there sure is a lot of talent in you area. B
Love the commercial, and Nick certainly is paying interest to Mr Williams!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fascinating post, Tanya!
ReplyDeleteI don't know why they didn't film Lawless here. Probably not enough nice hotels or restaurants or something stupid like that. Certainly the scenery is nice enough in my opinion! I still haven't seen the movie, but I did enjoy the book!
ReplyDeleteI love the pig painting!
i know! i was thinking franklin county is more rural than georgia, especially since much was filmed near atlanta, not rural! franklin county today can easily look like franklin county of 1930's...plus bring in all that money for them...i was watching the bonus section on the dvd and shia labouf kept referring to west virginia...i don't think the poor guy knew franklin county is in VIRGINIA lol...someone give him a clue!
DeleteWe will have to look for the movie, sounds like something we would enjoy! How fun to find Gill's paintings! :)
ReplyDeleteAction-packed post! Fun! Interesting stuff about the possible Franklin Delano. Did you get to try some of the moonshine? What does it taste like?
ReplyDeleteso cool to find your friend's artwork on display! and the moonshine legacy sounds neat!
ReplyDeleteSome really cool scenery in that video.
ReplyDeleteThey've filmed a few movies in Omaha, where I live. The only movie I ever got to see being filmed was when I lived in Savannah, Georgia. I watched a scene from Legend of Bagger Vance with Will Smith, Matt Damon, and Charlize Theron. Except all I saw were the kids and Robert Redford who directed it. I wish I would have been there earlier when they filmed Forest Gump!
http://theapels.blogspot.com/2012/11/fruity-turkey.html
That is so cool about the video - thanks for the extra glimpse into your neck of woods! (I just hunted down a locally-filmed commercial someone told me about & also thought it might be fun to post soon:)) I love those paintings (that sweet pig) and the Delano Roosevelt tidbit.
ReplyDelete(Your own cut glass craft project would look so pretty!)
We know you through 'Ozzy' and sort of stumbled on this blog. SHE attended 'Radford' and did student teaching in Roanoke before teaching a few years in Bath County. How SHE ended up in central New South Wales is another story! Small world.
ReplyDeleteThe movie Southerby was filmed in Bath Co. and Staunton VA.
XXXOOO Daisy, Bella & Roxy
wow, it certainly is a small world!! and you know something funny, i was just talking to someone today about where sommersby was filmed, really!
DeleteThis is an excellent picture. No moon visible over here. And thank you for the memories of KITT very much ! Please have a good Friday.
ReplyDeleteGlad you found my paintings, I told them to put them where ever they wanted to fill in spaces so they are all over the place. I have sold 99% of my paintings there as they just seem to know how to sell enough of them to where I can keep the price down.
ReplyDeleteI think that modern Franklin county is so full of houses and business that it looks nothing like the 30s so it would be hard to film here. I have talked to some of the people involved in some of the activity and it was a wild time. The father of my wife's stepfather went to federal prison back then after the sheriff shot his tires out during a chase.
So, are your boys building a whiskey still tonite? LOL
ReplyDeleteMoonshine? Bring it on!
ReplyDeleteI heard that the movie Lawless has a lot of gratituous violence in it. Does it? I have hesitated to watch it for that reason.
ReplyDeleteit does have quite a bit of violence. if that disturbs you, you probably shouldn't watch it. i read an interview with the older bondurant family members who thought it was too violent, and they didn't care for the language either. 2 were jack bondurant's children and they said they never heard language like that from their father.
Delete