The Hubley List

I tend to repeat myself in my references to movies and books. The good part is that most of the time I know it. When I no longer know that I am repeating myself, you may want to remove yourself from this list. Or you may just want to remove yourself now.

Abraham Lincoln is famous for the Gettysburg Address. Not as many know that Lincoln was almost an afterthought, and that he followed the speech given by Edward Everett, which lasted for two hours. Lincoln’s speech lasted for two minutes. I can imagine that some of you wish I would adhere more to the Lincoln model than to the Everett model in these ramblings.

Nevertheless, there is a wonderful incident in Gore Vidal’s Lincoln about the Gettysburg Address.  Everett sent Lincoln a copy of his speech before the dedication.  When Lincoln saw the massive size of the document he wondered he would ever get to the podium.  Before the speech Lincoln said to John Hay, his assistant, that he never understood why Edward Everett was so famous.  Hay suggested that perhaps it was because Edward Everett was the nation’s greatest orator.  Lincoln said, “No, he is just famous, that’s all.  Some people are like that.”

When we bought the stone house in Colfax we knew it was old and we knew that the woman who designed and planted the gardens was quite remarkable. We knew it was named Graestone and was historic. We really had no clue how often we would nudge into the history. Of course, being famous in Colfax is a little like winning the 1956 World Series when only the USA had teams. (Well, that and the fact that the 1955 and 1956 series were subway series; all games were played in New York.)

Graestone and therefore, Ruth and I, have become a part of Colfax history by association. We have made the Hubley Foundation List:

Click Here—-> Hubley Foundation- Colfax Historic Houses