Scottish Tartans Society, Scotland & NC

["Mel Sinclair" <melsinclair1@yahoo.com>]

Stan,
Thanks for the message re: the Scottish Festival at Franklin, NC.
Franklin is only a couple of hours or so from Greenville, SC (where we
live).  Aside from the Scottish interests, it is a great motorcycle
ride!  Asheville (NC), Cherokee (NC), Gatlinburg (Tn), Helen (Ga);
mountains, waterfalls, hiking, river rafting, relaxing ... all are
beautiful with their own charm and history.  Lynne and I enjoy day or
weekend trips in that part of the country on our little ole motorcycle.
I don't usually wear the kilt, however. <g>

For those interested, the Scottish Tartan Museum that Stan mentioned has
a web site.  Heck, I even had them list the Clan Sinclair USA web site
on their links page! (wasn't a difficult task) 

Quote from their website: "Our Museum is the only American extension of
the Scottish Tartans Society in Scotland. The Scottish Tartans Society
is the governing body for tartans globally and maintains the official
Register of All Publicly Known Tartans. The Society has two museums--one
in Keith, Scotland, and one in Franklin, NC."  

"Why is this museum in North Carolina?
The Scottish Tartans Society had wanted to open a museum in the US for
some time.  Many requests for information came from America, where
tartan and things Scottish enjoy an increasing popularity.  There are
probably more people wearing kilts on a regular basis in America than
there are in Scotland.  North Carolina was chosen due to its high
concentration of Scottish descendants.  According to the Governor's
Office, North Carolina has more residents of Scottish heritage than any
other state in the union (Alabama is second, with Georgia being third).
North Carolina even has more Scots than Scotland.  The mountains of
western North Carolina are home to many descendants of Scots Irish
migrants.  Franklin is centrally located between two of the largest and
most prestigious gatherings of Scottish families in North America--the
Grandfather Mountain Highland Games in Linville, NC, and the Stone
Mountain Highland Games and Gathering of the Clans in Stone Mountain,
GA."

Visit their website for some interesting articles and a virtual tour of
the museum.

http://www.scottishtartans.org/museum.html

Hope everyone is having a great summer, with the "games" in full swing!
For those who can make it, we'd love to see you *all* at the Grandfather
Mt. Games, July 11-14.  Just in case you can't make it, I may take my
camera. <g>

Aye,
Mel of South Carolina


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-sinclair@quarterman.org 
[mailto:owner-sinclair@quarterman.org] On Behalf Of Stanley St. Clair
Sent: Sunday, June 16, 2002 1:57 PM
To: sinclair@quarterman.org
Subject: Scottish Festival and Biltmore Estate

Dear Mel,
 
I wanted to address this to you because I knew it was 
concerning your territory, but felt there were items of 
interest to others on the list as well.

[ Excess quotations omitted. ]

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