This yearıs cast of 150 for the "Trail of Life" interfaith drama telling the story of the lineage of Christ includes veteran actors, as well as novices. Now in its fourth year, the drama, which involves more than 30 churches, is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 6, and Saturday, Dec. 7, at Cullowhee Baptist Church. The 6 p.m. pre-show will include live musical entertainment. To compliment the drama, the producers are premiering ³The Trail of Light² coloring book.
After 137 years John Fox has a marker on his grave, thanks in part to the Jackson Rangers. While there are few words on the marker - "John Fox, Pvt. Co CI, Georgia Regulars, Confederate States Army 1825-1865" underneath the stone lies a story. It's a story that starts back on Feb. 27, 1861, when John, who was living here in Western North Carolina, traveled to Rome, Ga., to enlist in the First Georgia Regulars. He left behind a wife, Sarah, and six children at home. As the temperatures and the snow fell, Sarah got worried that John would need warm clothing. Walking in the snow, she headed out for his camp to take him some winter clothes. Unfortunately, she caught pneumonia and died. When John heard of her death, he returned home to take care of his children. One afternoon he was coming home from the grist mill carrying a heavy sack of ground corn. He sat down on a rock to rest his back and vigilantes attacked and killed him for desertion. His children buried him on a knoll near their home. Now the children had no mother and no father. Part of them, including 2-year-old John Baxter, went to live with their dad's sister, Betsy Hedden, in Jackson County. Her husband, Emmuel, was also a soldier, but fought on the Union side. Here was another family split by the Civil War. Where did the children owe their allegiance? When John Baxter died Nov. 19, 1935, at age 72 from cancer of the prostrate gland, his parents weren't listed on the death certificate. But family descendants knew where John's allegiance lay, and they wanted to honor that, along with his grave site. With the assistance of Jackson Rangers, Camp 1917 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the family placed a military marker at his grave site near Highlands. "It wasn't all that easy," said Betty Foxx, wife of descendant Bill. "First off, Bill almost never found the grave... it just had a little tiny wooden marker. "The grave site is on U.S. Forest Service land, so then we had to get their permission to put the marker on government property," she said. But it all came together recently when several of John's descendants installed the marker, while members of Jackson Rangers conducted a brief military ceremony at the historic family site. "It's something the whole family - even those who aren't born yet - can be proud of," said Betty, a member of the Jackson County Genealogical Society.
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