ITC Convention 2011

Brief highlights of some of what we saw, what we did, what we learned.

By Bea Zastrow

ITC conventions are always a lot of fun and this year certainly continued the
tradition. My son Earl and I enjoyed travelling thru new territory to get there,
participating in the arranged tours, viewing the showfield of T'Birds, visiting and
laughing with old friends, and meeting new ones throughout the week. The hotel
treated us very well with good food and accommodations.
Sunday - We boarded busses for a guided Civil War in Charleston Tour which
took us through Charleston's streets to view the beautiful old homes, historic
churches and the Citadel. Then on to the facility where the Civil War Confederate
Submarine, H.L. HUNLEY is being restored after being raised from the Atlantic
Ocean on August 8, 2000. A guide described the very interesting and careful
restoration process being done. At present, the vessel is submerged on a sling in
a tank of fresh water. It was just recently rotated from its side (as it was found and
raised from the ocean) to an upright position. We were impressed at how small it
is, with very close quarters for the crew, who were not all small men! The interior
has been cleaned out and the preservationists were surprised to find it had fairly
sophisticated engineering design and components. Although there are several
theories as to why it sank, at this point no one knows for sure. There was no
evidence of trauma, the crew were all in their assigned positions. Modern
forensic skills were used to reconstruct the facial features of the crew for display.
One of the next restoration steps will be to carefully remove surface corrosion to
get down to the original metal so it can be treated for preservation.

Monday - A caravan of T'Birds went for a short drive to the American LaFrance
Fire Museum where each car had its photo taken in front of the building by Dwight
Dixon. We had a guided tour to learn about the many fire engines displayed.
Question: Do you know why we sometimes refer to fire hydrants as fire plugs?
Well, the reason for this dates way back to when water mains were made of
hollowed out logs. When water was needed for a fire, the firemen would drill a
hole in the pipe to attach a hose, and when finished would insert a wooden plug to
seal it up again. Now you know.

Tuesday - Rained all day, but we didn't complain, the area needed it badly.
Scheduled Schooner Cruise was reset for Friday morning. The ITC is blessed to
have a number of members who are very knowledgeable about all things
Thunderbird and they readily pitch right in to share their expertise. Dwight Good
and Paul Rosina helped members with advice, and actually went so far as to set
up a canopy over the front of one vehicle, in the rain, so they could work under the
hood. Now, that's dedication!

Wednesday - Busses took us to tour the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown, which is
now set up as a museum. This is the second USS Yorktown, as the first one was
lost in the South Pacific during WWII. We could choose from several marked
tours to explore throughout the ship, all the way from the bridge to the engine
room. It was an adventure to negotiate the very steep, ladder-like stairs to get
below to view areas such as the galley, which served 4 meals a day to a crew of
3500, the sleeping quarters, infirmary, engine room, etc. Then we were served
lunch, navy-style, in the CPO's Mess which is air conditioned. However, that would
not have been true on the first ship. This meant that the crew had to endure very
uncomfortably warm/hot conditions when the ship was serving in the South Pacific
- especially in the galley, and way down in the engine room! We noted how young
the crew appeared to be in the pictures depicting them! After lunch we boarded a
boat to go out to see what remains of Fort Sumter, which was constructed of very
thick walls of brick and built on an artificial island in the middle of the harbor about
3 miles out from the city. We learned that, despite common misconceptions, the
Fort never exchanged cannon fire with the city of Charleston because the
cannons of that time had a range of only about 1 ½ miles. The cannon fire was
exchanged between Union and Confederate forces from nearby islands with
military installations.

Thursday - We drove our T'Birds to tour the beautiful Magnolia Plantation and
Gardens. The Magnolia Plantation has been in the same family for over 300
years, dating back to Revolutionary times. It now covers about 500 acres. Over
the years the family has enjoyed great wealth, fallen on hard times, and then
regrouped to carry on. The magnificent gardens, several with different themes,
were developed over a long period of time and are truly a national treasure. The
rest of the property is now maintained as a nature preserve. The present owner
has arranged that all this will continue well into the future. Yeah! Question: Did you
know that rice was a major crop in the Charleston area before the Civil War? All
that changed after the Civil War because it was a very labor intensive crop using
slaves to provide the hard labor. It is understandable that the slaves left when they
had a choice in the matter, and the rice harvest ceased. Thus, the owners had to
find other sources of revenue, and opening the gardens for paid public tours was
one solution. In the early days, although the owners were wealthy, life on the
plantation was far from idyllic. Summers were hot and humid, but without fans or
air conditioning; winters cold, but without insulation or central heat. In addition, in
the summer the rice fields bred swarms of mosquitoes unimpeded by screens or
insecticides. Malaria was prevalent and children's diseases were often fatal. The
families would move up into North Carolina for the summer
.
Friday - The weather was beautiful for us to enjoy the Schooner Cruise around the
harbor.