The Kingdom of the Happy Land. . .

. . . is what Mothers Day felt like.

Justin and Claui prepared brunch (shrimp salad sandwiches, salad greens from their garden with goat cheese, pears, and almonds, and a blueberry/strawberry shortcake with whipped cream and ice cream.) Ethan and Aileen brought champagne to mix into Mimosas or Bellinis and Nancy (Claui's mother), Josie (honorary aunt whose children are far away), and I basked in the glory of it all.

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After lunch we three mothers moved to the porch to bask in the sun of a spectacularly beautiful day while listening to soft jazz and the charming sound of dishes being washed by someone else.

And my thoughts turned to the story Gary Carden told me of the Kingdom of the Happy Land.

It was just after the close of the Civil War, high up on a knoll in Henderson County, that a band of freed slaves, some of whom had walked all the way from Mississippi, set up the Kingdom.

Ruled by King Robert and Queen Louella, the settlers built cabins, cleared fields, and set up a community in which all shared in the work and the profits.

They farmed, concocted and bottled a liniment that sold well, hired out as laborers, and many of the men worked as teamsters, hauling freight on the old Drovers' Road . . . and suddenly I realized that this story could come in handy some day if, as I'd like to, I do a book about Ish and Mariah, the Melungeon couple from Dark Season.

The story of the Kingdom of the Happy Land is a fascinating bit of North Carolina history and if you want to know more, go HERE.

Or over to Gary's post a while back -- which includes a map!