Happy New Year! - The Clan Macfie Society

Pinehurst was beautiful! We stayed
there for a few days, and on one of the
days we drove to a beautiful location in
Oakridge, Tennessee, to visit some old
friends, Fritz and Bruce McDuffie and
their wives Bettye and Wini. Both the
boys are getting on, but Fritz is still as
bright as a button and sharp as a tack.
The ladies were little changed from the
last time I had visited them years ago.
The round trip took the best part of 10
hours. (Many thanks to John Rosser
for conveying us very comfortably
there and back.)
We then moved from Pinehurst into
the mountains to Marty’s Dream
House…WOW! John had wanted a
Gaelic name for it and settled on
“Beinn Shouls,” which means
“Mountain of Light”…a very apt name
for it! Some time ago John had asked
me if I could get him a set of pipes for
fixing to the wall, and to my delight
above the fireplace in their great hall,
there is a shadow box with the pipes
displayed on a background of Macfie
Tartan. To say “impressive” would not
do the finished article justice! While
there, there were dinner parties, visits
to their friends’ homes,
and…and….and! Also, there were
many adventures, one involved
traveling with John Dewyze to the
local post office. John is
wonderful…lots of fun…great
company and a great guy. However, I
should explain that as far as John is
concerned up and down are fine, but
north and south and all that other
complicated stuff are another matter.
In all we traveled about 50 miles in
various directions, discovering places
that have been lost since the Civil War.
At one point we were “in” Elk Creek,
but couldn’t find it. We couldn’t even
find the access road back to the big
house, but hours later stumbled by
chance on someone who knew how to
get there. There is MORE, but some
other day…
It was time to leave for Laurinburg and
the Scotland County Highland Games.
Laurinburg was only a couple of hours
away from the Rossers’ home. We
traveled by convoy having collected
Marianne Clayton from the Canadian
Society and Jerry McDuffie from
somewhere in the U.S. Guess who was
the Honoured Clan and the
Commander of the Games? Yes, the
Macfie Clan and our own Iain McFie!
These Games are not as big and do not
have the long history of the Charleston
Games, but what they lack in size is
more than made up for by the
enthusiasm of everyone taking part.
They were wonderful! We met some
first class people there, including the
President of the Scotland County
Games, a piper named Bill Caudill. At
the Ceilidh after the Games, our Ceann
Cath Iain presented Bill the 6/8 March
titled “Scotland County Highland
Games,” which I had written in
Toronto. I played the tune to
exceptional applause and Bill, holding
the framed manuscript aloft,
exclaimed, “We have arrived!” All in
all, a great evening!
Professor Bill Caudill receiving the Tune
from Commander Iain McFie