Michigan, Spring 2023

 

Marshall, MI

Piety Hill, Mecosta

My little library.

A Temporal Farewell and a New Beginning

Cross in the Wilderness, 1857, by Frederic Edwin Church

Friends,


Tomorrow, I will be leaving for a summer stay at Piety Hill; the Imladris of those who are in hiding from the storm of post-modern academia. There, I will be on research fellowship to further local historiography and to help host lectures, seminars, etc. I will be returning every Sunday for church in Midland.

In the meantime, I believe I am changing my approach to blogging. Before I launched Landmarks of Liberty for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, I was largely disinterested in blogs and very hesitant to blog at all. This disinterest is returning to me, and I am generally dissatisfied with my "research" on Landmarks and here. It lacked a scholarly edge and mostly celebrated in the moments of history which I still find personally encouraging. If it holds any merit at all, it would be in the fact that I have maintained and extended some friendships through my blogs, and also began refining a Christian, homely historical narrative which is lacking in most present scholarly histories. You may expect some more picture posts with some quips from me or some sermons links from our church, but beyond that, I really think I ought to confine my pen to the publishable page, and work hard to elevate the scholarly method which I have developed through graduate school. I may also begin a personal memoir instead of posting my thoughts to the world. The internet is becoming rather too burdensome for me. Please feel free to continue to email me. That, at least, I can handle.

In parting, I would like to seriously recommend following my pastor's blog Joshua Judges Ruth. I can not recommend it highly enough.

Ever yours,
Wesley

A Visit to Piety Hill: The Last Homely House

Russell Kirk

In the twentieth century, Russell Kirk laid the intellectual foundations of an contemporary academic defense of traditional conservatism, before passing into glory in 1994 (watch the excellent clip above from Kirk on the Hebraic and Christian foundations of Western civilization and the purpose of the academy). His generational home, Piety Hill remains a haven for those who are being buffeted by Post-modernism in the academy. It is the Imladris of learning and the Last Homely House with professorial manners to many of us Christian conservatives in the academies of America. Needless to say, I visit often, but yesterday I came for Thesis research. Mrs. Kirk invited me to a wonderful lunch and enlightening discussion with the Wilbur Fellows. Quietness seems to pervade the place, a peaceful timelessness. Here are some pictures of my visit, with some accompanying captions. Happy Thanksgiving!

Redeemed in Jesus,
Wesley

The rolling "Bundee Hills," as Professor Kirk referred to them (sorry, the real rises are hidden in the sun's glare and morning mist).

 On the roadside, an old rickety Victorian farmhouse, in stark contrast to...

 Piety Hill, entrance, Victorian Romanesque Revival

 The Library, Victorian farmhouse style

Library trellis entrance

 Library courtyard

 Library front door (with lamp in the reflection)

 Just inside the library

 To the left

 The Professor's friend and distinguished poet, T. S. Eliot

 The Professor's manual typewriter.

 The old family clock

 The library hearth

 Hearth stone murals (the professor was a Roman Catholic)

 The library lecture hall, with Royal Stuart tartan carpet pattern

 Bust of the Professor among his books The Sword of Imagination and The Conservative Mind

 Long-shot of the library lecture hall

 Back at the home for lunch after a morning's read

 For those of you who doubted my involvement in all of this

 The dinning room

 Originals of some of Sir Walter Scott's letters

 Architecture in the dinning room

 Scottish Romantic wall-hangings

Back at the library, my work setup

 Some good books (see my previous post for summary)

 The library hearth with the gas fireplace "on" (it used to burn wood, in the Professor's days)

 The Professor's workplace

 The Professor reviving the Presidential Citizens Medal from Ronald Reagan in 1989

 Notice the book on John Knox to the left

 An inquisitive gnome on the shelf, like me.

 A bust of Robert E. Lee, I think?

A bust of Abraham Lincoln