This July 4th Randy and I canoed historically low water levels down the Yadkin River from Donnaha, NC to what used to be known as Shore, NC now East Bend. Shore, NC used to be incorporated back in 1891when I.C. Shore Distillery was alive and well and Ernest Grady Shore was born near East Bend March 24, 1891. Of course the distillery was thriving back then before prohibition and the area is starting to thrill again now that it is being revitalized by the wine industry with Flint Hill Vineyards less than a mile away from the Ernie Shore's home place. Winston-Salem’s current baseball park was named for the North Carolina native Ernie Shore, who was a teammate of fellow pitcher Babe Ruth when they played for the Boston Red Sox during the 1910s. Randy and I were lucky enough to spend the weekend pondering those early times in Ernie Shore's historic home on Butner Mill Road with our friends and current home owners, Patrick and Donna Kraft.
And all this got me to thinking about the new baseball stadium being built in Winston-Salem to replace Ernie Shore Field. “Forget the history”, they say. They think we need to honor some new corporation and aid them in their advertising. Those who forget the past will repeat it. There is a small community called East Bend that is struggling to revitalize itself with the burgeoning wine industry and there are a few vocal people there that would like for it to fail and have done everything they can to shut it down.
I think we need to keep the Ernie Shore historic connection alive and well and remember his legacy. It may be a stretch for some to think that I.C. Shore Distillery in a previous era is connected in any way to this era’s Flint Hill Vineyards in the small hamlet of East Bend. But I think East Bend and Winston-Salem need to help keep Ernie Shore’s legacy alive so we do not forget the past and repeat it by letting a few people outweigh the economic viability of a new thriving wine industry.
