tappingroots.com Archives

January 23, 2023 / 12 Comments

Cinderella’s Castle on Military Street

1719 Military Street, Port Huron, MI – Photograph Balthazar Korab[1]

When I was a little girl growing up my grandmother used to take me and my sister with her on her weekly shopping trip to downtown Port Huron. As we made the drive down Military Street, we would admire the beautiful houses. My favorite home was located at 1719 Military Street. My sister and I called it “Cinderella’s Castle.” I would always ask my grandmother to slow down as we approached so I could get a good look at it. Excitement and joy would pulse through my veins as we passed. My imagination filled with fairy tale like images of a beautiful girl living within the walls of that place. Little did I know such a girl had lived there in the early 1900s. Her name was Mary Harrington Thomson Thaw.

October 3, 2022 / 0 Comments

A Lovely View: The History of the Graveraet and Harsen Families of Harsens Island, Michigan: Part Two

Flag of the Dutch West India Company aka Geoctrooieerde Westindische Compagnie(GWC) **[1]**

Early Harsen Family Ties: Woffert Gerritze Van Kouwenhoven aka Couwenhoven

Nearly twenty-five years before Gerrit Graveraet’s great grandfather, Isaac Graveraet, came to Manhattan Island (aka New Amsterdam/New Netherland) as a “free trader”, Jacob Harsen’s 3^rd great grandfather, Wolfert Gerritze Van Kouwenhoven, aka Couwenhoven[2], stepped foot upon the soil of this New World [3]

January 20, 2022 / 11 Comments

A Lovely View: The History of the Graveraet and Harsen Families of Harsens Island, Michigan: Part One

Journey from Albany, New York

British Colonies in North America after Quebec Act 1763 [3]

After the British capture of Quebec from the French during the French and Indian War at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham on September 13^th, 1759, it would take almost another four years for the French to cede all their territory in North America to the British under the Treaty of Paris on February 10, 1763. [1] By Great Britain’s Royal Proclamation of 1763, the French Territory of Canada, known as New France, would be renamed the Province of Quebec. This new province included the Great Lakes Region and the settlement at Detroit. [2]

August 13, 2021 / 0 Comments

Listen and Learn

Drawn out and away

What I mean to say

Entangled in your web.

I cannot find a way

Impediments filter true feeling

Across a sky so gray.

Mockingbirds

Listen and learn

Perhaps a lesson lingers here.

Sound is merely a sound

Until it collects and comes together

To make music only we can hear.

“Harmony is key,” she said.

That’s where the truth is at.

August 9, 2021 / 0 Comments

Tension

Thoughtless dribble

Filter out the noise

Calamity toils and turns

Spinning wheels

A reverent hum

The making of political war.

Endless notifiers

Drowning lives

Seek to clarify positions left and right

Swirled into a brazen tornado

A never ending fight.

Choose me…..

Choose you…..

Such yucky goo.

Surely there must be light in the end.

August 4, 2021 / 0 Comments

He and Me and the miles inbetween

My dearest heart

Spoke to me

Painful words

The untruth of it all filling his head.

No words could I speak

The silence killing us both or maybe me

I want you so…..now

I wanted you then

I scream and scream inside my head.

But he can’t feel it.

I feel that he can’t.

I keep the silence between us.

What words could take all that away?

For a brief moment

He comes into view

I catch the voice of the person I once knew.

I hear all that he is…..

My heart misses…..

Oh, how I miss……

His kiss

His hands

His feet

The smile in his voice

His presence

The spring in his step

His cuddles

The rainwater that falls from his face at night

His smell

His beautiful legs

His style

His grace

His music

His words only for me

His presence

His laugh

His writing

His excitement

His cheer

I miss loving him and he loving me

Oh, to walk free.

To love him

Truly, love him

His hand in mine

Surrendering.

July 19, 2021 / 0 Comments

Heading into Town

If I could rearrange the scene

And paint the background gray

Then spin around three dozen times

It might make sense today.

But as it is

It’s drawn and tattered

A small rip at the seam

I swear I almost bumped my head

Against the ceiling beam.

For dreams are laid on golden paths

At least that’s what they say

No matter

I’ll just take my time

And see where my dreams lay.

July 18, 2021 / 5 Comments

McMorran Fights for his home

Demolition

The demolition of the McMorran mansion on Military Street has left a stain on the Port Huron community. 50 years later the topic is still discussed. The vacant lot serves as a shrine of our mourning. Make no mistake about it, we are not the only ones who cared about the passing of this architectural masterpiece of the past. Henry McMorran cared greatly about the aesthetics of his residence and its upkeep too. In fact, on his death in July of 1929, there was work being done on the home. His final estate expenses included payment to W.J. Scott, contractor and builder, for general labor and parts and to J.A. Davison Co. for gallons of paint the colors of mahogany, red, dark slate and moss green.

July 13, 2021 / 0 Comments

Fallingwater

No footsteps sound

Only rock and trees

Mixed with rhododendron

Delicate pink and white everywhere

The path deeper and darker

The mist so heavy

Clinging in my hair

The beckoning sound of water

Draws me near

Louder and louder

Opening to reveal your beauty

Nestled amongst the sunshine of God’s space

I will never forget you or this day!

July 7, 2021 / 0 Comments

Youth

We dance in the waves you and I

Marking time as our glances embrace

I see you

You’re beautiful when you smile.

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Cinderella’s Castle on Military Street

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A Lovely View: The History of the Graveraet and Harsen Families of Harsens Island, Michigan: Part Two

Early Harsen Family Ties: Woffert Gerritze Van Kouwenhoven aka Couwenhoven

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A Lovely View: The History of the Graveraet and Harsen Families of Harsens Island, Michigan: Part One

Journey from Albany, New York

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Listen and Learn

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Tension

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He and Me and the miles inbetween

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Heading into Town

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McMorran Fights for his home

Demolition

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Fallingwater

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Youth

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Early Harsen Family Ties: Woffert Gerritze Van Kouwenhoven aka Couwenhoven

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Journey from Albany, New York

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Demolition

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