Secrets Of Fort Bragg…
Imagine walking through a dense forrest—-a weapon at your side.
You stop.
Listen.
…and try to figure out where your quarry is…
Beside you are some of the best men you know—you trust them with your life as you stalk the enemy. Back home, the family anxiously awaits your safe return.
We could be describing a military patrol today—but we’re not..
Although this story takes place at Fort Bragg—that scenario we’re describing happened thousands of years ago.
Long Before Fort Bragg ever occupied the land where some of our best military now train and live with their families—many others called it home.
They made weapons out of local materials, hunted in groups, and left their families behind in enclaves while they stalked prey.
And although they are long gone from the landscape—they are still being hunted…
…This time by archaeologists.
They’ve uncovered a museum full of artifacts. Some date back 10-thousand years—some from the turn of the century—and the rest of it from everywhere else in between.
There are secrets buried all over Fort Bragg which are being unearthed every day.
That’s because much of the nearly 149-thousand acres that encompass the fort are as pristine today as they were the day government purchased them in 1918.
And Pre-historic peoples weren’t the only ones who used that land. In Colonial times, the Scots Highlanders moved in. They established communities, built churches and created graveyards.
There was also a bloody Civil War battle that was fought on the land that is now Fort Bragg. 200 men died in that conflict. Their sacrifices memorialized by a simple, but elegant stone monument on what was their battlefield.
The archaeologists who work at Fort Bragg are civilians, hired by the Army to determine what areas on the base need to be protected and preserved—so that the business of the military can take place in areas that are not historically significant.
The archaeologists of the Fort Bragg Cultural Resources Program under the supervision of Dr. Linda Carnes-McNaughton are not only digging up artifacts. They’re charged with preserving the 18th century churches and graveyards that were part of the Scots Highlanders culture.
It’s a daunting task.
Most people have no idea that Fort Bragg holds these secrets.
We were lucky enough to observe some of their preservation work through-out the Summer and Fall and will present it on NBC-17 during our Thanksgiving night newscasts…
Someone once said “we can’t know our future if we don’t understand our past.”
And on Fort Bragg, we’re finding our past is always present.
Link here to see the video “Secrets of Fort Bragg”
—Steve
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