Forest Festival is a time of beautiful autumn memories. This year with Sterling Anne Kump becoming Queen Silvia LXXXVII, it is truly a new time to “Embrace Nature’s Charm” and remember that our local traditions are creatively inspired by a desire for excellence. The name Sterling means excellent and valuable like the British pound sterling. It stands for both honest government and reliable currency.

Our tour through the Kump House with Sterling Kump featured family photos and the Forest Festival dresses that her relatives wore in the last century. There is a lovely pink velvet dress that Sterling’s Great Aunt Hazel Kump wore as a Maid of Honor in 1954. The Queen’s second cousin Cindy Smith wore a blue taffeta dress as Maid of Honor, and Cindy’s sister Suzi wore red velvet as a princess. Suzi is also a chef who produced an amazing spread of tasty delights for royal guests.

As we went on through the rooms on the first floor, I began to think about the idea that Kump House reflects the genius of the American Century. The Twentieth Century was a time of many foreign wars and internal conflicts, but people learned to heal their wounds and work together with those on the other side of many dividing issues. They understood that democracy means nobody gets his or her way all the time.

If we think America is more divided now than ever before, we fail to understand Civil War history. In that time period neighbors and brothers fought and killed each other. However, in the next few generations they worked together to rebuild the nation and create a more just economic system. In the Kump breakfast room there is a bird’s eye maple table made by Mr. George Latham who was the son of a man that fought against Governor Guy Kump’s father in Beverly. Nevertheless, Guy Kump respected the fine wood craft of George Latham and Kump bought much Latham furniture.

In the sun room I usually talk about the Great Depression when President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Governor H.G. Kump were first inaugurated in March 1933. There is an old Philco radio on a wicker table that makes me think of FDR’s famous “fireside chats.” I like to put a hand on that radio and let FDR’s words come out my mouth, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” When he announced the Banking Holiday closing the banks for two weeks, people really did not know where they could get their next dollar.

In contras,t our current president says that American cities are so dangerous now that he needs to bring in the military to fight our internal enemies, but police data tells us that our crime rate is not so bad.

If you are interested in touring Kump house to see festive mementos, it will be open to the public Forest Festival today (10:30 a.m.-12 p.m.). We are on South Randolph Avenue across from Kroger.