Flora Macdonald Highland Games

The Flora Macdonald Highland Games are held on the campus of the Flora Macdonald Academy in Red Springs, North Carolina. It's what I would call way down in the low country, past Fayetteville. It's an interesting ride from the Raleigh area, because on Rt 95 you pass lots of interesting billboards that repeat about every 5 miles: "South of the Border" (apparently a tacky tourist spot in South Carolina), "We Dare to Bare" (a strip joint near Fayetteville), and the occassional sign for repossessed trailer homes. But Red Springs is a pretty little town, with large Victorian mansions which have now mostly been converted to sorority houses. Red Springs has a town web site which you can visit by clicking here.

Some background: Flora Macdonald is a legend in the annals of Scottish history. She is credited with saving the life of Bonnie Prince Charlie (Prince Charles Edward Stuart), who plotted to overthrow the King of England but whose highland clan armies were defeated at the battle of Culloden in 1746. After the battle, Flora Macdonald dressed Prince Charlie as her Irish maid and helped him escape capture by rowing to the Isle of Skye. In 1774, Flora Macdonald and her husband migrated to the Cape Fear area of North Carolina and eventually settled near Fayetteville. The Flora Macdonald Academy, formerly known as Flora Macdonald College, stands as the National Historic Site in her honor. A good book on the subject is Flora Macdonald by Ruairidh H. MacLeod, Shepheard-Walwyn Publishers (London), 1995.

All of these images were made with a Nikon N90 camera and 80-200 f2.8 AFD Nikkor lens, the new one with the tripod collar (though all the shots were hand held). Shot on Fuji Sensia 100 film, transfered to Kodak PhotoCD, and opened with Adobe Photoshop 4.