Graham Kislingbury

One of the big attractions in the 1970s and ’80s in Cottage Grove was The Goose excursion train. Passengers boarded at a station near The Village Green hotel and rode out to Culp Creek and back, a distance of about 30 miles.

Memorial Day in 1976 fell just weeks before our nation’s bicentennial. It was my first year working after college, and I drew on-call duty for the holiday weekend. That meant covering the community’s annual two-part Memorial Day ceremony.