Story originally published in The Sylva Herald in Jan. 29 edition.
Photo by Anthony Fowler.
History never goes away and neither did the Webster Historical Society. Last week, about 20 people met at Webster United Methodist Church to pump some life back into the organization.
Attendees ranged from newer Webster residents to those currently and formerly on the Webster Town Board. They brainstormed activities, fundraising and events.
Brandon Core is the new leader of the Society, and his wife, Opal, helped with the meeting. Local folks Diane Schallock, Vice Mayor LeighAnne Young and Billie Jo Bryson have helped educate him on Webster history, he said.
The group is waking the Webster Historical Society from a slumber brought about by Covid and the death of ringleader Joe Rhinehart.
Schallock rang the Webster United Methodist Church bell on Wednesday, Jan. 22 to start the first official meeting of 2025.
Core broke the crowd into two groups and led them through several brainstorming activities.
The first was to write what people love about Webster. People wrote about the history of Webster, such as the hanging tree and the more obscure pieces, along with the overall safety and “hometown feel” of Webster.
Core shifted the focus from the town of Webster to the Webster Historical Society, asking the groups what they would like to see from the society, how to fundraise for events and what kinds of committees the society should form.
Many agreed they would like to see a digital Webster, an effort to clean up the cemetery and the creation of videos for an oral history of Webster. Almost half of the members present wanted to make Christmas ornaments to raise funds, along with hosting ghost and historic home tours. Several wanted to remake or republish the Webster cookbook, calling it the “50-ish years later” edition.
Defining Webster
Some attendees raised the question, “What is Webster?”
How would the Society define Webster for membership and to know what their claims to history are?
Would Webster be defined by the town limits, the extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) limits, the precinct limits or something else?
“Webster itself is not explicitly defined in the bylaws,” Core said. “For the purpose of our conversation, we’re gonna say Webster, the Webster community, whoever identifies themselves at the Webster community and our friends and neighbors in broader Jackson County,” Core said in response, leaving room for Webster to be properly defined later by a new board of directors.
“We’re going to follow the bylaws as they’re currently written until there’s a board of directors to make any changes to that,” Core said to his fellow history buffs at the meeting. “The current bylaws indicate that there should be a board of directors of nine people. That number could increase, but it indicates that there are four officers, a president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer and five additional members of the board of directors.”
Core set the goal of establishing a board of directors sometime in February to plan for the next quarterly meeting, set for April.
Just before leaving, Core left the group with one final question:
“It’s one year from today. The Webster Historical Society has been in existence for one year and has been successful and is thriving. The Sylva Herald is writing a front-page article about the roaring success of the Webster Historical Society … What does that headline say?
“‘Webster history is not dead,’” Young said.
Many echoed this sentiment, some added that they wish to see a museum unveiled in the near future.
For more background information on Core and the Webster Historical Society, check this story in the Sylva Herald in the Jan. 16 edition.
