By Mary Turner and Sydney Turner
Knights Ferry is proud to celebrate one of our own - River McCarthy, a talented young woman who has shared her love of piano with our community.
Born and raised in Knights Ferry, River first started playing the piano when she was five years old. She fell in love with the piano after seeing a performance by Norah Jones. The daily grind of school caused her piano playing to take the back burner, but after finally being able to play her first full Beethoven piece she fell in love all over again.
River started teaching piano to give back to the community as well as to make a little extra money for school. Her favorite part of teaching piano is getting to know people’s personalities and the joy in watching the way they began to discover their mobility, coordination and music reading skills. River offers lessons to students of all ages and skill levels. Something she tries to instill in her students is that the most important part of learning is practicing every day to really reinforce their skill.
Today, music is more of a hobby than a career goal for River, as she prepares to move away for college in August. She will be attending UC Berkeley where she plans to study English and Sociology. River’s long-term goal is to one day become a Sociology Professor and a writer.
Although she is leaving in August, River still has room for a couple new students who’d like to learn the basics. If you are interested in lessons she can be reached by text at 209-840-2307.
As she prepares to leave Knights Ferry, we send her off with our best wishes. We’re grateful for the music she shared and look forward to seeing all of the good things her future holds.
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Here’s something pretty cool from Knights Ferry’s history. This excerpt is from the Knights Ferry Museum & Historical Society website which you can find at www.knightsferrymuseum.com: “Knights Ferry, during its height, was an interesting and lively place. About 15,000 people based their operations in the town. There were large well-stocked stores: a newspaper, The Knights Ferry Bee, an enterprising weekly, or 20 pages, published by W.J. Collier: Hotels, liquor houses, livery stables, Protestant and Catholic churches and schools. The fraternities were represented by the Masons, Odd Fellows, and the Temperance Order. To this western outpost, in the middle “50’s” (1850’s) came a young lieutenant, of the United States Army, who would become both a General in the Union Army during the Civil War, and eventually President of the United States, Ulysses S Grant. He was there to visit his brother-in-law, Fred Dent. Dent operated a store and ferry. When word came of a “big strike” in the mountains close by, it was the Knights Ferry bank of Palmer & Co. which floated the bonds to build the Sonora-Bodie road, now called Sonora Pass.”
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The Knights Ferry Historical Association is requesting donations of clean, dressed sandstone for a garden wall project at the Miller’s Hall building. If you are able to donate, or if you have material available, please contact Jason at 209-595-8448.
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Ongoing Events:
Odd Fellows Breakfast - 1st Sunday of the month
Free Market - 2nd Tuesday 3:30 @ The Odd Fellows Lodge
Taco Tuesday - 5pm-8pm @ Rick’s Saloon
Thankful Thursdays - Free meal with drink purchase 5pm-8pm @ Rick’s Saloon
Community Trash Pickup - Last Sunday of the month - 10am @ Knights Ferry Art Studio
Upcoming July events:
Water Board Meeting: July 16 at 7pm
Odd Fellows Potluck Social: July 23 at 6pm
MAC Committee Meeting: July 24 at 7pm
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Do you have any exciting Knights Ferry local news or upcoming events to share? Contact Mary & Sydney Turner at knightsferrynews@gmail.com
