Poet writes ode to local coal miners’ baseball past
June 5, 2008
By Jim Feehan
An award-winning writer has captured Newcastle’s coal mining past.
Elaine Bishop crafted “Red Town Ball Field” after she and her husband, Jay, had hiked through the area 2 miles from their Bellevue home. King County Parks and the Issaquah Alps Trails Club funded a volunteer effort to restore native plants to a meadow that was the Red Town ball field in the early 1900’s.
Residents of the coal mining neighborhoods of Newcastle (Red Town being one) played ball there. A 1-mile hike from the Red Town Trailhead brings you to the place that was second base in this field, Bishop said.
“The ball field holds a special fascination for me,” she said. “I have the sense of the miners/ball players being present when I visit.”
Bishop’s interest in the area began at one of the early Newcastle Days festivals held at the Red Town Trailhead, not far from the present-day The Golf Club at Newcastle.
“I’ve enjoyed learning more about the mining in the area,” she said.
Bishop, who is retired, previously wrote and edited computer manuals, Web papers, studied biology and programmed computers. In addition, she’s dabbled in writing nonfiction and humorous fiction and poetry.
She ran a small business selling original verses on greeting cards and magnets. She also was a 1999 winner of the King County Metro “Poetry on Buses” contest. Bishop is currently working with an agent to find a publisher for a humorous book she’s written.
“I write because I like to create connections between people,” she said. “One of my nicest moments as a writer came when I visited the house of a new friend and found that on her refrigerator she had posted a poem of mine that had been in a newspaper.”
Red Town Ball Field
See this quiet meadow
Hiding in the trees.
100 years ago
Coal miners played ball
On this ground.
Imagine! At dusk they return.
Stand quietly. Listen!
Men grumble as they leave the mine.
Only enough time to wash coal dust from faces
And grab mitts as families leave for the field.
Hear them returning to this field of dreams,
Greeting teammates, warming up.
Listen closely… they have come,
“Play Ball! Batter Up!”
Comments
Got something to say?
