Keeping a journal, writing notes, and recording your thoughts can be helpful in times like these. Reflecting on your experience throughout the COVID-19 crisis is important and your perspective could some day be a useful record for people studying the history of this pandemic.

Help us record the local experience and feel free to share with us on social media or email: info@modh.org

Here is how Museum of Durham History volunteer Kathy Claspell is recording her experience: 

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Neighborhood Walk March 27, 2020 

A four-mile walk. These photos [see album below] are from a neighborhood that has some beautiful yards.  

 I felt very comfortable and mostly safe on this walk. Safety challenges included pedestrian crosswalks and proper distancing. There were numerous people out walking and jogging. I followed defensive distancing by moving aside or crossing a street when possible. I gave a thumbs-up to anyone who did the same for me. Auto traffic was thankfully light. 

 I walk with a light backpack that includes drinking water, tissues, hand sanitizer wipes, and my phone.   

 My weekly exercise routine takes me on 2-3 walks and 3 sessions in the home mini-gym.

 

Neighborhood Walk March 28, 2020  

My hopes for seeing the waterfalls were dashed when I arrived at a dry and deserted American Tobacco Campus.   

 Very little social distancing to worry about with mostly empty streets and sidewalks. I did not enjoy this level of solitude, however, and stepped quickly. The murals and bright colors were cheerful. 

 I continue to do my weekly walks. I stick to the main streets when I occasionally head downtown. I prefer the tested, friendly-feeling neighborhoods.   

 As the lockdown continues and the weather improves, there are more people outside.   

 

Neighborhood Walk April 15, 2020 

Duke East Campus. Neighborhoods in areas of Trinity Park and Ninth Street. Four miles.  

 A cold afternoon kept the crowds away on the east campus trail. I walked on its periphery sidewalk anyway, facing traffic in case I had to distance myself onto the roadway.  

 The surrounding neighborhoods were quiet, with a few pedestrians and joggers. There were empty playgrounds and spacious-seeming sidewalks, one which I shared with a ladybug. 

 

Trinity Park, Old North Durham, Warehouse District, Duke East Campus Walk on April 17, 2020

4.9 miles 

A warm, sunny afternoon and a Friday: promising signs for a comfortable walk to downtown. I know there will be more people about but I’ve refined my distancing moves. I periodically pivot around backwards, which helps me to see what’s coming from behind – especially the joggers. I also speak nicely to a clutch of people, “Hi folks, I’d like to use the crosswalk, a little space please!” 

On the way to the city’s north side I spy a car’s window stencil showing Queen Elizabeth II. I think about her coronavirus speech earlier this month, “We will succeed.” I think our country will succeed, but emerge from the Covid 19 threat unevenly. I’m 65 years old and I’ll be in the lockdown cocoon for quite a while. 

 It’s been almost a month since the mayor issued a ‘Stay at Home’ order. A few of the Covid 19 regulation signs on the doors and windows of restaurants are showing some weather wear. 

King’s Sandwich Shop looks very popular for lunch takeout. Back on Main Street, some restaurant and business signs advertise personal essentials. 

There have been maintenance workers and contractors all over town, on every walk I have taken. One contractor, who works for a window restoration company, lets me take his photo. 

I have never walked so much, and so regularly. I feel great.