Abigail Arnett - Between Love and Legacy: Reflection on the Uncle Nearest Retreat

  

    Going to the Uncle Nearest Distillery gave me something that Love & Whiskey alone couldn’t. Reading the book let me learn about Nearest Green’s legacy, but being there in person made it feel alive. Walking around the grounds, seeing the buildings, and hearing the story where it happened made me realize history isn’t just something we read, it’s something we can step into. Traveling from Atlanta to Tennessee showed me how much place matters, and it made Nearest Green’s story more real than I expected.

    Even while I was impressed by the beauty of the distillery and the pride in telling Green’s story, I also thought about the tensions in it. The site is both a memorial and a business. It celebrates Nearest Green, but it also sells whiskey. That made me stop and think about responsibility. Whiskey brings joy and community for many people, but it can also be harmful. I found myself asking: where’s the line between honoring history and using it as marketing? Love & Whiskey highlights the love story behind the distillery, but seeing it in person showed me that it’s not a simple story; it’s layered with both pride and complication.

    This trip also made me reflect on myself. Most of the time, I experience history through reading and assignments in class. But stepping into the distillery reminded me that learning isn’t just about pages in a book; it’s about experiencing, questioning, and seeing how history still shapes the world today. Being there made me feel part of something bigger, and it showed me that education can happen outside the classroom too.

    In the end, the retreat helped me see Love & Whiskey in a new way. It isn’t just a book about a man’s legacy; it’s also about how we choose to tell stories and carry them forward. Being in Tennessee made me hold both the beauty and the complexity of Green’s story at the same time. For me, that’s what made the experience so meaningful; it gave me a chance to see history not just as something to study, but as something to live with and learn from.

By, Abigail Arnett CO’2029

                                                                     Brand Vs. History

                                                               Complication/Tension:

                                                                 Love Story Evidence