TAHLEQUAH —
When technology and history merge, the result can provide fresh, new ideas that embody characteristics of both the old and new.
Take, for instance, Facebook. The social-media giant has connected folks all across the globe, allowing them to maintain contact with friends and family by use of a computer or smartphone.
It’s fairly easy to use with a little practice, even for members of an older generation who once promised they would never learn to even turn on a computer. But Terrill White has proof that those folks can find enjoyment on sites like Facebook.
White administers a group page on Facebook where folks aged 20 to 80 and from Tahlequah or Cherokee County reminisce about days gone by, fashioned together in what might be described as an online scrapbook.
“I kept seeing all these other sites, ‘You might be from here,’ or, ‘You might be from there,’ and I didn’t see one that said ‘You might be from Tahlequah,’” said White.
So he used Facebook to create the “You Might Be From Tahlequah If...” group page last August.
“I never imagined – I figured I’d be the only member,” he said. “Within 30 minutes, we had like 200 members.”
Today, the page has more than 1,000 participants, and that number keeps growing. Topics vary by day and based on who’s looking at the page. But even for the lifelong resident of Tahlequah, there’s plenty to learn about this community’s history.
“It kind of goes through spells; one person will mention something, and it will have an avalanche response,” said White. “A lot of talk is about schools. A lot of the people on there are older and they get to talking about schools that don’t even exist anymore. They’ll have really long conversations.”
To go along with the conversations, or sometimes to help start them, participants can post photos or videos from years past; in fact, one popular video shows a Tahlequah Christmas parade from about 1950, White said.
Sometimes participants will ask for information about those photos and videos, and others who may have answers, or who just want to take a guess, can chime in.
“They also spend a lot of time talking about some of the outlaws from Cherokee County’s past,” said White. “There’s been a lot of people talk about family. They do use it a lot to kind of relocate people, try to find old friends, and there’s been a lot of people that found out they were kin through the page.”
White said the site provides a bit of nostalgia for participants, and a history lesson for the younger members.
“I think people are wanting to rekindle the feelings of being home again, going back to the more simpler times in life, and I think they want to feel that feeling that home brings to them,” said White. “Most people who are on the page have either relocated to another part of the country, or are living in a new town or a different part of Tahlequah, and the site helps them to connect to when they were kids.”
White moderates the site, ensuring the focus stays on the local community. Participants have to have a Facebook account and ask to join the site.
“We just ask that we try to keep it fun,” said White. “We try to keep everything centered on Tahlequah and Cherokee County; if anything gets out of hand or on something completely different, we try to stop that, as well.”
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