Bull, of the “original” Aberdeen in northern Scotland, plans to visit the Moore County town of Aberdeen Tuesday and Wednesday of next week on his tour of all the Aberdeens in the world — all 34 of them.
The 64-year-old Bull, a retired arts teacher, will be accompanied by Alan White, 53, an Aberdeen (Scotland) filmmaker who is making a video of all the Aberdeens under Bull’s expert guidance. The two have formed their own production company and hope to sell the video to British television.
Bull has been researching the Aberdeens — all, he believes, named by Scottish settlers — shortly after his retirement in 1991. According to a two-page article in last week’s People magazine, he decided in 1996 to visit all 34 of the cities and towns named Aberdeen, including the 18 in the United States.
He made the decision, he told the magazine, after his mother and his only brother died three months apart in 1996. Bull conceived of the around-the-world trip as “a way to pay homage to my family.”
In 1996 he began firing off letters to town government officials in all the Aberdeens. Since 1997, his primary contact person in Aberdeen, N.C., has been Martha Swearingen.
“He wrote me several months ago that he planned to visit here in April,” Swearingen said last week. “When I didn’t hear from him in April, I thought he’d given up the idea and wouldn’t be coming.
“Then I got another letter, just a few days ago, that he’d be here June 12 and may be staying two days.”
Bull had gone home to Scotland for a break and a visit with his wife of 39 years, Margaret (who has helped to arrange his itinerary but has chosen not to go along). On the first leg of his world tour, he visited 11 Aberdeens —including cities, towns, villages and hamlets in New Jersey, California, South Africa, Hong Kong, Jamaica, and the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal.
Bull and White left Scotland again Tuesday for the second leg of their world tour.
They are financing the trips with $75,000 from private donors and the Aberdeen (Scotland) City Council.
Swearingen said she has arranged for Bull and White to stay in The Inn at the Bryant House and to take their meals in “restaurants that are owned and operated by local people — no chains.”
Early this week, she was still trying to work out an itinerary for the visiting Scots.
“Of course, we’ll want to show them the Aberdeen Historic District, the old depot, the Malcolm Blue Farm and the Postmaster’s House,” Swearingen said. “They’ll want to visit Town Hall, and I hope we can arrange for the Town Board of Commissioners to speak with them.
“We’ll try to show them something about our churches, schools, recreational activities, civic life and social life.”
When Bull and White leave Moore County sometime next Wednesday for the next town on their list, they’ll be taking a little bit of Aberdeen with them.
Aberdeen, North Carolina, that is.
