By Mark Wineka
mwineka@salisburypost.com
The Salisbury, N.C., contingent that recently traveled to Salisbury, England, participated in a surprise unveiling near the Guild Hall in the host city.
Salisbury, England, has erected a fingerpost sign in the middle of the city showing how many kilometers it is to their two sister cities in the United States ó Salisbury, Md., and Salisbury, N.C.
– 5,750 km to Salisbury, Md.
– 6,276 km to Salisbury, N.C.
Translated in miles, the direct-line distance from Salisbury, England, to Salisbury, N.C., is about 3,900 miles.
Salisbury (N.C.) Mayor Susan Kluttz helped in uncovering the new sign.
“It was really exciting,” she reported.
The 14-member group from Salisbury, N.C., included Mayor Pro Tem Paul Woodson and Councilman Mark Lewis.
Salisbury, England, also has “twin” cities in Saintes, France, and Xanten, Germany. Those cities are included on the fingerpost sign with the distances to them in kilometers.
The visiting Salisburians were met at the airport in London by their English hosts and transported by bus to Salisbury. Kluttz noted that seven different entrance signs to Salisbury, England, now include a reference to Salisbury, N.C., as a sister city.
Kluttz said the North Carolinians’ visit to Salisbury, England, was “really an incredible trip.”
The North Carolina group participated in the annual Mayor Making and a mayoral lunch, but that was only a fraction of the activities and sites, which included Stonehenge, a 92,000-acre national park, rides with the Rolls Royce Society and a private castle, Kluttz said.