The Crew of the Barque Lone Star
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    • 221st Southumberland Waffleers
221st Southumberland Waffleers
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The 221st Southumberland Waffleers is an informal society of Sherlockians who enjoy fellowship while consuming "vittles" from one of America's iconic restaurants.

We currently have 52 members who have met the very simple requirements for eligibility... simply dine at a Waffle House while attending a Sherlock Holmes event.

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Our Society name is an homage to both John H. Watson (who served in the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers) and to 221bCon, held each year in Atlanta, where the Society was first born.

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Locations Visited
You can see where we have held meetings of the 221st Southerumberland Waffleers by visiting our map. [click on the button to the left]

221 Be Waffling
Brad Keefauver, BSI
Here dine together still, true fans of Holmes
Who order eggs, and so the cook must fry.
How many peers they gain, how far Steve roams!
That sage who gets us to give WH a try
​.
But still a table’s open for those with mouths

Hungry to taste their breakfast, bite, and chew.
Waffles are waffles yet, here at this House.
Oh, here they feed a Sherlockian crew.
 
A yellow yoke swirls into scrambled egg,
As toast warms within its toaster’s heat.
Some chili smothered hash browns, we beg,
The cheesy grits don’t fail to be a treat.
 
Here, though some fights explode, we still arrive.
And the two egg breakfast costs five ninety-five.
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The Waffle House Poem

The Official Waffle House Poet Laureate, Karen Head, gave us permission to post her poem about our favorite gathering spot...
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Always Open
​

In the dream, I’m back on the road
driving south from Lincoln, NE
toward Kansas City, windows half way
down, Midwest winter air smacking me
awake, reminding me to breathe.
I’m suffering.
Homesickness is the story
I tell, but I know there’s more to it,
this loneliness, these too fast
heartbeats, this need to escape.

Just outside St. Joe, traffic
from the KC airport roars
overhead, and just off the exit
I see it, glowing warm yellow
in the darkness, so I pull in.
This is no photoshopped Hopper
Nighthawks. No, this is home,
always open, always there
waiting for me past any curfew.

​I shake snow from my hair,
find the place empty, except for
one counter stool, which begins
to spin and Bourdain tells me to
join him, so I do because
I’ve got nowhere else to be.
I shout, “Scattered, smothered,
covered, diced, and capped,”
and laughter erupts. Now the place
is full of people I couldn’t save.
We are all eating pecan waffles,
telling each other stories, and I say,
“Someday, maybe, I’ll find a way to be happy,”
and Bourdain says, “Don’t you have
somewhere you should be?”

​The faint sound of the airplanes

begins to amplify, everything begins to shake.
I dive down, cover my ears,
shut my eyes to the looming shadows--
startled, I find myself back in Atlanta,
you are snoring again,
and, for once, for always, this makes me happy.

The 221st Southumberland Waffleers By-Laws
We have adopted the Waffle House Rules of Behavior for our By-Laws... you may read them by clicking on the button to the right... 
By-Laws

And yes Virginia, there is actually a Waffle House Museum...

https://www.wafflehouse.com/museum/ 
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  • Menu
    • About the Crew of the Barque Lone Star
    • Crew Investitures and Awards
    • Society / Crew Member Anthologies-Pastiches
    • The Bilge Pump Newsletter
    • The Complete 60 Stories
    • Baker Street Elementary
    • Radio Broadcasts -- Plays
    • Galactic Sherlock Holmes
    • Special Events >
      • Past Events
    • The Legion of Zoom Scion Society >
      • 2025 Conference Summary - Presentations
      • 2024 Conference Summary - Presentations
      • 2023 Conference Summary - Presentations
      • 2022 Conference Summary - Presentations
      • Holmes Hysteria
    • Sherlockian Theatrical Society
    • Autographed Portrayals of Sherlock Holmes
    • 221st Southumberland Waffleers