April 28 - The Lost Sea Adventure!



One of the bins used in making salt peter during the Civil War.

One of the three stills they found in the cave.

April 28

When we were driving down to the KOA the other day, we saw a billboard advertising The Lost Sea Adventure. We are usually not too impressed with such advertisements but this one caught our eye. It turned out to be worth every penny of the admission cost. With our tour guide, we walked into a large cave that was discovered in the 1820’s. In its early days it was used by local Indians, a source of salt peter for munitions during the Civil War by the South, and later as distillery and bar. A 13 year old boy discovered a large underground lake in the early 1900‘s, but in his life time no one ever believed him and he could never find it again. Finally the underground lake was rediscovered and in 1965, it opened for tours. The natural opening was too small and steep for all us tourists so they blasted a larger entrance. It is not being held in pristine condition like the Karchner Caverns in Arizona that we toured last year. This is definitely a private tourist attraction but well done and fascinating. We saw few stalactites and stalagmites but saw huge rooms, a waterfall, and pretty small formations called aragonites.

Descending into the cave!

Ready to start our tour!

Aragonites on the Ceiling

Original Entrance

They have one of the original stills they found down here and a bin used in making the salt peter. We were all enthralled when we reached the large lake.

The Lost Sea

Rainbow Trout

We took a boat ride with a silent electric motor out into the lake. They have stocked the lake with rainbow trout and now there are 350 plus in the lake that are fed each day since nothing grows in the lake naturally. The trout are a foot long and longer! There was a lot of thrashing around when our guide fed them. This is the largest underground lake in the US and the second largest in the world. They know that there are larger underground lakes in this cave area but still do not how big or how deep. This one is 65 feet deep at the deepest point. We were glad we fell for this tourist trap! A new fact: if you are in total darkness for over two weeks you will be blind.

April 27

Before I left in January, my Aunt Annette emailed about a couple of her favorite places to visit while in the south. The Museum of Appalachia in Norris was one of them and it was wonderful. It is now associated with the Smithsonian. We spent a good part of the day roaming the grounds and visiting the 35 buildings making up the museum.

Over 35 Buildings in a Gorgeous Setting

It is really the work of one man, John Rice Irwin. He grew up on a farm in this area , went out into the world to become the youngest superintendent of a school district in Tennessee, taught classes at the university, and was a businessman. In the late 1950’s, he was at an auction and saw a precious piece of furniture go to someone who was going to make it into a coffee table. That was his aha moment. He felt the need to save items hand made and used by the Appalachian people. He bought what was to become his first item for the museum that day. That began his fifty years of traveling the back roads and collecting thousands of everyday items and buildings from the colorful and interesting people of Appalachia. The Appalachia Hall of Fame was my favorite part of the museum. It has so many displays devoted to relics belonging to notable, historic, interesting, colorful and unusual people from this region. The photographs and hand written stories were amazing and more than we could take in.

These folks had be self sufficient, often times living ten miles or so from their nearest neighbor. They figured out what they needed and then figured out how to make it without using cash as they lived on the bartering system for the most part. The collection of handmade instruments and baskets were amazing. Whittling was an evening pass time and many pieces were really works of art. I don’t think many felt they could not be successful at what they attempted. This attitude allowed many to go out into the world to become doctors, politicians, war heroes, musicians, artists and more. Of course most stayed in the valleys, raised big families, went to church and worked hard day after day. Everything we have read in the museums we have visited talks about them being generally happy and contented with their life. The mission of the museum is to instill a greater knowledge of an appreciation of Appalachian history and heritage and it does that beautifully. The buildings are set out to resemble a farm community. Log cabins have been brought in along with a school, church, corn mill, saw mill, barns and outbuildings. The great part about it is that they were all furnished as they would have been, many with exactly what had been in them originally.

Church

School

Just need the teacher, books and kids.

When we arrived there were five busses in the parking lot. School kids had inundated the place. Over 500 kids were here for a special demonstration day. They had music, sheep sheering, plus they had the saw mill going. We took it all in with them.

We had an appointment up the road for a tour at 1:00 of the TrailManor factory. We left the 500 kids and then return to an almost empty museum where we could take our time without any crowds. Both were great. I always love to see kids on field trips as long as I’m not connected to them in any way. We saw the Peters house where Cordelia was born and died at 87. Mark Twain’s family cabin was there. The family had moved from the cabin before he was born.

The Mark Twain Family Home

In the early 1800’s, the Arwine family raised a large family in cabin and it has been designated as a historical place by the US Dept. of Interior. The plaque said it is the smallest home on the National Register of Historic Places.

The smallest house of the National Registry of Historic Places.

A peek inside.

This type of barn is only found in this area.
The center is open with doors off the center to rooms on each side for tools and annimals.

 John Rice Irving is recovering from a stroke at 82 but still comes to the museum often. Hi daughter is following in his footsteps and is now President of the organization. They are still adding to museum. He is certainly meeting his goal of educating people from all over the world on the amazing resourceful people that lived in these southern Appalachian hills. Thanks for the heads up, Annette!

In the middle of all this, we went up to Jacksboro for our tour of the TrailManor factory. It is under new ownership and will hopefully take off again. It turns out we had met the new owner when we were in Portland buying the Manor in 2010. Bob was the regional sales manager then. When the company was thinking about closing their doors with the effects of the recession, Bob stepped up and bought it. I wish him well. It was pretty fascinating to see how the TrailManors are made using aircraft aluminum with a foam core making them so light weight. Eddy gave us a great tour and Norm was able to buy a couple of parts he needed for repairs. Pretty cool.

Chris and Norm talking with Eddy at the TrailManor factory.

Chris standing in the "hallway to be."

We ended our day back at the museum.

We almost missed out on both. The museum had a Clinton address rather than Norris. The only museum in the AAA book under Norris is a very small 15 minute place. Good thing I looked up the email from Annette on our drive up there. This Fabulous museum is listed under Clinton even though it’s in Norris. The TrailManor place is on McGee St. Maggie, our trusty GPS system, took us to McGee in a residential area rather than the McGee in the industrial area. We found both and had a great day!

April 25

April 25

This was our last day in this north east corner of TN. We treated ourselves to breakfast out, and fully fueled we headed down Hwy 11 to see Jonesborough, Davy Crocket’s birth place, and the homes of Andrew Johnson our 17^th President in Greenville. Jonesborough is the oldest town in Tennessee founded in 1779. In 1784, North Carolina ceded all the lands west of the mountains to the United States. That left this area without a government. A convention met here and formed the State of Franklin in 17 85. This was news to us. It was never recognized and only lasted a couple of years. Today the town is charming with the old store fronts filled with lovely things to buy. We passed by an old log house from 1777. An officer in the French and Indian war built it. Andrew Jackson lived in it in 1788-89 while he was practicing law here. The Chester Inn began in 1797 and is the oldest continuously occupied Inn. Andrew Jackson, James Polk and Andrew Johnson all stayed here. Jackson had a reception here in the summer of 1832. This town is the home of the National Storytelling Association. They run a 26 week season with a different storyteller every week. We are just missing the beginning of the season. The volunteer opened the lovely theater for us. I would love to sit and enjoy the evening listening to one of the storytellers.

Home Andrew Jackson lived in for two years while he was practicing law.

Check out the unlevel windows!

Further down on Hwy 11 is the town of Limestone, the birthplace of Davy Crocket. We had to make the pilgrimage out to the state park to see the cabin. We all loved the mini series Disney did in 1955 on Davy Crocket. Dave, my little brother, was five and wore his coon skin cap every day. We all gathered around the TV each week and sang “Davy, Davy Crocket, King of the Wild Frontier” and watched one adventure after another. Years later, Mom pulled out the frig and jumped about 10 feet when she saw this furry thing hiding behind it. On further exploration, she discovered it to be the old coon skin cap. Davy was quite a character. His grave marker says Pioneer, Patriot, Soldier, Trapper, Explorer, State Legislator, and Congressman. That just about says it all. “When in politics his primary obsession was to give the squatter and poor settlers on the frontier a national voice for opportunity and fairness in settling the western lands. Outlandish style, language and independence toward Andrew Jackson’s policies created the first real American celebrity from the frontier.” The museum was closed for the afternoon so we moved on.

Davy Crocket's Birthplace

Further down Hwy 11 in Greenville we visited the Andrew Johnson National Historic Site. Until today we didn’t know much about our 17^th President. He was Lincoln’s Vice President taking over the Presidency in 1865. He was born into a poor family, his father died when he was young child leaving his mother to try to make do. When he was 10 or 12 he was indentured to a tailor and learned the trade well. We saw a coat that he had made. He ran away from Raleigh, NC and ended up in Greenville setting up his tailoring shop. He married Eliza and together they forged a life in politics. His wife helped him with his reading and writing skills. He had not had time for school growing up. His shop became a place of political debate. He served as Mayor, Governor of TN, State Congressman, US Congressman, Senator, Vice President and President. It surly was not any easy time to take over the Presidency. He believed in a strict interpretation of the Constitution and did not see eye to eye with Congress. The film and displays in the museum did a wonderful job informing us of this President’s ideals, beliefs and struggles. He stood by his beliefs but didn’t seem to be very effective in the tough times following the Civil War with the Congress he had to deal with. The NP actually built the museum around his tailor shop that still stands today. We saw the home he lived in his earlier days of politics and took a tour of the home he returned to after leaving the Presidency. The tour guide was terrific and there were only five of us on the tour. There was plenty of opportunity to ask questions and see all there was to see. He had three sons and two daughters. Eliza suffered from tuberculosis and passed the disease to some of the children and others that she came in contact with. Little was know about the disease at that point. A great grandchild was living in the home in the 1930’s and saw to it that the home and it’s belongings was purchased by the government. It is amazing today to be able to see the home just the way it had been in Johnson’s life time. The desk was arranged with his papers, the table was set with their china, and the bedrooms were as they had been when he came home from Washington. We left understanding the problems he faced and his belief system that he brought to the office. He must have been a brilliant man full of vim and vigor but at the same time, unable to effectively lead the country down the path he saw for it. The country was so divided and the north wanted retaliation. Very interesting day. On our way out of town we stopped to take a picture of the building that served as the capitol of the State of Franklin from 1785-1788.

Andrew Johnson's Home

Andrew Johnson's Writing Desk
The horseshoe you see on the stack of papers went everywhere
with him to remind him where he has come from and
that he was serving the common man.

The Capitol Building of the State of Franklin

We finished off the day with a great Mexican dinner at Poblanos. Our waiter was darling. We wondered how good Mexican food would be in Tennessee. She said only Mexicans were allowed in the kitchen. They did a great job. She was asking us where we were from. Our accents probably didn’t quite fit in. In conversation we told he what we had done today and she laughed saying she had not seen any of the things we has seen today and had never been out of Tennessee. Maybe she will get on the stick and see some of the history right here. Maybe not. Back at the Manor we broke out the moonshine and mixed it with cranberry juice and Sprite. Right tasty!

April 24

April 24

We have a map on the door of the Manor of the United States. When we go to a new state we add the decal of that state. Being on the border of Tennessee and Virginia we decided to take a drive north through Virginia and into West Virginia so we could add West Virginia to our map! We ended up driving 250 miles but made it to West Virginia and back. The drive was through beautiful farming country side of rolling green hills. The farms are all nice and tidy. Big new homes are interspersed. We couldn’t see where they do things like marketing. They seemed to be a long way from anything including schools. We passed through the Appellation Mountains. I say “through” because we went through two very long tunnels. The northern part of Virginia and the little bit of West Virginia that we saw were coal mining areas. The coal was close to the surface and excellent quality. Railroad lines were brought in and lots of money was made, big homes were built and up to 12 story building lined the streets. We saw coal in the railroad cars today so they are still doing some mining but the towns are a bit run down. Many of the tall buildings were gone and the big beautiful houses were in disrepair.

We had a couple of highlights along the way. The first one was the town of Bristol. This was Daniel Boone country. Bristol lies right on the border of Tennessee and Virginia. One side of the very nice old downtown is in Tennessee and the other side is in Virginia. Of course we had to straddle the middle of the road. Chris and Norm bought a golf club in one of the many antique stores to sell on Ebay. The best thing about Bristol is that it is the birthplace of country music and we love country music! The first nationally recorded music was done right here in 1927. Ralph Peer set up the Victor Talking Machine Co. and over 12 days he recorded 76 songs from 12 artists including the Carter family and Jimmy Rogers. The country music industry was launched. The Carter family and Jimmy Rogers were the first country singers to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Tennessee Ernie Ford is from here also.

Bristol - Bithplace of Country Music

Mural with the Carter Family and Jimmy Rogers

Chris and I with a foot in Tennessee and the other in Virginia.

The second highlight was the town of Abington in Virginia. It was founded in 1778. We saw a cool looking tavern with the date of 1779 on it. The moss on the roof was about five inches thick. The main point of interest was the Barter Theater. The building started out as a church in 1830 but became a theater in 18 76. In the middle of the depression in 1933, 22 actors from New York were talked into coming down to Abington to perform in exchange for food. They were convinced that it was better to eat in Virginia than starve in New York. They offered tickets for barter. Milk, chickens, hams, etc. were brought in exchange for tickets. The actors were fed and the folks in town were entertained. It is the oldest continuously operating reparatory theater, showing more than one play in the same time period, in the US. The theater is in beautiful condition. It would have been fun to see “Nine to Five” this weekend. Many actors played here in their early days before they became well known. Kevin Spacey and Gregory Peck and many others have their picture on the wall. We had a delicious lunch in the Log House restaurant. It has been added onto over the years but the building was started in the 1780’s by Will. They don’t know his last name. It’s been a restaurant for 35 years. Little rooms go off every which way. It was a great day and we added our new sticker to the map!

The Barter Theater

The Log House Restaurant

Yummy Homemade Bummble Berry Pie

We Made It to West Virginia

April 21, 22, 23

April 21

For our last day in the Great Smokeys we drove up to Gatlinburg and back down into the NP to drive the 5 mile Roaring Fork Auto Road. A guide book had stops for us to take in more of the history of the early settlers plus information on the natural environment. This five mile road was at one time more of a rocky trail than a road but the early settlers in this Roaring Fork community tried to keep it open to horse and wagon travel. In the early 1830 and 40’s this was a frontier. By the end of the 1880’s there were about a dozen families. This was enough to support a store, mill, church and school. It is really rocky soil and not a level place to be had. We took a walk through the this wild and beautiful terrain and couldn’t believe how they described areas that had once grown corn and was grazing land for cows, and pigs. The buildings that are still here helped us to see how these settlers managed to shelter their families and livestock, store food, protect their precious tools and equipment and earn a living. A quote from our booklet made it clear that, “When the European settler entered this place, the environment was clearly in control. Settlers had to cope with the world on its terms - not theirs.” One young man, Alfred Reagan was a farmer like the others in this community, but he had well developed manual skills and a business sense to do something with them. He used his trades as a carpenter and a blacksmith. By 1900, he had built a store right on the road making it easy on the customers. Next he added a mill. He donated land for a church, built it and became a lay preacher. The house and the mill are all that are left today. He was a mover and a shaker. With all there was to see, this five mile road took us a couple of hours to traverse. Many of the decedents of families who had settled in the Smokey Mountains still live nearby and return to Cades Cove for reunions to celebrate their heritage twice a year. These folks had a hard life to say the least but they built homes and communities that served their needs. I hope they had some time here and there to stop and enjoy this beautiful country.

A Bear Sighting!

Home on Roaring Fork Auto Road - 1830's

Wild flowers are beautiful!

Gorgeous Forests

Picnic by the Mill

Reagan Home by the 1920's

April 22 and 23

This was moving day. We drove up to northern the Kingsport area in the Northern part of Tennessee to spend a few days. This is Daniel Boone and Davy Crocket country. We had an “errand” day with some shopping. I had been seeing signs for Package Stores thinking they must be a mailing facility like a UPS store. Well, when we started looking to replenish our wine supply, we found out that Package Stores are the liquor stores. Maybe they are called package stores because liquor was put in a package during prohibition. Not sure. While we were there we found white lighting in a mason jar! The Ole Smokey Distillery in Gatlinburg is the first distillery to obtain a license to distill white lightning in 100 years. Of course we had to buy some and try it out. Maybe a little 7-up and cranberry juice will be just the ticket. I have a great story about getting a hold of some white lightning when I was in Georgia with Doris. She lived in the back wood in northern Georgia the first year she was married. I came with her to visit her in-laws in the mid 90‘s. She asked her brother in-law if he was still making white lightning. He just rolled his eyes and didn’t answer the question but had some for us the next day. He gave it to us in a mason jar wrapped up in an old dog food bag! Next problem was how to get it home. We bought some Evian water, emptied the bottles, refilled them with our treasure and put them in our suitcases. It was all very secretive. Strong stuff! Now it’s legal again, with a license that is.

Legal White Lighning Moonshine

It was a big day for me. I bought a new camera! Chris and Norm came up with the idea. We did some investigating and I ended up with the top of the line Nikon Coolpix. The workings are similar to what I have had so it should be pretty easy to learn how to make the most of it. My camera had been dropped, the lens cover wasn’t always working and the telephoto shots were a little blurry. I think they had a banner idea. It will be fun to try it out. I love taking pictures.

My New Camera

April 20 Great Smokey Mountains NP

April 20

The weather wasn’t the best but we took the Newfound Gap road that goes across the park stopping at the Sugarland Visitor Center first. We began climbing in altitude right away. The yellow birch trees were still bare and gave a different look of the forest. The views were really cloudy. Just about halfway along the road is the turn off for Clingman’s Dome at Newfound Gap. To make it to the dome overlook we climbed a steep ½ mile trail ending in a spiral ramp to the lookout tower at 6,643 feet. The clouds gave way to some isolated views of the mountains and valleys. Even with the clouds it was worth the effort.

The Lookout Tower in the Fog

I'm looking down at Chris and Norm as they
begin the climb up to the lookout tower.

A painting Class Catching the View

 At the southern end of the highway we came to the Mingus Mill. It is still a working mill grinding corn daily as it did for the folks living in the Smokeys 200 years ago. They can also grind wheat. It produces the flour on an ingenious water run turbine. It is a very simple mechanism that was easy to build. It was much faster than other types of mills used in the valleys of the Great Smokeys. People would need to bring enough grain to be milled to last the family 5 or 6 days. That was as long as the flour would last before going bad. Families had something made of corn meal three times a day, every day, like it or not. Wheat flour was a special commodity since not many had luck growing it. They used the barter system with the mill operator getting 1/8 of the grain brought in.

Mingus Mill Still in Use Today

The Visitor Center was interesting with more on the families and their way of life. They had recordings of some of the old folks telling tales of events in their lives. Great! I only had time to listen to two of the recordings, one about an experience with a “dentist” and the other was a “moonshine” story. The old guy was relating a story of himself as a young boy of thirteen finally being allowed to take part in the moonshine business. He was chosen to stand guard because the men had heard that the revenuers were in the area. He was to fire three shots if he saw anyone. The men went back into the mountains to do their handy work. Well, he drank too much moonshine, his reward for standing guard, and fired three shots at turkeys that flew by. The men did some fast scurrying around and moved the whole set up. I’m sure he wasn’t the favorite nephew at that point. He was chuckling as he told the tale. Outside was a farm with a house and the outbuildings; the corn crib, spring house, smoke house and barn. On weekends they have costumed interpreters to impart information about the buildings and the families that lived here. We saw a woodchuck near the barn. He was a big guy. When I was in the area with Doris in the mid 1990’s, a hurricane came through when we were staying in Dillard GA just south of the park. We had planned to drive through the Smokeys to see the autumn color but trees were down all over the highway and the road was closed for over a week. All we could see was Cades Cove. The scenery today was mostly in the clouds but still pretty. The blue haze that is seen in the mountains here is caused by water vapor which is emitted by the thick foliage of hardwood, pine and fir forests which cover the mountains and valleys in the park. Just about every inch is covered with some kind of plant. Now of course pollution is also present.

They have a lot of trouble with graffiti.

Farm House in the Smokeys

Woodchuck

We went into Cherokee on the Cherokee Reservation for lunch. The fry bread tacos were delicious. The signs in town were in Cherokee as well as English. They are banking on tourism also. Many of the Eastern Cherokee in this area were not forced to take the “Trail of Tears” trek to Oklahoma as thousands of others had to do.

For the trip home we decided on making it a loop by going south along the park boundary and then heading north back to the campground. We had heard of the Tail of the Dragon Road on Hwy 129. It’s 11 miles with 318 curves! Motor cyclists come from all over the world to take the curves. They even have an illegal race every year with times and everything. Norm took the curves in the Rave 4 at a fast pace until Chris screamed uncle and he slowed down. No barf bags please! At the end of the road Norm bought a tee shirt that has a picture of a dragon and says “I survived the Tail of the Dragon 129.” Car clubs and motor cycle clubs have the road lined up on every weekend from early May through October. Along the road, photographers were set up taking pictures as the motorcyclists took the curves. It was a three hour drive back to Cades Cove but pretty scenery all the way.

Norm Proudly Wearing His Shirt