Knoxville, Tennessee Riverfront

No trip to Knoxville would be complete without a visit to the Riverfront. A beautifully landscaped walkway stretches for about a half mile along the river with fountains, porch swings, restaurants and a fabulous view.Special attractions along the Knoxville Riverfront include the Knoxville Star Riverboat and the Three Rivers Rambler Steam Train, both of which offer excursions in season. Volunteer Landing is the venue for numerous special events, including concerts and one of the south's largest fireworks displays.

Karen and I have found the riverfront to be a very romantic spot to enjoy a cozy meal followed by a hand-in-hand stroll beside the beautiful Tennessee River.

If you are looking for a great atmosphere, outstanding view, and excellent food, you will find them all at Calhoun's on the River. In a city with a reputation for its many fine restaurants, this is definitely one of our favorites.

Calhoun's pride and joy is their award winning baby back ribs. These are slowly smoked with Tennessee hickory and lightly basted on the grill with Calhoun's own Bar-B-Que sauce. Karen and I both tried them our last trip there and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. On earlier visits I have also sampled their trout and catfish and found them to be equally good.

Deserts here are fabulous. fresh key lime pie, Calhoun's Jack Daniels Pie, and freshly baked strawberry shortcake are specialities.

Ephraim Bales Homestead, Tennessee

Great Smoky Mountains National Park:

Ephraim Bales was a farmer. He, his wife, Minerva, and their nine children lived crammed into this two room dog-trot cabin. This style of cabin got its name because a dog could trot through the open porch betweeb the rooms. "Eph" and "Nervie" owned 70 acres of rocks and cultivated 30 of them. The rest remained for timber for cooking, heating and construction use.

The larger side of the cabin was the living area; the smaller one, the kitchen. Additional beds stood in the once-closed-in-dog-trot. The only window is the small "granny hole," which looks out over the family pantry - the corn crib. The logs, though small, are skillfully worked. Puncheon (split log) floors were drafty and allowed an occasional snake to slide in, but did serve the purpose when there was no sawed lumber around.

The small corn crib, seen in this picture, stands beside the house. Also to be seen on the homestead is the family's walled up spring, pig pen, and very small barn, which housed a mule and a cow. The buildings of the homestead are only a few dozen feet from the constantly rushing waters of boulder studded Roaring Fork.

"Hardscrabble" is one name for a place like this. On a narrow, rutted, rocky road, it was a hard day's journey to Gatlinburg, now just a few minutes away. It's fascinating to explore it and contemplate the very different and difficult lifestyles of the pioneer Southern Highlanders, just a few generations ago.

The Home of Ephraim Bales is stop # 11 on the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The Read House, Chattanooga, Tennessee

On a trip to Chattanooga in February, 2006, Karen and I decided to stay at the elegant and historic Read House in the heart of downtown Chattanooga. It was a great choice. This hotel, operated by Sheraton, is a first class business hotel, but also popular with tourists. By finding an internet weekend special we got our room at a reasonable price too.

The Read House lives up to its claim of "classic comforts with modern flair." It is a historic hotel with gorgeous Georgian architecture, listed on the National Register of Historic Places and also Historic Hotels of America. Yet it has been upgraded to include every modern convenience. Our standard room came complete with a sitting area and a spacious desk. The "Sheraton Sweet Sleeper Bed" was a pleasure to sleep on - much more comfortable than your typical hotel mattress.

The hotel is ideally situated, on the Chattanooga free Electric Shuttle route and within walking distance of the Tennessee Aquarium plus numerous other attractions, restaurants and shopping. The many amenities include a new indoor pool with a cascading waterfall alongside the courtyard and terrace. There is a new state-of-the-art workout facility, and also a fine restaurant where we enjoyed breakfast.

Sevier County Courthouse, State of Franklin

Most people have never heard of the State of Franklin. But after the original 13 colonies, Franklin was formed in 1784, with hopes of becoming the 14th state. Frankin comprised the area that is today upper East Tennessee, and was named for the early American statesman, Benjamin Franklin. Sevier County and Sevierville, Tennessee, are named for the first and only governor of Franklin, John Sevier.

The state of North Carolina originally extended all the way from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River, but the lands west of the Appalachians were sparcely populated. North Carolina ceded those western lands to the newly formed United States to pay of it's Revolutionary War debts.

Delegates from this frontier territory, first known as the Watauga settlements, met in Jonesboro in 1784, adapted a constitution, elected a government, and applied for admission to the Union as the 14th state. The attempt to form a new state was unsuccessful, and the effort was abandoned after four years. Later, a much larger area, extending all the way from the crest of the Smoky Mountains to the Mississippi, was admitted to the Union as the 16th state - Tennessee. John Sevier was elected Tennessee's first governor.

Harrisburg Covered Bridge, Sevier County, Tennessee

The Harrisburg Covered Bridge is the only remaining old covered bridge in Sevier County, and one of only six left in Tennessee. In my opinion it is also the prettiest. The 64' Queen Truss structure was built in 1875 by Elpert Stephenson Early, so local folks could get across the East Fork of the LIttle Pigeon River to his grist mill. The bridge was restored in 1972 by the joint effort of the Great Smoky Chapter and the Spencer Clark Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

In 2005 the bridge was restored again to it's present condition, and a small parking lot was put in beside it by the Sevier County Road Department. The bridge is still open to vehicular traffic.

To find the Harrisburg Covered Bridge take US Hwy. 411 north of Sevierville for about 5 miles, turn east onto TN-339 and go about one more mile. You will see a sign pointing to the bridge, which is on a local road, about 400 yards south of the highway.

Dolly Parton Statue, Sevierville, Tennessee

Sitting directly in front of the Sevier County Courthouse is a statue of the county's favorite daughter, Dolly Parton. A plaque beneath the statue reads: DOLLY - This statue of Dolly Parton was erected through the generosity of the people of Sevier County, Dedicated May 3, 1987.

I once heard Dolly interviewed on nationwide television when she said that of all the many honors she has received in her life, this statue erected by her hometown friends is the one which she cherishes most. Those who know Dolly only superficially sometimes are not able to see beyond her show-business persona. But behind those silicone enhanced hooters beats the heart of an extremely intelligent woman, astute in business and generous to the core.

She is highly respected in Sevier County not only because of her awesome talent or because she is the best known person to ever come from these hills. Her local business enterprises have provided employment to hundereds of local people, and her foundation has done much to raise the level of literacy in this once backwoods mountain community.

I identify with Dolly because she and I both come from East Tennessee families of 12 children. Also, her grandfather and my father were both Church of God preachers. Even though I have never met Dolly personally, I was acquainted with several of her family members when I lived in Sevierville. For one summer, when they both were both much younger, Dolly dated my older brother, Philip.

Monument to Confederate and Union Dead, Crossville, Tennessee

This monument in downtown Crossville, Tennessee, is to the local men who gave their lives fighting for what they thought was right during the War Between the States, also often misnamed the "Civil War." Many Southerners still rightfully refer to it as the "War for Southern Independence."

This monument, erected by a Confederate organization, honors both Confederate and Union Dead.Although Tennessee was a part of the Confederate States of America, Cumberland County was almost equally divided between Confederate and Union sympathizers. This was true in much of the country - especially in the Appalachian mountain regions which includes East Tennessee. The monument is a vivid illustration of the division that The War brought to local communities as well as to the nation.

There were many reasons for the War Between the States. It is often stated that The War was fought over states rights - which is true. However, a more personally felt cause was unjust taxes against Southern planters. At the time that the Southern states seceded from the Union, they were paying as much as 85% of the entire Federal budget in taxes on southern grown agricultural products - especially cotton. However, only about one third of the nation's population lived in the south. The North, which held most of the votes in Congress, was taxing the South but spending most of the tax money in the North building railroads, canals, and infrastructure in Northern cities.

The South's cause was even more just than had been that of the original thirteen colonies when they rebelled against Great Britain for "taxation without representation." The tax on cotton was much higher than had been the tax on tea which inspired the famous Boston Tea Party. The mountain areas of the South were more severely divided because they were not as directly tied to the plantation economy of the deep south. The hardy independent mountaineers were largely subsistence farmers, growing untaxed crops more akin to those grown by farmers in the north, and on a smaller scale.
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Check out my Confederate blog: http://confederatedigest.com/

Natchez Trace Parkway

The Natchez Trace Parkway is a delightful 444-mile long National Park which stretches from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee.

Karen and I took three days to drive the entire length of the Parkway, although we could have easily driven the entire distance in a day. Actually three days was not enough to stop at all the many historic and natural sights along the way. The Parkway is a very well landscaped two-lane highway which is off limits to commercial vehicles. There is not a single billboard along the way, and only one business - a small country store with a gas pump in front, operated as a park concession. The top speed limit is 50 miles per hour.

Along the way there are numerous picnic areas, three campgrounds, hiking trails, and dozens of interpretative exhibits which provide a satisfying smorgasboard for anyone who has the slightest interest in nature and/or history.

The original Natchez Trace had its beginnings in pre-historic times as an animal trail and Indian path. It was later used by early pioneers as a highway. In the early 1800s, thousands of "Kaintucks" from the Ohio River Valley floated their crops down river to markets in New Orleans, sold their wares and their boats for lumber, and walked or rode horses back home along the Trace. Then it was a very difficult and dangerous journey. Today the Natchez Trace Parkway provides a not-to-be-missed excursion through the beauty of nature and the fascination of a bygone era.

Red Clay State Historical Park, Bradley County, Tennessee

From the years 1832-1838, Red Clay served as the capitol of the Cherokee Nation. It is located about 12 miles south of Cleveland, on the extreme southwest corner of Bradley County, with the Georgia-Tennessee state line forming its southern boundary.

In 1832 the state of Georgia stripped the Cherokees of their political soverignity and made it illegal for them to meet for any reason other than to treaty away their land. At the time the Cherokees were a civilized nation, far from the wandering nomads first encountered by the early European explorers. Their capitol in New Echota, north Georgia, was set up with a constitution and political system patterned after that of the United States. They had Christian churches, schools, and a newspaper, the Phoenix, in both Cherokee and English.

The Cherokees found temporary refuge here at Red Clay, just over the Georgia line into Tennessee. Here was the actual beginning of the infamous "Trail of Tears," as the Cherokees finally accepted their unhappy fate and began the long dreadful march to new settlements in the Oklahoma Territory. Thousands would die along the way before they ever reached their new home.

Appalachian Hall of Fame

Museum of Appalachia, Norris, Tennessee:

This magnificant old building houses the Appalachian Hall of Fame. It contains numerous displays devoted to relics belonging to notable, historic, famous, interesting, colorful and unusual folk from the surrounding region. Also on display are hundreds of early hand-made musical instruments, an extensive Indian artifact collection, and dozens of other exhibits.

I have spent hours in this building, loved every minute of it, and still needed more time. If this were the sum total of the Museum of Appalachia, it would be worth the admission price - but there is MUCH more to see in this amazing museum.

Museum of Appalachia, Norris, Tennessee

The Museum of Appalachia was opened in the late 1960's with one log building, the General Bunch House, on a two-acre plot. Now it has grown to 65 acres, including dozens of authentic log structures, a large Display Building, an extensive Craft, Gift and Antique Shop, a Resturant, the Mountain Heritage Room, the popular Appalachian Hall of Fame Building, the People's Building and over a quarter million items.

"It was my intention not to develop a cold, formal, lifeless 'museum.' Rather, I have aimed for the 'lived-in' look, striving for, above all else, authenticity. It was my goal to make the Brunch House, the Arnwine Cabin, and all the other dwellings appear as though the family had just strolled down to the spring to fetch the daily supply of water."--John Rice IrwinFounder-Director

Sunsphere from the 1982 World's Fair

In 1982, Knoxville, Tennessee, was host to a very successful World's Fair. The theme of the fair was the Sun, and the Sunsphere (pictured), was the signature structure around which the fair was built.

This is now the site of a permanent Knoxville World's Fair Park, and a gathering place for the city. It is a pleasant and beautiful spot with flowers and fountains, and the venue for many concerts and special events. Adjacent to the park is a neighborhood of quaint, brightly hued Victorian houses from the 1920s.

Today these contain shops, studios, and galleries for the visitor to explore. A favorite is the Candy Factory, in operation since 1917. Here one can see the Chocolatiers making The South's Finest Chocolate., along with 100 other types of candies.

Cleveland, Bradley County, Tennessee

In 1948, when I was three years old, my family moved from Leadwood, Missouri, to Cleveland, Tennessee. I lived there until the age of 21, when I moved to Casper, Wyoming. I made my home in Cleveland again for a couple of years more recently.

In the intervening time I have lived in a total of eleven states, but have always returned to Cleveland a few times a year. When I was a kid Cleveland was a small town of about 15,000 people. It has grown rapidly until today Cleveland and Bradley County boast a population of approximately 90,000.

There is a diversified economy here, with agriculture still playing an important role in the county and a broad local industrial base. More kitchen ranges are manufactured in Cleveland than anywhere else in America with Brown, Hardwick, and Maytag all having large factories. Other industries include the manufacture of Duracell Batteries, M&M Chocolates, Bowaters Paper Mill, golf balls, furniture, clothing, publishing and more.

Cleveland is also a college town, being home to Lee University, Cleveland State Community College, and the Church of God Theological Seminary. Many people know Cleveland best as the home of the oldest continuing local Pentecostal church in America, the North Cleveland Chruch of God, and Headquarters of four different Evangelical denominations, all branches of the Church of God.

The thing I like best about Cleveland is its proximity to the Cherokee National Forest, which is also headquartered here. Just a short distance away are lush green mountains where the trout streams and whitewater rivers run cold and clear and wildlife, including Black Bear and Wild Boar, still live free.

Christus Gardens, Gatlinburg, Tennessee

One of the oldest and most tasteful attractions in Gatlinburg is Christus Gardens, winner of "Travel Attraction of the Year." Christus Gardens offers a series of inspiring dioramas with more than 100 life-size wax figures in realistic settings. They relate the Greatest Story Ever Told, and have been called "America's # 1Religious Attraction."

Also featured at Christus Gardens:

The Promise - a 900 square foot original mural featuring over 30 characters from the Old Testament.

The Place of Parables - a series of life-size paintings depicting the beloved stories told by Jesus.

Biblical Era Coins - America's finest collection of Ancient coins from the Holyland and Imperial Rome.

The Carrara Face of Christ - a 6-ton marble sculpture of the head of Christ, so skillfully crafted that the entire face seems to follow your movements.

I first visited here in 1965, and the place is still drawing new visitors, and returning ones, every day.

Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies, Gatlinburg, Tennessee

I was living in Gatlinburg, Tennessee when I first heard that plans were underway to build an Aquarium here and I thought it was a poor idea. After all, this was the mountains, not the beach. That reasoning shows how little I know. In it's first few years of operation Aquarium of the Smokies has become the most visited aquarium in the United States.

When Karen and I recently took the tour it was easy to see why this one is so popular. The place is fabulous. We've been to several great aquariums throughout the country, but have never enjoyed one more than here. This is a state-of-the-art, 125,000 square foot, 1.4 million gallon facility which features eleven-foot sharks and 8,000 other exotic sea creatures from around the world.

An innovation that we especially liked was the 345-foot glide path that carries you through the world's longest underwater aquarium tunnel. In fact, we walked back and stepped back onto the moving path more than once to experience it again. This feature allows everyone an opportunity to have an unobstructed front row view.The aquarium is open 365 days a year.

Gatlinburg, Tennessee

Most people either love Gatlinburg or they hate it - or both. When I lived and worked in Gatlinburg, I often met visitors who come once or several times a year and think it is the neatest place in the world. Occasionally I encountered first time visitors who expected to find a quaint little out-of-the-way mountain village and were shocked by the congested glare. Gatlinburg is literally within footsteps of the most visited National Park in the United States, and has been in a non-stop boom ever since the formation of the Park, in the 1930s.

However, expansion is severely limited by the mountains and surrounding parkland. Not to be deterred, developers just keep tearing down old structures and building bigger and better ones. First the development was to provide accomodations and sell hand-made mountain crafts to visitors to the park. Today, sad to say, many people come for the tourist attractions of Gatlinburg and never give the Park a second look.

Gatlinburg is definitely NOT your typical Appalachian village. It is a small town of just over 3,000 population that draws up to 10 million visitors a year. Take Gatlinburg on its own terms. Enjoy the restaurants, museums, amusements, fudge, and entertainment - knowing that whenever the clamor gets to be too much, you can easily escape into the serene fastness of Eastern America's greatest wilderness area.

Hunter Musum of American Art, Chattanooga, Tennessee

The Hunter Museum of American Art is perched dramaticically atop a bluff 80-feet high, overlooking the Tennessee River. It is housed in a large old red brick mansion with white columns - adjoined by a new ultra-modern $19.5 million expansion. The museum houses one of the nation's finest collections of American art. However, to me the building itself is an equally interesting attraction, with the glass walls of the lobby offering spectacular views of the River.

In the museum there is also a new cafe, museum store, and auditorium.

The Tennessee Aquarium, Chattanooga, Tennessee

Chattanooga's wildly successful and popular Tennessee Aquarium is the world's largest freshwater aquarium. The ultra-modern facility reproduces and displays the natural habitats of the great rivers of the world.

As if that weren't enough, in April, 2005, the aquarium opened a new expansion which added 650,000 gallons of saltwater exhibits, with ten-foot sharks, fierce barracuda and graceful sting-rays, gliding through an undersea cavern. Other galleries showcase butterflies, cuttlefish, squid, crabs and jellyfish. A lush tropical beach, with 100 feet of "shoreline," gives visitors the opportunity to touch bamboo sharks and sting rays. If you only see one attraction in Chattanooga, you couldn't make a better choice than the Tennessee Aquarium.

Fall Creek Falls, Tennessee

The namesake for Fall Creek Falls State Park, this is the highest of four major waterfalls in the park. This jaw dropping waterfall plunges 256 feet into a shaded rock-strewn pool, making it the highest waterfall in America east of the Rockies. The view of the falls from across the gorge is easily accessed via a short paved path. However, those who want to go to the base of the falls will need to hike. The .40 mile trail is short, but very steep with a 300' climb down over boulders, stairs, a rough footway - and back up again. One should be in reasonably good physical condition to hike the Base of Falls Trail.

When you reach the bottom of the falls you will swear that you have hiked more than .40 mile, and the hard climb back up is still ahead of you. But when you feel the cool spray of the falls against your face and look up at the magnificent sight you will feel well rewarded. A sign warns against venturing onto the rocks at the base of the falls, but when we were last there many folks were ignoring the sign, a few even taking a refreshing dip. One can walk around behind the falls for a very interesting view, looking out through the column of falling water.

Old Chattanooga Terminal Station

Chattanooga's old Terminal Station is now a 24-acre entertainment complex, including a Holiday Inn Hotel. There are 360 sleeping rooms, including 48 sleeping parlors aboard authentic railcars. In addition, this popular vacation destination boasts 40,000 square feet of function space. Visitors can dine in a Victorian rail car (Dinner in the Diner), or be entertained by singing servers in the famous Station House Restaurant. My son, Gregory, was once a singing server here. Guests also can enjoy an antique trolly ride around the complex, a Model Railroad Museum and ten unique retail shops.

The old railroad depot is best known as the home of the famous Chattanooga Choo Choo, seen in the adjoining photo, and the entire complex is known to most people by that name. Whenever I visit the Chattanooga Choo Choo I always take time to stroll through the formal rose gardens, complete with fountains and rose and herb displays. I usually find myself humming the "golden oldie" tune about the Chattanooga Choo Choo. Whether or not you choose to stay here in one of the guest rooms, a visit to the Choo Choo is a MUST. It's one of the spots that made Chattanooga famous.