🚙2017 March 27-29, Adventures in the Smoky Mts

Before we could get on the road we had to take our Chrysler Van in for body repairs.
We stopped in Elgin to have the front end checked on the Honda Van and had to leave it for repairs so we ended up driving the LS Saturn an older car that got good gas mileage.
We stopped for our weekly B-12 shots and began our journey.
We took I-65 North to 840west to 40west stopping at Pilot in Knoxville to fill up with gas.

We stopped in Lancaster Tennessee Rest Stop where we saw a display about Tennessee in the Civil War, tough men ~ an even tougher war. 

We reached the Inn on the River around 5PM, checked in and rested a few minutes, and rode to the Islands where we saw the ferries wheel, Dudley's Daiquiris, Mellowmushroom Pizza, Margaritaville, and a Carrousel.
We were getting hungry so we decided to eat at Paula Deen's but it was way too much food and we both were watching our weight so we ended up eating at Long John Silvers.
I ordered a piece of Cod Fish (my favorite) and a hubby seafood platter which we shared.
We rode past the Old Mill stopping at Patriots Park which was nearby.

Liberty Bell
Home to a beautiful landscape and several major events, Patriot Park is an area where you can go to relax and have an exciting time.

The park is located behind The Old Mill, off Middle Creek Road. A large expanse of lush greens covers the park, but the highlight of the park is certainly the inspiring Veterans Memorial.

A large, cracked liberty bell was erected within the park to pay homage to all of the Sevier County war veterans. This act of patriotism carries over into the Annual Celebrate Freedom event, a two-week celebration that pays tribute to the millions of men and women who courageously fought for the freedoms of America. When visiting Sevier County be sure to take some time to pay a visit to Pigeon Forge's Patriot Park.

Patriot Missile
Patriot uses an advanced aerial interceptor missile and high-performance radar systems. Patriot was developed at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, which had previously developed the Safeguard ABM system and its component Spartan and hypersonic speed Sprint missiles. The symbol for Patriot is a drawing of a Revolutionary War-era Minuteman.

Patriot Park City of Pigeon Forge
A patriot is someone who feels strong support for their country. (See also Patriotism.) It is derived from the Hellenic (Greek) word Πατρίς (Patris), which means homeland. It is the female form of Πατέρας, which means Father

Liberty Bell

We rode back to the hotel watched some television and fell asleep.

The next morning we took the elevator from the fourth floor to the ground level and walked to the dining room to eat breakfast.
We then rode through Gatlinburg looking at the sites where the fire had been earlier in the year.

We crossed the Tennessee State line into North Carolina

It was a bit chilly and I had left my jacket back at the hotel

The Smoky Mountains

Our next stop is Mountain Farm Museum & Visitor Center Oconaluftee, NC 
At the Mountain Farm Museum, we saw Corn Cribs, Broomcorn, Sorghum Mill and Furnace, Blacksmith Shop, Sorghum Cane, the fenced-in garden, an Apple House, Hog PINS, the Meat-house, Corn Cribs, AND Springhouse

Cabin

Mountain Farm Museum 

Most of the buildings on a mountain farm are related to the most basic of all needs; preserving food. The historic buildings at the Mountain Farm Museum were moved here from throughout the national park in the early 1950s. These buildings reflect the challenges faced daily by every mountain farm family. John Davis spent two years building this house near Deep Creek, North Carolina. It was completed in about 1900. The log walls are "matched"; Davis split chestnut logs in half along their length and placed the halves in matching positions on opposite walls. 

Oconaluftee River Trail  

Hand-stitched quilts at Oconaluftee Visitor Center 

Inside the Oconaluftee Visitor Center 
We saw cultural-themed exhibits about the people that once lived in the area. 

Our next stop was Cherokee Veterans Park where we saw markers from Indians who had served in the US Army, US Navy, US Marines, and US Air Force.

A bear at the Cherokee Veterans Park representing our US Flag and the American Eagle. 

We enjoyed a Whopper, Whopper Jr, onion rings, and a slice of chocolate cheesecake at Burger King in Clyde, NC.

Slice of  Oreo Cookie Cheese Cake 

Whopper Jr, Onion Rings, and drink
We took a different route (I-40s)back to the Inn on the River and stopped to tour the Bush Museum and Store. 

Come on down to the BUSH'S® Visitor Center in Chestnut Hill, Tennessee, where you can trace the values and events that made BUSH'S BEST® for what it is today. And it's all housed in the original A.J. Bush & Company general store, founded in 1897.

Bush's Truck 

Bush's Visitor Center

3901 US-411, Dandridge, TN 37725

A replica can of Bush's Baked Beans showing the bean's journey 

Jay Bush and his dog Duke 

Bush's Factory 

We arrived in Pigeon Forge just in time for dinner at the Apple Farm Restaurant.
Where we enjoyed Applewood Apple Fritters, juice, chicken, and vegetables.

Applewood Apple Fritters

Ingredients

1 cup milk
1 egg (beaten)
4 Tbsp margarine
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 orange, rind, and juice
1 cup apples (chopped but not too fine)
3 cups cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla

Directions

Beat egg. In a mixing bowl, combine the milk, egg, and melted margarine. Add the orange juice, rind, chopped apples (skin can be left on), and vanilla. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Stir into milk mixture with a spoon until blended. DO NOT OVERMIX. Preheat oil in a skillet to 350 degrees. Drop off the end of tablespoons into the hot oil. Fry to a golden brown. Turn so they brown evenly. Allow cooling Makes about 30 fritters. 

Applewood Farm 

We had enough left over for the next day.
After enjoying a nice meal we rode back to the hotel, took a shower climbed into bed to watch some television, and fell asleep.

The next morning we dressed and rode the elevator down to the first floor and walked into the dining room for breakfast.
We checked out and headed for home. 
We stopped to fill up with gas and stopped at the I-75  rest stop, where we saw a historic marker.

The road to Chattanooga The tide turns for the Union.
This interstate highway parallels the historic line of the East Tennessee & Georgia Railroad. Late in 1863, Union and Confederate armies followed the tracks during a series of battles in the fight for control of Chattanooga, a strategically vital rail center.
     Multiple Civil War-related sites are located in Charleston (Exit 33), near the location of a raid by Confederate Gen. Joseph Wheeler’s cavalry. The Henegar House was the headquarters for Union Gen. William T. Sherman. Cumberland Presbyterian Church served as a Confederate hospital. The Hiwassee River Heritage Center interprets the story of the Union occupation.
     In downtown Cleveland (Exit 25), late in 1863 Union forces built Fort Hill to protect the railroad. A cemetery was established nearby, with the dead of both sides interred there. In 1914, the Grand Army of the Republic erected a monument for the Union soldiers there, one of three such memorials in the state. Fighting occurred around the Masonic Female Institute in Cleveland.
     The site of a major Confederate hospital is located near Exit 7. Silverdale Confederate Cemetery contains the graves of about 155 of Gen. Braxton Bragg’s soldiers. Most of them are unknowns who died in hospitals in 1862.
  Several units of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park can be accessed from Exit 3, including Orchard Knob, 
Missionary Ridge, and Lookout Mountain. Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s victory there late in November 1863 turned the tide against the Confederates and resulted in the Federal occupation of most of East Tennessee for the rest of the war.

We ate lunch at Taco Bell in Athens and were home by 5:30PM.
My granddaughter brought over her daughter and she stayed with us until 8:30PM.
We had a great time in the mountains but were also glad to be home. 

2017 April 15, Church History Walking Tour Decatur, Alabama ⛪⛪⛪⛪ with guide Phil Wirey

Today I strolled along with several others to listen to Phil Wirey tell the Church history of Decatur.
We meet in the Flower and Butterfly Garden at the Old State Building.

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Rosalynn  Carter Butterfly Trail
This garden provides host plants, nectar sources, and shelter for butterflies. The mission of the trail is to promote the full life cycle of butterflies common in this area with a special emphasis on the monarch. The trail begins at the home of President and Mrs. Jimmy Carter in Plains, Ga
Join us on the trail!
www.jimmycarter.info

Butterfly Garden

We were introduced to people like Jesse Winston Garth, one of Decatur's founding fathers Decatur.
(2)We saw the Dancy Polk House, the site of (3)Colonel Lawrence Banks's Home that was torn down during the Civil War.
We saw the site of the (4)First Methodist Church and the first City Cemetery also torn down during the Civil War.
(5)The site of the First Presbyterian Church, Owl Drug Store, Tennessee Valley State Bank, and many Jewish storefronts.
(6) We stopped at the Lafayette Street Cemetery to take a few pictures.

 Lafayette Street Cemetery
there are brochures placed outside the cemetery for the taking
1. Cyrus Aiken Banks
2. George Baylor Banks
3. Col Lawrence Slaughter Banks
4. Margaret Jarret Noble Banks
5. Mildred Ann Banks
6. Elizabeth Boyce
7. Elizabethan Brown
8. Sarah Evaline Rhodes Dancy'
9. Thomas G. Marphy
10. Mary Mason Nelson
11. Mary Ann Banks Nichols
12. Eliza Rhodes
13. Francis Alexander Rhodes
14. Lavinia Mason Rhodes
15. Patience Rhodes
16. Sarah Louisa Turner Dancy Sykes Rhodes
17. Alexander Ross
18. Daughter Rutledge
19. Phineas Thomas Scruggs
20. Eliza Lavinia Sykes
21. Sarah Winfield Dancy Sykes

(7) We stopped to visit the Notorious Simp McGee saloons and Dead Man's Alley

Simp McHGee
Simp, a Master Pilot, was as skillful and competent as the best. But in the Spring of 1917, Federal Agents lifted his license for "the reckless shooting of the rapids" near Chattanooga. No longer allowed to pilot his riverboats, he returned to Decatur and died at Miss Kate's house, on June 16, 1917, at the age of 58...

William Simpson McGhee was buried on the bank of the Tennessee River near Guntersville.

(8)We visited the Nungester Drug Store and (9) The United Methodist Church.
(10) We stopped outside the First Baptist Church its third location.
(11) We visited the Carnegie Library and ended our tour at the Decatur Daikin Amphitheater.

Carnegie Library 

Decatur Daikin Amphitheater.

I walked back to the parking lot near the Old State Bank and took pictures of several historic markers.

The Rising Sun Lodge No 29 Ancient Free & Accepted Masons

Dr. Henry Rhodes, for whom Rhodes Ferry Landing was Named, was Decatur's first Postmaster and one of the organizers of the Lodge (Nov. 22, 1826). Chartered in 1827, its first Worshipful Master was Colonel Francis Danny, builder of the Fancy-Polk House. It is the oldest Lodge in Morgan County and the first fraternal organization in Decatur. Early members were the pioneer settlers of Morgan County. Two of Decatur's founders, Isaac Lane and General Jesse Winston Garth., were Masons and Directors of the Decatur Land Company which laid out the city streets. A lodge was built in 1834 with the lower floor used for school and church purposes. Rising Sun Lodge was destroyed by the enemy during the War Between the States (Nov. 25, 1864). In 1873 a Lodge was built on the NW corner of Bank and Pond Streets, across from the Old State Bank, W.W. Littlejohn a Colonel C.C. Harris were Masons and founders of the Decatur Land Improvement & Furnace Company which planned the city of New Decatur (1887). Three members, all doctors in the faithful discharge of their Hippocratic Oath, were lost to the 1888 Yellow Fever epidemic, James McGinnis Brundidge, PM, is the only Mason in the history of the Alabama Grand Lodge to bestowed the title of

'Honorable Past Grand Master'(1899). In 1934, the Lodge moved into the Masonic Temple on Johnston Street, formerly the Cotaco Opera House.

Decatur has pieces of art dotted throughout the historic area.  

Children holding hands in the Decatur Daikin Amphitheater Park 

A pair of Hands 

A rooster in the Gardens at the Carnegie Library 

Blooming Azaleas  

I ate lunch at Jacks in Decatur, rode home, and took a long nap. 

👣👣👣👣 2017 April 1 & 8, Walking Tours in Athens, Alabama

April Walking Tours 

On April 1, Saturday, I drove to the Visitor Center in Athens to join them on a Walking Tour.

There were sign-up sheets for the following tours. 

1. Athens University Historic Tour WITH ANNA GIBBS

2. Robert Beaty Historic Street Tour BILLY WARD

3. George S. Houston Historic Street Tour REBEKAH DAVIS

4. Athens Veterans Museum

5. Athens Cemetery JIMMY HILL OR WM PEPPER

6. Historic Downtown Athens BUZZ ESTES 

At 10:00AM everyone gathered in front of the Visitor for a group picture, then we disbursed into groups and began our tour. 

I chose the Robert Beaty Historic District Street Walking tour, led by Billy Ward. Mr. Ward was dressed like a southern gentleman, he was wearing a top hat, tailored a suit, and carrying a cane.

We saw many Azaleas, dogwood trees, and other blooming bushes as we walked along the sidewalk, stopping to listen to Mr. Ward tell us interesting stories about the many historic homes. 

Historic Home 

Historic Home in Beaty District 

The Robert Beaty Historic District is located in Athens, Alabama. Beaty was one of the original founders of Athens. Beaty was an Irish immigrant who first settled in Virginia.

Beaty purchased about 160 acres around a spring. Beaty’s Federal-style home was completed in 1826. The District contains several homes in the Federal, Greek Revival, Italianate, Eastlake, Victorian, and Spanish Colonial Revival Styles. 

1984 the district was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Our last stop was the historic home of Billy Ward.
Billy invited everyone into his historic home, and we walked through the ground-level rooms. 

I walked back to the Visitor Center stopping at Creek at Big Spring Park to take pictures of the goldfish and ducks. 

Ducks at Big Spring Park Athens

Ate a side salad from Zaxby’s for lunch before driving home

On April 8, Saturday, I drove to the Visitor Center in Athens to join them on a Walking Tour.

There were sign-up sheets for the following tours. 

1. Athens University Historic Tour WITH ANNA GIBBS

2. Robert Beaty Historic Street Tour BILLY WARD

3. George S. Houston Historic Street Tour REBEKAH DAVIS

4. Athens Veterans Museum

5. Athens Cemetery JIMMY HILL OR WM PEPPER

6. Historic Downtown Athens BUZZ ESTES 

First Christian Church where we parked

Visitor Center Group that toured different sites

At 10:00AM everyone gathered in front of the Visitor for a group picture, then we disbursed into groups and began our tour. 

This time I chose the George S. Houston Historic Street Tour led by Rebekah Davis and my husband came with me.

This time we had to take the car and park in the parking lot across the street from the First Christian Church.

Luke Pryor Historic Home 

 Historic Home

George S. Houston Memorial Public Library & Limestone County Museum Historical Society. 

Inside the Houston Library, we saw a 1944 Certificate of Restoration and appraisal pump organ and melodions, six quilts, a wooden round table, five velvet seat-covered chairs, a green sofa, a fireplace with a white mantle around it, a spinning wheel, several wooden chairs, and rockers, a picture of Robert E Lee, a Goth bust pano with music book Constancy Romance for Piano by Wm Fink with Mary E Mason dated Nov 21, 1898, written on the top of the book, boxes on top of boxes of book, walls badly in need of repairs and two sets of staircases. 
The house/library was a white two-story home with four large wooden columns, green shutters, and a triangle roof that covered the balcony and porch. 
Azaleas and shrubs lined the sidewalk leading up to the front door.
The yard was full of blooming dogwood trees, and magnolia trees 

The George S. Houston Historic District lies to the West and north of the public square where some of Athens's most prominent people lived.

Some of the historic homes that we saw were Hendricks, Bailey Hamilton Home ca 1919, Luke Pryer Home, Gibes, Powers, Christopher Home ca 1920, Hayden, Boston Home, Caughran, McCormick, Patton ca 1935, Stanford, Lauderdale 1969, Tilman Jeffery ca 1913, Martin Malone Johnson #13 1821 home, & Hendrix, Alexander 1937

Only five homes are remaining from the antebellum period. Between 1908 and 1939, such as the American Four Squares, bungalows, cottages, some Tudor Revival, and some Colonial Revival. The Neoclassical style First Methodist Church was built in 1925 and a hospital was built but later turned into apartments. 

This district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

Governor George S Houston's Home Marker 

Governor George S Houston's Home Marker 

George S. Houston/Home/The Houston Memorial Library

This house was purchased by George S. Houston in 1845 and was his home until his death here on 31st December 1879. Houston served the people of Alabama in public office for thirty-six years. His long and distinguished political career began in 1832 and included; one term in the Alabama State Legislature, three terms as circuit solicitor, nine terms in the U. S. House of Representatives, two terms as Governor of Alabama, and he was twice elected to the U. S. Senate. Due to his conservative fiscal policies while in Congress, he was known as "The Watchdog of the Treasury".

Houston's most notable service to Alabama was during his two terms as governor. For almost a decade after the Civil War, the people of Alabama suffered under the rule of Radical Reconstructionists.

(Back):
In 1874 the white citizens of Alabama united behind Houston in his bid for the governor's office. His election as a Democrat returned self-rule to Alabama. During his two terms, the state's huge debt was reduced, property owners were protected from excessive taxation, and many other reforms were enacted that brought stability to the state.

After Houston's death, his home was occupied only occasionally until 1937 when it was deeded to the City of Athens with some stipulations, one of which was that it should house a library and meeting place for literary and patriotic societies and should be known as "The Houston Memorial Library".

Our next stop is CE Pools, The first weekend in April every year they have a grand opening where they grill hamburgers, chicken, and Hotdogs and Sue cooks her famous banana pudding and Butterfinger cake for their customers.

We stopped for a hamburger, coke, and pie.

Our next stop was the 7th Annual Car, Truck, Tractor, and Cycle Show at TM Rogers High School. 

Car Show TM Rogers

Our last stop was to attend the funeral of my brother-in-law. I cannot say enough good things about him. He was known and loved by many, and he gave of his time and money. He will be greatly missed. 

We picked up dinner at Taco Bell (my husband) and Captain D’s (shrimp for me).

It had been a long day and we both just wanted to relax. 

I hope to add three more April tours to this blog.