The Cumberland Gap 29 May 2014

 We've all most likely seen this David Wright painting, Gateway to the West, depicting Daniel Boone leading settlers through the Cumberland Gap.  While this scene was quite unlikely, it does an excellent job of portraying how dark and forbidding the forest trails of the day must have been, and how courageous the early settlers were.  As it turns out, one set of Penny's great-great-grandparents also made the trek.

 The Cumberland Mountains formed an almost impenetrable barrier to those moving through this area.  Looking down into The Gap from the Pinnacle Overlook, it is easy to see how important that passage was.

The Cumberland Gap was formed by a confluence of events.  This photograph looks down into the Middleboro Crater, formed by the impact of a large meteor.  At three miles in diameter, it was nowhere near the seventy-seven mile diameter of the meteor that formed the Chicxulub Crater, blamed for the extinction of the dinosaurs.  Still, it dwarfs the Arizona meteor that formed the crater we showed in a earlier blog.  That object has been calculated at less than one mile across.  The other major factor forming the Gap was millennia of water erosion of the weakened rocks lining the Rocky Face Fault.

 We took this, much easier, way to the Kentucky side from Tennessee so we could retrace the footsteps of Penny's ancestors.

Object lesson road was built over part of the original trail to convince officials and voters of the need for a better road through the Gap.  It is a far smoother and clearer road than that which greeted settlers, but it still demonstrates the forbidding nature of travel in the late 18th century.

 It travels into a dense mixed forest of oak, hickory, shortleaf pine, and eastern hemlock.  It was beautiful and peaceful.  There was no wind, so the major sounds were birdsong and our own footfalls.

The few clearings had a beauty and peacefulness of their own. 

This photograph shows the steepness of some of the grades, no doubt steeper then.  Imagine trying to come through here with a two-wheeled cart full of belongings, and children aged eleven months, two years and four years as Penny's ancestors did.

Part way into the ascent, we came across this trail.  The Daughters of the American Revolution had Daniel Boone's original trail surveyed and marked.  This was a portion of that trail.  The boulder to the right was marked with a brass plaque commemorating the trail.  Here, we joined the original Wilderness Road, over which the pioneers traveled.

At the apex of The Gap was this sign.  At this point, we were in Virginia.  We both smiled when we read the sign and felt a kind of kinship with those who had passed this way. 

During the Civil War, both sides considered The Gap of considerable strategic importance.  It changed hands more than once, but without bloodshed.  Occupiers abandoned their positions several times due to difficulties of resupply and hard winters.

This is the Gap viewed from the Tennessee side.  It's difficult to exaggerate the importance of this small geographic area, but we both felt a strong sense of history being here.



Sgt. Alvin York, Pall Mall, TN 21 May 2014

 Not far from Crossville is the tiny town of Pall Mall (which the locals pronounce Powl Mowl), Tennessee.  It was the home of Sergeant Alvin C. York, the most decorated soldier of World  War I.  He initially tried to claim exemption from military service as a conscientious objector, but after his claim was rejected, entered the Army as a private.  His excellent marksmanship and tough, gritty determination soon set him apart and earned him a promotion to corporal.  During an assault, he single-handedly killed 28 German Soldiers, knocked out several machine gun nests, and he and his seven man squad, took the surrender of 132 German soldiers.  He was promptly promoted to Sergeant.  His feats were not immediately acknowledged, but an account of his heroism published in the Saturday Evening Post, brought them to public attention. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the Congressional Medal of Honor, and the Croix de Guerre among numerous other decorations.  

Before he was drafted, York had never been more than fifteen miles from the place where he was born.  After his return, he was offered a half million dollars worth of endorsement deals, but declined them all because he felt that it was wrong to profit from killing.  His largest desire was to return to the Pall Mall.  Despite his rejection of so many offers, the Nashville Rotary Club raised enough money to buy four hundred acres of land upon which this house sits.

One of his business ventures was this general store.  Inside the store, a short bio, narrated by Walter Cronkite, is played for visitors.  York was not very successful in his ventures for a variety of reasons, one of them being his penchant for trying to help his neighbors in need.



Another of his businesses was this gristmill built on the Wolf River.  We saw people fishing up and downstream from the small retention dam seen in the right of this photo.  It was easy to see why he was so in love with the area.  

Wishing to raise funds to build this Bible institute, and after rebuffing Hollywood for several years, he finally accepted a film offer in 1941.  The Howard Hawks film Sergeant York, starring Gary Cooper, was the result.  The institute is now defunct.

Another of his endeavors was the York Agricultural Institute.  It was originally intended to help educate local farmers on better and more efficient agricultural production and marketing.  After much political maneuvering, it was finally constructed,  When the State of Tennessee reduced funding during the Depression, York mortgaged his farm to pay for bus transportation.  It is now a public high school.

York died in 1964 and was buried in Wolf River Cemetery in Pall Mall.  After his death, his wife sold most of the farm.  It is now the Alvin C. York State Historic Park.

Crossville and Dayton, Tennessee 5 May 2014

 We arrived in Crossville, Tennessee May first with the intention of staying a week.  Unfortunately, we were unable to find a place to stay over Memorial Day, so decided to just stay here.  It was a pretty park just outside a wildlife refuge.  Much of the time there was no one else in our end of the park.  We enjoyed our solitude..

 Crossville lay squarely on the Avery Trace.  During the early 1800s, many families came across the Avery Trace to newly opened lands in Alabama and Tennessee.  Not far from Crossville, across the Avery Trace, shown here, is the small town of Dayton, Tennessee.

 In 1960, a film starring two Hollywood heavyweights was made about events transpiring here.  In case you haven't already guessed, the movie was Inherit the Wind.  Spencer Tracy portrayed Clarence Darrow and Frederick March portrayed William Jennings Bryan.  This statue outside the Rhea County Courthouse is of Bryan.  The book upon which Bryan rests his left hand is inscribed "Truth and Eloquence" 

Exactly eighty-nine years to the day before our visit, John Scopes, a high school science teacher, was charged with the crime of teaching evolution.  His trial was the subject of the film.  Bryan was the prosecutor, and Darrow was retained by the ACLU to defend Scopes.  Up these stairs, was the courtroom.

This is the book from which Scopes taught.  It was a book on the approved state list.  Note the evolutionary diagram on the left page. 

 The trial was held over eight steamy July days.  Due to the heat, it was convened on the front lawn of the court house rather than this courtroom one day.  It was attended by journalists from around the nation.  Among them was the famous journalist, satirist, and critic H. L. Mencken who referred to the local populace as "Babbitts" from Sinclair Lewis' book. It was a put-down of the judgment of the middle class.

The defense sat at this desk while the prosecution sat across the courtroom.

On the eighth day, the Jury deliberated for nine minutes before finding Scopes guilty.  The conviction was overturned on a technicality, but Scopes' job was not restored.  One year after the trial, Bryan returned to Tennessee.  While there, he died in his hotel room. 

Dayton has a long and colorful history.  Much of it is depicted on the sidewalk outside the court house.  There were, however, years like 1879. 



Ruble's Museum, Nashville, TN, Final Part 28 April, 2014

It's always nice to have an insider, not only show us the town, but also introduce us to his friend with a story of his own.  Fortunately, we had Ted's cousin, Bob Heatherly do just that.  One of his friends, Ruble Sanderson, pictured below, was kind enough to show us through his private museum.  It was quite an unexpected treat.

Ruble and his wife, Brenda, are co-owners of Legends Corner, The Stage on Broadway, Second Fiddle, and Crossroads on the Broadway strip in Nashville, and The Stage on Sixth in Austin, Texas.  The collection he showed us was fabulous.  Just look at the juke boxes along the wall behind him.  Here, he's pointing to a late 19th century fan that is operated by convection currents created by a flame in the base. 

Here, Ruble reads from an 1783 edition of the Derby Mercury in which King George  III recognized American Independence and cited the work of the American Delegation.  Both of us had recently finished reading a biography of Benjamin Franklin, one of the negotiators, so it was even more fascinating to actually see this piece of history. 

 Just beyond the paper was this fully functional early Edison phonograph complete with a wax cylinder record.

One of the pieces of which Ruble was justifiably proud was this multiplayer; early jukebox.  Put in your coin, turn the crank, and you could select which wax cylinder recording you wanted to hear. 

In addition to being a beautiful piece of furniture, it was had a fascinating mechanism.  We had no idea such a thing even existed.  Each cylinder was good for about one hundred plays.

 In addition to several drawers filled with Edison Cylinders, this cabinet displayed even more.  Have you ever seen so many of them?  Most are still in their original paper containers.

One of the highlights was a recording that Ruble played for us on this phonograph.  It was a recording of a Teddy Roosevelt stump speech!!  To actually hear the great man's voice was an experience we had never expected to have.  We felt honored that Ruble had elected to use one of the limited number of plays these cylinders were capable of for us.

 Of course, there were lots of other phonographs and rare discs.

 This piece caught our eyes:  a colorful lamp on top and a vinyl disc phonograph underneath.

 In a separate room was this instrument collection.  Each of these instruments had belonged to a music legend.  Behind Willie's bust (with the hat and braids hanging down) is a guitar signed by the Carter Family.

On a high shelf, was this collection of microphones.  Note the one to the right with the station call letters.  WSM first went on the air in 1925.  It is one of the oldest continuously broadcasting stations in the United States, and the first commercial FM station.  It has a long and colorful history that can be accessed here .  Perhaps the thing that it will be most remembered for began as a program known as the WSM Saturday Night Barn Dance.  A few years later, it was renamed the Grand Old Opry.  It's hard to look at these microphones without imagining Roy Acuff, Bill Monroe, or Minnie Pearl behind them. 

We thoroughly enjoyed this tour and appreciated the time Ruble took to show his collection.



Music, Nashville, TN Part 4, 28 April, 2014



Of course we would never have left Nashville without exploring the music scene. Our tour guide, Ted's cousin, Bob Heatherly, Met us here at the Loveless Cafe, a landmark in its own right, for breakfast.  Fabulous.  Ted especially enjoyed their ham, grits and gravy.   

Fortunately for us, Bob had worked many years here on Music Row.  He was a great tour guide, giving us a terrific overview.

 In a town as musical as Nashville you would, of course, expect ASCAP to have a presence.

 As you drive down Music Row, there are many recognizable names.  Bob worked here at RCA Victor for many years rising to the Vice-Presidential level before striking out on is own with his acquisition of Music City Records.  Note the Roy Orbison guitar in front. 

Not far away, another recognizable name: Warner-Chappell.

Perhaps, a less recognizable name, although it shouldn't be, has a large presence here.  This is the Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business.  Curb was a lieutenant governor of California under Jerry Brown.  He was also the founder of the Mike Curb Congregation.  He scored a number of movies, and wrote and produced for such artists as Roy Orbison, Lou Rawls, Sammy Davis Jr. and the Osmond Family. 

Here is a building that you likely would not recognize without a tour guide.  This is Reba McEntire's studio and business office.

A more recognizable landmark is the Ryman Auditorium.  It was the home of The Grand Ole Opry  from 1943 until 1974.

 What could be more Nashville than this? 

The backstage at the Ryman was quite small.  Consequently, many of the performers ducked out this door and across the alley....

....to Tootsie's until it was time for them to perform.

People drinking on the roof of Tootsie's.  Note the AT&T building in the background.  Doesn't this look like a building from which Commissioner Gordon should be flashing the Bat-Signal?

On the corner of 5th and Broadway sits Legends Corner.  There is live music here day and night.

Inside Legends Corner,these two guys were quite good.  Come here, and with a little luck, you might see a legend of the future, or perhaps even one of the present.

There is no way our blog can do justice to the fabulous tour that Bob gave us.