Davy Crockett Birthplace, Greene County, TN 30 May 2014

 We saw this piece of history outside the Davy Crockett house.  Ted had owned an 1950 ford when he was a kid, but it was nowhere near this slick.  Even Penny drooled. 

There was a visitor center with a several artifacts of the age, but only a few had ever really belonged to Crockett.

We boomers will have no trouble remembering Walt Disney's Davy Crockett series starring Fess Parker.  This case had a large display of toys, records, and other memorabilia of that era.

Penny and her brother were fortunate enough to have an uncle who was a furrier.  Here is Penny's brother John in the fur cap his uncle made for him.  He drove Penny crazy constantly singing "Daaaavy, Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier" while wearing it or not.  He looks like he's up to something, doesn't he?  In actuality, Crockett only wore a fur hat for the last few years of his life.  He adopted the fashion because the hero of a play written about him wore one.

 

This is a re-creation of the cabin in which Crockett was born.  

This is the cabin seen from the side.  By the way, the Nolichucky River is just out of the picture to the right.  Crockett was clearly not born on a mountaintop, as the song suggests. 

We were very fortunate to have this young gentleman all to ourselves.  He was a history major, with minors in anthropology and religion.  He was extremely knowledgeable about Crockett, the era, and a lot of other historical happenings, and had an excellent sense of humor.  Had we not had more places to go, we could have stayed much longer.

This is the inside of the cabin.  Since the cabin was actively occupied until late in the 19th century, we have a pretty good idea of what it looked like.  Many of the timbers you see here were from the original cabin.

The original cabin was washed away in a flood of the Nolichucky River in the background.  The step-stone seen here remained, allowing the cabin to replaced in its original position.  The original timbers were available because many of the landowners downstream, recognizing the historical significance of the site, salvaged and returned them for the cabin's reconstruction.

This RV park has been newly established on the grounds of the State Park.  There was also an excellent looking pool.  We suspect, that Crockett, who was widely celebrated in his time would have approved.