Cherokees March On Knoxville

This is The Cherokees are Coming, an illustration showing a rider warning townspeople that Cherokee warriors advancing on Knoxville from the west in September 1793, after they had slain the people at Cavet's Station.

Clerks Conference

I spent the week at the Tennessee Court Clerks Conference at Montgomery Bell State Park in Burns, Tennessee, which is about an hour west of Nashville. On the drive I passed acres of fields of lost corn crop that had been burned by the sun this summer. Usually I see deer, and sometimes turkey, at the state park, but all I saw this time were Canada geese on Acorn Lake from my room.

I've been a part of the conference for two years now, and I have had the pleasure to have attended several events at the Inn and Conference Center at Montgomery Bell. The rooms at the inn are comfortable, and the conference center is very nice. Some of the rooms have wi-fi, but the one I stayed in this time did not. I saw several people on laptops in the lobby, but I didn't bring mine upstairs to try to get online. The staff there is very accommodating, and the food at the restaurant, which overlooks the lake, is really good and has been voted by locals as one of their favorite restaurants.

I have camped at the campground in the park several times when we lived in Nashville, and it is a really nice place to camp. There is a great canoe access point on the nearby Harpeth River where there is a great bend in the river. You can put your canoe in, ride downstream through the bend, and take your boat back out just a short walk from where you put in. There used to be a canoe rental business there called Pizza Shack, and they would rent you a canoe and sell you a pizza to take back to your campsite for supper after you were done on the river.

If you like history, there is plenty of it nearby. Montgomery Bell, the Iron Master of the Harpeth, bought a foundry from James Robertson, one of the founders of Nashville and friend of John Sevier during his days in the Watagua settlement in the mountains of East Tennessee near what is now Elizabethton, Tennessee. From the river you can see where Bell had a hole blasted through the river at the aforementioned bend as part of his iron works. There is a trail in the park, the Ore Pit Trail, where you can walk through the area where Bell's men dug for iron ore in the early 1800's. The first Cumberland Presbyterian Church is also on the park property and is still used for services.

Redcoats In Vonore

There is an 18th Century Trade Faire at Fort Loudon in Vonore, Tennessee, this weekend. We attended a couple of years ago, and it was very interesting. It was our first visit to Fort Loudon, a replica of the English fort that was established during the French and Indian War.

Busted Bear

The local media outlets have reported that a bear was menacing a lady who lives up in Townsend. According to the News Sentinel's Bob Wilson, authorities trapped the bear in Sevier County Friday afternoon. In addition to the M&M's that baited the trap, the bear is being treated to a nice trip to Cherokee National Forest where he can hopefully find better food to eat than household garbage.

Crockett Tavern, Morristown, Tennessee

Yesterday I attended a meeting of the Eastern Division of the Tennessee Court Clerks Conference in Morristown, Tennessee, which is little over an hour's drive from Maryville. I arrived a bit early for the meeting, so I took a short drive to visit Crockett Tavern, which was operated by David Crockett's parents. The building that is shown in the picture is a replica of the tavern where Crockett spent part of his youth, but according to the Crockett Tavern Museum website, it was built on the site of the original. It is pretty cool to think that yesterday I walked ground that Crockett once walked.

Fire on the Mountain

There's been a fire burning in the mountains for the past several days, and the smoke from it has been visible via the webcam at Look Rock Tower off of Foothills Parkway. I read somewhere that a wildfire is burning in the area that was hit by a tornado this spring, and the authorities are letting the fire burn up some of the debris.

Restaurant Review: Becky's Grocery & Grill, Maryville, Tennessee

A year ago I said I wanted to have a meal at Becky's Grocery and Grill, 3856 Laws Chapel Road, Maryville, Tennessee, and last week I finally got around to it. I found it using MapQuest, but it took me a couple of tries, because it is way out in the country in the eastern part of Blount County. One of the roads you travel on to get there is unmarked, so look for the signs to Laws Chapel. Parking is also pretty tight, but it is worth the drive, which is part of the experience. To be honest, I'd never been in that particular part of the county before, and it is quite beautiful, consisting of rolling farmland at the very foot of the mountains.



Upon the recommendation of many, my first meal at Becky's was a hamburger, which I had with milk. The milk was poured from a gallon jug, and the hamburger was quickly cooked to order on a grill that was in plain sight. I noticed a sign on the wall boasting of a 100% health department score, and everyone was friendly and welcoming. I overheard the proprietor, Becky, tell another first-timer who commented on the long, winding drive, "The road gets straighter and shorter every time you drive it." There was also a friendly patron in the place showing a photograph of a raccoon he caught in a coyote trap on his property nearby. It doesn't get much more country than that. He said he eats there about every day, and highly recommended the macaroni and cheese, which Sarah will like.



I thought Becky's place was wonderful, and the prices were about what you'd expect to pay for lunch. The drive from the justice center was about twenty minutes, not counting the time I spent wandering around lost. They are open 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays and 11:a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturdays. The business is yet another Blount County treasure.

Mountain Springs Chalet

While Sherry was in Nashville visiting Jake and Joey and Grams, Sarah and I spent the weekend at La and Stew's new rental chalet on Ski Mountain, which Laura has dubbed Mountain Springs Chalet. The place is already renting, but they plan to install a hot tub to sweeten the deal. Although Sarah and I strolled Gatlinburg, spent money on tacky merchandise (see her purchases below) and visited the Noah "Bud" Ogle home, we spent most of our weekend in the chalet. La and Stew haven't added it to their website yet, but they can be contacted about renting any of their three cabins with the information listed there.

Sarah waives a greeting from the front steps.

They see you.

You shall not pass!

The spring on the property is really just a trickle, but Sarah had a good time exploring the ditch through which it flows along the driveway. She found a salamander, which pleased her greatly.

Fancymobile

We saw this vehicle in Gatlinburg Saturday morning.

Subs & Such Moves

My favorite local sandwich shop, Subs & Such, has moved. The buzz at the justice center says that despite the larger quarters in Midland Plaza, the restaurant continues to have people lining up at the door to get in come lunch time. I'm glad that business is good and look forward to going there for a sandwich soon and checking out their new digs.

Knoxville's Kern's Bread

From Boing Boing

'Mater Pie

'Mater

Laura and Grace met us for supper last night at Sullivan's after attending a meeting about HOPE Academy, which she is exploring for Grace. Yesterday morning La sent me a recipe for a tomato pie. I posted another recipe for tomato pie last summer, and it adds garlic, Parmesan cheese and sour cream to the ingredients in this recipe.

UPDATE: La and Grace made the WBIR story on HOPE Academy. That's them seated at the table.

Tomato Pie

1 - 9" pie shell
3 or 4 - home grown tomatoes
Salt and pepper to taste
1.5 Tbs. of fresh basil chopped
1/2 thinly sliced sweet onion
1/2 cup Mayonnaise
2 cups grated cheese, the sharper the better for my taste but mild works fine too

Bake pie shell according to directions. Cool. Place thickly sliced tomatoes on paper towels to absorb some of the moisture. Cover bottom of pie crust with tomato slices and onions. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Combine mayonnaise, cheese and basil in a bowl and stir together. Carefully dot the mixture over the tomatoes. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes, cut and enjoy.

Book Review -- John Sevier as a Commonwealth-Builder: A Sequel to The Rearguard of the Revolution

John Sevier ("Nolichucky Jack")

While we were at the beach I finished reading John Sevier as a Commonwealth-Builder: A Sequel to The Rearguard of the Revolution by James R. Gilmore (Edmund Kirke), which was first published in 1898. I was in a hurry at the library and wanted to quickly select a couple of books on John Sevier to take on vacation, and I did not learn until I got the book home that it was a sequel, so I may go back and read The Rearguard of the Revolution. The sequel tells of Sevier's activities in the attempt to establish the State of Franklin, which died in infancy, his role in successfully establishing the State of Tennessee and his leadership of Tennessee until his retirement and death.



The author is an unashamed admirer of Sevier, and the book struck me as terribly biased in favor of Sevier and against anyone adverse to him. I recently had a conversation about bias in our modern media and made the point that such bias has been present since the nation was founded, and Commonwealth-Builder certainly shows that such bias was in existence at the time it was published in 1898. I am as big a fan of John Sevier as anyone, but I suspect advocates for his adversaries, John Tipton and Joseph Martin, would present the facts differently.



I learned something about a couple of my favorite campgrounds that I did not know from this book. Apparently Abrams Creek, which flows into the Little Tennessee River just below the campground, was named for a friendly Indian (Native American, if you prefer) called Abraham, who lived in the area. Indians massacred the family of a man named Kirk, who lived on the Little River. Another man, Hubbard, known for his hatred of Indians, arranged through Abraham to assemble the Cherokee chief Old Tassel, of whom I have read before, and several of his lieutenants at a cabin on the south side of the Little Tennessee River just across from where Abrams Creek flows into it. Settlers surrounded the cabin with the Indians inside it and Hubbard allowed Kirk to tomahawk the native to death. I've camped on that side of the river many times without knowing it was the site of such atrocity. I now have a story I can scare the kids with next time we go up there.