In October of 2011, I was working at the museum. We had been invited to go to Steele Creek for an event they have yearly called Wildlife Weekend. As this park is in Bristol instead of Gray, I immediately volunteered for the duty so that I didn't have to drive 45 minutes to work and back that day, only 15. Also, my grandmother used to take us out ( Read more... )

Just came back from this amazing place. It's hard to describe, but it's beautiful. Big. And beautiful. Pics weren't allowed inside, but just imagine the most expensive, lovely, turn of the century place you can, and then tell yourself that the whole house and grounds are currently worth nearly three million dollars. We're talking some serious ( Read more... )

My sister, Anna, and I have been mulling over hiking the Appalachian Trail for quite some time. Now that I have a job that has a lot more flexibility in the time off department, we've been planning on planning on it. Which is more involved than you might think ( Read more... )

This time of year, I always start to miss my second home, The Smoky Mountains. Without fail, every February, my mind wanders south to the peaks and valleys of the park, the summer cool mountain passes and the happy bustle of that tourist town that knows it's worth goes beyond its visitors ( Read more... )

On April 24, 1856, Samuel Cox went hunting on a foggy morning to get meat for his family's supper. He returned to the log cabin he had built for his family empty-handed. Samuel and Susannah had two small sons, Joseph, age 5, and George, age 6. As they sat down for dinner, their dog, Sport, began barking and Samuel told his wife that Sport had treed ( Read more... )

In following the path of the history/folklore writer, I've been researching a story that happened about an hour or so north of here, in Russell County Virgina. in 1791, during the last gasp of the Shawnee in this area, a party of ten or twelve Shawnee attacked a family by the name of Musick. The father, David, was killed outright, but the mother ( Read more... )

http://www.visitvirginiamountains.com/things-to-do/smyth-county-history.htmlRead more... )

For a few years now, I've had a slow creeping wanderlust come upon me. I don't know where it came from, but I'm increasingly irritated with staying home on my days off and staring at one glowing screen or another.

I am planning a trip to Cumberland Gap National Historic Park. It is about two hours to the west, at the junction of Tennessee, ( Read more... )

Tweetsie Railroad
Essay by Timothy Osment ( Read more... )

http://folkworm.ceri.memphis.edu/recenteqs/


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