Living Our Dream

Memphis Part III: More Museums and Barbecue

The rain from the remnants of hurricane Gustav had abated, but it was still a dreary day...a good day for another museum. We  headed out to the Fire Museum of Memphis, which is located in the historic Engine House No. 1 in downtown Memphis.

There is a collaborative effort between the Memphis Fire Department and the museum to educate the public on fire safety, to commemorate the sacrifice and contribution of firefighters, and to preserve the rich history of firefighting.

There is a sculpture in the courtyard before entering the museum. The caption over the sculpture reads "The Bell Rang, and We Answered." Beside the sculpture are the names of Memphis firefighters who have lost their lives in the line of duty.

The first thing Paul saw when we entered the museum was the display of old fire helmets. Being a retiree of MSA (which now also owns Cairns), he immediately scanned the display for examples of MSA and Cairns helmets.

 

The helmets on display are older and are not made anymore because standards have changed to provide improved protection. Today, MSA/Cairns Fire Helmets provide the best in up-to-date protection for all types of firefighting.

There were quite a few helmets in the group that were made by either MSA or Cairns, but Paul wasn't familiar with most of those in the display made by Cairns because they were made long before MSA bought Cairns. The MSA Topgard, however, was still in production when Paul started working for MSA in 1977, and he worked on this product back in the day. In this closer view, #6, #7, #9 (partially visible), and #20 are MSA Topgard Fire Helmets; #8 and #21 are Cairns helmets; and #19 and #22 are Cairns aluminum helmets.

 

The Fire Museum also has quite a few pieces of old firefighting equipment. Water Tower No. 1 was purchased new by the Memphis Fire Department in 1897. The tower, which is on the trailer, raises to 60 feet and has a "crow's nest" and hose nozzles mounted at the top. The original tower was horse-drawn. The rig was updated several times, and the 1934 Pirsch tractor shown in the photo below replaced the previous tractor in 1956.

 

Another example of an early type of fire equipment at the museum is a 1910 Crump Steamer. A fire under the boiler creates steam, which in turn, drives a pump that draws water from a source such as a pond or cistern and delivers it to the fire hose.

 

There were also a number of old fire trucks that you could climb into and around. In the photo below, Paul is clowning around with a toy fire helmet in the driver's seat of a fire truck.

They also had some interactive displays about fire safety, smoke alarms, and an escape maze for kids to practice crawling out of various rooms.

After the Fire Museum, we stopped at the National Ornamental Metal Museum. The Metal Museum, which opened in 1979, is dedicated to the art and craft of fine metalwork. The museum has a permanent collection, a sculpture garden, special exhibits, and a metal-working shop. They not only display ornamental metal, but they create it and restore it as well.

Throughout the museum and grounds, there are examples decorative wrought iron such as the panel shown in the photo below.

Outside, there were several fences made up of sections with varying designs.

 

Check out this ornamental stairway to nowhere. The balusters all have different designs. There is a metal cow skull at the top.

The ironwork for the pavilion shown in the photo below was salvaged and restored from a building from the mid 1800s from historic Beale Street in Memphis.

 

Here is another view from the pavilion looking out over the Mississippi.

 

One of the sculptures in the garden was this truck complete with a barbecue grill on the back and a picnic table.

 

Finally, on the way out of the Ornamental Museum, we stopped to admire the gate. Metal artists from all over the world were invited to send ornamental rosettes to add to the huge wrought iron gates.

Memphis is another one of those special places that is known for barbecue. Memphis is probably best known for its dry-rub ribs, but they also have excellent ribs with wet sauce and pulled or chopped pork, too.

The dry rubs vary from cook to cook, but they generally contain paprika, garlic, onions, cumin, and other spices. As with barbecue everywhere, the best cooks have at least one "secret" ingredient. The dry spice mix is rubbed on the ribs, then the ribs are slow-smoked resulting in ribs that are deliciously tender inside with a crunchy crust outside. Dry rub ribs are typically served with sauce on the side.

Memphis barbecue sauce is made from tomatoes, vinegar, and spices. It usually isn't too thick and isn't as sweet as Kansas City sauce. The sauce is used on wet ribs, on pulled pork, and served along side dry ribs.

Memphis has hundreds of barbecue joints. We could have easily had barbecue twice a day every day we were there, but our budget and waist-lines couldn't take it. Therefore, we researched barbecue reviews on Google and picked three that were consistently reviewed by diners at 5 stars.

The first barbecue restaurant we tried was the Bar B Q Shop Restaurant. The link will take you to the web site for their barbecue sauce and dry rub which are marketed under the Dancing Pigs name, but the restaurant itself is located at 1782 Madison Avenue just to the east of downtown.

The restaurant is much bigger than it looks from the outside. Service is friendly and prices were reasonable. We both opted for a chopped pork sandwich with fries and cole slaw. The sandwiches were served with cole slaw on top and just about the right amount of sauce (although there is a bottle on the table if you want more). The sauce was tart with just a hint of sweetness. It wasn't too thin, which means it didn't have a tendency to run off the sandwich. The meat had a smoky flavor. The fries were nice and crunchy and the cole slaw on the side was also good.

For our second barbecue stop, we went to Leonard's Pit Barbecue. Leonard's was featured on the Food Network program Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. In 1922, founder Leonard Heuberger traded a Model T for a 7-stool lunch stand in South Memphis. In 1932, he moved to Bellvue Avenue; and, over the years, he enlarged the restaurant several times. In the '40s and '50s, Leonard's was the world's largest drive-in barbecue restaurant with 20 carhops serving the patrons who parked under canopies.

Today, they have a sit-down restaurant at a new location. Gone are the canopies and carhops.

Leonard's serves a lunch buffet from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM daily at a price of $9.75, except for Tuesdays and Thursdays when they have ribs on the buffet and the price is $12.00. We went on a Tuesday because Margery was hungry for ribs.

The buffet was delicious and included wet and dry ribs, pulled pork, barbecued chicken, fried catfish, several types of potatoes, cole slaw, beans (green and barbecued), rolls, cornbread, and desserts. When we go for a big lunch like that, we usually go later and make it supper as well (or "lupper" as we sometimes call it).

This was the first time either of us had tried dry rub ribs, and we loved them. They aren't as messy to eat as wet ribs, even if you add sauce, and they are crunchy. The sauce was darker red than the Bar B Q Shop, but it was still somewhat tart and not too sweet. The catfish was light with a crunchy breaded crust. All the sides were also great, as was the chocolate cake and warm peach cobbler with ice cream for dessert.

For our third barbecue, we went to Tom's Bar B Q and Deli, which was also featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. Paul liked the fact that it looked like a barbecue joint and you could smell smoke outside.

 

Tom's serves deli sandwiches in addition to barbecue and ribs, but we were after barbecue. We both had pork barbecue sandwiches, fries, and sweet tea. Unlike the Bar B Q Shop and Leonard's which are sit-down restaurants, Tom's is served more like fast food. You order at the counter, get your meal in a bag, pay at the register, and then find a table.

The pork was very tender, but not quite as smoky as what we had at the Bar B Q Shop. We both like plenty of sauce on our barbecue, but Paul thought there was a little too much at Tom's, which made the sandwiches very sloppy to eat. But that's the way barbecue is sometimes, and there are plenty of napkins available. The sauce was dark red, tart, thick, and a little sweeter than both the Bar B Q Shop and Leonard's; but it certainly wasn't too sweet. The fries, which are prepared ahead of time and kept under a warming light, weren't real hot; but they were still nice and crisp. In the South, sweet tea is just that - real sweet, and Tom's sweet tea certainly lived up to its name.

Afterward, we tried to decide which restaurant we liked best; but we couldn't pick one that was best because we thought they were all great. There were differences, but in our opinion, you wouldn't go wrong with any of them.

We had a final day in West Memphis with nothing major planned before heading to our next destination. As usual, we did some chores and relaxed. The sun finally broke through later in the day and we spent a little time sitting and watching the boats on the river. Next stop is the Tiffin Plant in Red Bay, AL, to have some work done on the motor home.

Memphis Part II: Museums of Memphis

Having taken a trolley ride around Memphis the previous day to reconnoiter, we headed back into town to visit the Mississippi River Museum at Mud Island River Park.

Mud Island is located next to the eastern bank of the Mississippi right at the Memphis waterfront. The island began forming in the early 1900s as the Mississippi deposited sand and silt. Over the years, squatters occasionally farmed the island, but it was sometimes covered by high water. In 1958, a large section of the western side of the island was removed for the construction of the bridge for I-40, and the soil was placed on the northern end of the island raising it above flood stage. Construction of Mud Island River Park began in 1977. The park opened in 1982 and is a showplace of the life and culture of the lower Mississippi. The park has a museum, canoe and kayak rentals, picnic areas, an amphitheater, and hiking trails.

There is a Swiss-made monorail that runs over to Mud Island; but, unfortunately, it was out of service the day we went there. We walked 1/3 of a mile over the elevated walkway to the island. This gave us a good view of the marina with the Pyramid Arena in the background. Memphis is to the right and Mud Island is to the left. The main channel of the Mississippi is to the left beyond Mud Island.

It was interesting to see how they have accommodated the frequent changes in river level. In the photo above, you can see the marina and docks are moored to very tall, metal pilings. This allows the docks to rise and fall with the level of the river. The smaller dock to the right, which is the fuel depot, is attached to the tracks on the bank. The tracks not only allow the dock to rise and fall, but they also allow the dock to move laterally as the river widens as it rises.

Mud Island River Park also has a topographical map representing 1,000 miles of the lower Mississippi River from Cairo, IL, all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. The map is called the Mississippi Riverwalk. The photo below shows a small section of the map from the overhead walkway.

The map has a horizontal scale of 30 inches (one step) equal to a mile and is one-half mile long. A mosaic of 1,746 precast concrete panels each weighing 5 tons makes up the map. An average of 1.3 million gallons of water flows through the system, including the large pool at the end representing the Gulf of Mexico. There are street maps of all the major cities and communities along the river.

We were fascinated by the map and walked nearly the entire length. There are plaques with descriptions of memorable people, places, or events along that particular section of river.

 

There are several places where major tributaries join the Mississippi. These are symbolized by large panels indicating the area drained by the tributary. In the photo below, Margery is standing in front of panel showing the 160,500 square mile watershed area of the Arkansas and White Rivers.

The Mississippi River Museum is adjacent to the Riverwalk. The museum starts with the history of the Native Americans who populated the lower Mississippi valley starting with the Paleo-Indians about 10,000 years ago. These people probably hunted mastodons and smaller game.

The area was explored by the Spanish in the 1500s and by the French in the 1600s. The United States acquired the area to the west of the Mississippi with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 during the presidency of Thomas Jefferson.

Indians controlled the much of the lower Mississippi even after the settlement of St. Louis and New Orleans. After the invention of the cotton gin in 1793, however, the demand for cotton rose sharply; and there was an increase in the need for more land to grow cotton. In 1818, a series of treaties with the Indians paved the way for the settlement of western Kentucky and Tennessee and eastern Arkansas. The town of Memphis was laid out in 1819; and, although the growth was slowed by yellow fever, malaria, and smallpox, the favorable location of the city attracted increasingly larger numbers of settlers. By the mid 1800s, Memphis had 5,000 immigrant settlers of mostly German and Irish descent which really surprised us.

The Mississippi obviously played a huge role in the history of Memphis. The museum traces the history of river transportation from Indian canoes, to log rafts, to flat boats and keel boats, to the great Mississippi River steam boat era. The photo below shows numerous steamboat whistles with a model of the famed steamboat the Robert E. Lee in the background. The Robert E. Lee was built in 1866 in New Albany, IN. It is best known for beating the steamboat Natchez IV in a race from St. Louis to New Orleans in 1870. The Robert E. Lee covered the 1,154 mile distance in 3 days, 18 hours, and 14 minutes. To date, no commercial vessel has ever beaten this time.

Over 6,000 riverboats were built for service on the Mississippi and its tributaries from 1820 through 1880. Most were built along the Ohio River in Louisville, Cincinnati, and our old hometown of Pittsburgh.

The photo below shows a steamboat paddle wheel and several riverboat engines from a 1920-era steam engine to a 1950s diesel.

There was also an important Civil War battle on the Mississippi River just above Memphis which resulted in the Union Army capturing the city. The museum includes information on the men, boats, and equipment from both sides. The conflict comes alive with a simulated battle between a Confederate shore battery and a Union ironclad gunboat.

The museum also covers Memphis' rich musical history. Memphis claims to be the birthplace of both the Blues and of Rock 'n' Roll. The Blues started with slaves in the field and evolved from "field hollers" and slave chants. These were sometimes an expression of an emotion and sometimes were a way of communicating. Many times, the hollers contained secret messages to fellow slaves. In the '20s and '30s, Blues artists performed on Beale Street, the main entertainment area in Memphis at the time.

Following WWII, new forms of the Blues evolved with the advent of electric instruments. New rhythms combined with the electric instruments led to early forms of Rock 'n' Roll by artists like Buddy Holly, Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, and Jerry Lee Lewis.

And, of course, you can't mention Memphis without thinking of Elvis. Elvis began his music career in the early '50s and was a huge influence on Rock 'n' Roll even after his death. We checked into visiting Graceland while we were in Memphis, but we thought the admission price was quite high at $27 for the basic admission (the price goes all the way to $69 for the VIP Tour that includes his planes and cars). Since we aren't big Elvis fans to begin with, we decided to pass on touring Graceland.

After Mud Island, we could see the skies darkening so we called it a day and headed back to the motor home. Shortly after we got back, the rains came. We had seen the outer bands of rain from hurricane Gustav lurking to our southwest on radar before we left in the morning, and the winds had kicked up the night before. The rain started fairly hard, then tapered to a steady, all-night rain.

The next morning, there was a forecast of a 100% chance of rain so we decided some more indoor activities were in order. We headed out to a couple of other museums we wanted to see. The first stop was the Cotton Museum at the Memphis Cotton Exchange.

The exchange was founded in 1874 as a result of the growing cotton market in Memphis. In 1922, the exchange moved to its current location at the corner of Front St. and Union Ave., which was the center of cotton trading activity in the city.

The first evidence of cotton being woven into fabric is from Pakistan sometime between 2300 and 1750 BC. It was grown in Egypt in the first century AD, and Spain became the cotton-growing center by 950 AD. The name comes from the Arabic word "qutun" or "qutn."

Colonists planted cotton in Virginia in the early 1600s, and it soon became a primary crop in the South. Cotton planting fell during the Civil War, but rebounded afterward with sharecroppers doing the bulk of the planting.

The exchange established rules and regulations for cotton grading, pricing, and trading. Trading was done on the first floor and was open to members only. In 1978, the trading floor was closed in favor of computer trading. The historic trading floor now houses the Cotton Museum.

The centerpiece of the trading floor was the large blackboard where members could keep track of changing prices. Today, the blackboard remains as part of the display. Life-like mannequins illustrate how the board was used.

Cotton grading was done on the top floors of buildings along Front St. under north-facing skylights. Until a special light was developed in the 1950s, cotton could not be graded on cloudy days or at night. The museum had a display showing how cotton was graded according to staple (fiber) length, color, and the amount of foreign inclusions.

Cotton was at the center of the economy in the South, and it was at the center of society as well. In 1931, the Memphis Cotton Carnival was organized to promote the wearing of cotton fabric and to help counteract the effects of the Great depression on the cotton industry. Societies were formed to host elegant parties. Today, the event is known as Carnival Memphis, and has been reorganized to include community outreach projects. Margery is checking out some of the gowns worn by past carnival queens.

From the Cotton Museum, we went several blocks farther south to the National Civil Rights Museum. On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in downtown Memphis. The aftershock of the assassination would plunge the motel, as well as much of the city, into a decline. In 1982, a group of citizens who were concerned the historic site would be lost, formed a foundation and bought the motel at auction when the property was foreclosed. With city, county, and state support, the National Civil Rights Museum opened its doors in 1991.

A portion of the original motel has been preserved to look the way it did back in 1968, including two cars outside with 1968 license plates. Room 206, where Dr. King stayed, can be viewed from inside the museum and is set up to look the way it did on the morning of April 4. Unfortunately, photography is not permitted inside the museum, so the outside is the best we could do. The wreath in the photo below commemorates the spot where Dr. King stood when he was shot.

Inside, the museum uses primarily old photos to trace the stories of the brave men and women who fought against segregation and discrimination throughout history. Visitors can read stories about people like Nat Turner, Dred Scott, Harriet Tubman, and Fredrick Douglass. You can also learn about ordinary people like Rosa Parks who just decided she wasn't going to give up her seat on that bus that day in Montgomery. We learned about the sit-ins, boycotts, and marches that eventually led to better education and more equality. Our country has come a long way, but there is still more to do.

After the Civil Rights Museum, we headed back to the motor home. It had rained rather gently off and on all day, but by evening the rain was steady and harder. By the next morning, hurricane Gustav had finally dissipated enough that the rain let up. It was still cloudy and windy so we made a quick trip to Wal-Mart, then hung around the motor home the rest of the day.

There is still more to see and do in Memphis. Check back in a few days to see what else we found.

After leaving Salisbury, NC, we drove west and a little north to Sevierville (pronounced se-VERE-ville), TN. On the way, we could see the relatively flat terrain of the Piedmont change to become more mountainous as we approached the Smokies.

In Sevierville, we stayed at River Plantation RV Park, a Good Sam member. It's a very nice RV park with several hundred sites. The sites aren't too close together and are angled for good privacy. The pads and roads are gravel, but there are cement patios and grass between the sites. There are some trees; but, they were very accommodating in the office to give us one of the numerous sites where satellite reception isn't a problem. There is a little noise from a nearby quarry - machinery humming, trucks growling, and backup beepers beeping.

River Plantation also has a number of riverfront sites overlooking the Little Pigeon River, including several "signature" riverfront sites that are extra wide and are all concrete.

Sevierville is about a 10-minute drive from Pigeon Forge and about a 45-minute drive from Gatlinburg, TN. We visited the Smokies as a family back in 1989 when Lora was a sophomore in high school. It was our vacation stop on our way to research Asbury College in Wilmore, KY (where she ultimately attended). Back then, we stayed in a motel in nearby Townsend, outside the congested areas, but we visited Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. Pigeon Forge has grown from a large tourist area into a huge tourist area. We remember only a few go-cart tracks, several miniature golf courses, some motels and restaurants, the Dixieland Stampede dinner show, and, of course, Dollywood. Now there have to be dozens of go-cart tracks and miniature golf courses, wall-to-wall motels and fast food, and dozens of shows (some with dinner, some without).

Gatlinburg hasn't changed too much. Being in the foothills of the Smokies, it really has nowhere to expand because of the terrain. The T-shirt shops are still there along with the downtown motels, fast food, gift shops and tattoo parlors. The hillside mini-golf (Hillbilly Golf) where we played when we were here in 1989 with our daughter, Lora, is still there. They have gotten rid of the on-street parking, so they now have 4 lanes of traffic instead of just two; but traffic really wasn't too bad in the middle of the week, especially since it was off-season.

One thing we remembered about the Gatlinburg area that we wanted to visit again this trip was the nearby artist community. The artist community is centered around Glade and Buckhorn Roads off U.S. 321 to the northeast of Gatlinburg. Although as full-timers we don't usually need anything, this time we were looking for a candy dish (for Candyman :)), and we thought one of the potters might have something. We did enjoy stopping at a number of shops (pottery and others), but didn't find a candy dish we liked. Ah well, since we don't buy much, it'll give us a good reason to "shop" in our future travels. We did happen upon one shop that had some interesting pottery demonstrations. Those are real leaves pressed into the soft clay of the pot shown in the photo below. Then they carve around the leaves and smooth the pot with a damp sponge. The leaves will burn away when the pot is fired leaving a textured impression.

The pottery also had a little stage set up with some nice entertainment of Appalachian-style folk music where the audience was invited to join along playing "instruments" like the washboard.

Along Buckhorn Road on the way to the artist community is a charming inn called, appropriately enough, Buckhorn Inn. We remembered the inn from when we were in the area in 1989 so we stopped and took a few photos. The photo below shows the entrance to the inn.

Here we are at a nearby overlook...

...enjoying the beautiful view.

Also along Buckhorn Road is a little restaurant called the Wild Plum Tea Room. They serve soups, salads, and sandwiches. We ate there in 1989, but since it was past lunchtime, we just stopped for photos this time.

The other area we wanted to visit again was Cades Cove. Cades Cove is in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and is a valley surrounded by mountains. Historians are unsure, but the name probably comes from either the name of a local chief's wife, Kate, or more likely from a little known Native American leader known as Chief Kade.

Cades Cove was once a thriving community of around 700. Over farming and the promise of more fertile land in the mid-west lead to the decline of the community. In the mid 1920s and the late 1930s, the National Park service began plans to form the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Inclusion of Cades Cove was not in the original plans, but was it was later added. The park was officially established in 1934 and the last resident left Cades Cove in 1937, although the congregation of the Primitive Baptist Church continued to meet until 1960 in their church in Cades Cove in defiance of the Park Service. Although the Park Service originally planned to allow the entire area to return to its natural forested state, they eventually decided to demolish only more modern buildings and keep the buildings that represented pioneer life in 19th century Appalachia. Today in Cades Cove there are several churches, cabins, barns, and a grist mill. The grist mill, which still operates, is shown in the photo below.

There is an 11-mile loop that takes you around the cove. There are numerous stops along the way where you can look out over the fields and where you can park to walk the many trails and explore the old churches, cabins, and outbuildings. The buildings are very picturesque in the natural surroundings today, but one can only imagine how hard life was. This is the Tipton Homestead, which is right along the loop road.

Also, along the loop road is the tiny Carter Shields cabin.

We stopped and hiked the 1-mile round trip to the Elijah Oliver cabin, which is shown in the photo below. The section to the right is the kitchen, perhaps one of the first 'split-level' houses in the U.S. :)

The cantilever barn is another structure seen in several places around Cades Cove and many other locations in eastern Tennessee. These barns have a cantilever or overhang, which was a second-story loft used to store hay. The overhang provided an area where they could park their wagons and be protected from the weather.

Wildlife abounds in the Smokies and especially in Cades Cove. Deer are frequently seen grazing in the fields and there are also black bear. Back when we visited in 1989, we found the best time to view wildlife was dusk. On several evenings we joined a long string of vehicles driving slowly around the loop. We always saw deer in the fields and raccoons and 'possum at the small streams and we did see one bear. Unfortunately on this trip, we were staying farther away so we only drove the loop during the day. We did see several deer, but couldn't get a good angle for any photos.

Despite our mid-week visit, we were surprised at the number of families with children who were visiting; and although the leaves on the trees were barely turning, the line of vehicles making the loop was continuous. We didn't even want to imagine what the traffic would be like on a summer day or a weekend at peak fall leaf season!

There are additional photos and information on Cades Cove in Photo Album 025: Smokies and Knoxville.

We had only made reservations in Sevierville for a relatively quick three-night stop. We could have used more time, but decided not to extend our stay since we had seen the two major things in the area we wanted to see. We were on our way to the Escapees Raccoon Valley Campground north of Knoxville, and we wanted to be in Raccoon Valley long enough to take advantage of their lower weekly rates for at least a couple of weeks. That would also give us a little time to relax, catch up on our grocery shopping, relax, let the campground budget recuperate, relax, groom the dog, relax...well, you get the picture.

Raccoon Valley was only about an hour drive from Sevierville, and we arrived around noon. We had heard that this particular Escapee park was rarely full so we were surprised to find the campground WAS full! Unknown to us, there was a bluegrass music festival going on all week at the nearby Museum of Appalachia. However, our experience during our almost three-week stay is that it was full almost every night we were there.

Escapees parks do not accept reservations, but they have a system of first in/first out. If you arrive and there are no sites available, you can stay in the dry camp area until a site opens up. Fortunately, enough people were leaving voluntarily after our one-night stay in dry camp that we had our choice of three 30 amp sites and one 50 amp site. We chose the 50 amp site, which costs a little extra, but which had a little more room than the 30 amp sites. The Escapees Raccoon Valley Campground is a former KOA so most of the sites are quite narrow and fairly short. Most of the 50 amp pull-throughs are longer and the back-ins are wider to provide enough parking space for your tow vehicle or toad, even with a fairly long RV.

The Museum of Appalachia was one exit north on I-75. In the early 1960s, John Rice Irwin traveled the back roads of Tennessee, Kentucky, and western Virginia and began to collect thousands of pioneer artifacts from colorful mountain folk, including his own ancestors. John's goal in establishing his museum was not to present cold, lifeless facts; but to capture the heart and soul of the hard-working mountain people. He does this through folk art, tools, music, buildings, and most importantly, through the stories of people who lived in this area.

We waited until the music festival was over to visit the museum to avoid the crowds. We were able to stroll leisurely through the many artifacts and buildings and get a real flavor for how the people lived.

Most of the tools are displayed in the display barn. These harness-making tools, however, are displayed in the actual harness/saddle shop originally belonging to Hobart and Larry Hagood. The shop, shown in the photo below, was originally located in Persia, TN.

Hobart Hagood became a rural mail carrier in the early 1900s. The rigors of his long, daily deliveries made it necessary for him to repair and replace his own leather harnesses. Soon he began to repair and make harnesses and saddles for his neighbors and became a master leather craftsman. Hobart made leather goods for the Amish in Pennsylvania, for the pleasure horses of Florida, and for the mining mules and ponies of Kentucky and Virginia. When Hobart passed away in 1961, his youngest son, Larry, who was also a rural mail carrier, took over the leather business. Larry retired in 1984 and sold the building and tools to John Rice Irwin in 1991.

Paul was struck by the creativity and tenacity of the people. Most of what they had, they made themselves. There were troughs used for curing and storing meat that were made from huge, hollowed-out logs. There were carvings of people, animals, and miniature tools that were very intricate. There was also a large collection of musical instruments. Some were factory-made, but many were made locally by hand. Some of these were crude, but many were surprisingly sophisticated. There were fiddles, guitars, banjos, mandolins, and dulcimers. In the photo below, you can see examples of some of the banjos. Notice the ham can banjo on the wall near the center of the photo and the hub cap banjo below it and to the left. There are rectangular and octagonal banjos at the upper left.

John Rice Irwin also has a collection of authentic log cabins, barns, and other out buildings on the grounds as well as a school and a chapel. The photo below shows the house that was built by Nathaniel Peters in the nearby village of Lutrell about 1840. His oldest daughter, Cordelia, was born here and raised her nine children in this house where she died at age 87.

The little shack in the photo below belonged to Tom Cassidy, who was a friend of John Rice Irwin. Tom died in 1989 and John acquired the cabin from Tom's last surviving brother, 88-year old Harve, and moved it to the museum grounds in 2007.

The photo below shows the interior of Tom Cassidy's one-room cabin. After over a year in the motor home with its 300 sq. ft. of living space, we weren't as appalled by the size of this cabin as we might have been were we still in our stick house.

Another interesting story is that of Harrison Mayes. Young Harrison Mayes was a coal miner when he was injured in a mining accident in 1918 near the Tennesee/Kentucky line and was not expected to live. Harrison asked the Lord to pull him through promising Him he would be a faithful servant the rest of his life. Harrison did survive and soon found preaching was not his calling. While continuing to work at the mines, one day Harrison had an inspiration to paint "Sin Not" on the side of his black hog. The old sow ran loose in the coal camp and when everyone quickly became aware of Harrison's message, he knew he had found his calling.

Harrison began painting similar messages on trees, rocks, barns, and coal cars bound for distant towns. When he became concerned about permanency, he hit on the idea of making concrete signs. Harrison Mayes never depended on donations, but he continued to work in the mines and even worked extra shifts so he could afford to make the signs and hire trucks and drivers (he never learned to drive) to deliver and erect the signs. He started in east Tennessee and eventually had signs in as many as 44 states and several foreign countries. Before modern highways and interstates were built, these signs were common sights along the roads of America.

In addition to cabins, a corn crib, barns, and numerous shops, mills, and other out buildings belonging to ordinary folks, the museum has the cabin that belonged to the family of Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain). Again, we were fascinated to pick up a thread of history from an area we previously visited. We saw Samuel Clemens home in Hannibal, MO earlier this year, now we ran across the cabin that belonged to his parents when they lived in 'Possum Trot, TN. Samuel was born 5 months after his parents left Tennessee in 1835.

There are lots of additional interesting photos (especially the Ukuweewee Banjo) and information on the Museum of Appalachia in Photo Album 025: Smokies and Knoxville.

The little town of Rugby, TN lies a about an hour's drive northwest of Raccoon Valley where we were staying. Rugby is a restored Victorian village that was founded in 1880 by British author and social reformer, Thomas Hughes. Rugby was intended to be a Utopia of sorts, incorporating English culture and customs into a class-less American cooperative society.

In England, upper class families left the family estate and wealth to the first-born son. Siblings were given either a lump-sum amount from the estate or a trust was established on their behalf. In the 1870s, there was an economic recession in Britain and many of the younger sons exhausted their allotted funds and their trusts ran out of money. Hughes felt it would be beneficial for these young men to begin anew, working hard at agricultural pursuits in America.

Because of the English heritage, Rugby stands in stark contrast to the rough hewn log buildings found elsewhere in Appalachia. The photo below shows Kingstone Lisle, home of Rugby founder Thomas Hughes. Hughes' home was a little larger than most in Rugby, but it typical of the style.

This view below of the parlor of Hughes' home shows a grand piano, which is originally from Rugby and is similar to the one owned by Hughes.

The photo below shows Thomas Hughes' desk in Kingstone Lisle.

Rugby had a public library which opened in 1882 and which is shown in the photo below.

The library is virtually unchanged since it opened and its collection of 7,000 books is intact. It is the oldest public library with its original collection.

Christ Church Episcopal has been used continuously for worship since it first opened in 1887. Its early furnishings, light fixtures, and organ are still used during weekly services.

At its peak, Rugby had about 350 residents and over 70 buildings. It only flourished for about 10 years, and some say the decline began with the fire that destroyed its popular Tabard Inn in 1884. A number of other things contributed to the decline of Rugby including the fact that it was managed from far-away England and that Thomas Hughes probably initially paid too much for the land. By 1900, most of the original inhabitants had left, but Rugby was never abandoned. Several residents, some of them children of the original settlers, remained and struggled to keep Rugby's heritage alive.

In 1966, the non-profit organization of Historic Rugby was formed and began restoration and preservation of Rugby. Over 65,000 people visit Rugby each year. There is even a small, modern housing development adjacent to Historic Rugby that has newly-built Victorian-style homes.

We enjoyed lunch at the Harrow Road Cafe, named after the first Rugby Restaurant. Featured were English specialities such as shepherd's pie and Welsh Rarebit and the famous Harrow Road spoon rolls. Prices were moderate...sandwiches under $5 and lunch specials between $5 and 10. Homemade desserts sounded delicious, but alas we were full.

We had a very nice time in eastern Tennessee. We enjoyed the slower pace, watching the leaves turn, and learning more about the hard-working pioneer people who carved an existence out of what was then wilderness. There's more to see but the night temps are going to the mid-30's with morning frost. It's time to head outta here. :) We're not the only ones! One night in the 30s and 10 sites emptied out the next day! From here, we travel to Myrtle Beach for a week at the ocean and then SOUTH.