Cades Cove, Smokey Mountain NP

 

Methodist Church

Cades Cove was first settled in the 1830’s. The collection of structures along this one way road is considered to be the largest such in the East. We visited 3 churches, all replacements for the original log buildings : the Primitive Baptist Church built in 1887, the Methodist Church built in 1902, and the Missionary Baptist Church from 1915. Most of the churches ceased to meet during the Civil War and excluded Confederate sympathizers after the war. The graveyards of these churches are filled with family members some buried in the early 1900’s others as recent as 2021. We were treated to some women singing in the Methodist church. We also explored some of the log cabins built and expanded through the years. The Elijah Oliver house had a front room for guests to stay on the former porch as well as a corn crib, smokehouse, pig pens, and a huge barn. Log construction was used on the building until the 1870’s when a sawmill was constructed. The most interesting area is the Cable mill, a water powered grist and sawmill built in 1870. There was also a drive-through barn nearby where you could drive your hay wagon into the barn and easily pitch the hay into the barn. Here also was a one of the cantilever barns we would see today. The overhang provided shelter to the animals in the winter as well as storage space for farm equipment. On the way out, we got caught in a ‘bear jam’. A mother and 2 cubs were along the side of the road, so everyone was stopped taking pictures.

Cable Mill

We went down the mountain to take in the Smoky Mountain Heritage Center, both an outdoor and indoor museum. Here was another example of a cantilevered barn, these barns are exclusive to this area of the country. Here we also saw a country still, which was still making ‘moonshine’ into the 1960’s, hidden underneath a barn. The wife tells the story of picking up multiple bags of grain from the general store in her car trunk, and then having a flat tire on the way home. She didn’t want to arouse suspicion, so she assured the officer, she could fix her own flat. Another outdoor display was a two-man sawmill that had provided lumber to the area. Inside, we read the story of both the Native Americans and the settlers that came to this area.

Hidden Moonshine Still

Oakridge Tennessee

 

Our one stop today was the American Museum of Science and Energy in Oakridge, Tennessee. It told the story of how Oakridge was built during World War II as part of the Manhattan Project, the project to build an atomic bomb. Here they built the largest building in the world, to isolate the U-235 needed to build a bomb. After the war, Oakridge became the source not only for bombs, but also the uranium used in commercial nuclear reactors and the radioactive isotopes used in medicine. After the cold war, here is where much of the USSR’s nuclear bomb material was reprocessed to become reactor fuel. We struggled with this museum – it seemed like a public affairs museum for Oakridge, not a science museum. They did show how neutrons are shot at various materials to study their atomic structure as well as a lot about the study of radiation for multiple purposes, but we got bored at reading all the material.

We continued to Cades Cove Campground in Great Smokey Mountain Park. We arrived and set up our camp in a down pour.

Stones River Battlefield and Grand Old Opry, Nashville, TN

 

Stones River Battlefield commemorates the Civil War battle from December 31, 1862 to January 2^nd, 1863. This area was important because it protected both the Cumberland River and several train lines, some of which ran all the way south to Atlanta. The confederates, led by General Braxon Bragg, struck early in the morning, catching most of the Union troops, led by William Rosecrans, eating breakfast. One group was better prepared and defended their position at the Slaughter Pen for a couple of hours, then the Hazen Brigade held their position beating back 3 attacks, at Hell’s Half Acre, leaving the field covered with dead confederates and allowing the other Union troops to retreat. Bragg declared victory for the Confederates but was surprised the next morning to find that Union troops still held the Nashville Pike. On January 2^nd, the confederates charged to the Pike, but were slaughtered because union cannon held the hill above McFaddon’s ford. This proved to be the final action and the Confederates retreated. Over 25,000 men were dead, wounded, or captured during this battle. After the battle, the Union army occupied Murfreesboro, a former Tennessee capital and Fortress Rosecrans was created by the Union Army to protect the rail lines. The 200-acre fort could house 15,000 soldiers and could supply 65,000 for months.

Memorial to Hazen Brigade

We had planned to visit the National Museum of AfricanAmerican Music, but didn’t want to pay the $30 for parking since we only had about an hour and a half to spare. That night we attended the Opry Country Classics at the Grand Old Opry hosted by Larry Gatlin. This was a great two-hour show. Larry Gatlin did some great numbers with his brothers as well as quite a few solo songs. The other performers typically did about three numbers each: William Michael Morgan, Emily Ann Roberts, TG Sheppard and Shenandoah. William Michael Morgan mentioned that this was his 71^st appearance at the Opry, but the first in two years, because of Covid. The show did go on during Covid, but without an audience. Everyone was happy to have an audience and we were encouraged to sing during many of the choruses.

Country Music Hall of Fame, Nashville, TN

 

Country Music Hall of Fame

We drove to Nashville, Tennessee this morning arriving for a late lunch. Our afternoon visit was to the Country Music Hall of Fame. Understand – we are not huge country music fans, there were many exhibits we skipped because we didn’t know the artist. But we did know over half of the artists. Most interesting were the movies or telecasts that featured the artist and their songs. The highlight of the museum was a 20 minute or so review of country music on TV such as Tennessee Ernie Ford, Hee Haw, Glen Campbell, or even shows like Andy Griffith show or the Beverly Hillbillies. The museum is filled with guitars, mandolins, and banjos as well as the show clothes that the singers were during their performances. We spent a solid 2 hours here and someone more into country music would probably spend much longer.

We had a short walk along Broadway which features many bars and restaurants with loud country music groups. It was too loud for us. Michael Hlas is in Nashville helping his girlfriend, Mel, with packing to move back to Seattle after going to school here for the last year. We went to Edley’s, a barbeque restaurant. We met Mel for the first time and got to know a little about her background, family, and future plans. Hopefully, we didn’t disturb their plans too much.

Minnie Pearl Costume

Discovery Park, Union City, Tennessee

 

Discovery Park, Union City, TN

We spent the day at Discovery Park of America in Union City, Tennessee. This is an eclectic museum with a little bit of everything. Here are some of what we learned: At the train depot, we learned that trains used wireless telegraphs to send messages while they were moving. At Freedom Square, we learned about the early history of Tennessee: the creation of the Wilderness Road into the area and the role of Daniel Boone as a three-term congressman. We learned about the early inhabitants of this land with a huge display of stone tools and weapons. The military gallery gave some excellent history around the Civil War, World War I and WWII, including uniforms, arms, and the meals they served the soldiers. The science center featured changes in technology around communication, photography, data storage and energy storage. I found the display about early photography during the civil war especially interesting.  A lot of their exhibits are replicas, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t interesting. For example, they had lots of replicas of dinosaur skeletons, but a real mammoth skeleton from Russia – hard to believe how towering that mammoth was compared to a human.

Russian Mammoth

Wilson Creek Battlefield

 

Our theme for this trip is the Civil War, so our stop for today is Wilson’s Creek, the second major battle of the Civil War. Missouri was a strategic location since on both the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. Governor Jackson of Missouri had southern leanings and would not provide troops to the Union Army. Captain Nathanial Lyon, who was in charge of the arsenal outside St. Louis, led his army to Jefferson City and took the capital. The governor created the State Guard and established a camp in Southwestern Missouri. That force of 12000 intended to attack the Federal Army at Springfield Missouri. Lyon hearing of the planned attack instead attacked the State Guard, with a 2-pronged attack at Wilson Creek where they were camped with 4200 soldiers. He hoped the surprise attack would lead to victory. They were stopped by confederate artillery until a defensive line could be formed. In the end, Lyon’s forces endured multiple attacks on “Bloody Hill” before having to retreat. The losses were high: 1300 for the Federals and 1200 for the Southerners. Both armies ran short of ammunition, so even though Lyon’s lost the battle, the Southerners could not pursue them. Thus Missouri remained in Union Control. The exhibits at the Visitor Center included a visual board showing the movement of the troops as well as an excellent movie providing background about the battle. The car tour of the battlefield was anticlimactic. We spent about 2 hours here, as well as having a search for gas on the way to the battlefield. It was almost 7:45 when we reached our campsite at Reelfoot Lake, Tennessee.

Ray House (only original structure on battlefield)

Cosmosphere, Hutchinson KS

 

We headed out yesterday from Fort Collins and stayed overnight in the Fossil Creek Campground in Russell, Kansas. The campground is old, but adequate. Today, we had our first tourist attraction, the Cosmosphere, a space museum in Hutchinson, KS. We’ve visited quite a few Air and Space Museums over the years, the Cosmosphere did the best job we’ve seen of telling the story of the Russian space accomplishments. They start their story with the German V-1 and V-2 rockets and their advanced engines. Volkswagon made the deadly V-1 at a cost of only $500. Part of the English defense against this rocket was to flip it over with a plane, hard to believe that would succeed very often. At the end of the war, Russia and the U.S. rushed to get hold of the remaining rockets and the men who built them.

German V-1

The Russians gain an early lead in Rocket technology due to Sergei Korolev’s ingenuity. They held an advantage for many years because their rockets could boost heavier loads into space. There are exhibits of Sputnik 1 and Sputnik II as well as the U.S. Explorer satellites. Russia was also the first to get a man-made object on the moon (they have one of the 5 lunar spheres made to do this) as well as the first pictures of the backside of the moon. Russia’s firsts continued with the first dog sent into space and the first astronaut. They have a mock-up of the Russian capsule used for these first trips. They are totally spherical in shape. The amazing thing was that Yuri Gagarin did not actually land in this capsule (this was a state secret until 4 years later, but ejected from the capsule and landed by parachute. Of course, the museum also has examples of the Mercury capsule, the Gemini X capsule that sank in the Ocean and was recovered later and Apollo 13 command module. They also have replicas of the Lunar Module and Lunar Rover.

Vostok I with ejection seat

On our way to our campsite at Elk City State Park, we passed through Wichita Kansas, which had experienced an F-3 Tornado two days ago. We didn’t see destroyed houses but did see many down trees and electric utility teams trying to restore power.