Erwin TN- So Beautiful.

 

Erwin TN Library

 One of my most favorites spots in my region is +Erwin, TN. With a rich history of pioneer spirits chronicled here: Erwin History, the city is full of historic structures and a viable downtown. The Nolichucky river surrounds the town and the Cherokee National Forest, the city offers a haven to wanderers from the Appalachian Trail as chronicled byT.J. Forester.
I have yet to hit the AT via Erwin but hope to once my travel schedule simmers. One of the school board members of Unicoi County revelled me with her tail of getting bit by a copper head on her foot in the middle of the night when she opened the door to see



Love Chapel Elementary School Sinkhole

what her dog was barking about....took weeks for her to recover so I will be armed with my snake kit when I go.

Although the Sonic is closed- drat no banana shakes- it seems as if there are many merchants that are able to stay in business including the lunch counter/pharmacy pictured  and a wonderful leather shop.(And Forever a Diva) Found in this shop was unusual taxidermy including my friend the porcupine.  
At the beginning of the 2012-13 school year, Unicoi County was faced with a problem that does not occur very often  if ever for TN schools- a rapidly appearing sinkhole that necessitated the removal of the entire student body and faculty. Sinkhole breaking news   
Pictured several months later with 100 plus feet of gravel and stone filling up the 15 ft diameter, the instability caused by the exterior sinkhole can be seen throughout the school. Erwin Record Sinkhole article

Director of School Denise Brown, pictured with one of the many seams opened up by the sinkhole hasn't found herself in a rock and a hard place but rather between an insurance company and a school that just wants their own school versus split between the intermediate school and middle school.

Director of School Denise Brown

From Highway 26 looking back at Erwin

Right Foot VA, Left Foot TN

Downtown Bristol TN, VA
 

One of the most unique areas of the area is Bristol City where one of the main street in downtown, State Street, one side is TN and the other side is VA.  I hosted a visitor for work from VA who didn't realize that she was so close to her adopted home state. We ate at Korner Copia which I would highly recommend so that she could view VA and sit in TN to stay in state per our jobs. The Superintendent of TN ate with us so we could solve some pending business and waved to the Bristol VA Superintendent who crossed state lines to eat lunch as well.

Uncle Sam's Bristol TN

On State Street TN, sits Uncle's Sam's Loan Office, Pawn Shop and Lunch counter. Full of jewelry, guns, and guitars, this store looked and felt like a local department store that had filled the need of vacancy of pawning and reselling. Too many areas of NE TN are struggling with the loss of agriculture, cash crops such as Tobacco, industry such as Kodak Eastman. There doesn't seem to be an economic replacement other than survival. However, in comparison to other small downtowns found in TN, Bistol is thriving.
This place had a variety of guitars, mandolins, and even violins.....

People were very friendly in Uncle Sam's, guy even smiled after I snapped the pic. I've seen these lunch counters now in Erwin, Bristol City, and Rogersville. I haven't yet braved eating at one though.....

Hancock County- too bad the Cows can't vote

 

 It's hard for me not to sing the Lorax's

Kyle's Ford, TN Edward Talley Bridge

  Thneedville during a good portion of my drive into Sneedville, TN. It is nearly a 2 hour drive from my office in Johnson City TN into VA down VA 600 and over TN 33 to go visit Sneedville. The terrain is beautiful- most of it following the Clinch River dotted with well built but sadly abandoned farm houses and scores and scores and scores of cows.

As a kayaker, I am a huge fun of the Upper Clinch River by Clinch Mountain and in particular the area around Kyle's Ford, TN where the Talley Bridge crosses the river. This area which includes the Upper Tennessee River watershed that is said to contain the most biologically diverse concentration of freshwater mussels in the United States containing some species that are supposedly globally unique. Nature Conservancy Site on Clinch River

As you can see from my photos, it rained buckets. A mudslide on VA 600 caused my heart to stop a bit. Amidst the beautiful vistas is one of my favorite places on the planet- River Place on the Clinch. I've had two fantastic home cooked meals by local chefs, eatting from their second story porch overlooking the river- heaven. Besides the great food and local artist jewelry (but today bizarre political talk), the site offers a put in for kayaks/canoes, a retreat center, and cabins. On the Appalachian Quilt Trail, the area is surrounded by surprising unique and personalized artwork.








 

Vacant Kyle's Ford Elementary Hancock TN

But, for its physical and natural beauty, the area is economically depressed. Industry has left. Tobacco is no longer grown there- the major crop. Because of the declining population of the county, the school district has had to close 6 six schools within the last ten years. Pictured is Kyle's Ford, TN school now vacant for over 8 years. Every time I drive by an abandoned school, I get visions of opening a residential charter school around animal husbandry. There is a similarly abandoned school in Red Boiling Springs which is better suited with its historic hotels for me to open the school. The CTE Director of the school district suggests that maybe a vineyard is a better investment in Hancock County. They are hopeful that someone would buy one of these school sites to do just that...and if I win the lottery- I may just!

 Hancock County TN has a population of only 7000 people for 222 square miles. So many abandoned houses.....one pictured here. The homes appear to have significantly built fire places with intricate woodwork designs. This particular house had the underside of its porch painted green with several collumns showing a great spot to sit after working all day. As a former history teacher, I get overwhelmed by abandoned schools and homes. I think of the stories that might of occured there of happiness, sorrow, love, family. I wish that there was some sort of enhanced reality where you could see what occured at left places like virtual historical roadside markers.

Hancock County is famous or infamous for being the homeside of the Mulungeons. This is now my third trip to Hancock, CY and the Director of school has promised me that on my next trip- if it is not raining- he will take me by the the Vardy Community School.

Greeneville's Tennessee Tailor

...wait, I'm the mother of a Tennessee Tayler.....but, I digress......

President Andrew Johnson must rank up there pretty high for getting a bum rap in US History. Born in Raleigh NC to parents of a modest income, the highlights of  President Johnson's remarkable rise from poverty to an elected alderman, mayor of Greeneville, Tennessee Legislature Rep, US Houe of Rep, Governor of Tennessee, US Senator, and then Vice President gets blurred by his impeachment.  

(incidentally by one vote.) Supposedly he was a drunk and somewhat disagreeable but if you had been sold into indentured servitude at 14 to a tailor because your father had died when you were 3.... I think you might have some self medication problems later in life as well.      Nevertheless, one of my most favorite things to do when in Greeneville is to stop by the  Andrew Johnson national park site.   I always took my Tayler to the park when traveling for business 10 years ago and was sad to see how (national park budget cuts) have diminished the role of guides. However, I thought the way the park had adapted as clever.

 

The Andrew Johnson National Park offers a small visitor center, an on site example of a home in the 1860's. You can make arrangements to see the Johnson homestead a few blocks from the Visitor's Center and vote on his impeachment. For the curious about Andrew Johnson, there are some good sites online:

 

Discover Greeneville offerings
Our White House Looking In

Photographed by M. Ungurait 11/12

 

 

It's hard to imagine someone who had never been to one day of school in his entire life was elected to so many offices. His life of poverty lead him to sympathy toward those enslaved:
“Slavery is the cancer upon the body politic, which must be rooted out before perfect health can be restored.” stated Johnson.

However, my very favorite place in Greeneville is the McKee home and law office. This Classic Revival structure from the mid 1800's can be seen on McKee and Irish streets. Maybe next time, I will knock on the door for inside pics....


 

Keep Austin (Blountville) weird....

I was really nostalgic for Austin TX's approach to Christmas just the other day. The Zilker Park Lights, the Keep Austin Weird Light (Flickr 37th street lights)  and the beauty of the juxtaposition of cactus and Christmas when I drove by this house in Blountville. Now I am fairly certain this is a

permanent display, but if we had lived in Austin- well- this wouldn't surprise me if it was the family's approach to decorating the yard for Christmas. I know virtually knothing behind why the aliens chose this house (they do have adorable dogs) or this city (the district is doing a great job educating their kids) but the whole thing just made me smile. Now, I don't live near these aliens or their dogs, I might fight differently if I did.

I will be on the lookout for great holiday displays in NE TN. I've been fortunate to see some real regional personalization and flair. I am simply in love with Kernersville's Blinkies Kernersville Drive down mainstreet with blinkies and certainly Greensboro's Ridgeway was a wonderful treat to get over leaving Austin. Nothing like walking down the street with

all of those globes hanging above your head or sticking your young son out the sunroof so he can enjoy the veiw.

Cutting through Damascas Va

I had an early morning appointment in Mountain City TN with the wonderful central office staff of Johnson County schools and a late afternoon appointment in Bristol City. So- I took the road through Damascas VA.....so we took TN 91 along the Mount Rogers through Abingdon. My business partner and I stopped at In the Country for a quick and wonderful lunch: http://www.inthecountryonline.net/

in the foothills of Whitetop Mountain where they sell a mean black bean spicy sandwhich with much care and attention. I stopped in Mt. Roger's Outfitters http://mtrogersoutfitters.com/for a quick look and advice about the Appalachian Trail and Virginia Creeper Trail. And, I got to meet Mike- pictured here. Mike lived 5 years....yep 5 years on the AT hiking it. He was friendly, gentle, and gave great advice and reminded me of the following Bryson quote:
“I wanted to quit and to do this forever, sleep in a bed and in a tent, see what was over the next hill and never see a hill again. All of this all at once, every moment, on the trail or off.” 

I spent some time thinking about my bustling life of car trips to work, back over the mountains to home, to my many meetings and found that I was incredibly jealous of Mr. Mike. I wondered what his life was like to walk in the woods for such a long period of time- the plants, people, and animals he must have encountered. In our brief talk, he said that a group of hikers had radioed in that they were going to stay in Damascas and that they had started in Maine.

Mike showed me the ad hoc AT rock museum displayed pictured above. Each interest has its own subculture and this one is well chronicled in Bill Bryson's Walk in the Woods http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Walk_in_the_Woods which I read over ten years ago when the family and I were hiking in the Smokies quite a bit. My favorite portion of the book includes:
“My particular dread--the vivid possibility that left me staring at tree shadows on the bedroom ceiling night after night--was having to lie in a small tent, alone in an inky wilderness, listening to a foraging bear outside and wondering what its intentions were. I was especially riveted by an amateur photograph in Herrero's book, taken late at night by a camper with a flash at a campground out West. The photograph caught four black bears as they puzzled over a suspended food bag. The bears were clearly startled but not remotely alarmed by the flash. It was not the size or demeanor of the bears that troubled me--they looked almost comically nonaggressive, like four guys who had gotten a Frisbee caught up a tree--but their numbers. Up to that moment it had not occurred to me that bears might prowl in parties. What on earth would I do if four bears came into my camp? Why, I would die, of course. Literally shit myself lifeless. I would blow my sphincter out my backside like one of those unrolling paper streamers you get at children's parties--I daresay it would even give a merry toot--and bleed to a messy death in my sleeping bag.” 

Thanksgiving on ETSU campus

Biggest tip for mailing in the Tricity area- go to the ETSU post office at the Culp Center. By far the friendly service and beautiful views. No matter how many times I walk away from the Culp Center toward my office in Rogers Stout I am stunned at the beauty of the meandering stream and weeping willow. Although not in this pictures, the last two days in Johnson City/Jonesborough have displayed a bright blue sky that I've only ever seen in Austin Texas.

The Post Office is a service at ETSU and the postlady said it was more like a consignment shop for them b/c they have to pay out in cash to the official po every day. I sent Tayler a box from there and it showed up with mulitude of state stamps which the kids framed b/c they said it looked like art work.

Sometimes joy in life really can be a weeping willow on the way to a friendly post person who gives out unusual stamps under a clear blue sky......just sometimes.