Cumberland Gal: Museum of Appalachia Visit & Bluebird Fire Tower

Rose of Sharon blooming at the Museum of Appalachia today.

It is a very pretty and old timey flowering tree.

Museum of Appalachia Visit & Bluebird Fire Tower

Sunday Aug. 23, 2020

Kenny & Dana Koogler

**Added to Country Store Blog Series as of Jan. 30, 2021**

Museum of Appalachia Information click here

Museum of Appalachia Pictures here starting with current frame

I've been going through a spell of really wanting to dig into history lately.

I have also been going through a time of a strong aversion to crowds. I decided on Sunday to scrap the original plan I had. I wanted to go somewhere a little different that would not be completely ruined if the rain set in. Kenny and I sat down in the living room and talked it over finally deciding to go visit the Museum of Appalachia and have lunch there. We also got to looking at what else was in the area. I found quite a few things, but we settled on wrapping our day up with a visit to Bluebird Lookout Tower nearby.

above: Mr. Peacock was outside to greet us when we arrived

Away we went toward my spiritual center... Clinton. I every time I've ever gotten lost in Knoxville I wound up in or heading to Clinton. It is like there is a magnet pulling me. It is a running joke with us. On the way to the museum the skies opened up and dumped rain on us in buckets full . I had one small umbrella with me. I decided if it continued we'd stop by Dollar General and buy another one and some $1 rain ponchos. Thankfully just before we pulled in the rain let up. I was able to avoid both the rain and the need to go on a DG run!

Above: Museum of Appalachia front door. You purchase tickets here at the desk inside.

I had been to the Museum of Appalachia about ten years ago. We were on a camping trip to the area. We camped at Norris Lake. We hiked some of the lake trails. We brought the four wheeler and went riding a little bit. I don't recall much about that. We also visited the Museum that weekend. I liked it then, but since that time I have another nine years of being a Tennessean under my belt. I have since read Alex Stewart: Portrait of a Pioneer by John Rice Irwin at the urging of a friend, John Ungerer. I have sense enough now to appreciate better what John Rice Irwin was trying to preserve. I have a deeper appreciation for the pioneers and craftsmen like Alex Stewart. John told me when he read the book that he got to the end and felt like his best friend just died. I believed him, but a deep, touching emotional connection to someone through story telling is not a common thing today. I found myself weeping when it got to the part in the book where he passed away.

Above: front cover of the book on Alex Stewart. $14.99 I call it a bargain!

I went today to see the Alex Stewart cabin and the display on him.

I will probably do a blog piece on him in the future. Another reason was to look at the displays of medical items and doctors since I am going to be writing about Doctor Woman, May Wharton soon. I wanted to see the Mark Twain cabin.

I wanted to eat some good ole country cooking. I have to say this experience was more fulfilling than my first visit. It is like a living reference for historical things. If I lived closer I would certainly get a membership and go frequently. I'd probably wear it out.

Above: Photo of John Rice Irwin.. the founder of the Museum of Appalachia. He is a cultural historian. Below is a photo of Hank Williams Jr. with Will Meyer, John Rice Irwin's grandson. Also included in the photo to the far left is Ring of Fire song co-writer Merle Kilgore, (also by June Carter Cash). The lady to the right is the late Elizabeth Irwin and Senator Lamar Alexander.

I will only hit the highlights in this blog entry for there is too much material to include every bit of it. I am still reading and digesting it. Part of the visit as said was research for upcoming historical blogs. I hope the trip pays off as fruitfully as I believe it will.
Below: a view across the grounds at the museum. It is a living history museum.

We arrived out front and were astonished looking at the grounds. It was much bigger than we'd remembered. I wondered if I'd even be able to see it all in a day? Considering the targeted displays I planned on seeing.. It was possible I'd not have time to fit it all in, but we were in no hurry. We visited first the gift store and then went outside. We started our tour and I used the map they gave me to check out the Alex Stewart cabin next. You can't go in it, but I got photos.
Below is the Alex Stewart cabin shown with the sharpening wheel outside it. He raised at least eight children in that cabin!

Below is a photo display of Alex Stewart. Telling about his mouth bow making and playing.

Below: a placard telling about the various trades and gifts of Mr. Alex Stewart

Below is a display case of the many and varied things he has made!

We moved on through the Appalachian Hall of Fame. That is the building shown below and the displays above are but a few. It is an entire building crammed full of various displays on two floors!

Gwen's Little Playhouse

One of the cutest things I saw today was a tiny white building just outside the Appalachian Hall of Fame. I am sure I saw it my first visit, but I did not recollect anything about it. Today it just grabbed me as a sweet and very relatable piece of history. The story goes that James Hubbard of Union County, Tennessee lost an arm when he was a youth. He served as a tax assessor, deputy sheriff, truant officer, and school teacher. He married and had one child. He hired a local fellow named Will Elkins to build his daughter Gwen a play house. TVA later took over the land for the building of a dam, but the play house which had been the envy of all her friends in the area ended up here where everyone could see it.

Above: outside of Gwen's playhouse

Below: a photo of Gwen as a child along with some of the furnishings of her playhouse.

Above: dollbaby and bed and little cane bottom stool in the playhouse.

Bower Fisher's Cat Sled

Another of the sweet little stories that got my attention was about Bower Fisher's Cat Sled! Below is a photo of the little cat sled. I like cats though ours drive me insane sometimes. I have a kitten laying stretched out in the chair behind me as I type this blog article.

Marion Fisher lived up around Kyle's Ford not far from the Virginia line. He had a couple kids come down sick with the diptheria. One had died and the other, little Bower, was very ill now. He told of having to go to work to provide for the family, but fearing he'd never see his daughter again. He decided this day to walk or rather run, the four or five miles back home to eat the noon meal so he could see Bower. She was so seriously ill.

When Marion came into view of the house he was overjoyed to see his daughter, Bower was up and around. She had tied a string to a block of wood and was pulling it across the yard pretending it was a sled. He was so happy to see her recovered he took the rest of the day off and made her the little sled you see above. Bower herself told that she had an old cat who learned to ride in that sled! She said every time she came out to play that cat would run and jump in the sled to take a ride. She and her family agreed to sell the pieces of what was left of it to John Rice Irwin for the museum. The pieces were carefully collected and put back together.

She wanted everyone to be able to see her little cat sled and know the story that went with it. One of the things that made John Rice Irwin so special was his deep appreciation not just for the items on display, but the people and the stories that accompanied them. That is what makes things truly special.

Drinkin' Muddy Water, Sleepin' in a Hollow Log

A very old blues song by Grant Jones says "I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water, and sleep in a hollow log." It has been adapted by many blues artists since then from R.L. Burnside to the North Mississippi Allstars of today in their song "

Rollin' n Tumblin". The massive trees of the eastern part of North America were the chestnut trees followed by the poplars. The chestnut trees were killed off by the blight, but prior to that they were so large the pioneers often lived in them until they were able to construct more suitable dwellings. Tim Homan is a great hiking guidebook writer. He wrote one about Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock.

He mentions in this book that a naturalist, Oleta Nelms, who worked in the forest when he was there told him tales of the massive chestnut trees in the area when she was a child. She said when she went to school she was teased because her grandfather lived in a hollow tree before he built his house! Below is an image I found on the internet of a massive tree that would have been big enough to do this. Image for post

Below is a photo of a painting of the home of George Burkhart of Harlan, Kentucky. He raised his family in a hollow tree! He and his wife raised six kids in that tree!

Banjo Picking

The museum has a massive display of musical instruments of various artists and their contributions to the musical world. I grew up with a musical family. My grandfather Clarence "Skeeter" Caricofe was a singer and musician. He could play the banjo, fiddle, mandolin, harmonica, guitar, jaw harp. He had a real pretty voice that was so clear. I play piano and flute. Mom played guitar and piano and sang. Daddy played guitar and mandolin and sang. I have spent many an evening at home listening and singing along to country, gospel, bluegrass and folk music. Every now and then there would be some thing contemporary thrown in. Below is a photo of a banjo at the museum and the ground hog skin tacked up that was often used to make the heads for them! Below that is a Youtube video of my grandfather playing and singing. It is one of two records he put out.

Below: ground hog hide for making banjo heads and a couple banjos.

Skeeter Caricofe Rosewood Casket

Blacksmith Shop

One of the things that appealed to me was the blacksmith shop.

I had a great, great grandfather named Hector Croson who was a blacksmith from Steeles Tavern, Virginia. I noticed my grandparents and many of the family had paintings of blacksmiths up in our homes. I guess that is one reason why.. the family history. He was a strong man and did well for himself. My grandmother.. his wife.. was a Nancy Ship. I don't know what her profession was, but I imagine it was keeping house and tending children among other things.

Below is a photo taken of the inside of the blacksmith shop at the museum.

I cannot help wondering if grandfather Hector's shop looked anything like this?

I loved the old general store display. I still recall stores like this growing up. They were no doubt many of them "modernized" by the time I came along, but I remember some just the same. How they smelled, looked, and what you could buy there. Penny candy, cokes, and icecream were always a treat.

Here is a story told me by my grandma Edna about her childhood and money and the store.

Edna, Vivian & The Feenamint Gum

My grandma Lillian Edna Brooks Caricofe grew up one of eleven kids from a poor family. She and her sister Vivian were walking one day and found a whole silver dollar! They tried to think what to do with that great sum of money for two little girls. They knew if they took it home to their mother she'd make them set a good bit of it aside. They figured the best way to get the most for their money was to go straight to the store with it and spend it all on candy!
They went down to Seabird Mangus' store next to the train tracks and bought a lot of every kind of candy. . They ended up with one nickle left over. They couldn't show up at home with even a nickle or grandma would know they'd been up to something. Vivian looked on a store shelf and said "Look here, Edna! We don't have any of this yet." It was feenamint gum. They either were too small to read well or too excited to notice it said laxative on it. They enjoyed their candy for awhile, but later that feenamint gum got to them and they got the belly ache.
She told me she reckoned that was their punishment for not taking the dollar home to their mother. They took turns sitting in the outhouse and the other in what they callled the "Katy White". it was a spot in the woods that served as sort of second bathroom. 😉

Below: more items from the store

Below: all those red and white ladles hanging up... I have one just like it in my kitchen now!

We saw Danl' Boone's cabin. Mark Twain's Cabin. (Samuel Clemens)
and a little log church.. Irwin's chapel.

Below is the outside of the Mark Twain cabin

Here is a view of the inside

Last, but not least.. a view of the grounds in a broader sense.

I feel sure this will give rise to a great many historical blogs and will help flesh them out to be more interesting. It was a great visit.

Bluebird Lookout Tower

Bluebird Lookout Tower on Tennessee Landforms

Southern Fire Towers Pix

Once we finished our Museum of Appalachia visit and had our lunch in their restaurant we headed off to the next adventure of the day. We realized this morning that only a few miles away on a knob overlooking Clinton was a lookout tower we had yet to visit. We set off through the countryside toward it. I told Kenny I believed there was an easier way to get to it than to double back to Racoon Valley Road and come at it. We went instead up to the main area just off the interstate and took a look. The road right beside us, Buffalo Road, was a good starting point.

We drove out through some pretty countryside. Lots of Summer wildflowers bloomed in the fields along the way. I saw lots of pretty pink Joe Pye weed, leaf cup, New York Ironweed, and Virgin's bower. We climbed up and enjoyed the pretty view for awhile. Finally we climbed down and headed back off the mountain. I felt very fortunate to be married to a guy with the right connections to get me to some of the places I like to go! It tickled me to feel like we'd gotten away with something.

Below is a patch of Joe Pye weed with its tall pink wands.

Below: I'm not sure, but I think this is Hinds Creek. It is an old muddy cow creek. That is what we swam in a lot when we were little.

We followed the route out through the country. Kenny began to have that feeling he'd been to this spot before. I knew I had not. We pulled back into a long lane that on google maps said "Firetower Road" like so many other roads like it in the state. We passed a few old barns, sheds and a couple houses. We arrived at a locked gate. We had discussed before ever leaving home that the road might be gated. Lo and behold, it was. I figured that was the end of the trip for the day. Kenny got out and said "Let me see if any of my access codes or combinations work on this lock." He fiddled with it a bit, and turned around grinning at me. It had worked! He opened the gate and we drove through. I got out and latched it back. We dummy locked it so as not to attract unwanted attention. We drove right up to the top. He took one look at the towers up there and the electrical equipment. He began spouting off to me when and what he'd done here before, and how tough a place it was to set up. He then said "I must not have known there was a fire tower up here?! Leastways I did not come up to look at it."

It was not anything earth shattering or different, but it was a nice tower in a kind of pretty spot. The view even from the open area on the ground was beautiful. The fire tower was like many others except it was in good repair. The cab was locked, but the steps and platforms were in perfect shape. We climbed it and took a look around. Far off in the distance you could see glimpses of Clinton and the Clinch River. The sky was azure blue compared to the gray rainy skies of this morning. It was clear and sunny now. The clearing had some pretty flowers at its edges. Red velvet peaks of staghorn sumac and bright yellow clumps of wild senna. All in all it had been a great day. I anticipate many more blogs as spin offs from this one visit to the museum.