Stringtown Lookout Tower

Cluster of Pink and White Turtleheads growing by a country lane.

Stringtown Lookout Tower 

Saturday September 21, 2019

Dana & Kenny Koogler

Stringtown Lookout Tower on Tennessee Landforms

List of nearby Lookout Towers on Tennessee Landforms 

**See info added at the bottom regarding Stringtown** 

   I  mentioned in the blog about Clarktown Spring that we made a little tour round White County with Marvin Bullock. One of the spots right near the spring was the Stringtown Lookout Tower.   It is a fire tower at the top of Chestnut Mountain.   You can see it in the distance from Eastland Road if you know to look.     I took note of it and since Kenny and I both like fire towers I determined we'd get back to see it for ourselves.    It would not be worth a special trip from the Foothills to the Plateau just to see this one thing.    We took time to go see it and the springs on the same  Saturday as the Cumberland Homesteads Apple Festival.    

      

   The day we visited we were unsure the status of the land ownership.   It was suggested that we park along Eastland Road and walk up.  Kenny looked at the road and the sign and determined it was most likely a country road.  He reasoned that we'd drive up that way to see if we could catch anyone out to ask about it.    We were in luck.  A truck came down the road from the top with an older gentleman and a young guy in it.  We flagged them down to ask.  He said it was fine to go up to see the tower, but said the road was very rough and asked if we had four wheel drive?  We did so after listening to what he had to say we went ahead.    The road is indeed rough and there is one spot that is very rugged.   The older fellow said the tower was inaccessible in that not only could you not go up in the cab, but the entire perimeter of the tower is fenced.  All we could do was drive up and take a look and leave.  We'd come this far so we went ahead.    

    The tower is a steel structure with a little watchmans cabin like so many others.  

It has a view down the powerline cut to one side.  It has a view off the mountain to the east. 

The view is pretty.  Today was a clear blue sky day and real sunny.      The tower property is owned by the Bon Air Mountain Historical Society according to the records on Tennessee property viewer.     A tree has fallen on the fence damaging part of it.    Behind it is some sort of residence.  The entire area is residential.  All of it is private property except for the tiny postage stamp the tower sits on and the historical society owns. 

Above: View down the powerline cut from the top of the mountain.

   

    Above: View to the east is a little prettier

 Above:  the Stringtown Lookout Tower

Above:  The watchman's cabin and the big dent in the fence.  Yikes! 

These are the only four photos I took of this visit because there isn't much to see nor tell.

 I had been interested in the history of the tower and of  the "Stringtown" area which cropped up during the mining era of White County.     I have found precious little.  I can find almost no mention of the tower.  I have only found information on the former Stringtown School which has a photo. I can find mention of the Stringtown Cemetery.  

I have search written materials as well as online to no avail.   I am hopeful to glean some information through the Bon Air Mountain Historical Society.  If any history becomes known to me I shall add it to this blog entry.     My inquiry on the Facebook group yielded little as well.  One individual stated that "there wasn't much to tell." I admit I had wondered about that myself.    Perhaps the lack of material resulted from the quietness and  lack of notoriety?  Not necessarily a bad thing. 

Below is a picture of the Stringtown School from the historic society

     I do know it was one of the listed mining communities of Bon Air Mountain. 

I got to digging trying to find out why there are so many places named Stringtown in the USA? 

The most likely explanation came from how they were "strung out" along the roads. 

           

Stringtown School, also know as Solon School was southeast of DeRossett on the road to Eastland near the fire tower.  The building was a log cabin near where the Church of Christ now stands.

**Edited to add** Despite the quoted caption above Bob England has provided me ample information including maps and deeds that prove this is the Stringtown School. Solon was a separate community far enough away that the monaker should not apply to the school.  It is probable that kids from Solon community attended the school it was apparently never the name of the school.   I have this backed up by another individual as well.  There has been some dispute about it among others.  
   
   I wanted to give Stringtown Lookout Tower its own blog entry because it is a distinct destination from all else we did today.   The lack of historic information turned out to be rather frustrating, but I decided to do it anyway.   I will use my Southern Psychological Alchemy on it and try to spin the straw into gold.     

Visiting Stringtown Lookout Tower 

   The best thing to do if you are planning on visiting this tower is to batch it together with other area activities as we did.   Below I have several groupings to pick from kind of like ordering at a restaurant ala carte! 

 Historic Trip Suggestions

 Drive a little further down Eastland Road and see Clarktown spring.
Try to catch it on a day when the Ravenscroft Mining Museum is open.  Visit historic 

Pioneer Hall in Pleasant Hill.    Visit the nearby Rock House site.   Visit 

Cumberland Homesteads Tower and House Museum.  The Homesteads Tower has its own listing on the lookout tower site for Tennessee Landforms!    Also you can check the list for other tower sites nearby which I have linked to at the top of this blog entry.    Be careful before you go to look to see if the tower entry shows that the tower is "standing" or "removed".     Lantana tower is nearby and standing.  Milksick Mountain to the west is listed, but the tower has been removed.  
Incidentally, if you visit the Rock House site it is ok to take photos, but do NOT try to video tape the docent giving any of his talks.  It is verboten!   

Outdoorsy Trip Suggestions
It would be harder to find good outdoor activities during a dry time in the White County area. While we were there the waterfalls were either dry or barely running.  Late Summer or early Fall are our worst times for waterfalls.   Most other times Lost Creek Falls would be an awesome addition.  In that one trip you can see Lost Creek Falls, Merry Branch Falls, and at least see the outside of Dodson Cave.  Down the road a little further is Rylander Cascade, a hike to Virgin Falls from a novel direction, Dry Creek Falls and Upper Dry Creek Falls, and up the road is the newly added Dog Cove and Beecher Wallace homesite. 

Lost Creek Falls is nearby


Other outdoorsy trip ideas are to bring along your kayaks or canoe, water crafts and paddle the Calfkiller River.   It is very pretty. It is easy and comparatively safe since it is flat water paddling.     

There is a put in at the end of Church Street in Sparta with ample parking, a pavilion and an easy access ramp. 

There is a put in along River Road in Sparta.   


Family/Kid Friendly Trip Suggestions 

Take the kiddos to Carter Street Park and Playground for a picnic 
Our grandkids love Lost Creek Falls and next time we'll hit this up.

Take the kids to Centennial Park in Crossville to play 

If it is warm outside take the kids to Garrison Park in Crossville which has a splash pad

If your other activities take you to the Crossville area take the kids to Fun Zone to play on the bouncy houses





Retail Therapy Trip Ideas

visit a few historic sites and go by Sparta for some good eats and some shopping

For good food try Yanni's, 

Jacks BBO & Home Cooking 
 

or White Possum Grille

Try Jongees

Try Serenity Thrift store.. upscale thrift

Check out Fragrant Mushroom for pottery and art at affordable prices 



If your activities take you by through Crossville and you take the kids to the Fun Zone at the Outlet Mall there is loads of great shopping there. 
Crossville Outlet Mall 

Lookout Tower Facts 

  Tennessee has somewhere in the neighborhood of 260 lookout tower sites.  I have not counted through that list to see how many of those are in the Still Standing category.   Trying to look up information on the history of the Stringtown tower I ran across the National Historic Lookout Register's web page for Tennessee towers.    Out of all the lookout towers still standing in Tennessee only 36 are on the historic register.   

I saw where you can nominate a tower to be on the list.      I would like to nominate Stringtown tower, but cannot thus far due to lack of information.   I did realize one of my all time favorites was not on there and nominated it. 
War Gap Lookout Tower wasn't listed .  I nominated it and it has been accepted and will be added to the database ASAP.  They have a volunteer web master and thus the lag time. 


  Some towers have been marked as "removed" but they may be relocated to other sites!
A neat example is the Rock House tower has been relocated to Pickett State Park.  I have personally visited the tower.  You can go up in the cab and it has the old equipment still there!  It sits right by the road.    

What I did not know until very recently is that you can still visit the former site at Rock House and see the old watchman's cabin still there!  It is one of my favorite kinds and appears to be in decent shape. It is like the old log cabin style exactly like the one at War Gap.   Finding this out moves visiting Rock House tower site and re-visiting Pickett State Park tower back onto my short list! 

 Above: Watchman's cabin at Little War Gap

 Above:  Lookout tower at Little War Gap in Hawkins County, TN


Burrville Tower was another good one in that you can still climb up in the cab. All the old equipment is still there.   A few of these old sites are still manned now and then.  
Below is a photo of the Burrville Tower which sits in a cow pasture. 

Below: view from Burrville Tower




    Other things I learned about lookout towers while researching this blog is that many states are feeling the pinch since decommissioning their fire lookouts!   Here is an article about Pennsylvania's plan to recommission their towers!  
Ray Villa ,  who is mentioned in this article is of the opinion that by using a combination of staffed fire lookout towers with modern technology we can improve our fire management practices.
He believes it would be best to put more emphasis on fire prevention than fire fighting.
A set of human eyes in a lookout tower back on November 23, 2016 could have prevented or maybe lessened the effects of the Chimneys II fire.

Personal Experience of the Chilhowee Mountain Fires of 2016

Thursday November 17  2016 .  I was running errands in town when I got a call.  It was my daughter Crystal asking me if I could run over to Walland Elementary School and pick up my grandson Michael.  He was sick at school and in the office.   She had gone back to school herself and was a student in Knoxville so she could not go get him.    I told her sure and headed toward the school.  I went into the office where my friend and church family member Cody Russell sat in the office. He was their SRO with the Blount County Sheriffs department at the time.  I spoke to him and went over to my grandson to comfort him and sign him out.   Moments later I was in the empty parking lot with not another soul stirring except me and Michael.  I put him in his booster seat and was buckling him in when I had a strange experience.  I was bent forward and I felt someone touch me right in the center of my forehead.  No one was touching me ,but the sensation caused me to look up immediately.   I stood seeing copious amounts of billowing white smoke rising from the mountain not far from us.    I was at first in disbelief but grabbed my cell phone and pushed Walland Elementary school. I got the office which was immediately behind my back.  I asked them to send Cody out right away.  He came out and saw the smoke and went to investigate.  My hope was that someone was merely burning trash.  I 

got in the vehicle while Cody was on a brisk trot up the mountain, and I drove away.

      I had gotten out onto the Ellejoy plain on Old Walland Highway heading home.  I stopped the jeep and looked back over my shoulder.   I could still see smoke.  I looked out my living room window a few minutes after getting home.  The smoke was already letting up and it appeared they had extinguished the fire.  The Blount County Volunteer Fire Department is right there in Walland.    I later learned that after I left the parking lot the Walland Elementary School was evacuated within twenty minutes.   The fire was perilously close to the school.

    A little later an inspection out my living room window showed that the fire was ablaze further down Chilhowee Mountain.  It was spreading in a northeast direction.   Following the ridge.   I watched the fire burn from my house for days.   Watched helicopters dumping water from the river onto it for days.   It was later learned that the fire was the result of arson.   The fire department DID get the fire out quickly because it was reported almost immediately! 

The arsonist was in the area watching and when he realized they had put it out he went further out the ridge and set more fires!    

    I am very glad that fire did not harm the school or my grandson or ANY of the students or staff at the school.    I don't know who or what got my attention, but I believe it was a God thing.     I don't believe in coincidence.  I do believe in synchronicity.  I am very glad that something got my attention about that fire.   Maybe we really do have a third eye.  

  

     Fire Tower History 

  My father-in-law, Bucky Cummings, was a hoss among men.  He  was a lumberjack, in the first class of Navy SEALS ( back then they were called Frog Men and concentrated on underwater demolition)  He was an instructor in the Sea Bees teaching welding.   He shared many stories of his younger days with me.  One of the things he did as a young man was he became the relief watchman for the Glastenbury Mountain Lookout Tower.  It is along Vermont's Long Trail.  He would regularly hike supplies to the watchman and was his relief so he could get away now and then.   I imagine that was quite something to experience.  


    Lastly I will conclude this blog piece with a little something for me and for anyone who feels like using it.   A wish list of lookout towers I'd like to visit in Tennessee.   

   
I want to visit the Rock House site to see the watchman's cabin at the original site then

go round to Pickett State Park to see the tower reassembled there.   

Luminary Tower (Worthington Knob)is high on my list.   



Pinnacle Mountain Lookout Tower 




Kettlefoot Tower 

Hall Top 

Garden Mountain 

Below is a view from the Clinch Mountain Lookout Tower site



If you are interested in fire lookout towers and history there is a Forest Fire Lookout Association. 


***Edited to Add on Friday October 4, 2019***
Thanks to Regina Hodge on the Facebook Bon Air Mountain Historical Society page and Bob England for the assistance and correction.    I am posting a link and a photo to some info they found on Stringtown.     Regina Hodge pointed out she had found in the book Cumberland County's First Hundred Years    on page 161 of google books... a reference to String Town and where it got the name.   I will excerpt it below in case the link doesn't work.   It references Clifty prior to the new name of String Town! 

      James Scarbrough came from Virginia early in the 1800s and built the first mill on the Caney Fork.   At his blacksmith shop nearby he made axes and flint-lock rifles.   The rifles won all the prizes at  the shooting matches.   His brother Will also had a blacksmith shop and John T. Hewlett had a wood shop.  The three men turned out most of the tools, furniture, and equipment for the early settlers of the region. Once the Great Stage Road came through their neighborhood their places of business became rest stops.   Once someone got mad at Will and posted a notice on a tree near the schoolhouse.  It read: "String Town,  Potato Street, Scarbrough's Hotel and nothing to eat."   For years afterward the place was  known as "String Town".   

    This type insult is exactly the kind of thing I remember being told by my great grandfather Charlie Bradley of Vesuvius, Virginia.     That type of wit and mild insult was considered humorous and got the point across without cursing and meanness.   People tended to remember these little ditties forever too!  Below is a page Bob England shared with me when I was unable to view anything except the top paragraph.  It is off Google Books.   Second paragraph down.