Conings Farm Market & Bridge Hunting

Large hanging basket of petunias at Conings Market

Conings Farm Market & Bridge Hunting 

Monday July  27, 2020

Dana & Kenny Koogler

Pictures are here: Bridgehunter Pix

and Here

    Kenny was still getting over his surgery and not quite ready to go back to work. I got up with all sorts of plans for Monday only to be startled by him still at home and resting on the couch.  I felt the brakes go screeching on my plans.
It was a rough day.   Finally about three in the afternoon I told him to come on with me and go for a ride.   He agreed.   I knew we wouldn't be able to do much, but I couldn't take one more second sitting round the house. I couldn't take one more moment listening to the descriptions of every bodily sensation and symptom.   I know more about my spouse's parts than I ever wanted to know.

    I wanted to ride out to Conings Farm Market.  It had been a couple years since I went out there to buy produce.  We did that first as they closed at 6 pm. 
The drive out to the market is beautiful. You have a view of Chilhowee Mountain and some of the more remote parts of our county.  Blount County is a good sized one in our state.   Bigger than you realize!

      We got out there and found the market open.  They did not have quite the selection of items they usually do, but it was still good. We bought a fresh cantaloupe, a sugar doll seedless watermelon, peaches and cream bicolor corn, and yellow squash.    The market is real pretty. 

 Above: God Bless America.. the flag of our nation and state.

 Above: View of Chilhowee Mountain in the distance.

 Above and below.. views of the market front with their pretty hanging baskets.

 Above and below-- produce that is just the best

 Above and below: plants and tomatoes and cucumbers.

   

   We had some of the bicolor corn for supper later.  We had watermelon also.

 Above: Peaches and cream variety of corn is the all time best corn ever! We love it.
Below: slicing open the seedless sugar doll melon juicy and fresh!

     Once we left the market we headed out even further into the corner of our county. Trigonia!  I think it got its name from where Blount, Loudon, and Monroe counties all come together.     It was another pretty drive on country roads.    I am ready to move out here just anytime, but I expect it will have to wait til Kenny retires. 

      I had long wanted another chance to visit Thompson bridge, but did not want to go alone.  The bridge is a remnant from where they re-routed the road and put in a new bridge... leaving the old one abandoned.   A long abandoned store sits at the Lanier Road end of the bridge.  Bars on the windows like it was in downtown New York or Miami.    Very odd sight.  The reason I didn't want to do this alone is that the bridge is thoroughly overgrown with poison ivy, kudzu, and all sorts of vegetation.   I got out of the jeep and took a look at it. I was going to have to force myself to feel the fear and do it anyway.

      I noticed that from the old store you can't even see the bridge it is so swallowed by green growth. 

 Above: old store at the end of the bridge

 You can't see the bridge from here

 above: poison ivy and weeds galore!

 Thankfully the middle of the bridge was more open

 Looking off the side

 Thompson bridge

 This is the end of Thompson bridge closer to Big Gully Road. It would be easier to visit it in Summer, by parking across the road at the pull off for Ninemile Creek and come in from the Big Gully end.  Less weeds

 Above: Kenny turns around getting ready to walk back to the jeep.

Above: Ninemile Creek viewed from the side of the bridge.


     It was not the most exciting thing to do, but it beat the heck out of sitting round the house.  Next we motored on toward Big Elm Bridge. I was wanting to finally visit the Shaddon Mill site.  I had studied up on it enough to think I was going to find it today.   Kenny wasn't interested so he called his coworker about going back to work in the morning while I climbed over the bank.

     

   
Above: Big Elm bridge is a neat old bridge way out in our county. 
Below: Ninemile Creek viewed off Big Elm Bridge--today I realized that this creek stays muddy all the time.  First visit I thought it was muddy because of the rain storm that just ended.
 

 Above: I'm down the bank and under the bridge

 It is a short distance up to the mill site.  The vegetation is not too bad. a few briars, switch cane, and vines.

 Ninemile Creek .. even though this is a rough, muddy creek I still like it. I grew up swimming in an old cow creek like this.

 Above: Shaddon Mill site is not much more than a remnant dam/rock wall and a flat spot where the mill used to sit.  It is very old. It is one of the area grist mills that floundered with the coming of technology and the construction of Tellico Lake. 

Above: Another look at the Shaddon Mill site.

  According to the National Register of Historic Landmarks.. the Shaddon Mill was active from 1850-1900 then I  guess it sat abandoned or idle.  I read a description that said it was the foundation, the wall/dam the mill turbine.  I know from reading a thesis  written by a UT student.. that the Tellico area mills were studied and excavated. The mill equipment from Shaddon Mill is in storage at Norris, Tennessee.   TVA removed and kept it.   Trigonia Mill was nearby. The two mills were barely a mill apart.

   The thesis goes on to say that the Shadden Mill was originally run by Silas Pearson as both a grist mill and saw mill.  They ground only corn here at this mill.  It was later run by Frank Shadden and at some point later began to be known as "Skeens Mill".    It says that because this mill site would not be flooded by the coming of the lake no archeological work was done.

    I climbed back up the bank and prepared to go home.  I was satisfied that I had at last visited and photographed two spots I'd long had on my mind.  Not a real exciting day.  I had Kenny pull down to an abandoned bank on the way home. 

I want to visit Militia Springs which lies behind that bank.  

It isn't a long distance into the woods, but it is very snakey.  I expect it would be best to wait til the weather is cold to do this trip.   The first spring is not far into the woods, but the second one is a bit further. 

   

  

Bridge Hunting in the corner of Blount County

Bridge Hunting on the Back Roads

Dana Koogler

Tuesday July 23, 2019

Bridge Hunter Pix are Here

Bridgehunter.com

The site is up and running again!  RIP James Baughn the original creator who passed away far too young. 

   I recently learned of a spot at the very edge of Blount County called Shaddon Mill.  It was by an artist by the name of Nick Fielder.  He is very talented.   You can see his work if you click on his name.   I had never  heard of the place before so I started down the rabbit hole investigating.  

I could see on Google maps satellite view that there was a cascade on Ninemile Creek where this should have stood.  A logical place for a mill.    I checked Mill Pictures website and it was not even mentioned.   I decided to take a ride out there to see the spot and do some bridge hunting.  

Above: Painting titled Shaddon Mill by artist Nick Fielder. He painted it from a photo he took in 1969.   I'd love to have seen it back then.   

      It rained hard on Monday off and on all day with the rain and storms growing more intense in late afternoon and evening.  It rained all through the night with some flooding going on and road closures in East and Middle Tennessee.   It finally quit raining about 11 am.  I gave it some time to dry out a little before I headed out to bridge hunt.    

   I first went to hunt up a wooden span bridge that was a railroad overpass.  I thought from Bridgehunter said it was not open.  It reads Closed to All Traffic.  I was surprised to find the bridge open and folks driving across it.   I was also surprised to find Binfield Road.  I had long passed the white farm house on Hwy 411 heading south and thought that road was merely a driveway.  It goes back to a community.   I saw parts of my county I'd never known about.  

Binfield Road Bridge is open to traffic and stout.   I drove across it.  Parked and got out and looked at it and took pictures from all sides.  I then drove back across it and parked at a pull off just before the bridge on Binfield Road to take photos of the siding, the rail switch, and the bridge from the tracks.   The tracks are still active so I walked the grassy area beside them. 

I sent in an update and correction to the sites webmaster.    Hopefully they can change the info.

 Above:  Binfield Bridge a wooden span bridge overpass for the railroad from the tracks.

Binfield Siding

Bridge from the south side

Above: Switch for the Binfield Siding 

Above: My jeep parked with the bridge in the background to the left.   This is the pull off before the bridge on the south side.  Best to park here to walk and see it.  There is a spot on the other side, but it is not as handy as it is near a business and homes with barking dogs. 


      Next I headed to hunt for Thompson Bridge.   I started rambling round the back roads and ended up going to the wrong spot.   I didn't do a very good job on writing down directions for myself and ended up at Howard School Road Bridge first.     It was rather pretty, but it is in a precarious spot.  It sits on a sharp curve at the intersection of Howard School Road and Trigonia.  No place to park really.  I jumped out took a quick look and snapped a few pictures. Just about the time I went to get back in the jeep here came a bunch of cars.   I decided it was best to get going.

Above: Howard School Road Bridge


   Next I headed toward the Shaddon Mill site and the Big Elm Bridge since I was close.  I figured I'd check that out and then see how I felt about the Thompson Bridge.   I had been on Trigonia Road before, but not all the way through it.  I had forgotten how narrow it really is! 
I arrived at a point above Ninemile Creek where the road is along a bluff.   I turned onto Big Elm Road.   I could see right then that Big Elm Bridge was cool, but the Shaddon Mill site was not going to be much today. The stream was flowing swift and very muddy.    It also does not have a great place to park, but there is room to pull over.    I got out and looked around some and snapped my pictures.     Folks back in this neck of the woods seemed somewhat unfriendly and clannish.   I can relate having lived it so not judging.   It made me feel like I'd best get going.   I decided to let Thompson Bridge wait for another day.  Perhaps when I come back to revisit Shaddon Mill. 

    

 Above: Big Elm Bridge with very high sides!  It sits in a beautiful location. 

 Above: Ninemile Creek looking off the bridge.  It is nasty today.   Shaddons Mill was just 

above this point.   

     I think the Big Elm Road is named for the Trigonia Elm which was a record sized ancient elm tree that finally fell to the axes of the TVA in their infinite wisdom.    Click the link to read about it and see the photos.  Says it was 160 feet tall and spread 147 feet weighed five to six thousand pounds!   We have several massive elm trees near our house, but nowhere near that big.   Reading about the elm reminds me of another something I can lump together with the Thompson Bridge search.  I have still never gone to visit the McGee-Carson State Park that now stands abandoned.  One day I'll do those two things at once and go see the Clover Hill Mill and bridge.   That should be a good day of it.  

   I decided I'd best get home to start some dinner and work on my trip reports. 

I plugged in the GPS coordinates to the TomTom to help me make it back to Hwy 411. 

I knew which way it was, but that maze of roads had me bumfuzzled.   I followed it only half trusting its instructions.    It took me out through Russell Hollow and I got to see an odd abandoned old house.  I love abandoned houses and buildings so I got a photo of it.  It reminded me upon first glance of a face that had no eyes!   This is one of those far flung ends of the county where folks don't want to live I suppose. It is beautiful and quiet though.

Above: Eyeless abandoned old house in Russell Hollow.

  All in all a quiet, fun day of being a bum.    I know there probably aren't lots of women 

who care for old bridges, mills and abandoned houses, and railroads, but I am not most women.   One thing I have learned from my own mother...... is to be myself and not worry about what anyone else thinks.    

    Below is a video of one of my favorite songs about railroads.. Steel Rails by Allison Krauss