Virginia, Part 3 (which looks a lot like the state of Tennessee...).

We set up camp in Greeneville, Tennessee for a couple of days, which allowed us time to visit the Andrew Johnson National Historic Site. Johnson was the 17th president of the United States, taking on the job after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865. Whether Johnson was a good president or not depends on who you ask, apparently. I was taught in school that he was a weak president; the displays at the Historic Site praised him for his defense of US Constitution. Either way, the four stops included in the site were worth the visit.

Above is Johnson's home in Greeneville, both before and after he served as President. We took a guided tour of both floors. This was where he and his family lived during his political career, both and before his time as U.S. President. Our guide mentioned facts about the house and family, including the story of the woman who saved a painting of Johnson by removing it from the house, wrapping it in newspaper, and using it as a screen in front of her fireplace. There is also uncomplimentary graffiti left by Confederate soldiers who occupied the house for while. The Historic Site staff members left some of it in place. During the war, the house was damaged several times; when the family restored it, they also added on to accommodate children and grandchildren.

At right is Johnson's tailor shop. Johnson's father died when Andrew was a young boy, and his mother apprenticed both him and his older brother to a tailor when Andrew was seven. Although he broke his apprenticeship by running away before his time was served, Johnson did end up making a living at tailoring for several years. His wife worked with him on his reading skills, and he eventually hired someone to read to him while he worked. After a while he discovered a talent for debate, and soon many local people visited his shop for the discussions. This was the beginning of his political career. The shop is enclosed by the Visitors Center of the National Site.

Another stop in the Johnson visit was at his tomb at the top of Monument Hill overlooking Greeneville. Johnson bought the land for the cemetery in 1852. He died in 1875. Johnson wanted to be buried wrapped in the US flag with the US Constitution under his head. The monument is at left.


There is also a replica of Johnson's birth home, located across the street from his family home. You can walk through the one-room-plus-attic house and view period furnishings.

And speaking of the family home, that's here at right. This is where the Johnson family lived while he was a tailor, from the 1830s to 1851. Displays inside depict life in the early to mid 1800s, including slavery, housekeeping, and photos of the family. We discovered that one of Johnson's grandchildren went to school in Binghamton, NY! We're trying to track down the school name, as is one of the guides at the National Historic Site.

The other stop in Tennessee was Pigeon Forge, home of Dollywood. This proved to be one of the least enjoyable parts of our stay. Let's see, where to start....

We pulled into town to look for our hotel, which was apparently very new. Unable to find it, we stopped at a place proclaiming "Tourist Info". Mom got out and went into the building. We waited. And waited. And waited. Finally I went in and found her talking to some guy who was promising her free tickets to Dollywood. She was supposed to pay him $20, "so we know you will stop and pick up the tickets; you'll get the $20 back", and we had to schedule a time at either 1 p.m. or 3 p.m. to get them. "We don't advertise, because we figure if you have a good experience, you'll come back, and tell your friends." Mom also had to certify that she understood English, was over 30 years of age, and a couple of other things. Anyone else getting suspicious yet?

The guy gave us directions to the place to pick up the tickets, as well as directions to the hotel. We discovered the 10 miles of construction on the only highway we could take to get to this location, and to Dollywood. Getting anywhere was a nightmare. The traffic was unbelievable (of course, it was a Saturday...). We arrived at the spot 12 minutes late. When I saw the "Bluegreen Timeshares" sign, I knew what was going on. We were supposed to sit through, according to the woman inside, a 90- to 120-minute presentation on timeshares and other related nonsense. We were late, and were going to need to fill out this paperwork, like, RIGHT NOW! Funny that the first guy didn't mention any of this part. (Not!)

Mom refused, and requested a refund. It was pretty obvious to me that the real reason these people didn't advertise was because they preyed primarily on tourists, and so that we couldn't go back and sue them for false advertising. Mom did get a refund check, which we were told we could cash at any Citizens National Bank, or could deposit when we got home. We opted for the former, and took the check across the street to the local Wal-Mart, which had a branch of the bank inside. The bank teller glanced at the check and said, "Bluegreen? Yeah, we see a lot of those." At least it didn't bounce.

After wasting an hour and a half on this, we drove to the motel. The directions the guy had given us turned out to the WRONG hotel. The desk clerk gave us directions back again, and we finally found the right place.

As it turned out, it's just as well we didn't get those tickets anyway. The next day was chilly and rainy, and since a lot of Dollywood apparently is outdoors, it wouldn't have been a very good experience. I did, however, get us close enough to take a picture of the front gates.

On top of all that, we tried to get to church that evening. Mom had found a place that held a 5:30 p.m. Saturday mass. However, when we finally got there (back through all that construction), we discovered that mass actually started at 5 p.m. Another out-of-town couple was entering church at the same time and they verified that the church's website had said 5:30, as did a woman who had been attending the church for the last three years and was surprised to find herself late.

Fortunately, the next day was an improvement, as we did a fair amount of shopping, stopped at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and had dinner at The Partridge and Pear, a restaurant in The Christmas Place in Pigeon Forge. Lots of pear-based recipes. The food was excellent.

Virginia, Part 2

Moving on out of Winchester, we headed south to Max Meadows and Whytheville. Whytheville, in addition to a quilt shop that offered hundreds of batik and related fabrics, also had an enormous pencil over the door to Wytheville Office Supplies. The pencil, according to the Big Stuff Website, is 30 feet tall and made of steel. It was created in the late 1950s. We were actually there to visit an old-time hardware store, the Kincer Miller Hardware Company. It was a medium-sized store that sold a little of everything, including holiday items and all sizes of nails, bolts, and other hardware.



The next day we set out for the Wolf Creek Indian Village, which was based on the findings of a nearby archeological dig. The village dates to a period from around 1490 to 1530 A.D., but there is no conclusive proof of what tribe lived there. The guides in the village demonstrate traditional crafts based on those done by local Cherokee and other woodlands peoples. Displays in the museum highlight information about the various native people in all the regions of North America.

The village is surrounded by a palisade of poles. The houses inside the barrier are round, but are divided between "wigwam" style homes and houses modeled after the picture I posted below while in Oklahoma at the Cherokee Heritage Center. (Amusing fact: I Googled for information on Cherokee Indian homes to find what the second type of structure was called, and got a link to my own blog post from Oklahoma!)

Since I posted quite a bit on the Heritage Center in Oklahoma, I've only uploaded two pictures for this post. The picture above right is a shot of the village; the picture to the left is the inside of the pottery hut. I had the opportunity to make cording from raffia. The guide suggested that I probably hadn't done that before, since apparently a lot of people don't do crafts much any more. I didn't have the heart to tell him I did it frequently to make braid-style cord for embroidery and other needlework; I just use floss instead of raffia.

After a walk down to Wolf Creek and a look around the gardens, we did some shopping in the museum gift shop, and moved on.

Virginia, Part 1

Round two for this state.... We're returning to Virginia after having last year's trip cut short due to car problems. Here's hoping this try goes more smoothly.

My parents are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this year (September 3rd), and chose to return to parts of Virginia, where they had their honeymoon. We're currently in Winchester.

Today's sights included the Belle Grove Plantation and the Cedar Creek Battlefield. Belle Grove belonged to Isaac Hite and Nelly Madison Hite (President James Madison's sister). The house was built between 1794 and 1797. Nelly died in 1802, and Hayes remarried, eventually becoming the father to no fewer than 12 children (two by Nelly, the other ten by his second wife, Ann.)

Unfortunately, pictures aren't allowed inside the home, so I can't show you any interior rooms. I can, however, show the "cannonball 'ding'" one of the tour guides pointed out on the outside of the building. Belle Grove served as the headquarters for General Phil Sheridan and the Union Army during part of the battle of Cedar Creek in 1864. At least two cannonballs and a number of bullets struck the house. One of the cannon strikes is quite noticeable (in person -- it doesn't show up well on this photo, just a dark spot on the left side of the pic).

We also had a bonus event. The finals for the National Sheepdog Trials was being held today, so we had an opportunity to watch. I managed to get a couple of videos. I'm posting the one that has the whistled signals and no background noise.




Cedar Creek Battlefield consists of twelve (plus) stops along a section of Route 11. We started at the visitors' center and watched a 40-minute movie outlining the events before, during and after the battle, then picked up a guide to a driving tour and started out. The picture at right is a sign outside the Visitors' Center describing the Union Army's movements during part of the battle.

We managed to get to four of the sites listed before 1) Mom got frustrated with trying to find things, and 2) everyone decided they were hungry and wanted dinner. We were driving around a lot of back roads to find two of the sites. At left is a bridge across the creek. These areas really were on little barely-paved roads in the hills. Nice scenery, though.


We had three stops in Winchester the next day: George Washington's Office, Stonewall Jackson's Headquarters, and Abram's Delight, which is the oldest house in Winchester.

Below is Washington's Office, which he used in 1755-1756 while overseeing the construction of Fort Loudoun. The Office was originally a one-room cabin; later owners added onto the room on either side.

The fort, and the soldiers it housed, were intended to protect the people of the then-frontier from Indian raids and attacks by the French.

Winchester was where Washington got his start in surveying, politics, and military experience. He started out as an apprentice surveyor, and eventually ended up running for a seat in the House of Burgesses. He later returned to the area to build Fort Loudoun and the frontier towns.

At right is one of the cannon monuments outside the Office.

At left is Stonewall Jackson's Headquarters. The home was originally a dentist's house and office; it was later purchased by Lewis T. Moore, a friend and colleague of Jackson's, who offered the house to the general for use during the Shenandoah Valley campaigns.

Again, pictures are not permitted, but our tour guide left no artifact unturned during the walk through the house. She talked about each piece of furniture, the pictures, and the personal items. One room is devoted entirely to Jackson's army staff members; another to the Moore family children. She informed us that people think the children's ghosts haunt the house, causing some mischief but no real harm. She also talked about the fact that the Taylor Hotel, which served as Jackson's headquarters until Moore offered him the house, is expected to be torn down "for another parking lot."


At right is the oldest house in Winchester, known as "Abram's Delight", built in 1754 which, our tour guide pointed out, "was before we were even a country." Abraham Hollingsworth, a Quaker, came to the area, claimed the land, and built a log cabin and a mill. Years later his son Isaac built the house you see here.

Our tour guide on this was an 88-year-old woman who climbed stairs unassisted, left her cane in the Visitors' Center because she decided she didn't feel like carrying it, and was happy to learn from Mom what some of the old implements in the house were used for. (Not to mention the fact that my father's parents also had a decoration made out of human hair, like one of the pictures in an upstairs bedroom in the house.) She handed each of us a buckeye from a tree on the lawn, telling us to keep them for good luck.