ational 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.
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