Posts Tagged ‘Tennessee’

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My World: Rich Mountain Road

September 14, 2010

The sign at Rich Mountain Road in Cades Cove, Grreat Smoky Mountains, Tennessee. September 9, 2010.

This is my post for the My World meme.  It is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Sandy, Wren, and Fishing Guy.  To learn more about our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

As I mentioned yesterday, last week Betsy and I went to the Smokies to drive the Rich Mountain Road.  We enjoy exploring new parts of the Smokies, and this seemed like a great time to go.  The entrance to Rich Mountain Road is in Cades Cove, and we’re always happy to find an excuse to visit that pretty place.

Rich Mountain Road, Smoky Mountains. September 9, 2010.

The road is gravel and closed during the winter, but we had no trouble getting through, other than having to dodge some pot holes.  And although there were no particularly steep grades, we did have quite a few switchbacks, as you can see from the picture above.

Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee. September 9, 2010.

One reason for taking this road is that we were told that there were some nice overlooks from which Cades Cove could be seen.  We found one at roadside and stopped to get some pictures.  If you look carefully in the lower left of the picture above, you can almost make out the Methodist Church in Cades Cove, which Betsy blogged about yesterday.

We saw several trail heads along the road, so we’ll get some trail maps before we go back.  Perhaps we’ll find another overlook along one of the trails.  We’ll definitely go back to Rich Mountain Road.

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Posted in My World | 18 Comments »

Our Smokies Adventure

September 13, 2010

The track of our trip to the Smokies. September 9, 2010.

I’ve mentioned our GPS unit several times and have talked about how much we like it.  This past Thursday we got a lesson in how much we rely on it.

Our GPS got recalled by Garmin, and we sent it in to be repaired a couple of weeks ago.  So when we went to the Smokies on Thursday we didn’t have it.  We were going to drive Rich Mountain Road, a road we had never taken before.  But we knew it was a primitive, one-way road out of Cades Cove, a place we’ve visited several times.  The sign at the entrance to the road said it went to Townsend, a place we’ve been to many times, so off we went.  I did have my geotagger with us, but that only showed (after the fact) where we had been, not where we were going.

We had no problems in the park.  After leaving the park the road became paved and two-way.  When we came to a four-way stop, we knew we were back to civilization.

That’s when the fun began.  We came to a ‘T’ intersection with no signs.  We figured we were west of Townsend, so we turned right.  A little later we came to a ‘Y’.  The right branch looked like the main road, so we took it.  We drove along enjoying the scenery — and eventually we arrived back at the four-way stop.

Trying to find our way home. September 9, 2010.

We tried again.  This time we took the left branch at the ‘Y’.  That led to more beautiful scenery — and a dead-end!  We turned around and followed the road in the other direction.  Eventually it led to the highway that got us on our way back home.

After all of this ‘fun’, we were delighted to get home and find a package on our doorstep.  Inside the package was our GPS!  We wasted no time getting it put back into our car.

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Posted in Travels | 19 Comments »

Skywatch Friday: A Hint of Rain

September 10, 2010

The skies above Rich Mountain, Townsend, Tennessee. September 9, 2010.

This is my post for Skywatch Friday, a meme for sharing views of the sky from all over the world.  To see more, or to join and share your own photos of the sky, click HERE.

The skies in this picture may not look pretty to you, but they look absolutely beautiful to us.

If you’ve followed my posts for any length of time you know that we’ve had a very dry summer here in eastern Tennessee.  We got some rain in the Glade on Wednesday, which was very welcome.  The weather service says that more rain is coming on Friday and Saturday, and we’re looking forward to it.  For once we’re hoping the forecast for rain on the weekend is correct.

The picture above was taken near Townsend, Tennessee near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  Betsy and I had taken a drive to the Smokies to visit some areas we hadn’t visited before.  I’ll tell you more about our trip next week.

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Posted in SkyWatch Friday | 23 Comments »

Down Memory Lane: Ledford Mill

September 9, 2010

Betsy and I did some waterfalling on Valentine’s Day back in 2009.  We didn’t stray out of our part of Tennessee, but we still saw several new waterfalls.  Two of those waterfalls were at Ledford Mill, in Wartrace (near Tullahoma), Tennessee.

Ledford Mill is a historic  gristmill at the head of Shipman’s Creek.  It was built in 1884 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.  Several years ago it was converted into a 3-room bread and breakfast.

One of the rooms, the Falls Room, opens to a garden that contains two waterfalls, Ledford Mill Falls and Pond Falls.  While neither waterfall is especially large, the garden is very pleasant.  Although we didn’t spend the night at the mill, the owners graciously allowed us to visit the garden and the waterfalls.

To see these pictures and others, click HERE.

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Posted in Travels | 9 Comments »

My World: Cable Mill

September 7, 2010

The Cable grist mill in Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee. August 27, 2010.

This is my post for the My World meme.  It is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Sandy, Wren, and Fishing Guy.  To learn more about our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

When we visited Cades Cove in the Smokies a couple of weeks ago, we stopped at the Cable Mill area in the southwest corner of the cove.  Although there are several buildings (and a visitor center) here, it was the mill that most interested us.

John F. Cable bought land in the cove in the late 1860s and built a water-powered grist mill and sawmill in about 1870.  The same  wheel provided power for both mills.  The sawmill no longer exists, but the restored grist mill still grinds away.  It’s possible to see corn being ground most days, but we couldn’t get a decent picture of the inside of the mill.

Cable Mill water wheel, Cades Cove, Tennessee. August 27, 2010.

The docent in the mill said that a water wheel lasts for about 25 years and then needs to be replaced.  She wasn’t sure how old the current wheel is.

The Cable Mill flume, Cades Cove, Tennessee. August 27, 2010.

The mill flume is quite long, but does a good job of holding the water as it makes its way from the mill pond to the water wheel.  The flume also holds quite a few coins, as you may be able to see if you enlarge the picture.

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Posted in My World | 20 Comments »

Our First Re-Bloomer: Janice Brown Daylily

September 2, 2010

Janice Brown Daylily, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. August 31, 2010.

About the time Betsy and I were planning our new front yard flower bed, we learned that re-blooming daylilies were available.  Re-blooming daylilies bloom in the Spring like regular daylilies and then, with luck, re-bloom in the fall.

We already planned on planting re-blooming iris in the new flower bed (along with roses), so we thought re-blooming daylilies would fit right in.  We ordered some and enjoyed many beautiful blossoms this Spring.

Tuesday morning we spotted the beauty above — our first re-blooming daylily.  Janice Brown daylily has a subdued pastel color, but it adds some appreciated color to our yard in the autumn of the year.

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Posted in Garden | 11 Comments »

Watery Wednesday #103: Foster Falls

September 1, 2010

Foster Falls, South Cumberland State Recreation Area, Tennessee. August 5, 2006.

This is my post for Watery Wednesday.  To see more of our beautiful watery world, or to join and post your own pictures to share, click HERE.

We’ve had a very hot and dry summer here on the Cumberland Plateau of Tennessee.  This has brought back memories of the severe drought we had in this are in 2006 – 2007.

The picture above was taken in August, 2006, and is of Foster Falls.  Foster Falls is one of the largest waterfalls (in terms of volume of water) in the state, but on this visit there was barely a trickle of water.

The pool did capture a nice reflection, however.

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Posted in Watery Wednesday | 16 Comments »

My World: The John Oliver Cabin

August 31, 2010

Cades Cove with the John Oliver cabin in the background. August 27, 2010.

This is my post for the My World meme.  It is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Sandy, Wren, and Fishing Guy.  To learn more about our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

Betsy and I went to Cades Cove in the Smokies on Friday.  We hadn’t driven the Loop Road since it was re-paved and we wanted to see what improvements had been made.  Of course we stopped several times to take pictures.

One of the places we stopped was the cabin of John and Lurena Oliver, who were the first permanent settlers in the cove.  They arrived in Cades Cove in 1818.  Their cabin was most likely built in 1822.

The picture above shows the cabin and its setting in the cove.  The cabin is quite a way from the current Loop Road, but the setting is beautiful.

The John Oliver cabin, Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee. August 27, 2010.

The cabin was built in a style that was fairly typical along the eastern frontier at this time.  Perhaps the most interesting feature is that no pegs or nails were used to build this cabin.  Gravity locks the logs together and the chinks are filled with mud to seal out wind and rain.  The small windows and doors help conserve heat and maintain the cabin’s strength.

Gravestone of John and Lurena Oliver, Primitive Baptist Church, Cades Cove, Tennessee. August 27, 2010.

John and Lurena Oliver are buried in the graveyard of the Primitive Baptist Church which they helped establish and which is fairly near their cabin.

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Posted in History | 18 Comments »

Technology and Cades Cove

August 30, 2010

The track of our visit to Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee. August 27, 2010.

One disadvantage to taking lots of pictures on a trip is that it is not always easy to remember where a particular picture or series of pictures was taken.

My blogger friend Neal brought an AMOD geotagger to my attention and I got one a few months ago.  While I have used it to tag the location of some of our pictures, I really haven’t experimented with it to get a good idea of what can be done with the data.

Betsy and I drove to Cades Cove in the Smokies after running an errand in Knoxville Friday morning.  The park service has repaved the Cades Cove Loop Road and we wanted to see how the project turned out.

As we got near Cades Cove I turned on the geotagger.  The yellow line in the screen shot above is a track of where we drove or hiked.  The screen shot is taken from Google Earth and I can put in waypoints and descriptions as you can see.  On Google Earth I can also zoom in or out to give different views of the area.  I could post the track on Google Earth so others could manipulate the view as well, but I’m inclined not to do that.  I have enough trouble posting my current web pages and blogs without adding more.

Map of places in Cades Cove where we took pictures. August 27, 2010.

This second screen shot is from another application that uses the tracking data.  The red dots on the Google map of Cades Cove represent a picture that we took.  When I’m in this application (JetPhoto Studio) I can click on a dot and the associated picture opens up.  This information could also be posted, but again I think I’ll just keep this to myself except for an occasional screen shot.

Hopefully, now that I’ve experimented with some of my new technology I’ll have some pictures to post in the near future.  And if I don’t get pictures posted soon I know Betsy will!

Stay tuned.

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Posted in Technology | 15 Comments »

Skywatch Friday: Morning in the Glade

August 27, 2010

This is my post for Skywatch Friday, a meme for sharing views of the sky from all over the world.  To see more, or to join and share your own photos of the sky, click HERE.

I’ve often said that the Glade is pretty just about any time of the year.  It’s also pretty just about any time of the day, even in the morning when the skies are overcast.  You can see the mountains in the background and the fog in the valley.  The sky isn’t a pretty blue, but it will be once the sun burns away all that fog and haze.

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Posted in SkyWatch Friday | 24 Comments »

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