Fernweh, An Ache for Distant Places

Walton Road is just one of thirteen famous byways in Tennessee, including Natchez Trace Parkway, Newfound Gap Road, Great River Road, Cherohala Skyway, East Tennessee Crossing, Woodlands Trace, Norris Freeway, Sequatchie Valley Scenic Byway, Great Smoky Mountains Byway, Tennessee River Trail Scenic Byway, and Ocoee Scenic Byway.

THE WALTON ROAD HISTORIC BYWAY is a 100+ mile scenic drive that connects Farragut/Rockwood to Carthage, TN along US-70. It crosses through Smith, Putnam, Cumberland, and Roane Counties, and the towns/cities of  Kingston, Rockwood, Cookeville, Monterrey, Crossville, and Carthage. 

Walton Road is named after Revolutionary War Captain William Walton. He was born in North Carolina and settled into the Cumberland area, ultimately building Walton Road in 1801.

Walton Road was one of the first major roads that connected middle Tennessee to western Tennessee and was highly influential of trade. As interstates and SR-1 were developed over time, the road was used more for local transport and now serves as a state scenic bypass.

ROANE COUNTY
Roane County hosts the cities of Kingston, Rockwood, Harriman, part of Oliver Springs, part of Oak Ridge, and the Midtown CDP community, right where the Clinch, Emory, and Tennessee Rivers all flow into the Watts Bar Lake.

Roane County is also home to Roane State Community College. The films October Sky, Boys of Summerville, and Get Low with Bill Murray and Robert Duvall portraying a Roane County hermit who held a funeral for himself before he actually died, were all or in part filmed in Roane County.

Dixie Lee was a singer and actress in her own right, but gained worldwide fame when she married Bing Crosby. She was born in Harriman back in in 1905.

KINGSTON was founded in 1799 and named after a Major at Fort Southwest Point.

Over the next century, negotiations with the Cherokee allowed white settlers to acquire more land, but not much happened otherwise.

Not for another fifty more years after that.

 Visiting the Roane County Museum of History and Art in Kingston’s historic courthouse and the Roane County Heritage Commision is a great way to learn more history of the plant and this town that was created to support it. 

Across the street, the Colonel Gideon Morgan House at 149 N. Kentucky Street was built in 1810. It is in the Federalist style of architecture and has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1813. 

There is not a plethora of information about Morgan online except that he was the head of a long line of military and civic leaders. The historic home has no website and is not open to public tours. 

Historical Bethel Cemetery is the final resting place for many pioneers, early residents, veterans, and another honoured group of civil servants, the Steamboat Men. 

You can see a steamboat icon on most of their headstones, and a large steamboat mural in downtown Kingston. 

Be on the lookout for other murals that have popped up in Kingston over the last couple years. 

 

ROCKWOOD was inhabited by Union troops in the late 1800s.

General John Wilder recognized a high concentration of iron in the earth, so he jumped at the opportunity to purchase nearly 730 acres of land with a fellow General.

General Hiram Chamberlain already had the Knoxville Iron Company under his belt so he was the perfect choice of business partner. Wilder and Chamberlain built an iron furnace and founded their new company, the Roane Iron Company.

Gradually, the company created a town center to meet the needs of its workers. At the time was mainly a church, school, houses, and a general store.

Roane Iron Company ceased production in 1929, with the Great Depression and eventually World War II keeping the town economy at a standstill. If you really feel like going down a rabbit hole, check out this article.

Chamberlain Avenue was named after the General, and the town’s former post office building still stands at 109 Chamberlain Avenue.

The Roane County Courthouse, Kingston Avenue Historic District, the old post office, the Col. Gideon Morgan House, and Bethel Cemetery are all featured stops in Roane County on the Walt Road Historic Byway.

I have written separate blogs about Oliver Springs, Oak Ridge, and its history with the Manhattan Project which are all in or near Roane County but not Byway sites. 

HARRIMAN was founded in the late 1800s by a group of Prohibitionist Methodists, led by a minister named Fred Gates.

The group started selling land grants to people from all over the country that were eager to get aboard this new religious utopian dream that idolized Victorian virtues and outlawed booze.

FORT SOUTHWEST POINT was the main reason for my first visit to Roane County. The Southwest Point Blockhouse was built in 1792 to keep a hold on this land that European settlers invaded against the Cherokee.

It served as home base until the larger settlement, what we know as Fort Southwest Point, was complete in 1797.

Fort Southwest Point was a frontier outpost which helped ease relations and trade between the US government/military and the Cherokee. It also provided supplies and shelter for migrants traveling through Knoxville to Nashville or other parts of East and Middle Tennessee.

You can read more about Fort Southwest Point in this blog and about Roane County here. 

CUMBERLAND COUNTY
Cumberland County includes Crab Orchard and Pleasant Hill, and the CDP communities of Fairfield Glade, Lake Tansi, and its largest city, Crossville.

CROSSVILLE got its name by being widely known as a place of crossroads; of Avery Trace, Walton Road, and the Kentucky Stock Road, connecting various toll areas like Johnson’s Mayland stand and Kemmer’s stand.

Travelers often referred to it as the way to somewhere else. Avery Trace was the original route, blazed by a local hunter named Peter Avery in 1787. 

These routes are now roughly defined by the path Interstate 40 carves into the land between Nashville and Kingston, later expanded into Knoxville and the rest of East Tennessee, so take some time to explore while you drive through the area.

Palace Theatre, Cumberland County Playhouse, Cumberland Mountain School, Crossville Depot, Military Memorial Museum, and the Obed River Park & Arboretum are all stops on the Walton Road Historic Bypass.

The CROSSVILLE DEPOT MUSEUM doubles as an event space for rent and as a gallery for local artists.

The MILITARY MEMORIAL MUSEUM is yet another source of fascinating area history, from local battles to national wars.

CUMBERLAND MOUNTAIN STATE PARK has more than 1,700 acres with endless recreational options to explore. The park also has an Olympic-sized pool, several picnic shelters, campgrounds, playgrounds, courts for volleyball, tennis, basketball, badminton and other sports and games, a golf course, and a restaurant onsite.

The Byrd Creek Trail (2.1 miles) that extends from the Cumberland Plateau Trail, and the Cumberland Overnight Trail (5 miles) that extends from the Byrd Creek Trail, and the Pioneer Trail (5 miles) are all on the list for our return visits.

Cummins Falls, Burgess Falls, Fall Creek Falls, Ozone Falls, Virgin Falls, and Upper Piney Falls are just a few of the gorgeous waterfalls around Cookeville. 

PUTNAM COUNTY
Putnam County’s largest city is Cookeville, and it is home to the cities and towns of Monterrey, Algood, Baxter, and others.

COOKEVILLE is located in middle Tennessee, about an hour from Nashville and an hour and a half from Knoxville. The small city spans about 22 square miles and is the “micropolis,” meaning the largest city of, Putnam County and the Upper Cumberland Plateau.

Sites of the Walton Road Historic Byway in Putnam County include the Arcade Building, Cookeville Railroad Depot, Harding Studio, Henderson Hall, John’s Place, Cookeville History Museum, Cream City Ice Cream & Coffee, The Garden Inn B&B at Bee Rock, First Presbyterian Church, Broad Street Church of Christ, Baxter Depot Museum, and the Monterrey Depot Museum. 

THE COOKEVILLE DEPOT was built in 1909 now functions as a museum for Tennessee Central Railway artifacts and local history, preserved as it was in the 1950s when passenger rail usage ended. After closing, the depot was left to rot until some local preservation heroes saved it from despair.

It became a museum in 1985 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Visitors can see a Baldwin steam engine from 1913 and some cabooses and small track cars from the 1920s or later. 

There you can find a broad collection of railway artifacts and some early 1900s steam engines, trains bits, track cars, and equipment.

The COOKEVILLE HISTORY MUSEUM is a rich resource for local and area history, and educational and creative events. 

CREAM CITY ICE CREAM and especially its sign have been a local legend since opening in 2011.

Sample flavours like Blackberry Cornbread, Horchata, and Stellar Coffee, or click here to view all of their handmade flavours.

GARDEN INN B&B is right at the edge of a major bluff in the Cumberland Plateau, looking out over a beautiful scene. 

Cookeville is full of gorgeous outdoor adventures and  green spaces. Check out Outdoor Experience before you start your excursions to pick up all the gear you could dream of.

Cummins Falls State Park is my favourite in the area, and you can read my blog about it here.

SMITH COUNTY
Carthage is the largest city in Smith County and it is where Walton himself is buried, in the Walton Cemetery. 

Smith County Courthouse is in the Second Empire style and was built in 1879. It  is currently being renovated for use as a museum, and is no longer used as a courthouse.

This is also a significant stop to learn about local history and music history through various plaques and markers on the lawn.

Cullom Mansion, Carthage United Methodist, the Fite-Williams-Ligon House, The Cordell Hull Bridge, and the Smith County Heritage Museum are all official stops on the Walton Road Historic Byway. 

We visited Carthage on a Sunday afternoon when many of its businesses were closed for the day, save for the Candy Shop, where we warmed up with hot tea and had a chat with the young worker.

They told us there is not much to do in Carthage these days but there are rumours of hauntings in the cemetery and in the high school basement, which is mostly on lockdown due to the presence of mold. We sighed along and sipped our tea, then took turns playing music we like. 

Little did we know that while we were walking around taking photos and enjoying the fall weather, the 11-month old battery in my car took its last breath.

Thankfully, by the time we sat down and finished dinner at Ebel’s Tavern, a friend of the bar staff showed up to jump the battery. I am so eternally grateful for their kindness and assistance, and now have a NEW-new battery. 

We shared a mushroom swiss burger and sweet potato fries with this magical type of vanilla maple syrup. I try to avoid red meat and sugar but the situation absolutely called for a special treat. 

Very well executed, all around. 

In the area for a while? Follow me to Oak Ridge, Oliver Springs, and Morgan County for more area history. 

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