Bradley County is located in southeast Tennessee between the TN/GA State line and the Hiawassee River. It covers over 330 square miles and includes the cities of Calhoun, Charleston, and Cleveland, its county seat. This land was part of the Cherokee Nation’s territory prior to the arrival of white folk. Starting in the 1790s, visitors…
Townsend, Tennessee is a mountain town roughly halfway between Maryville and Gatlinburg, with Highway 321/Lamar Alexander Parkway running through it. Townsend got its start in the 1920s as a hub for the railroad and lumber industries. It is called the “Peaceful Side of the Smokies” and is just a mile or so from an entrance…
Cigarette butts were found to be scattered all over the inside of the Richards Mansion on the day of the murders, but the Richards family were non-smokers.
From Bat Cave, North Carolina, get yourself a jug of apple cider from a roadside stand and sip it all along NC-9 North and Bat Cave Road. Follow it right into Old Fort. Old Fort is a tiny town of less than 1,000 residents located halfway between Black Mountain and Marion, and halfway between Bat…
Blowing Rock is a small town in northwestern North Carolina near the Tennessee border known as the “Crown of Blue Ridge” with around 1300 residents in its three square miles. The land that became the town of Blowing Rock first belonged to Cherokee and Catawba tribes, and when white settlers moved in, they used it…
One of my favourite drives for viewing fall leaves in East Tennessee is the Cherohala Skyway, a National Scenic Byway that runs between Tellico Plains, TN and Robbinsville, NC. TELLICO PLAINS The tiny 1.6 square mile town of Tellico Plains currently has less than 1,000 residents in what used to be the Cherokee settlement of Great…
Chattanooga is known for being an outdoor lover’s paradise, a modern tech city with dizzying internet speed, home of a Volkswagen plant, Finley Stadium, and a place full of Native American and Civil War history. The city is full of attractions known around the world like Rock City and Lookout Mountain, the Tennessee Aquarium and…
Between a surgery, work, then a year and a half so far of Covid-19 forcing us to cancel our trip, I have not been able to go back to my beloved Vaterland for over three years. That ache in my heart for lederhosen and medieval architecture is sometimes unbearable. We set out instead for Helen,…
Legends of the Native American Nunnehi spirits haunt the area, as countless battles took place between the Cherokee and Creek tribes on these ancient grounds between Blood Mountain and Slaughter Mountain.
There is an odd sensation of being watched here, perhaps just by a protective neighbour in hiding or by some other innocuous being.
One would not think that the House of the Almighty could harbour any foreboding spirits, but this vast geographic area was once a main centre of ancient Native American tribes.
Welsh immigrants came to Roane and nearby Scott County in the 1800s by way of Pennsylvania, with hopes to join the iron and coal industries. Enjoy this sidequest of fascinating lore about the mining industry, its use of forced convict labour that displaced these miners, and a few of their triumphs.
“The moon is a friend for the lonesome to talk to.” ― Carl Sandburg
Fernweh 