Chattanooga’s Historic 9th Street, The Big 9, & Music Murals
I was instantly excited by its wild decoupage cast of jazz and blues musicians with their instruments amidst a club scene that sprawls across an entire side of the brick building.
Blue Ridge Parkway; The Great Smoky Mountains National Park & the Great Smokies Region (Pt. 1/6)
The Blue Ridge Parkway is a scenic National Parkway in the US, spanning 469 miles from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park up to Shenandoah National Park, give or take a few hundred pitstops. This makes the BRP the longest linear park in our country. Its groundwork was laid in 1936 per instruction of President…
Maryville; Abolitionists, Kooky Castles, and Craft Beer
Maryville, mumbled as “Murrahvull” in local dialect, has a rich history in anti-slavery movements. The Society of Friends presence was strong there in the 19th century, and one of their core values is opposition to slavery. This was an impressive discovery for me and I have been reading up. Check out this site for more information.…
Old North Knox; Love Your Hood But Lock Your Shit Up
To give credit where it is due, I first saw what I am using as the title of this blog on the Central Flats & Taps website many years ago. Happy Holler refers to N. Central Street from where it meets Broadway, extending north toward Sharps Ridge and the Inskip neighbourhood, and all the businesses…
Union County; Tennessee White Lightning & The Cradle of Country Music
East Tennessee’s Union County was formed in the 1850s where other surrounding counties like Knox, Grainger, Anderson, Campbell, and Claiborne counties meet. It falls within the Ridge-And-Valley range of the Appalachian Mountains and is surrounded by several notable mountains like Copper Ridge, Lone Mountain, Hinds Ridge, House Mountain, and Clinch Mountain. The name of Union…
South Knoxville’s Old Sevier District & Island Home Park
Like most neighbourhoods near downtown Knoxville, Island Home began as farmland and was developed into a street car suburb at the start of the 1900s. Driving down Island Home Boulevard today, it is easy to imagine the tracks running straight through the center where the tidy median is now. This neighbourhood really began booming in…
South Pittsburg’s National Cornbread Festival
South Pittsburg, Tennessee is a small town along the Tennessee River and Sequatchie River. It is part of the greater Chattanooga municipality, about 30 miles west of downtown Chattanooga. The route from Chattanooga to South Pittsburg curves across the Tennessee-Georgia border, and South Pittsburg itself is right on the Tennessee-Alabama border. It was amusing to…
Sweetwater; Bluegrass Festivals, Dairy Farms, & The Lost Sea
Sweetwater, Tennessee is located along the Sweetwater Creek, a branch of the Tennessee River in Sweetwater Valley. It is at foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains and the 9 Lakes Region, close to Vonore, Tellico Plains, and the Cherohala Skyway. Sweetwater is a small town of nearly seven square miles, first established in the 1850s…
Tellico Plains; An Ancient Cherokee Overhill Site, The Cherohala Skyway & The Trout Festival
Tellico Plains, Tennessee is a small mountain town of around 1.6 square miles in East Tennessee. It is part of Monroe County along with the cities of Sweetwater, Vonore, and Madisonville. Tellico Plains also includes the communities of Coker Creek, Mount Vernon, Belltown, and a few others. Telliquah was the crossroads of two major Native…
East Nashville; Hail Seitan!
A lot about livin’ and a little ’bout love
Nashville’s 12 South; Hot Chicken and Sound Suits
South Nashville is a different side of Nashville than I’m used to. It is not the world-famous honky tonks of Broadway, and certainly not the gritty East Nashville with dimly lit dives, vintage shops, goth/industrial clubs, and late night jukebox bars that my friends and I have haunted over the years. 12 South aka 12th…
Fountain City; Don’t You Dare Call That Lake a Pond!
Fountain City is a small community located in north Knoxville, TN. It got its start when Captain John Adair created Fort Adair (aka Adair Station) in the 1780s as a military supply depot and defensive post for other European settlers against the Cherokee, whose land they were invading. Adair’s predecessors initially called the station “Grassy…
Fernweh 