Greetings from Tennessee!We are the base of the Smoky Mountains. It is so beautiful here! We had once again met up with some of the pilot friends that we were with in Washington state. Needless to say we are having a fun time!
Yesterday we drove up to Cades Cove. A "cove" in Smoky Mountain vernacular is a relatively flat valley between mountains or ridges. This particular cove is a showcase for showing life the way it used to be here in the mountains. The drive is an eleven mile loop with many places to see along the way. I am not sure how
many people lived here but there were three churches along the way. The Methodist Church, The Primitive
Baptist Church and the Missionary Baptist Church.
The Methodist Church had the two doors. One was for the men to enter and sit and the other for the ladies to enter and sit on the other side. This Church did not follow that custom. The two doors were there because the Church borrowed the building plans of another church that did divide its congregation by gender.One place along the trail was the Elijah Oliver Place. In the time and place of this family, more buildings were required for living than now. With no refrigerator or freezer, they needed the spring house to keep the milk and butter cool. They needed the smokehouse to store and preserve hams etc. for an entire year. They ate mostly pork because it was easier to preserve than other meats. They needed a corn crib to store enough corn for grinding into meal and last until the next harvest. They had to have a barn for the horses and store the hay, also a place to keep the wagons and buggy's. The old grist mill is still a working mill
and on its original site. Notice that the barn is what they call a cantilever barn. Cantilever construction (counter weighted overhanging beams) originated centuries ago in Europe.We will be here for about another week. John keeps watching the Florida weather and sees that it is still hot there. He is waiting for cooler weather before we head back. There is a lot more to see around here so we will have lots to do. This weekend there is an old timers art festival along with blue grass music. Should be fun!!!
That is all for now.... Until later Love, Candy and Johnny
