July 1-4th Weekend in
Asheville, NC, July 2000
This year for my (Bill) birthday on July 1 and the July 4th
holiday, we went to Asheville, NC, where Annette
and Larry have
Harvey
the RV parked for a couple of
months. Besides the beautiful Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains, I
wanted to visit the Yadkin River Valley of Rowan/Davie County in NC,
the home of a major Kinnick family branch from 1795 to about 1850.
They moved into the same area where Daniel Boone had lived before he
moved his family to Kentucky in about 1780. Bill
From the RV park north of Asheville, we drove nearly straight west,
picking up the Blue Ridge Parkway and took it across the Cherokee
Indian Reservation to the Oconaluftee Visitor Center of Great Smoky
Mountains National Park and the adjoining Mountain Farm Museum. Here
Annette looks over the possibilities:
A little further on we came to the barn,
where chickens ran free, a horse was kept, and hay filled the barn
with its distinctive odor:
I didn't take a picture of the pig pen,
or record the smell for you....
A few years ago when Annette last stopped
by here, there was a big garden beside the house, but, it was all
grassed this year - a good place for a family picture:
We drove west and north through the
Sugarland Mountain, then west and south to Cade's Cove at the far
west end of the National Park. On an earlier visit, Annette and Larry
had ridden their bikes around the eleven mile course, connecting a
number of preserved farm homes and community buildings in this
beautiful valley surrounded by mountains. (Annette and Larry have
posted their version of this picture at eduscapes.com/family
- Meet the
Smiths)
There are two Baptist churchs dating from
before the Civil War along with a Methdist church of the same era.
All closed during the war because some members favored each side.
Here is a view of the Methodist church, which we will see a little
later from another viewpoint.
I was looking forward to seeing the Cable
Mill at the far side of the Cove. On the site there was also an
interesting barn, with old equipment, including an old wagon. I seem
to be fascinated by horse drawn wagons....
Running in front of the barn was a neat
mill run, where water from the creek had been diverted to a "water
over the wheel" waterwheel at the mill:
Unfortunately for us, when we got down to
the mill, the wheel had been removed for repairs. The man talking
there said that the water from the mill run was plenty sufficient to
run a very effective mill, for grinding purposes.
As we circled Cade's Cove, we were
fortunate enough to see several deer, getting a picture of one, in
the woods along the road:
Since we had the four-wheel drive
Explorer, we decided to leave the Cove via a mountainous gravel road
over Rich Mountain to Townsend. We were glad we did. As we were going
up the switchbacks, we came to a very brief flat area, and, right be
the road was a baby black bear:
Annette had her digital camera available
also, so, one of these days there native creatures will show up on
their Naturescapes
web site as well.
A little further up the mountain, we had
an opening, looked back at Cade's Cove in the valley, and could see
the Methodist church building clearly:
After reaching Townsend, we returned to
Asheville via both Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, but did not stop to
shop as we had planned because we hit there when traffic was
horrific.
We didn't mind, though, because the RV
had as good a view as the above, well, almost:
Annette and Larry have their computers
set up looking out the windows on the far side, overlooking the
Asheville valley and the French Broad River. It is breathtaking. The
Explorer is on the right, our rental Prizm is on the left,
above.
Here I am, going back into the motor
home, for my birthday celebration:
Next, the following day, we went east to
the Yadkin
River Valley.
*********
A final note before we leave the Smoky
Mountains behind. A "few" years ago, we stopped through the Smoky
Mountain National Park on our way to the Peach Bowl in Atlanta to see
Iowa State play a post-season football game. Annette likes to remind
us that she was not with us on that trip. But, I did find a couple
reminders of how long ago it was:
This is Allison at a park
entrance!
This is Arrion, ISU cap firmly in place,
with the blue haze in the background!
It certainly wasn't yesterday..........
;-)
background
credit
Page created 4 Jul 2000, last updated 15
Jul 2000.
Direct questions and comments to Bill
or Nancy.