Livingston, Tennessee A City Surrounded by Beauty

As we continue our 1940’s tour of the Upper Cumberlands, today we’ll make a stop in Livingston, Tennessee.  For those of us native to the plateau, Livingston is distinctly “under the mountain”.  The nearest movie theatre to Jamestown, it was a frequent destination for young people.  Unfortunately, that theatre closed and with it some of the Livingston traffic surely turned another direction.  However, in 1940, hopes were high for the little town on Highway 52.

The 1940 census counted 1,527 people within the city limits of Overton County’s county seat.  It was strategically located with state highways leading directly to Celina, Jamestown, Cookeville and Byrdstown.  There was also a planned highway that would be designated Cordell Hull Parkway and would lead to Monterey. 

The March of Progress publication reports Livingston had, “nine different manufacturing and processing establishments in active operation; seventeen retail stores supplying the town and the country around; two drugstores, and an up-to-date hospital; the town enjoys the services of four hotels and five cafes… nine courteous filling stations and auto repair shops.”  The city was served by nine public utility agencies. 

Overton County Farmer in 1940.
Can anyone identify the implement he's using?  Please leave a comment if you recognize it.
My best guess is a planter

Notice the pictures that were offered to represent Overton County.  The town shot shows off a line of 1930’s era automobiles.  The rural shot shows farm machinery pulled by an early tractor, with a second man required to ride on the implement.  I’ve mentioned several times on the blog how long horses and mules were still utilized in our rural communities.  In fact, I’ve just recently had an opportunity to visit with a World War II veteran who confirmed that at the time he was drafted, his father still did not have a car.  And, his grandfather actually never drove despite living until 1976.  So, I can’t help but wonder if the pictures were very carefully framed if not actually staged.  Of course, this being a promotional publication, we would certainly want to show the most progressive side of every community. 

The rich natural resources of Overton County are not touted quite so loudly as in some of the other communities.  Crawford was part of the Wilder-Davidson mining complex; while the operation was declining somewhat by the end of the 1930’s, it is surprising that this community is only mentioned in a long list of the rural communities of Overton County.  The Dale Hollow Reservoir wouldn’t be completed for a few years after this article was written and probably its recreational asset was not fully understood. 

The article is summarized with an invitation to tourists and industrialists alike.  Hospitality, friendship, willing and anxious laborers are presented as the best reasons to visit or relocate to Livingston, Tennessee.

Replacing Ann: Last FREE Day

I wanted to post a little note to remind you that today is the last day you can pickup the Replacing Ann eBook for free.

Now, I will do another free period, but Amazon makes me wait 90 days so I can’t offer it for free again until December.  So I really hope that all of you will download a copy of it today.

Several of you have said very kind things about the book and I certainly appreciate that.  And, several have left reviews on Amazon.  I want to remind you now to please leave a review – you can click here and do that right now. 

Only with a lot of good reviews does Amazon promote the book.  Without promotion from some of these major sites, I can’t hopes to “sell” more than a few hundred copies.  And it will take a few thousand to convince a publisher to buy my other books.

So please be sure to download the book, ask your friends to download and then be sure you go to Amazon and leave a review.

I really appreciate all of you loyal readers and I certainly thank you for your help on this project.  I look forward to providing you with lots of other book and stories that I hope you will enjoy.

Replacing Ann available Now on Amazon

I am so excited to share today’s blog article with all of you and announce that I have published an eBook entitled Replacing Ann on Amazon.

And I need your help!

I am very thankful for every one of you faithful readers.  And I would love the opportunity to share our mountain stories with even more people.  One of the best ways to do that is for folks to find a book on Amazon (and there are about 615 million people shopping on Amazon), enjoy it, and then start visiting the website.  Also, if people enjoy Replacing Ann, that will signal to publishers that they ought to publish my other books.

Oh, did I mention that I’m GIVING AWAY this book?  Yep, it’s FREE. 

Well, at least it will be free as often as Amazon will allow it.  And when it’s not free, it will only cost 99 cents.

Some of you may not be very familiar with eBooks, but it is simply a book that you can read on your computer, tablet or smartphone.   If you have any questions about HOW to get it downloaded, click here for directions from Amazon. 

Now, here is the helping part.  Please pass the word along to as many people as possible asking them to download this book.  Replacing Ann will be free September 4 – 8, 2015.  Then, I will make it available for free as often as Amazon will allow it and I will pass the word along to you each time.  Unlike lots of other ‘free’ stuff, an eBook on Amazon really is completely free; there’s no shipping, handling or other miscellaneous charges. 

Finally, after you’ve read the book, please consider posting a review.  You can click here to go directly to the review section in Amazon.  If you are a member of other online book clubs or social media, a review in those places would be wonderful too.  If you’ve been reading TennesseeMountainStories for very long, you will remember this book as the serial novel I published on this blog about a year ago.  Therefore, many of you may be able to write a review right away.  Please remember that I really need lots of people to write a review.

Please don’t be intimidated by the idea of “writing a review”.  All you have to say is just what you think.  It could be as simple as, “good book, you should read it” or even, “I liked this book”.

You all have been so kind to me both in referring others to the website and in encouraging me to continue this work.  So, I want to thank you in advance for reading and promoting Replacing Ann.

If you have any questions at all, please post them in the comments section below – if you’ve got the question, chances are good others have the same one.

Thank you so much for helping me with this project and I truly hope you enjoy Replacing Ann.

The Call of the trail in the Picturesque Cumberlands

As we continue our 1940’s tour of the Upper Cumberlands, let’s think about the natural beauty that surrounds us and the draw that has always been to tourists.  I have written here about Monterey’s history as a resort town.  And I suppose when I think about the early part of the twentieth century, when the plateau was less populated and less modernized, I fail to imagine residents seeking outdoor recreation.  That’s a silly assumption.

The March of Progress publication places great importance on the natural beauty of the mountain, and the public’s desire to enjoy it.  Early in the book, the area recreational parks are presented.  Today, we may take for granted the number of choices we have to fish, picnic or hike in a well-maintained, public park.  But in 1940, these parks were a pretty new concept.

Seven specific parks are mentioned: Fall Creek Falls, Cumberland State Park, Pickett State Park, Standing Stone State Park, Morgan State Forest and The Rock Island Area.  Except for Rock Island, all of these parks came into existence in the 1930’s with most being built using the labor of the Civilian Conservation Corps.  A recreational area in Rock Island grew up around a private hydroelectric dam built on the Caney Fork River in 1917.  That park wasn’t formally established until 1969 which explains our historic document referring to it only as an area.  By including this sectionin their book, we see the pride citizens already had in the wilderness’ beauty.  And, we can see that they already knew tourism was an industry that needed to be tapped.

The facing page of the park details is a collage of equine adventures.  I am fascinated to see this because horseback riding has grown to be such a big attraction.  While I grew up loving horses and riding and everything associated with the two, the attraction seems to have really grown up in the county over the past twenty years.  Certainly the improvements to the Big South Fork River and Recreational Area in the 1980's offered a huge boost.  Then, others who were passionate about those big ole’ loving horses opened other stables with riding trails and the trailers started rolling in.  Well, those stable managers might correct me that it took just a bit more work than that, but can you imagine how happy the developers of the magazine would be to see the lines of horse trailers on a holiday weekend?

It is a short part of the book, but nestled between the beckoning calls of Livingston and Gainsboro, the reader of this document could have easily imagined the rest and relaxation he could enjoy on our “magnificent sweep of mountain”.

Jamestown, Tennessee “The Obedstown of the Gilded Age"

Northup Falls; You can still hike to it: Scott at Backwoods Adventures knew just where the trailhead is located.

Our tour of the Upper Cumberland begins this week in the Fentress County-seat, Jamestown.  We may be starting in the center of the touring area, but remember I was prompted to write this after the Highway 127 sale which of course originated in Jamestown.

In reading more carefully the six page article in the 1940’s era “March of Progress” publication, Jamestown is presented largely as an industrial opportunity.  Sure, there is a casual mention that Jamestown is located “upon the exact spot of an old Cherokee camp bearing the name of ‘Sand Springs’.”  And there is a quick history of the town.

According to this publication the first deed for land in the county was issued in 1800 to Alvin C. York’s great-great-great grandfather, Conrad Pile, a close personal friend of Davey Crockett.  It is also proudly noted that Pile and Crockett hunted the area woodland together.  Historical note is given to Mark Twain’s father who contracted the first courthouse and acquired about 100,000 acres of virgin forest to ensure, “my heirs are secure”.  However, the parents of the famous writer left Jamestown for Missouri just three months before Samuel Clemens was born.  And of course no historical account of Fentress County would fail to mention Sergeant Alvin C. York, the hero of World War I – of course this publication refers to that great conflict as the World War.

Today we might write such an article with an eye toward tourism and therefore focus on the history and activities of the area.  While this article certainly details the rustic beauty the Jamestown area has to offer, it is clearly geared toward the industrialist.  The sections on oil, gas and coal are downright technical as they discuss the type of coal, the era in which each of the resources would have developed and comparison of production across the region. 

If you know much about Fentress County history at all, you know a little about coal’s importance.  This document cites Tennessee’s 1939 production as 5.2 million tons.  That’s one-third of what West Virginia produced in 2002.  The difference between coal production then and now is phenomenal – in 1939 miners wearing carbide lights largely chipped away at coal seams with sharp picks whereas today’s mines have heavy drilling equipment.  Of course the Wilder mines had electricity even before TVA strung power lines across the mountains for they were creating their own power in a steam plant.  Therefore those “big mines” as we often refer to them, benefitted from the automation electricity afforded.  So I’m pretty impressed that seventy-five years ago Tennessee’s coal production was even worth comparing to a modern mine.

The story turns to the nearby community of Allardt where Mr. Max Colditz had been keeping climatic records for fifty years.  Using his data, the writer was proud to report that Fentress County enjoyed consistent rainfall throughout the year.  Mr. Colditz summarized the Plateau’s conditions as, “the winters are mild.  There is never a winter month that has not some days in which children can play in the sunshine outdoors.  The summers are pleasant, the heat never oppressive and most always a breeze.” 

Of final note from this article is the presence of the railroad.  I really wish it had given more details but simply mentions that the Oneida and Western Railroad has an eastern terminus in Oneida, Tennessee and that its daily passenger service “penetrates what was formerly called the ‘Wilderness Country’.”  I suppose that passenger service could get you anywhere in the country if you changed trains enough, but I would have loved to hear what direct points could be reached from Jamestown.

It’s hard to read this sort of article without looking through my twenty-first century lenses.  However, I find it a fascinating view of history for it’s not someone’s perception of what folks were thinking about our county before World War II, but it was written by contemporaries of the time.  This had to have been written in the height of The Great Depression and I know folks in Fentress County, and all over the Cumberland Plateau, were suffering.  However, there is so much hope in this article.  It isn’t a plea for someone to bail them out; they aren’t looking for outsiders to bring charity to this poor Appalachian community.  In fact, here we have a group promoting the great beauty and resources of the land and people, and I found it thoroughly refreshing to read.

I will try to make readable pictures of the actual pages of this article and post them on Pinterest if you would be interested in reading them.