Morristown, TN. Davy Crockett Grew Up Here!

The living room at the Crockett House Museum displays the cozy living conditions of days gone by.

As my wife, Barb, and I continue searching and exploring interesting places to visit for Chronicle readers, we felt that Morristown City, in Hamblen County, TN, would be a good one to visit within easy striking distance from the Plateau.

After calling Anne G. Ross, director of tourism & program director of Retire Hamblen County, she made it very easy for us to visit Morristown and see why it would be a fine day-trip for Crossville and surrounding residents. Upon arrival, and after working through Knoxville traffic, we arrived in less than two hours to Morristown. First we checked in at the Hampton Inn-Morristown (West End) into a delightfully comfortable suite (terrific staff, by the way, and quite excellent hot breakfasts, too).

A bit about this city that’s quite close to Knoxville:

With a population of about 30,000, Morristown’s Main Street area, with an approximate area of a square mile, grew up around a waterway known as Turkey Creek and the intersection of two railroad lines. In 1962, the creek flooded, nearly wiping out the downtown commercial district. The city developed a plan to modernize Main Street by creating an “overhead sidewalk” that would turn the second floor of the existing buildings into a new “street,” while serving as a canopy for the sidewalks below.

After checking in, we then walked and gawked at various antique and other shops, both at ground level and up the ramps to their elevated second story walkways. Yes, we made some great collectible but usable finds for our home in Crossville, and during our stay we tasted delightful meals at places such as Jersey Girls with corned beef special sandwiches, The Little Dutch with their delicious salmon entrees, Hillbilly’s breakfast spot for Spanish omelets and the Timeless Elegance Tea Room with their famous chicken & dumplings, run by a dynamic duo Kelly and Howard Long (more details on dining experiences and all the other great attractions and places we visited will be in the second edition of our visit, next week).

For its size, Morristown has so many restaurants that for about one year you can dine at a different one every day if you so desire. After a downtown walking tour with Barbara Garrow, director of Crossroads Downtown Partnerships, we really got a good look of what a fine, progressive planned downtown can be in almost any small town America.

Taking a look back in history, we visited a most famous early outdoor pioneer’s home: Davy Crockett. Crockett grew up in and around Morristown; he was born in nearby Greene County. When visiting pioneer homes you notice how small everything from the height of the doorways to the size of the beds and chairs being so much smaller than today’s cottages and homes. Old time folks were smaller in stature in the “good old days.”

For you sports lovers:

In 1985 and 1987, Morristown had teams qualify for the Little League World Series; the 1985 team finished third. The Morristown teams are two of nine Tennessee teams that have advanced to the series in Pennsylvania. In 2006, Morristown placed fourth in the Little League Softball World Series. In 2007, Morristown won the Little League Softball World Series.

Next week we’ll present everything we just cannot fit in today including the 700 miles of shoreline of Lake Cherokee and the arts and drama programs! Visit www.tourism@morristownchamber.com for additional information.

Discovering a Secret City

**Japan suffered greatly for being the aggressor in a war they mightily regretted**.

**And a cousin was in the middle of it all!**

American Press Travel News-Bob and Barb “On The Road Again-this time in Oak Ridge, TN–Secret City No Longer a Secret

“Shhh, don’t ask and don’t tell was the official mantra of, and for anyone living and working in Oak Ridge, Tennessee over 7-decades ago.

Barb and I jumped at the opportunity to check out a terrific area that offers museums, fishing, great restaurants, and even bird watching, not necessarily in that order.”

Imagine visiting a city that wasn’t even on the map until the late 40’s. People who lived in that city had no address and phone available to the outside world. Their street addresses were in coded names. It was as if they lived on an island, did everything together on a social basis with what turned out to be an extended family of some 75,000 people. These were specialists, and their families in unique scientific fields in physics, chemistry electrical and chemical engineering, boiler making, construction specialists, metallurgists, and heavy construction development where K-25, a mile long was the largest building under cover of roof, at 44-acres was constructed at that time.

In1941, just after Pearl Harbor was bombed, most all of these folks were brought to a place that they couldn’t write home about, or have their friends and family visit.

They were on a mission, an incredible mission to assist in ending the war in the Pacific and what they wrought, the Atom Bomb did just that, after this hellish bomb was unleashed on Japan, it helped save hundreds of thousands of our service men and women, who would have had to storm the beaches of Japan, and those people that would assist them.

Oak Ridge is the city that allowed teams of physicists and brain stormer’s like Einstein and Teller to name just a very few, to help make this deed a reality. Today, about 8-decades later, there is still tight security for much of the business end of the city that is devoted to developing modern technological advances in nuclear medicine, nuclear power and various other technologies, with some of them absolutely top secret even today.

Some facts about early Oak Ridge are in order here: The Oak Ridge Reservation encompassed 59,000 acres in 1940s, Oak Ridge used one-seventh of the electricity produced in the U.S. during full production, the average age in Oak Ridge at the time was 27, Oak Ridge didn’t appear on a map until 1949, it was not incorporated as a city until 1959. Because of the secrecy demands of the Manhattan project, the Oak Ridge High School football team was only allowed to play away games, and the opposing team was not given the team roster of the players, they were only known by numbers. Every person over the age of 12 had to wear an identification badge at all times during the 40’s.

Visiting the American Museum of Science & Energy we passed by a large image of
Einstein who had penned a letter to President Roosevelt that helped convince him to initiate the development of the “bomb” before Nazi Germany could do it. This letter helped kick off the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge. The entire story is now in plain sight for visitors to this museum and it’s a terrific place to bring the family. Any age range can learn much from the hands-on displays and mind games that challenge with their simple and complex games designed to broaden the mind and enlighten the curious. Oak Ridge continues to earn the U.S. the title of “Super Power.” Live demonstrations, audiovisuals, machines, and devices will definitely keep you and the children entertained and delighted. We also visited John Rice Erwin’s open-air museum called “the most authentic and complete replica of pioneer Appalachian life in the world.” The museum contains over 250,000 pioneer relics including 30 log structures from pioneer times, a chapel, a schoolhouse, cabins and barns replete with actual relics of those times. Outstanding!

. We went fly-fishing with guide Clayton Gist (865) 806-7803 and yes, got braggin’ rights! Gist explained that the Clinch River is probably the premier trout river in Tennessee. We headed for Big Ed’s Pizza at Broadway in Oak Ridge, terrific on our way home.

Tennessee Historical Sojourn

American Press Travel News–August 10th, 2018–Bob and Barb on the Road Again, this time in Morristown, TN.–Interesting time in an interesting part of TN. Barb and I love historical museums and places that exude memorable places. There is so much known, but far more unknown about the Civil War period in America. Seems many eople just cannot get enough of it! Here we were in Morristown, TN. great places to dine, neat antique shops, original homes of famous folk such as Davy Crockett and Civil War Generals to name a few. Bet you didn’t know that people before the 1900’s were smaller than folks of today. To get on a horse they needed help, voila, step-ups of stone for mounting a horse, uniforms any uniforms were hand stitched and provided by special tailors and seamstresses. Hat makers too were in demand. Machines were few hands were many. Weapons of the past were also hand crafted, heavy and slow to reload, but today they are magnificent works of mostly handcrafted works of highly sought after art. Of course, you gotta eat when on assignment, and Morristown has great “eats.” Crabcakes and Pineapple Steaks, huh?

More to come! There is so much to cover.