A mile down the road from Fort Loudoun, the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum is a small, very nice and recently renovated tribute to the creator of the written version of the Cherokee language. Concerned that Cherokee culture would be lost because there was no written version of it, Sequoyah spent painstaking years creating a syllabary that formed written Cherokee. After convincing the tribe that this would be advantageous to learn, within 10 years the Cherokee nation was 90% literate in the written language. The museum has very nice interactive exhibits that tell the story of Sequoyah and is worth a visit if you are in the area.
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Fort Loudoun was one of the earliest British settlements in Tennessee. Created during the French and Indian War to make a deal with the Cherokee, the fort was laid under siege at one point and eventually fell into disrepair. This is a recreation of the fort, which shows how large the fort actually was compared to many frontier outposts. The state park is very nice, with a museum about the time period and the fort and a short video to watch. The fort itself is the most impressive part, built into the bank of the lake. There is also kayaking and some hiking trails at the park.
Cades Cove is known as one of the most popular drives in the Smokies and as such is consistently packed with cars. It is a one way loop that ends up frequently having "bear jams" and leaving drivers sitting in a line for hours. In the summer on Wednesdays, the Cove has started shutting down to motorized traffic. Large numbers of bikers come to the Cove to ride without the issue of cars and a smaller number of hikers take on the 12 mile loop.This is the second time I've hiked the Cove. It was raining this time and while I didn't see as many bear, there were a lot of turkey and deer. I like hiking the Cove because it gives a much closer look at a very pretty area with the added benefit of not having to compete with vehicles. One of the lesser known waterfalls in the Great Smokies, Hen Wallow is located in the Cosby camping area of the park. The signs say the hike is 2 miles to the fall, but GPS says it's closer to 3, so be aware of that and also that the trail to the fall is mostly uphill on the way in. Hen Wallow is a slide type fall, so there's no huge cascade and it's not a really good area for swimming. I mention that because I saw a number of people who seemed to be headed there thinking it was. If you want to see a less busy falls in the Smokies, this is a good one to visit.
Gray Fossil Site outside of Johnson City, Tennessee is one of the most complete fossil sites in Tennessee and has a large number of creatures from the Pliocene Era. The site is surprisingly small and is still actively being excavated and has had a state of the art science museum added to the location. For two dollars you can add a Tesla coil presentation or a tour of the fossil site to your ticket. I added both and the Tesla coil was fun to watch while the tour of the fossil site actually explains a lot of how they are conducting the dig and how the site was discovered. Not to be confused with David Crockett State Park, David Crocket Birthplace State Park is a small state park in east Tennessee. Crockett lived all over the state, therefore the claim to him is disputed and also accurate no matter which area wants to claim him. Crockett lived off the Nolichucky River when he was young and was definitively not "born on a mountaintop in Tennessee". His father was an alcoholic and leased David out as an indentured servant multiple times, one case in which David ran away from his master. To say his childhood wasn't ideal would be putting it mildly. Nevertheless this is a nice park with a good working historical exhibit (there's a donkey living on site) and reconstructions of the cramped living situation settlers around that time would have been privy to. There is also a long hunter camp reconstruction which is interesting as it is a more forgotten part of Tennessee history. Long hunters were hunters and fur trappers who came on long stints from further east in current North Carolina to the area to bring back furs mainly. They were some of the earliest settlers in the area (Daniel Boone was a long hunter) because when the area was opened up to settlement they knew all the nicest places already and were willing to lead other settlers there. I'd never been to Arlington before even though I've been to D.C. several times. You really need a whole day to fully explore Arlington (which we didn't have), but the best time saver is to take the trolley tour that drops you off at famous spots in the cemetery. We were able to see the changing of the guard and see JFK's grave, but the Lee mansion was already closed and we didn't have time for a tour anyway. Arlington is impressive and I was surprised to learn that it's still an open cemetery with multiple funerals going on every day. I would schedule at least the majority of a day at Arlington if you really want to explore it fully. It's a beautiful place and well worth visiting. No matter how many times you go to it, the Capitol Mall monuments never fail to be impressive. From the always busy Lincoln Monument to the more out of the way but striking FDR Monument, walking around the area always reveals something new. I'd never been to the MLK, FDR or Korean War monuments before and found the Korean War one in particular striking.
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AuthorA librarian doing the travel. Archives
May 2024
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