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Beth Durham's Blog, page 17
May 2, 2019
Cumberland: What’s in a Name?
From Harry Lane’s Tennessee Memories
Prince William, Duke of Cumberland
Today’s excerpt from Mr. Lane’s writings is short but he touches on a term we routinely use, calling our plateau home “the mountain”, so I wanted to be sure to include it. I’d love to hear your comments below.
The origin of this name lies in England; the name was first applied in Tennessee when a section of what is now the Cumberland Plateau was name the Cumberland Mountains in honor of the Duke of Cumberland.
Ambiguity h...
April 25, 2019
Tennessee Folklore in Weather Prediction
Come join me tomorrow April 27th at Big South Fork National Recreation Area's Spring Planting and Music Festival 9:00 - 4:00.
From Harry Lane’s Tennessee Memories
Among the interesting humor stories associated with weather in this area is the folklore of weather prediction. There seem to be uncommonly many weather prognosticators in the Cumberland Plateau area, of whom the best known may be Mrs. Hellen Lane of Crab Orchard. Many observers might readily ascribe this lore to ignorance and s...
April 18, 2019
More about The Cumberland Plateau
Here are two short articles from Harry Lane’s Tennessee Memorie
Here’s More About the Cumberland Plateau
Mountains on a Plateau? That’s the situation of the Crab Orchard Mountains, which are located on the eastern side of the Cumberland Plateau…at least, that’s the situation if one considers these small peaks to be true mountains, and many would not. Local usage, however, makes these “mountains,” and so the matter shall stand.
This section of the Cumberland Plateau is quite interesting geolog...
April 11, 2019
The 3 States of Tennessee
I’m really excited to share this week’s chapter of Harry Lane’s “Tennessee Memories”. Remember last week we learned that Mr. Lane studied both geography and geology. How fascinating to look at my home through the eyes of these scientific disciplines! Culturally and historically, the western, middle and eastern portions of Tennessee are unique. Turns out God laid it out that way.
The article is lengthy so I’m going to share excerpts here, mainly the description of the plateau.
According to...
April 4, 2019
Meet Harry Lane - Author of Tennessee Memories
Last week I introduced Tennessee Memories by Harry Lane. His son (and one of my favorite people!) Derek Lane shared a little more information about the author so I want to pass that along to you this week.
Harry Lane (1936-2013) loved Tennessee, though he didn’t live here until his late twenties. He grew up in the hot coastal plains region of southern Georgia, studied geology at Georgia and geography at Kansas, and only moved to Tennessee when he began teaching geography at Tennessee Tech i...
March 28, 2019
Tennessee Memories by Harry Lane
Harry Lane in the center with his brothers Larry and Emory
A couple of decades ago, a professor from Tennessee Tech named Harry Lane wrote a booklet of “Tennessee Memories.”
Mr. Lane was born in South Georgia and traveled throughout the United States and Europe; yet he loved the Tennessee mountains and I have really enjoyed reading about his affinity for our homeland. I hope you too will enjoy these writings as I share them over the next few weeks.
What is this place called Tennessee? By Har...
March 21, 2019
Zenith Coal Mining Community
Janice Matthews Smith discusses in her book, Looking Back, the mining operation and surrounding community of Zenith, Tennessee. Zenith today is a forest, high bluff, a few homes and no sign whatsoever of industry. However, in 1913 the O&W Railroad arrived at Zenith and as always happened where the train stopped, a community grew.
This community, as with so many early 1900’s communities in Appalachia, grew around coal mines. The first mines that were opened weren’t very profitable. However...
March 14, 2019
Logging and Timber
Two weeks ago when I introduced “Looking Back” here I said, “Tenessee’s Cumberland plateau has been rich in natural resources, chiefly coal.” While it’s true that the plateau supplied a lot of coal to America’s industrial machine, I want to amend that statement – coal is not chief among our natural resources. Logging has been an important industry on our mountain really for a century and a half. Timber is still an important resource for us.
Last week’s article about East Jamestown’s Incl...
March 7, 2019
Jamestown’s Incline Railway
Railroads are fascinating – as many a boy (regardless of his age) can tell you. There is a romance about the era of rail travel when we still packed in large trunks and dressed in milner’s plumage.
I was fascinated to read in the “Looking Back” book about an incline railway that was built from Wolf River up to The Basin in East Jamestown, Tennessee. I have never heard about it before and it drove me to research the purpose and history of these railways.
The practical side of rail lines lies...
February 28, 2019
Old Louvaine Community
Tenessee’s Cumberland plateau has been rich in natural resources, chiefly coal. The history of coal mining is colorful the world-around and much has been written and recorded about our coal mining towns around Wilder, Sandy and Davidson. However, there were several other mines as well as timber operations and the communities that sprang up to support those operations. When a friend handed me a book ab out “Old Louvaine & Zenith in East Jamestown, Tennessee” I nearly cried out because Zen...
