Beth Durham's Blog, page 36

Domain of Cumberland County

We are nearing the end of our Tour of the Upper Cumberlands and this stop in Crossville is a very familiar one to me and to all of my regular blog readers. I’ll link some past articles where I can in this week’s story.

For most of my life, Crossville was "town", it was THE PLACE to go if you needed anything. Going ‘off the mountain’ was not something we routinely did, therefore Cookeville wasn’t a regular destination and we certainly didn’t go to Knoxville, Chattanooga or Nashville unless so...

Red Boiling Springs “Nature’s Clinic for Sick People”

You may recall my talking about Monterey, Tennessee’s history as a resort town. Well, just sixty miles northwest sits “a resort nationally known for the health restoring properties of mineral waters”. Red Boiling Springs has four types of water, each of which was historically prescribed for different conditions. This unique medicinal nature of the geography brought about one thousand people into town each year.

The Armour Hotel
Built in 1924 as The Counts Hotel, this brick building was rescue...

Celina, Tennessee and The Free Hill Community

Sitting in the heart of Clay County, Celina is today the jumping off point for recreational opportunities at Dale Hollow Lake. Since the Dale Hollow Dam was not completed until 1943, our historic publication wouldn’t have realized the effect of the project on the Celina area. The information in this article is simply informative with little of the marketing that we’ve seen for other towns in the Upper Cumberlands.

The booklet gives a very brief history with a passing note to the “Free Hills...

Cookeville, Tennessee “Thrift and Vision”

This week’s stop in our 1940’s Tour of the Upper Cumberlands is Cookeville, Tennessee. The March of Progress publication dedicates a whopping eighteen pages to the town and I am fascinated by the information it shares as well as what seems omitted.

I never tend to think of myself as an historian. Yet, I am quite eager to preserve the history of the plateau region and I suppose that qualifies for the title. Recently, I’ve been troubled by a trend in America to revise our history. As we study t...

Monterey, Tennessee “Where cool breezes blow in the sultry summer”

We’ve previously visited Monterey, Tennessee a few times on this blog – and I’ve no doubt we will stop by again sometime. Based on the amount of information given in the March of Progress book, this is a major stop on our Tour of the Upper Cumberlands. The article integrates information about the whole Upper Cumberland area and seems to indicate that Monterey was at the heart of the march.

The book gives Monterey twelve pages, compared to two or three for most other towns. And with good reas...

Baxter, Tennessee “The City of Goodwill”

This week’s stop in our tour of the Upper Cumberlands is Baxter, Tennessee. Dubbed “The City of Goodwill,” The March of Progress publication devoted three pages and eight beautiful black and white photographs to the city of Baxter, Tennessee.

Located along the Tennessee Central rail line, it is described as a “convenient trade center” and said to ship hardwood and pulp wood products as well as poultry and dairy products, corn, tobacco and livestock.

The city offers greetings and a welcome t...

Gainsboro, Tennessee: “The Switzerland of the Upper Cumberlands”

The March of Progress tags the Jackson county seat as “The Switzerland of the Upper Cumberlands.” As the pattern has been with these town titles, there is no explanation for the name and I can’t help but wonder if the typical 1940’s reader would have immediately understood them. Comparing Gainsboro to Switzerland the main commonality is the mountain terrain. However, with mean elevations of ranging from 968 to 7,021 feet the Cumberland Mountains surrounding Gainsboro seem a bit squat. Still...

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 peopl...

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 c...

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 peop...