I heard the line so many times: “I don’t like country music, but I like you.”
The 1960 Sevier County Baptist Association minutes includes the following paragraph describing the closing of Smoky Mountain Academy and expressing appreciation to those who made the school possible:
My wife Jean really likes to read or view “good news stories,” and quite frequently shares them with me – like she did this morning.
Until Sevier County High School opened in 1920, there were no public secondary schools in Sevier County. Since 1890 Murphy College had been operating as a “subscription school” in Sevierville and Harrison-Chilhowee Baptist Academy was established in Seymour about 1880.
March seems like the longest month of the year for me. Always has and probably always will.
The NCAA Basketball Tournament – or March Madness – is a time for college teams to “survive and advance.” It is a time for participants, supporters and fans to go along for a long, enjoyable ride – or get off early. And, it is a time that reminds me of Vincent van Gogh.
Several hundred small cemeteries dot the landscape throughout Sevier County. Some are picturesque and enhance the surrounding natural beauty while others have been neglected, becoming nothing more than an overgrown eyesore.
Legendary humorist-philosopher Will Rogers (1879-1935) delighted his audience when he said, “This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a hammer.”
Sometime in the mid-1850s, James Isaac McMahan, who owned a big farm near Sevierville, traveled to Charleston, S.C., for the purpose of purchasing slaves to bring back home to work on his farm and the brickyard which he owned.
This will be my last column as a member of The Mountain Press staff. I am leaving the paper and the state to return to my hometown to take a communications and marketing position at a two-year college there.
A hunter was walking through the jungle when he saw a pygmy standing beside a huge dead rhinoceros. The hunter asked, “Did you kill this?” The pygmy replied, “Yes. It was charging.” Amazed, the hunter asked, “How in the world could a little guy like you kill such a huge beast?” The pygmy said, “With my club.” Flabbergasted, the hunter responded, “How big is your club?” The pygmy replied matter-of-factly, “There’s about sixty of us.”
One day in May 1975, Park Ranger Glenn Cardwell was called to the front desk of Sugarlands Visitor Center in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Imagine the English language was only based on eight consonants and three vowels.
If you have read many quotes at all, in either print or electronic media, it’s quite possible you have run across the name “Seneca,” which refers to Lucius Seneca, one of the often-quoted philosophers of ancient Rome. A Seneca quote that caught my eye recently is "One should count each day a separate life."
In anticipation of the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Mayna Avent placed a log book on a desk so visitors could record their memories. Realizing the days in which the family could stay there were numbered, relatives, friends and other visitors began leaving their thoughts.
My colleague, Jeff Farrell, wrote last week about how we’re all making our way into the world of Twitter as we attempt to increase our presence on the World Wide Web.
In the summer of 2011 I received a call from a potential buyer couple who was in front of one of my real estate listings. Larry and Jean Rockemann, then of Chicago, had been looking for a retirement home in the mountains, to no avail.
A newspaper headline this week read, “Three heroes beat train to save man’s life.” The report detailed how a man in his 20s hit his head and stumbled onto the tracks with the next train scheduled to arrive in two minutes.
Most Americans’ knowledge of the presidents is obtained from media sources or reading. But Mable Elizabeth “Liz” Walker Ciarrochi, who lived the last three decades of her life in Sevier County, knew three U. S. Presidents and their families intimately.
A friend of mine who owns a carpet cleaning business gives me great tips about cleaning in general.
Today’s column was triggered by (1) a quote attributed to Vaclav Havel, a prolific writer, last president of Czechoslovakia and first president of the Czech Republic (2) opposing statements made by members of the U.S. Congress following Obama’s State of the Union address and (3) a sportscaster’s comment during the Super Bowl when the quarterback turned right to hand off the ball but the running back went left.
As a child in the early 1900s, Harvey Broome used to gaze out the second-floor window of his parents' house in Knoxville and see a pale blue line of mountains running across the southern horizon. These were his very first views of the Great Smoky Mountains.
Today’s column springs from a combination of (1) a newspaper article about the exciting Super Bowl game this past Sunday (2) a comment from someone at the post office Tuesday about the Gatlinburg Veterans Day program I have emceed for several years and (3) a book, “Out Of The Depths,” that Brad Justus, a football coach at Gatlinburg-Pittman High School loaned me a couple of seasons ago. (I will eventually return it, Brad.)
On May 2, 1966 a groundbreaking ceremony was held for Sevierville’s Flood Protection Program. The project consisted of widening, rechanneling, removal of debris and deepening the two forks of the Little Pigeon River.
In a Classic Peanuts cartoon strip, Lucy asks Charlie Brown, “Do you think I’m a crabby person?” After careful consideration, Charlie Brown replies frankly, “Yes, I think you are a very crabby person.” Lucy glares at Charlie Brown and shouts, “Well, who cares what you think!”
