East TN farm

[bluepinecones]

Finally got some photos from trip to farm loaded. Was disappointed at quality and the fact that I did not take any of the mountains and valleys. Maybe I can do better on next trip.

View of house and main barn from the little winding road along the bottom land


Closer view of house. Older part of house is where the three dormers are; uncle added the other end and expanded porches. My father was born here in 1919 and there has been a member of his family on this land since the 1840s. Uncle was also born here; he was the youngest and arrived in 1932.


View from side of house toward barn (don't know how long the barn has been standing but it has been there all my life)


This dinner bell has also been there all my life; can remember grandmother using it


Cows in fog. These are some of the ones being fattened for auction


The structure in background is mostly underground. It is where grandmother stored root vegies and home canned goods from her garden. (This and a small spring house were as close as they had to refrigeration until TVA got electric lines in the area around 1955)


What appears to be a rock here is actually the roof of the vegie storage structure in previous photo. It is right behind the house for easy access


There is still a large garden and this little fellow was munching away


Four calves were born while I was there. Fortunately the mamas did not require our assistance


Many of the interior walls are lined with cedar grown on the farm (sorry about the "What's next?" poise; it was the only inside photo I had)


Cousin has added a number of outside security lights. They attract bugs and this little guy now shows up for an easy dinner each night.


This bug was bigger than the frog


Found a few surprises, like pair of mini bikes


and a pan of arrow heads. One would think as many years as this land has been used you would not still find these in such quantity


Nearing sunset but missed best color

[mitch5252]

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Sarah, what great pictures. If only those walls could talk, eh?
Really interesting.

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[Redetotry]

Wonderful story and pictures, I loved that the red barn & root cellar were still there. What is going to happen to the farm, is it being sold?

[Nasoosie]

Oh Sarah, how exciting to be able to visit an historical family farm like that! I would have loved to have seen that place. Your childhood visits must have been very memorable. Its setting is spectacular from that litle road----looks as if it grew there. What's really neat is that it's still used!

Thanks for these pics!

[carold]

How neat to be able to go back to your family home with all its history and memories. Bet there are stories you could tell Really enjoyed the pics; they were clear enough. Thanks for sharing. carold

[Liz]

Love the pictures and narrative. What a history!

[sunshinecruiserTN]

Sarah, thanks for sharing the pix. I'm sure you are exhausted from the amount of work needing to be done. Is that in the Grassey Cove area of Crossville? Lovely.

[BirdbyBird]

when you see the pictures one understands why folk want to live on such beautiful lands....fortunately/unfortunately the isolation helps keep them that way.....but brother I would think it makes living out there more challenging..... Thanks for sharing....

[cpatinjones]

Wow! I love it! The house, root cellar, area, etc. My kind of place. You are so blessed to be part of all that history there. Thanks for sharing!

[Bethers]

Finally - pictures of everything you keep talking about. Great to see them!

No need to apologize to us about thinking your pictures aren't the best - we eat them up - thanks for taking and sharing them.

[VickieP]

That is a beautiful setting to grow up in and I can imagine the fun you had visiting there. I love the cedar walls!

[sharon]

Great pictures Sarah! My DH's sister has a root cellar like that one up in Missouri. She still uses it to keep home canned goods in. Such history!

[snowball]

Really enjoyed my visit to your home!!
very nice
sheila

[bluepinecones]

Good eye Sunshine - the farm is about 60 miles from Crossville.

BJ - Not sure about long term fate of the farm yet but we are working on a plan to try to keep at least part of it in family thru my cousins life time. Her children are not interested and I do not have children to pass it to later. Will probably sell some of the land but keep the house and enough land to maintain privacy and farm status from tax standpoint. If nothing else, she and husband can use it for weekend get away. I will probably continue to make a few trips a year up there as long as it is available.

Since there is about a 15 year gap in age between me and cousin (she is younger), our memories of the place from childhood are very different. We are thinking of getting some of that written down just in case one of her children has an interest in family history later. In thinking about it, wish I had paid more attention to some of grandmother's habits/survival traits as I was growing up. At the time I just remember mostly a lot of hard work - she ran that farm by herself for many decades after grandfather passed away. He was about 15 years older; she was a second wife (1st died in childbirth) and only about 13 or 14 when she came to live there.

Her knowledge of plant life and home remedities was amazing but it is a wonder she didn't kill us or some of her own children with some of the the things she made. Two things she was really big into that I hated:
* upon arrival (I spent at least half of all summers plus a week or two in spring and fall there - as extra help), she put an asafetida bag around my neck. That stuff stinks - no clue what she ground up to make it. Don't remember if it was to ward off evil spirits or just illness but promise no self respecting germ or ghost would come around that stench. After a few days, nose would be too numb to smell it anymore.
* a spring ritual involved heavy doses of sulfer and molasses whether one needed it or not. If you had a cold or cough you also got coal oil and sugar or honey or white lightening - depending on what was available at the time.
There was always tea in the summer but it was never made from tea leaves as we know today. Hers was mostly sassafras but but she brewed teas from a number of other trees and weeds that grew wild on the place.
She made her own lye from hickory ashes dripped thru an old log, which in turn was used either for soap or in preserving some foods. Remember she also kept tallows/fats separated as some were for soap, other (beef, I think) went into candles and poulticies.
She doctored both people and farm animals when needed. One of the most interesting I remember was for bad cuts/puncture wounds. She covered it in honey and placed spider webs crisscrossed over the wound until the bleeding stopped. I got in big trouble once for tearing down spider webs in the barn (turns out that was her medical stash).
We always made brooms in the fall - they had to be replaced annually and she grew the broom corn to do it. Hides were tanned whenever something was killed for food or safety. Groundhogs were among her favorites for making short laces and shoes.
Another fall necessity was drying fruit. Her system involved me climbing out a window onto the tin roof over front porch as soon as morning dew dried. The challenge then was to spread the fruit across the roof and cover it with cheese cloth before every wasp in east TN showed up. Had to go back and gather it up before night fall and do it over next morning until the fruit became leathery. The orchards are gone now but a couple of apple and pear trees remain.
More than half of her life she used a barter system if something was needed that she didn't have or could do. Chickens, eggs, milk and butter were more plentiful than money. However by the time I was about 12, she decided she wanted to learn to read and to count money. She did manage to learn enough to get by on her own.
Gosh, I'm rambling. But just discovered there might be enough I remember to write down for another generation. Thanks. listening.

[mitch5252]

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Sarah, that was absolutely fascinating! You need to write it down. I was wanting more!!

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