Off to see the Smoky Mountains

Monday October 22, 2012

We were all up and showered this morning and had breakfast of scrambled eggs and fried-baked potatoes. Wilma fried potatoes that were leftover baked ones from dinner last night. We also had cantaloupe, strawberries and raspberries. Pretty good breakfast. By 10 we were ready to head for Ducktown, TN one more time.

Yesterday it was flowing strong over the top

We were driving along the Ocoee River and when we came to the place where rafts and kayaks were being launched over the weekend we found that the river had been turned off. Well maybe not all the way off, but way down. The water was not even up to the top of the diversion dam….strange.

dry dam

In Ducktown we stopped at city hall to see if they had any information on Threewit Mountain or the Threewit Cemetery. They had nothing, but the lady did give Barney a Polk County Road Map and suggested that we check with the sheriff’s office to see if they had any information.
We drove up the street a block and a half to the sheriff’s office and Barney went in and talked to the dispatcher. Barney asked about the lane and cemetery off New Stansbury Rd. The dispatcher said he had lived a couple of miles past the cemetery about 40 years but wasn’t familiar with Threewit Lane, nor did he know how the cemetery got its name. He looked Threewit Lane up on his 911 map and sure enough there it was with a house at the end of it, except the spelling is Treewit Ln. He couldn’t tell who owns the house but he was very nice and gave Barney a Polk County Road Map.
Our final stop was a mile down the road at the Atkins Funeral Home in Copper Hill, TN. Barney introduced himself to the lady there and said he had seen one of their markers at the Threewit Cemetery and asked if there was anyone he could contact to get more information on the Threewit grave markers at the cemetery. She whipped out a book on Tennessee Cemetery Data and copied 3 pages of information on all of the people buried at Threewit Cemetery. The information identified 2 of the 3 Threewit markers in the cemetery. She said that Barney might be able to get more information on the Threewit name from the County Historical Society in Benton. She was a very nice lady and was extremely helpful. However, she did not offer Barney a Polk County Road Map.
With our mission in Ducktown pretty much completed, we headed back to the Parksville campground to pick up the Flintstone-mobile and utilize the dump station at the park. With that task completed we went north on route 30 then 441 to Vonore, TN. We drove a few miles on route 360 to the Sequoyah birthplace and museum where a Trail of Tears stamp is available. Sequoyah (pronounced like the redwood tree) created the writing system which gave the Cherokee a written language.
Back at Vonore we made a fuel stop then continued north on 441 to route 72. We went east on 72 and 129 until we reached the Foothills Parkway which goes north to the entrance of the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. The Foothills Parkway is part of the National Park Service. No commercial traffic is allowed and the speed limit is 45 mph. We are in the Look Rock CG on the parkway, settled in for the night. No showers here but somehow we will survive.
Good night all. (youall)
We don’t have a signal at the campground, so check back again for pictures.