The Purple Cow

"Some turns on the route to your destination may not be found."

This was the report that the voice on one of our GPS systems (it came with the truck) made as we headed to the towns of Appalachia, Norton, and Wise in Virgina. The second GPS voice (we had this one before the truck) made valiant attempts at guiding us, but to no avail. So, this was one of those "adventure days" I had written about in an earlier entry.

The day began with a moderate fog hovering over the campground. As we headed north, low hanging clouds provided an early blanket to the hills of the Jefferson National Forest.

As we entered the town of Duffield, we couldn't help but notice the old train station. It seems to have become the repository for signs from area train stations. We have seen cabooses "parked" by Virginia state parks and other sites of interest and were told that freight trains no longer have cabooses, so they have been retired to these sites. They are very colorful additions to any setting.

The local rivers provide clear evidence of the infrequent rain in the area. My guess is that this river should have been flowing along smoothly instead of flowing around the rocks. More picturesque, yes; a good sign, no.

The town of Wise proudly proclaims that it is the home of George C. Scott and a branch of the University of Virginia. We thought the Wise County Courthouse (built in 1896) deserved a similar form of recognition.

One behavior we have developed is that of always having a camera with us. When driving, this means that the camera is turned on and can be reached, aimed, and clicked quickly--sometimes withhout getting a good look at the subject. This home in Wise was such a subject. We had the advantage of a red light, but nevertheless, a quick shot sometimes cuts off a portion of the scene or is not composed as we would like it. But this home really begged to be photographed.

One of the stores in Norton also seemed to be calling out to us. The color was unique among all of the small towns we had visited in the area.

But it was seeing this color on the cow in Weber City (VA) that made the day. A Purple Cow. I began reciting The Poem as soon as I saw it.

I never saw a Purple Cow,
I never hope to see one;
But I can tell you, anyhow,
I'd rather see than be one.

This was written by Gelett Burgess (1866-1951), who was the founding editor of Lark, a humor magazine, in 1895. After hearing several parodies of this poem and several years of being asked to recite it, he became so annoyed about being known primarily for "The Purple Cow" that he wrote the following:

Ah, Yes! I wrote the "Purple Cow" --
I'm sorry, now, I wrote it!
But I can tell you anyhow,
I'll Kill you if you Quote it!


Well, that was a long way to go to get to one of the two poems I can still recite from memory.

A Visit to the White House

Well, actually the Kingsport (TN) "White House."


Upon seeing the photos of the Allandale Mansion in the Visitors' Guide, we thought the Mansion's history would date to the Civil War and there would be stories relating to battles and turbulent times.

However, as is often the case, reality is much less dramatic. When Harvey and Ruth Brooks built Allandale Mansion in 1950, it was designed as a family home situated on a scenic 500 acre farm, not a museum or special event venue. But today, the city of Kingsport offers its use as both. The Mansion, a classic example of Georgian architecture, was willed to the City of Kingsport in 1969.

Tours of the Mansion are available by appointment, but we could walk the grounds of what has become a focal point of Kingsport's social life. Since 1983, the gardens and statues served as a beautiful backdrop for weddings and receptions.

About two years ago, Dr. Harry Coover donated funds to build the “Heron Dome” on the Allandale Mansion grounds. He wanted to give something back to the city where he has lived and worked most of his life, but more importantly, he wanted to honor the memory of his wife Muriel. “The Heron Dome” features a bronze heron sculpture in a shallow pool, benches, landscaping and lighting to make it suitable for night events. Coover said the heron was his wife’s favorite bird and added that the species mates for life.

Activities at the other end of the social spectrum can be scheduled in the newly redecorated dairy barn on the Mansion's grounds. A more casual party place, it has a hayloft for dancing, a stage for musicians and a butler's pantry for serving refreshments. Rustic outdoor tables are on hand for all sorts of picnics.

The last stop on our tour of the grounds was another barn. And on that barn was the quilt pattern "Stars Over Tennessee."


Everything seemed to fit.

Hangouts and Barns

In the course of my reading about jam sessions in southwestern Virginia, I think I read that musical styles and preferences can change dramatically from one side of a mountain to the other.

The jam in Weber City, VA, added some unique touches to the tradtional jam session. I did not learn the name of the gentleman playing the fiddle, but he provided a more formal touch to the gathering.

In contrast, the light from the single bulb in the center of the group gave the appearance of a secretive gathering of the men of the community.

Maybe we should have expected this scene at the "Lazy Time Pickin' Parlor" when we saw the sign saying that it was a "Hangout for the Homeless and Henpecked." The fact that Kate was one of only two women attending the session seemed to confirm the store's status as a boys-only clubhouse.

*********

Sometimes we spend an afternoon driving around, making decisions about the turn to make at each intersection. This results in some interesting adventures and, when combined with the barn quilts appearing unexpectedly, presents several surprises along country roads. A recent drive produced the discoveries below.

While many of the quilts are displayed on barns of more than 50 years old, not all are; nor are they all on the official Barn Quilt Tour, but they all present colorful attractions around the countryside.

Some of the patterns are relatively simple,

others more complex. Some quilt patterns are completed by the families who display them. Others are completed by high school or college art classes.

An example of the latter is the "Stars and Cubes" pattern of the quilt mural on the Coates Barn near Blountville, TN. It was patterned after a quilt made by Paul Coates' mother-in-law, who grew up on the farm. She was part Cherokee Indian and often used bright colors in her quilts. The mural was painted by art students at nearby Sullivan South High School in Kingsport. The floral detail in the center star was painted by a female student who returned to her native Mexico upon her graduation in May 2004.

Surprises around every corner and turn.

Wanted: Innkeepers

As part of what seems to have become our Small Town Tour, we traveled to Rogersville, TN just to walk its streets. About 20 miles from Greeneville, Rogersville, settled in the early 1780’s, is one of the oldest in Tennessee and like many older small towns appears to be fighting to maintain a viable downtown.

The anchor of the town is the Hawkins County Courthouse, described as one of the South’s most photographed buildings. It is the oldest original courthouse (built in 1836) still in use in the state.

Just across Main Street from the Courthouse in the Town Center is the Masonic Temple, site of the oldest continuously operating lodge in the state.

There was a time in our travels and overnight stays in Bed and Breakfast homes and inns that we thought that someday we would like to own and operate a B&B. We took a serious look into buying the former Rising Sun Inn in Blue Bell, PA in the early 80’s, but decided against that idea after thinking about the demands on innkeepers.

However, upon seeing the Hale Spring Inn, a Federal-style structure built in 1824, we briefly entertained thoughts of becoming innkeepers. The Inn was closed in the late 1990’s, and about four years ago the Rogersville Heritage Association received a grant to restore the Inn. When the grant was awarded, it was said that “Reopening the inn is the single most significant factor in reviving Rogersville’s economy.” At the time of our visit, the Inn had not yet re-opened.

As we walked the streets of downtown Rogersville, we were puzzled to find a quilt pattern prominently displayed on what we believed to be the Courthouse annex. Whether or not this is the first in a series of "courthouse quilts" remains to be seen, but, nevertheless, it was a very attractive quilt.

There were very few people in the downtown streets as we strolled to the parking lot, . . . but we couldn’t help feeling we were being watched.

Our Walk Continues

(continued from yesterday) We hope that Greeneville's beautiful downtown architecture will be preserved and highlighted. Beginning with the brick sidewalks on a walk downtown, there is a sense that the town fathers went beyond the pedestrian to the lavish.

The beauty of the architectural decorations make this town an enjoyable, walkable town. From the crowning touches of some buildings (the Bird Bros. building on the left) and the bank below

to the designs made by different color bricks or the combination of colors on the exterior and interior of other buildings

to the designs made by the steeples of the town churches,





there is beauty all around the town.

We enjoyed our time immensely and have many reasons to return again to Greeneville, Tennessee.

The Second Oldest Town

We had already visited the oldest town in Tennessee (Jonesborough), so today we set out to walk the streets of the second oldest town. Greeneville was the home of the seventeenth president, Andrew Johnson, and the oldest college in the state, Tusculum College.

As we walked the streets, we noticed that there was a lot of traffic going through Greeneville. Often I wanted to take photographs of the street scenes but had to wait for the traffic to pass before getting a clear picture.

Some of the buildings were boarded up, but there seemed to be a lot of potential in them. Several times our attention was drawn to the architecture and ornamentation on the buildings. The theater marquee (right), just visible in the left corner in the photo above, brought both color and history to the aging theater in the heart of the downtown. It seemed to be in the process of restoration, judging by the "Save the Capitol" signs on the theater's list of upcoming programs.

Similarly, the peak of the exterior on the General Morgan Hotel, the building in the left-center in the first photo, possessed some interesting qualities. We wondered how often these details (left) are noticed--the details that are often the very qualities that encourage restoration.

The gray building (second from the right) in the photo on the right is an example of the potential that can be capitalized on--or not. We both saw this building and took photos of it from half of the second story to the roof. The lower part of the windows were boarded up, and the first floor had been "re-muddled."

Sadly, the beautiful top portion with its design and the words "SNAPP'S 5 and 10 cent STORE" was lost on passersby due to the unattractiveness of the first floor.

As we walked the downtown area, I felt as though we were tourists looking at our first skyscrapers. Townspeople were going about their business, while we were looking up at the tops of the buildings and standing in the middle of the sidewalks.

This behavior will invariably attract the interest of the local residents. Such conversations often begin with "Where are you folks from?" Sometimes the conversation turns to the One World Order and the One World Currency that had one fellow very concerned as he related his thoughts to Kate.

But these types of conversation are rare, so it is back to looking up at these buildings in Greeneville. The arches in the center building in the photo above are shown here (left). No modern box buildings have details like this.

We hope Greeneville's beautiful downtown . . . to be continued.

Clarence + Jackie = Good Eats

We were on our way to the Blue Ridge Parkway and were looking for a place to have breakfast. Out came Fred Sauceman’s The Place Setting, and we saw that Clarence’s Restaurant in Unicoi served breakfast. While we had planned to go to Clarence’s for lunch (and did the next day), we decided that two meals would give us a better basis for evaluation. The rating score, then, will reflect our opinion of both meals sampled.

Clarence’s, established in 1969, and is an old restaurant where the waitresses--one of whom has worked there for over thirty years--know all of the customers. The walls are decorated with reproductions of old advertisements and the seats of the “leatherette” booths are cracked from years of "buttockal" stress.

This is NASCAR Country, so, under the watchful eyes of Carl Edwards and Bobby LaBonte, we sat down and started to look over the menu. (See the large cardboard cutouts in the photo. The next day the Edwards cutout was in the backseat of one of the waitresses--a huge Carl Edwards fan.)

As they say, great minds think alike. I told Chuck that I was going to go all a la carte and order one biscuit with gravy with a side of country ham and a side of hash browns and he laughs and tells me he had decided on the same order.

A slight digression on the topic of hash browns--a term that we have learned is used somewhat loosely. We have had the traditional hash browns--sliced potatoes sometimes mixed with onion and/or green pepper and fried on a grill or flat top. We have had hash browns that are really potato wedges. We have had hash browns that are deep fried quarter-inch cubes of potato like the Brabant potatoes of New Orleans.

These were totally different. They were slices of potato about an eighth of an inch thick that were double fried to that the cut sides were crisp and “puffed” leaving a small pocket of air between the cut surface and the meaty inside.
There is a term in French cooking that describes this technique but the name escapes me and a “Google” search hasn’t proved helpful. (If anyone knows, please e-mail me--I am going nuts.)

Now we have already established that there is no such thing as a bad slice of country ham. The biscuits were very good but, to me, the gravy was ordinary. The hash browns were the star of the show.

The next day, it was back to Clarence’s for the hamburger and pan fried chicken. I got the two breast pan fried chicken dinner with mashed potatoes and, for my second side, fried okra. Chuck ordered the eight ounce cheese hamburger deluxe (lettuce, tomato, pickle, and onion) and a side of fries.

Clarence’s chicken is pan fried then finished by deep frying to get an even crispier crust. The chicken was moist and the crust shattered when cut. But we thought the chicken definitely needed seasoning. A little salt and a little Texas Pete Hot Sauce fixed that. I liked the okra but Chuck thought it tasted dusty--whatever that means--but he says the same thing about sprouts. No problem, I liked them and got to eat every last one. The mashed potatoes were awful. They seemed to come from a box or mix and appeared to have an artificial butter flavoring. Not even Chuck liked them.

Clarence’s hamburger secret is to coat the patty with a mixture of Worcestershire sauce and steak sauces plus the ever popular secret ingredient. The result is to impart a tangy crust to the meat when cooked. This was one of the best hamburgers we’ve had and, should we ever get back to Unicoi, would merit a reorder. The fries were probably frozen but were still good.

So how do we rate Clarence’s? A major demerit for the mashed potatoes results in 4.0 (out of 5.0) Addie rating. The chicken, the hamburger, and the hash browns were all above average bordering on excellent. Chuck especially recommends the chicken should you even find yourself in Unicoi, TN.

Last week, Chuck told you about Jackie Tipton, the lunch counter manager with attitude. Today, I’ll tell you about the food (in glowing terms since we may go back, and I don’t want Jackie mad at me). Now the Broadwater Drug’s menu is short and simple but is reputed to have one of the best hamburgers on the Crooked Road. And so it does.

We both ordered the jumbo cheeseburger--mine with onion, mayo and pickle and Chuck’s with just onion. His order, lacking in condiments as it was, did elicit a scowl from Jackie as it does at most restaurants. Since Broadwater Drug does not have the capacity to deep fry anything, French fries were not on the menu. Our potato choices were limited to homemade potato salad and a bag of chips from a staggering array of snack products on a nearby rack. Added to the order was one hot dog with onion and mustard.

To review the food in reverse order, the hot dog came topped with onion and mustard as ordered but was also covered with a generous helping of chili. We forget that chili on a hot dog is the natural order of things here and don’t specify that we don’t want the chili when we've ordered hot dogs. As you can probably guess, neither of us was about to tell Jackie that we didn’t want the chili. No, we ate it as served and it was very good. The chili had real meat, not the soy protein stuff that some local restaurants use.

The potato salad was unusual but good. First, the potatoes seemed to be almost mashed. Second, I still have not developed an appreciation of sweet pickle relish in my potato salad. But this is the way it is served most places in the South, and you either like it or don’t order it (I think I’m channeling Jackie).

I was worried about the hamburger when I saw the woman running the flat top pressing the patties with the back of her spatula--a “no-no” if there ever was one. But not to worry. This was one great sandwich. I think that I got on Jackie’s good side when I said that you could tell that the meat had never been frozen. Then, when I asked about the age of the grill (early 50’s) and said that you couldn’t beat a well-used and seasoned grill, I may have made a friend for life.

Our lunch, which included two very large ice teas, cost less than $12.00. I told Chuck that we needed to stop throwing our money around like that. Our Addie score, a 4.5 and a determination for a return visit.