The last weekend Tom and I worked at Cumberland Gap National Historical Park were the Heritage Days. In the past, these days have celebrated the Appalachian way of life around the time of the Hensley Settlement – 1900 and later. This year, Ranger Layton was in charge of Heritage Days and he decided we would …
From October 2023
Breaks Interstate Park: Grand Canyon of Virginia
What is the Grand Canyon of Virginia and Kentucky? Breaks Interstate Park. In fact, Breaks Interstate Park is so grand that they claim to be the Grand Canyon of the South. Tom and I headed to Breaks Interstate Park on one of our last days off at Cumberland Gap. We didn’t intentionally save it for …
JR Hoe and Sons Iron Foundry
While Tom and I were at Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, we had the opportunity to tour JR Hoe and Sons Iron Foundry. Tom had been doing the Iron Furnace talk and was interested in finding out more about the iron heritage in Middlesboro. Middlesboro was founded as an iron town, “The Pittsburgh of the …
Restoring a Historic Loom at Cumberland Gap
One of the projects Tom and I had at Cumberland Gap National Historical Park was restoring a historic loom and setting it up in the Visitors Center. The loom had been stored up at Hensley Settlement for years and the mice had gotten to it and eaten most of the strings. When we first arrived …
Your “We” Is Too Small: A Challenge
Tom and I are back at our home in Ohio and got to attend worship at Lewis Center United Methodist Church yesterday. Rev. Phil Rode preached on Romans 15 and it was a good sermon. As often happens when I am listening to a sermon, Rev. Phil mentioned something – not a major point in …