On the Road Again – Backroads to St. Louis Missouri (#1)

Finally…a road trip of sorts!  We had planned to visit Laurie’s family in St. Louis Missouri.  How to add interest to a drive that we’ve made many times, primarily on the Interstate System.  So I laid out a route along secondary highways up through Tennessee and into Kentucky, ending our first day at a hotel in Owensboro on the Ohio River.

The next step was to do a bit of research and learn what points of interest and historical landmarks or places we could easily check out during our drive, listing out the possibilities along the way.  The goal was flexibility.  In other words, if timing demanded it, we could just skip some of the places I’d listed and/or just change our route to pick up a bit of time.

We left our home at about 8:30 AM…heading north on I-75 and then west on I-40 until we came to US Hwy 127, where we turned north toward Kentucky.  In Grimsley Tennessee, we stopped and I took my first photo of a place along the way that was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.  The building was constructed by James Beaty in 1924.  The only commercial building built in Grimsley in the first part of the 20^th Century, it served as the General Store as well as the U.S. Post Office.  James Beaty served as the first postmaster.  The Post Office continued to operate here until after WWII and the Beaty family maintained the store until 1981.  The Beaty General Merchandise Store was the core of the town…commercially, socially and economically.

In Jamestown Tennessee, we spotted the Alvin C. York United States National Guard Armory.  As you will see as our drive continues, Alvin C. York is larger than life in this area of Tennessee.  I’m not sure what model tank is part of the display shown above, but the two M-247 Sgt. York twin-gun self-propelled anti-aircraft light armored units were named after Alvin York…

Jamestown is home for the Troop E “Enforcer” unit of the 2^nd Squadron (Phantom Raiders), a Garrison Unit of the 278^th Armored Cavalry Regiment.  This Regiment is the only National Guard Armored Cavalry Regiment.  Its lineage is traced to conflicts stretching from early volunteer militias of Eastern Tennessee…the Revolutionary War to the Global War on Terror.

This is the old Fentress County Jail in Jamestown Tennessee.  It was built in in 1898 and it served both as the jail and the Sheriff’s residence until 1979.  It still has several original iron cells.  In the second photo, note the bars on the window on the second floor.  The structure is an early example of the use of quarry-faced sandstone as a building material.  Today, the building houses the Chamber of Commerce and the “Ye Ole Jail Museum”.  You can learn more at https://www.tnvacation.com/local/jamestown-ye-ole-jail-museum.

History: For many years Fentress County was the site of several saltpeter mines.  Saltpeter is the main ingredient of gunpowder and it was gathered by leaching the earth from local caves.  At one time there were 25 large leaching vats in operation in just one cave.  During the civil war, this was a major source for much needed saltpeter in a divided county where both sides were sadly well represented.

In 1905, fire destroyed the Fentress County Courthouse in Jamestown Tennessee.  This is the third courthouse for the county and it was completed in 1908.  Actually, only the center section was completed that year.  I found a photo from 1910 that showed the center section only.  I learned that the wings were built in 1973 and they were designed to ‘match up’ with the original structure. 

Jamestown itself has a population of 1,935 and Fentress County’s population is 18,489.  Before the town was founded, the area was known as “Sand Springs” for the many bubbling springs located in the town.  Today, the last remaining spring is located in the Mark Twain City Park near the courthouse.  John M. Clemens, father of author Samuel L. Clemens (aka Mark Twain), served as the first circuit court clerk and he also drew up the plans for the first courthouse and jail.

More History: During the American Civil War, Fentress County provided four companies for the Confederate Army and three for the Union Army.  “Tinker Dave” Beaty formed his Union scout company to battle with the pro-Confederate guerrilla’s led by Samuel ‘Champ’ Ferguson.  Neither of these forces were ever actually mustered into the armies they supported, spending most of their time fighting each other.  Ferguson was a notorious guerrilla during the war.  He claimed to have killed over 100 Union soldiers and pro-Union civilians.  After the war, he was arrested, tried and executed for war crimes by the U.S. government.  To learn more, read all about ‘Champ’ at Champ Ferguson - Wikipedia.  If the stories are true, ‘Champ’ was indeed a bloody killer of civilians as well as Union soldiers.

This is a view of the front of World War I hero Alvin C. York’s home in Pall Mall Tennessee.  It is part of the Alvin C. York State Historic Park situated along the Wolf River.  The park also includes a millhouse and dam, his general store and post office (1925), the Wolf River Cemetery where York and his family are buried, the Wolf River Methodist Church and the York Bible Institute. 

How famous was Alvin York?  He was so famous that legendary actor Gary Cooper played him in the top grossing film for 1941.  It was simply titled “Sergeant York”.

We actually liked the side view of Sgt. York’s home better than the front.  He was so famous and well regarded that the Nashville Rotary Club raised the funds to buy the home and adjoining farm for York.  York and his family moved into the house on Valentine’s Day in 1922.

History: Alvin York was a member of the pacifist Church of Christ in Christian Union and when he was drafted in WWI, he applied for conscientious objector status, but he was denied.  In October of 1918, while on patrol along the Meuse-Argonne Front in France, York and his platoon found themselves behind enemy lines in order to take out a machine gun position.  After capturing a number of enemy soldiers, the Americans were caught in an ambush that left over half of the platoon dead.  York led the handful of survivors in a counterattack.  That attack resulted in the death of several enemy soldiers and the capture of 132 German prisoners.  Upon his return to the USA, Sgt. York was awarded the Medal of Honor and he became an instant celebrity.  To learn more about Alvin C. York, go to Alvin York - Wikipedia.  To learn more about the Sgt. Alvin C. York State Park, you can go to Sgt. Alvin C. York State Park — Tennessee State Parks (tnstateparks.com).

Moving on up along US Hwy 127 into Kentucky, we came to Lake Cumberland.  This reservoir’s shoreline measures 1,255 miles in length and the lake itself covers 65,530 acres at maximum pool elevation.  Built for flood control and the production of hydroelectric power, the reservoir ranks 9^th in the USA in size, containing enough water to cover the entire Commonwealth of Kentucky with 3 inches of water.  The main lake is 101 miles long but just over a mile across at its widest point.  The dam shown in the first photo is the Wolf Creek Dam.

Note: US Hwy 127 is a 758 mile long north-south Federal highway that starts in Chattanooga Tennessee and terminates at I-75 near Grayling Michigan.  More importantly, since 1987, it has been the location or core of the annual World’s Longest Yard Sale, known as the Highway 127 Corridor Sale, which now stretches 690 miles from Addison Michigan south to Gadsden Alabama.  The sale takes place in August each year.  It was started to demonstrate that the older U.S. Highway System has something to offer that the Interstate Highway System doesn’t…  To learn about this year’s sale, go to 127 Yard Sale - The World's Longest Yard Sale.

Our last stop for this post is at the Russell Lodge No. 284 in Jamestown Kentucky, also known as the Jamestown Masonic Lodge.  The NRHP nomination states that “In Kentucky, a rural state with limited ethnic diversity, fraternal organizations were the primary secular group available to men.  The building ‘helps us understand the vital role that such civic groups played in cultural life”.  While the building was finished in 1939, the lodge was formed in 1890.

Too many Jamestown’s?  Actually there are 28 towns and villages named Jamestown in the United States… Jamestown Kentucky has a population of 1,869.  Jamestown is in Russell County, which was a dry county…no alcohol sales…until January of 2016 when 52.8% of voters approved the change.

The Jamestown Kentucky Masonic Hall was built in 1939 and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.  The first floor is currently the home for the world famous Cumberland Guitars…and they sell some dandies… I spotted a nice 2014 Fender Custom Shop 1964 ‘Jazzmaster’ on the website that could be yours for only $4,799.  It’s candy apple red too!  Website: Cumberland Guitars – New, Used, and Vintage Guitars, Basses, and More.

That’s it for now… Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them.  I am having real trouble trying to figure out how to deal with the ‘new and improved’ google photo system on my computer.  At the moment, the only way I can enhance photos is via a ‘work around’ that is cumbersome and very time consuming.  I’ll be looking for help!

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave