Smoky Mountain Opry’s Christmas Show in Pigeon Forge…

Our wine tasting group opted out of a wine tasting get together in December.  For a Christmas related change of pace, Holly and Joel suggested that it would be both appropriate and fun if we drove over to Pigeon Forge Tennessee and went to the Smoky Mountain Opry’s Christmas Show.

Six couples had the date open on their calendar…and Joel came up with a special price…so he picked up the tickets for the group.   As this event occurred on Laurie’s actual birthday, it provided a celebratory outing for her too! (Understand…her birthday is celebrated for the entire month of December!)

 

This is the former Miracle Theater in Pigeon Forge.   As the Smoky Mountain Opry, it's been transformed and upgraded… There is a renovated stage, new and improved lighting, ‘step out’ sections on each side that allow performers to be above the audience, a laser light system, ‘flying rigs’ for the cast…plus surround sound and a digital projection system.

 

 

As we entered the lobby, we were greeted by Santa and an elf or two.  You can see the snack bar…and the apparel on display for purchase.  There is a souvenir area to the left of this photo…where Laurie bought another little birthday gift for herself.  The entrances to the theater itself are on either side of the snack bar.  As you enter the theater and present your tickets, they automatically have you pose for a souvenir photo that you can opt to purchase later…or not.  We opted to not have our photos taken.

 

 

We didn’t need a commercial photo as Holly had asked another theater goer if he’d mind taking our group picture.  He did a pretty good job of it!  From the left on the front row: Charlie, Karen, Bev, Jenny, Martha and Laurie.  From the left in the back row: Joel, Fred, Holly, Irv, me and Larry.  There were at least 4 Santa hats plus a Christmas sweater amongst us!  The best I could muster was a red shirt…and Larry, aka. 'Big Dude' went Hawaiian…

 

 

This photo is from one of the opening numbers in the show.  We had singing…both solos and en mass…plus dancing, lots of music, ice skating, live animals, great costumes, some ‘wire work’ and lots of set changes.  I’ve always enjoyed watching professional dancers…and these performers were very good indeed.  Lucinda and Mario Morin especially stood out!  Mario also performed a comedy skit or two during the show.  You can learn more about this performing couple at http://www.morinonline.com/index.htm.

 

 

The photo is a little foggy but this is Slim Chance.  He gave a very funny comedy/juggling performance and continued throughout the show as sort of an alternate Master of Ceremonies and he was a player in several skits.  Slim’s real name is David J. Hirschi and, after graduating from Virginia Tech, he began his career as a science teacher.  Other non-comedy related ‘gigs’ have involved the National Zoo in Washington D.C. as well as the National Park Service.  Slim has performed in several Las Vegas Casinos as well as at a number of venues in Branson Missouri and Pigeon Forge.  For more on Slim and where he will be appearing, go to his official web site at http://sherri.machighway.com/~thereal1/Slim%20Chance%20Official%20Web%20Site/Slim%20Chance%20Official%20Website.html.

 

 

This is a toy soldier music and dance number from the show.  It was interesting to note that many members of the cast were multi-talented, appearing in many roles in many portions of the show. 

It was a matinee so the Christmas Show began at 3 PM, then there was an announced 15 minute intermission.  The performance ended just a little after 5:15 PM.  The cast was in the lobby greeting the audience and signing autographs after the show.

 

The Christmas Show is billed as a multi-million dollar production.  This was a skit about the misfit Christmas toys who are wishing for a home where they’d be truly appreciated. 

Incidentally, the band was excellent…and it is the largest live band in East Tennessee.  Laser lights brightened up the stage for a couple of musical numbers.  Artificial fog drifted across the stage from time to time…hence Laurie ended up with a couple of hazy photos.  Near the end of the show, we even had artificial snow! 

 

Of course, in the second half of the show, Santa Claus himself showed up!  He was a very nice facsimile of the real thing too… No reindeer though!  Just guys in top hats… From what I could discover, the first Smoky Mountain Opry Christmas show in 2011 did have real live reindeer. 

As you will see…this show made up for the missing reindeer right at the end of the performance!

 

This is Lakieta Bagwell.  She was the primary featured female soloist…with an excellent voice!  Given the proximity to the Smoky Mountains and the Cherokee Nation, it’s interesting to note that Lakieta is of Cherokee descent.   She started out singing gospel music, was discovered by Dolly Parton and then spent 11 years singing at Dollywood.  Among other venues, she has also performed at the American Music Theater in Pennsylvania and the Grand Old Opry in Nashville.

For additional information about Lakieta, you can go to her Facebook listing at https://www.facebook.com/lakieta.bagwell or you can watch her interview at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdw5t7LNlmM.

 

Two of the other key vocalists…they can dance too…were Jonathan Milner and Kendal Manning.  Kendal has a great voice for country music too…as she displayed in one musical number.  As for Jonathan, he was flying high at the end of this show!  Other than a review of this Christmas Show on Trip Advisor, I couldn’t find anything on either of these gifted performers…

 

FYI...Smoky Mountain Opry Welcomes Photographers...just not videographers!

 

 

I think that our whole ‘wine tasting’ group agreed…that this harmonization…this all male group…delivered the top vocal performance of the show!  Not only was the arrangement cleaver but the vocal blend and delivery was flawless… (FYI, that’s Slim Chance in the middle as Santa Claus trying to relax at his trailer in the off season)

 

 

At the end of the show, the focus was on the real…the original meaning of Christmas.  This celebration of the birth of Christ was complete with angels soaring overhead, (That’s Jonathan Milner as the lead angel), and we also had a flock of animals on stage.  There were camels, a donkey and sheep…along with the 3 wise men, shepherds, Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus.  It was a moving and spectacular finale to the Christmas show.

Our entire group enjoyed the Christmas Show at Smoky Mountain Opry!  Ratings ranged from very nice to excellent… We would recommend this show to residents of East Tennessee and to all our out of town visitors.  The Smoky Mountain Opry Christmas Show runs through December 30^th….so there is still plenty of time to see this warm family friendly show. 

The Smoky Mountain Opry is located at 2046 Parkway in Pigeon Forge Tennessee.  Phone: 800-768-1170.  The Opry’s website is http://www.smokymtnopry.com/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for taking stopping by and sharing this Christmas treat with us!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Breakfast Times Two!

I love a good breakfast!   Add that to the fact that I don’t like to waste leftovers.  The fact that I generally only eat a couple of meals a day…and I can justify, (at least to myself), the ‘special’ breakfasts that I create for myself.

Here are two recent winners…at least by my standards!

 

We had some leftover beef fried rice… I put it in the frying pan and added pepper and garlic powder then I blended in 2 slices of spicy pepper jack cheese.  As you can see, I finished this breakfast offering off with 2 easy over fried eggs sprinkled with Tabasco.  I rated this breakfast as about a 7.5 on a 10.0 scale.

 

 

For those of you who are really health conscious, I started out this next breakfast with a nice healthy glass of pomegranate juice… Don’t worry, the healthy part of breakfast just ended!

 

 

I rated this breakfast creation as a 9.2 out of 10 possible points!  It was very, very tasty and very satisfying…truly comfort food!

I started this construction with a large hunk of yummy leftover chicken fried chicken from Aubrey’s Restaurant in Lenoir City. (For more information regarding this restaurant, go to http://www.aubreysrestaurants.com/aubreys/lenoir-city.html)

After frying/reheating the chicken breast in butter…just to warm it up…I then added 2 slices of spicy pepper jack cheese and then, as per Laurie’s coaching, I put it in the microwave to melt the cheese properly.  Afterwards I added my obligatory 2 eggs easy over…and I was ready for breakfast!  In this case, I added the Tabasco after Laurie took the photo…

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for breakfast!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Puleo’s Grille – Comfort Food w/Variety

Another day running errands with Laurie in the Knoxville area of east Tennessee… We are night owls…invariably staying up until Midnight or even later.  Consequently, we usually don’t get an early start in the mornings.  Friends and family know that it’s best not to call us until after 9 AM.  In keeping with our late starts, we rarely start running errands much before Noon.

We’ll grab a little light breakfast at home, say around 10 AM or so… As a result, we aren’t hungry for lunch until mid-afternoon.  This in turn often leads to a decision to skip lunch and just go for an early dinner.  This was one of those days…

 

This is the Puleo’s Grille at I-40 and Cedar Bluff Road in Knoxville.  Puleo’s Grille is a small local chain of Knoxville based restaurants.  The first location was opened in 2002 and now there are 6 Puleo’s Grilles located in Knoxville (4), Alcoa TN (1) and Murfreesboro TN (1). 

 

 

The dining area of this particular Puleo’s Grille is pleasant with plenty of room between tables and with soft but more than adequate lighting.

Puleo’s ‘catch phrase’ is “Southern Roots – Italian Heritage”.  They claim that “There’s something for Everyone”…and indeed the menu includes steaks, Italian food, seafood, southern cuisine and sandwiches.  

 

We didn’t partake of the bar’s offerings…but it did have a warm club like feeling.  This is a photo of our very efficient server, William...who was more than willing to pose for Laurie’s photo.

 

 

Rave Notice!!  Laurie and I loved Puleo’s Crispy Asparagus…golden deep fried asparagus served with honey mustard and spicy avocado ranch dipping sauces. ($8.00) This proves that everything tastes better if it’s fried! (Although we both like asparagus anyway)

Other available appetizers include: Fried Green Tomatoes ($8.00); Spinach and Artichoke Con Queso ($8.00); Calmari ($10.00); Maryland Crabcakes ($8.00); Crab and Shrimp Dip ($10.00), and; Chicken Chili Nachos ($8.00).

 

One of Laurie’s favorite Italian entrees anywhere is Lobster Ravioli… Her favorite version so far can be found at Willie’s Italian Restaurants in Seymour and Sevierville Tennessee.  When she saw that Puleo’s Grille had Seafood Ravioli on the menu…and that the ravioli were stuffed with lobster, scallops and baby shrimp…served in a tomato basil cream sauce, ($14.00), she didn’t hesitate!  Although she didn’t like it as well as the pure lobster version offered at Willie’s, she really did enjoy her entrée!  She said that she’d order it again…and what more can one say!

Other Italian Specialties on the menu include Scallop Piccata, Eggplant Parmesan, Puleo’s Spaghetti and Meatballs, Chicken Penne Pasta, Palermo Chicken, Chicken Parmesan, Nona’s Lasagna and Chicken Piccata.  Prices for these entrees range from $10.00 to $20.00.  Three individual flatbread style pizzas are also available for between $8.00 and $10.00.

Note: Entrées do not come with salad.  A house salad, Caesar salad or soup can be added to your meal for $3.50.

 

Staying with the Italian theme, I ordered the Palermo Chicken…a citrus grilled chicken breast smothered with an Italian cheese blend, sun dried tomatoes and fresh garlic in a lemon wine reduction served with my choice of two sides. ($15.00) I went with the steamed broccoli and carrots and a baked potato with butter, cheese and bacon.  The veggies were done right…not overcooked.  I was very satisfied with my dinner…plenty of food and a nice mix of flavors.

Steaks and prime rib range from $15.00 to $22.00.  Sides are included.  “Southern Comforts” on the menu include such items as Shrimp and Grits ($15.00), Chicken Pot Pie ($9.00), Roasted Turkey and Dressing ($11.00), and a Maple Glazed Pork Chop ($14.00)  Seafood offerings include Schrod, Ahi Tuna, Salmon, Scallops and a Puleo’s Seafood Sampler.  Prices for seafood items range from $12.00 to $20.00.

Service was pleasant and efficient.  Lunch is served Monday thru Saturday from 11 AM to 4 PM.  Burgers, Lunch Combos, Entrée Salads and special Lunch Entrees are offered.  We will return to Puleo’s Grille to sample other parts of the menu...and for more of that fried asparagus!   This Puleo’s Grille located at 260 North Peter’s Road in Knoxville.  Phone: 865-691-1960.  Website: www.puleosgrille.com.  

Just click on any photo to enlarge it…

Thanks for stopping by and sharing a late afternoon dinner with us!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Polk County TN – History and Historic Places

Continuing with my off and on efforts to locate, photograph and then research the history of listings from the National Register of Historic Places… This is a continuation of our exploration of Polk County Tennessee.  To date I’ve written about the Burra Burra Mines in Ducktown, historic structures in and around both Copper Hill and Ducktown, (including the college that never was), the Cherokee memorial and the old dams along the Ocoee River. 

Only two more NRHP listings, at least for now, in Polk County…

 

Much of the time I dig up more information about these historic places than I can use within the reasonable confines of a blog.  But sometimes, I pretty much strike out!  This is one of those instances.  Laurie took this photo of the Polk County Courthouse in Benton Tennessee…  Beside the fact that it is listed in the NRHP, it was built in 1925 and that architecturally it’s an art deco structure, I couldn’t find out anything else about the building itself.  

The town was named after Thomas Hart Benton…no, not the artist…who wasn’t born until 1889.  This Thomas Hart Benton was a renowned politician, a US Senator from Missouri who was the first Senator to serve 5 terms in the Senate.  He originally owned 50,000 acres in the Nashville Tennessee area but he relocated to Missouri because, as important as he was, in Tennessee he was stuck under the competitive shadow of Andrew Jackson.  Benton was an interesting character who was a champion of America’s western expansion.  For more about Senator Benton, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hart_Benton_(politician).

I perused enough old newspaper articles to learn that back in the 1920’s and 1930’s, this corner of Tennessee was a wild and wooly place!  Killings, moonshine raids, retaliatory attacks on law enforcement, bank robberies with shootouts and political corruption with plenty of violence…all were part of the local tapestry back when the courthouse was new.  For one example of just how crazy it was, just go to http://genealogytrails.com/tenn/polk/Guardsmen_Called_To_Polk_County.html.

 

This is the William Wiggins House, aka The Drug Store. (It still serves as a pharmacy) This home was built ca. 1840 by William Wiggins, one of the first Justices of the Peace in the county.  The house/drug store sits right across the street from the County Court House.   The Wiggins House is believed to be the oldest extant building in town and it was indeed one of the first buildings constructed in Benton.  The attached commercial building is the earliest commercial building in the county.  Much of the home is still original.  This includes the double hung sash windows, board ceilings, plaster walls, fireplace mantels and woodwork.

Among others, a series of 3 doctors occupied the home.  An alternate name for the home is the J.D. Nuchols house.  He purchased the home in 1905 and used it as his home and medical office until he died.  As for William Wiggins, it appears that at least part of the Wiggins clan eventually moved to Missouri and resided there through the Civil War.  Following the war, many of them then migrated to Texas. (There is a lot of information on the Internet regarding the Wiggin’s clan and their family tree)

To reiterate what I said before…there has been a lot of interesting history in this county.  To check out a very strange suicide and even more unusual last will and testament, go to http://genealogytrails.com/tenn/polk/Capt_Jas_Pittit.hml.htm.

That’s about it for now… Just click on either of the photos to enlarge them.

Thanks for stopping by for a stroll down history lane…

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave 

Roadfood Along the Way…

It’s a pretty long drive from where we live in East Tennessee to the eastern suburbs of Cleveland Ohio where our son and his family live.  Long ago, we decided that although it was 15 minutes quicker and services are better on the I-75/I-71 Route via Lexington Kentucky, and Cincinnati/Columbus OH, the scenery was too boring!  Despite $6.00 in tolls each way, staying awake and alive plus being able to appreciate the beauty along the way trumps convenience… We take the I-40/I-81/I-77 route through eastern Tennessee, southwestern Virginia, and then up through the heart of West Virginia and through the hill county of Ohio.

Services off of the I-77 Toll road in West Virginia are relatively limited. Invariably, we end up stopping for lunch…our big break in the 10.5 hour day…in Beckley WV.  We’ve eaten at most of the restaurants right off the Interstate.  Previous stops for human fuel at Beckley have included Ruby Tuesday’s, Bob Evans, Applebee’s and Hooters.   We decided to try a different restaurant on our Thanksgiving trek north.

 

This is the Texas Steakhouse and Saloon.  This is one of 19 Texas Steakhouse restaurants in this regional chain…and none of their locations are in Texas.  All of these restaurants are located in North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia.

 

 

The interior of the restaurant seemed a little drab and worn…although it was nice and clean.  The bar was unoccupied in the early afternoon…but keep in mind that it was the day before Thanksgiving.

 

 

Here’s a look at part of the dining area.  It’s pretty basic.  However, the service was friendly and the waitress steered Laurie away from a menu choice which had not been well received by recent customers…

 

 

We hadn’t had any breakfast so we both opted for a dinner entrée for our late lunch.  The waitress started us out with these 4 nice warm rolls and soft butter. (One of the worst sins that a restaurant can commit is to serve warm bread or rolls with rock hard butter!)

Have you noticed the latest trends?  Fewer and fewer restaurants are automatically serving bread with their meals.  Also, you almost always have to ask for water with your meal.  I’m sure that it’s all about holding costs down and improving margins in this tough economy...which I’m afraid will get even tougher!

 

Not the best photo…somehow we picked up a shadow.  This was Laurie’s entree.  She had the Texas Chopped Steak. ($9.49) It consisted of 10 oz. of fresh ground mesquite-grilled steak with sautéed mushrooms, onions and melted cheese with mashed potatoes and gravy.  Other than the fact that at least for our taste the chopped steak was overcooked, though Laurie enjoyed her chopped steak with the different flavors and textures provided by the toppings.

The menu included 2 soups and chili, a number of dinner salads, crab cakes, Tilapia, shrimp, burgers and other sandwiches, Texas classics, (which is the part of the menu our dinners were listed under), and of course steaks.  Burgers and sandwiches ranged in price from $7.49 to $9.49 without fries or any side items.  The most expensive item on the menu was the 15 oz. hand-cut ribeye steak at $20.99 with 2 sides.  The sides seemed more southern than Texan to me…given choices like Mac n’ Cheese and Sweet Potato with Cinnamon Sugar and Butter with toasted marshmallows.

 

I ordered the Chicken Fried Chicken. ($9.49) I guess that those pieces of chicken can be described as chicken fingers…although where the heck chicken fingers come from is a mystery to me!  What happened to bone-in fried chicken or even a boneless chicken breast?  In any case, my dinner was tasty enough with lots of gravy and mashed potatoes. (Of course, I sprinkled a bit of Tabasco on my chicken!)

The food was decent and the prices were OK too.  While we wouldn’t list the Texas Steakhouse and Saloon as one of our favorites, it does provide a decent helping of comfort food to fuel its customers.  The Berkley WV Texas Steakhouse is located at 140 Harper Park Drive.  Phone: 304-253-1436.  The Company website can be found at: www.texassteakhouse.com.

Just click on any photo to enlarge it…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Thanksgiving in Ohio…

Our son David III, his wife Amy plus our 2 grandsons, David III and Emmett Lee, all live in the Cleveland Ohio metropolitan area.  It’s become a tradition for Laurie and I to drive up to their home for the long Thanksgiving weekend.  This year, it was a big event…with 14 family members and friends in attendance.

 

On Thanksgiving Day, we mostly snacked a lot…and those that are able, actually prepare for the big meal.   Here we have Emmett, fresh from playing flag football with his dad, assisting his mom (Amy) in the preparation of her own special version of a toasted Chex snack mix for our pre-meal snacking.  

 

 

Nana, aka Laurie, went to work instructing David III on the finer points of slicing up carrots for Amy’s sautéed carrot dish to go with our dinner.  David handled the instructions very patiently… Earlier, he’d cut up the green beans for his special green bean side dish. 

 

 

This actually stunned and/or impressed me…!  Our son, David II actually ironed the napkins & tablecloth for the dinner table!  What a good boy…

 

 

This is the kitchen scene just prior to dinner.  David II is back by the stove working on something.  Laurie is supervising my effort to carve enough turkey for the crowd.  Amy’s parents, Bonnie and Dan were also observing.  Given my questionable ‘skills’ at carving, I was surprised that they still had an appetite when we sat down for dinner!

 

 

'Butchering the bird' would have been a more correct description of my efforts.  This is my annual duty re: Thanksgiving dinner preparation.  After dinner, I am then responsible for stripping all usable meat from the carcass…sandwich slices in separate packages from bits and chunks for use with pasta, omelets or as hot turkey sandwiches.  Amy and Laurie stay out of the kitchen when I’m up to my elbows in the carcass…a wise move on their part!

 

 

With 14 people for Thanksgiving Dinner, everything was set up for serving buffet style.  In addition to the turkey, (far end of the table), there were 2 kinds of stuffing, (1 with sausage and 1 without), as well as: David III’s green beans; mashed potatoes; mashed califlower;mac and cheese; sweetpotato caserole, corn pudding, etc...lots of variety!

 

 

Here is a view of our Thanksgiving crowd taken by Amy from her chair at one end of the table.  From the left: Brin, Lisa, Dianne, David III, Dalton, Dan,  myself, Laurie, David II, Ian, Bonnie, John, and Emmett Lee. Amy was the one taking the photo.

Given the nature of the world today…with wars, financial cliffs, non-functioning government, the Tennessee Vols football program, etc., we didn’t take any chances.  We started out our meal with 2 different prayers… Huge amounts of food were ultimately consumed!

 

Later…there were of course…desserts!  Lots of desserts… Amy’s Pumpkin Cheesecake in the foreground got rave reviews!  Other entrees in the dessert category included an Apple Crisp Pie, a Chocolate Fudge Pie and a huge Pumpkin Pie with Cool Whip!  This was a very fine Thanksgiving feast and celebration with family and friends…

 

 

This was the scene on the Friday after Thanksgiving in Cleveland…and the big shopping day across the country.  Snow!!  The only good news about the weather was that it didn’t really accumulate except on the grass and we’d already completed our shopping… The snow also served to further confirm that Laurie and I made the right decision in retiring down in paradise…in East Tennessee.  We don’t see much of that white stuff where we live…and we don’t miss it!

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them… (Credit to Amy who took 3 of them)

Thanks for stopping by and sharing our belated posting of our Thanksgiving dinner!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

An Historic American/Japanese School at Risk

There have been many times that Laurie and I have driven down US Route 11 to Sweetwater Tennessee…and just before we got into the town itself, we’ve passed by a mysterious complex of buildings hidden in the woods and undergrowth.  The driveway to the facility is chained shut and the grounds leading up to the buildings were completely littered with downed trees and brush gone wild.

 

With most of the leaves gone from the trees and the field in front of the facility recently cleared and mowed, we recently got a little better glimpse of this large structure.  A Tennessee Historical Plaque by the driveway identified this as the second campus for the Tennessee Military Institute, later identified as the TMI Academy. 

It all began in 1874 with the founding of the Sweetwater Military College just down the road from this location in the town of Sweetwater.  In 1902, the school was renamed as the Tennessee Military Institute…and then the school was relocated to this 10 building 144-acre site in 1909.  In 1975, it was named as the TMI Academy, but the demand or need for preparatory schools declined over the years and the school closed in 1988.  The main building is over 103 years old…

 

I was a little surprised just how challenging it would be to find photos of this historic old school.  Most were too small to be used and then there were a couple of photos for sale…copyrighted even…and good to avoid.

Following the Civil War, Tennessee completely lacked an educational system.  There just wasn’t enough government funding available so various communities, religious groups and individuals started private schools.  James Kirkland, the chancellor of Vanderbilt University, championed these schools as he saw them as a means by which he could maintain the University's high admission standards.  At one point there were 32 of these schools in operation in the state…and from what I can find out, only 7 of them remain.

 

This is a photo of some of the cadets looking at maps in a room on campus.

As I dug around the Internet looking for information on the school, I came across a remarkable number of attendees and graduates of the Tennessee Military Institute or the TMI Academy.  I discovered many of them via LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/.  The school had been listed as part of the various subject’s educational background.  I found a well-known sports writer, (Nashville, New York City and nationally), Henry Grantland Rice, as well as a professional football player, Antone Davis.  Davis played at the University of Tennessee and then he was drafted in the first round by the NFL and then played Offensive Tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles and the Atlanta Falcons.

I also noted that the 6-degrees of separation rule was in effect, big time!  I found a number of TMI graduates/attendees who were within 3 degrees of separation from myself… In other words, a number of my own 260 LinkedIn connections were connected to one of these former student’s own list of connections.  Some of the graduates have achieved enough ‘fame’ to have their own Wikipedia pages.  In addition to Rice and Davis as mentioned above, other TMI attendees listed in Wikipedia include historian North Callahan, political advisor/consultant Phil Noble, Texas judge and US Congressman Joseph Franklin Wilson, SC politician James M. Waddell Jr. and Joe “Dixie” Fuller, a showman, musician and restaurateur from Chattanooga.  

 

So, if you’ve read this far, you’re probably wondering about the reference to the American/Japanese School in the title of this blog.  When the TMI Academy closed in 1988, the facility was purchased by the Japanese Presbyterian institution Meiji Gakuin University.  The Tennessee Meiji Gakuin High School opened in 1989.  Its purpose was to provide a Japanese style education for Japanese students residing in America…so they could easily enter Japanese Universities upon their return to their homeland.  Students attended classes 1 hour longer than local schools…6 days a week and 230 days a year...

(Note: The marker in the photo above was placed by the Meiji Gakuin University to commemorate the contributions made by this school and to mark the school’s friendship with the Sweetwater community)

The town of Sweetwater held a welcoming open house just before the school opened.  Over 200 people attended the event…which included a Japanese tea ceremony and country music.  Unfortunately, a cross-burning incident took place in late May of 1989, when a group or person placed a 6.5 foot wooden cross at the school’s entrance and set it on fire.  It appears that no one was ever arrested for this action… 

A new building was added to the campus as recently as 2005, but with high tuition costs and declining enrollment, the school closed in 2007.  A total of 677 students graduated from the school. 

In 2010, the Japanese owners of the campus gave the land and buildings to a local non-profit.  An internal dispute by the non-profit’s board of directors has led to complete inaction.  Lawsuits are flying, city and county taxes are in arrears.  A judge had forbidden either party to enter the property for any purpose…all utilities had been cut off for over a year…and the place was slowly starting to fall apart.  Recently, after Sweetwater issued several safety related citations against the property, the judge allowed for a ‘clean-up’ period.  As this blog is already a bit too wordy, if you’d like more information just click on this recent article published by the Knoxville News Sentinel.  http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/sep/26/cleanup-approved-for-neglected-much-debated/.  This is a sad story for what was a great institution.  Hopefully the future holds some promise for both historical and local economic reasons... 

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave