More Exploring plus Greek Dining

…continuing with our day trip down to southeastern Tennessee and the Cleveland Tennessee area.  There was more to see in Cleveland, plus I had a destination in mind that was on our way home where we could stop for an early dinner.

This is historic St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, located at Ocoee and Central Streets NW in Cleveland.   This Gothic Revival-style church was built in 1873 and, given that fact, it is one of the city’s oldest building as well as the second oldest church in town.  The church building features stained glass windows, intricately carved wooden arches and that 3 story bell tower.

The building was established by John Craigmiles, a member of St. Albans, the church which had preceded St. Luke’s.  It was built in the memory of his 7-year old daughter Nina.  She was killed by a passing train while riding in her carriage on St. Luke’s Day in 1871.  If you remember my previous posting, downtown Cleveland also features the Craigmiles Opera House.

Along with the church, the family had that marble mausoleum built on-site to house the remains of Nina and the rest of the Craigmiles family.  Every year, the mausoleum is opened to visitors as a witness to Christ’s open tomb and as a reminder that one can look forward to the resurrection of the dead at the last day… 

The first home shown above is located at 340 Centenary Avenue in Cleveland.  It is a Colonial Revival style home that was built ca. 1910.  The second home…which I thought was quite attractive…is in the same neighborhood.  The Centenary Avenue Historic District is one of the oldest in Cleveland Tennessee.  Homes in this area were built between 1850 and 1949.  But, in reality I included these homes and this historic district as a vehicle to lead into a ‘spooky’ story. 

The Centenary District of Cleveland was the object of national attention from 1980 until 1998.  A house owned by businessman Allan Jones, (founder of Check into Cash and CreditCorp and other entities), became the site of Halloween appearance by the famous “Tall Betsy” goblin…who stands over 7 feet 6 inches tall.  Jones actually started the “Tall Betsy” rage based on stories that he’d heard from his mother when he was growing up in Cleveland. 

Tall Betsy made annual appearances from 1980 until 1998.  According to Jones, the real “Tall Betsy” was a very tall woman who walked the streets of town in the 1920s.  She was always called Tall Betsy, Black Betsy or the Lady in Black.  The goblin became so popular that block parties were organized for the trick or treaters and in 1993 the Jones house set a world record by giving away 11,201 pieces of bubble gum between 5 PM and 8 PM.

After drawing a crowd of 25,000 in 1998, Jones ‘retired’ Tall Betsy and moved away from Centenary Avenue.  The goblin was said to have vanished forever to a mausoleum in the town’s Fort Hill Cemetery.  However, in 2005, Jones through a Block Party marking Tall Betsy’s 25^th anniversary.  It drew more than 30,000 attendees and they were entertained by the cast of ‘Leave it To Beaver’ and musician Little Richard.

As we headed north along US 11/Lee Highway, toward the restaurant where I’d planned to have an early dinner, we passed this enormous mansion!  I’m guessing that this ‘home’ has quite a story to tell.  It was built in 2006 and for quite some time it was for sale…and listed as an ‘unfinished’ mansion.  The home sits on 6.26 acres of land and the living space for the house itself is listed at 13,837 sq. ft.  It has 2 kitchens, 4 fireplaces, 6 bedrooms (2 masters), 8 full baths and 2 half baths as well as a 5 car garage.

The original listing, which showed it to be unfinished, listed it for $985,000.  The most recent recorded sale of this home showed that it was purchased for $1,816,989.  Zillow estimates its current value at $2,205,000. 

No, this home is not the residence of William Allen Jones… This controversial entrepreneur still lives in the Cleveland area but his home and property are much larger than this.  Jones is worth something north of $500 million.  FYI, one of his neighbors is Forrest Lee Preston, the founder of Life Care Centers of America.  His net worth exceeds $1.2 billion.

We continued on north along US Hwy 11 toward an early dinner and eventually, our home.  Our destination for dinner was a café that makes up part of the Silver Springs Vineyards and Event Center in Riceville Tennessee.  While we didn’t venture into this building at the site, we assumed that it is the event center…

The Parthenon Pavilion is home to wine tasting and the Greek Café.  The interior of the Café is very casual…with lots of wood and plastic chairs paired with a bit of industrial style lighting.  We were a bit surprised with the chairs but in the end, it almost always comes down to the quality of the food presented in any restaurant…casual or formal.

The cake/bakery display cases reminded both of us of the giant cases of Greek bakery products that we used to see in many of the Greek corner restaurants that we used to frequent in the Chicago area.  Looked great!

In addition to a printed menu, these 2 menu boards provided other glimpses of the variety of offerings available at the Café.  The fact is that we were here for just one thing…real Greek food.  We stuck to the printed version... 

Laurie started with the Klassiki Salata or Classic Greek Salad. ($9.00) This salad was made with a mix of spring greens, imported Greek feta cheese and olives along with beets, pepperoncini, red onions, green peppers and cucumbers…all served with the Café’s homemade Greek olive oil vinaigrette dressing and pita bread.  As an option, diners could add grilled chicken or gyros to the salad for another $5.00.  Laurie kept her salad simple…but I did have to 'help her' with that giant slab of feta cheese.

We were starved for genuine Greek cuisine…so I started out with one of my favorites…Avgolemono Soup. ($4.95) This thick rice soup consists of a nice broth loaded with chicken, lemon and egg…and it’s served with pita bread.  Truly, this was a meal in itself!  It was very good and I was worried that now I’d be too full to enjoy my entrée. 

One of the entrees that I’ve missed most since leaving Chicago was what I call Greek Lemon Chicken.  At the Café, it is listed as a Roast Half Chicken. ($14.00) This half organic chicken is served with roasted lemon potatoes, a small Greek Salad and pita bread…and it was sided with more pita bread.  The roasted chicken with lemon was nice and moist!  It was an excellent choice!  I did end up taking a big hunk of the chicken home with me…way too much food! 

Laurie and I had both been dying to find some real Greek style gyros.  Consequently, Laurie went for the Gyro Sandwich or wrap…siding hers with an order of pickled beets instead of French fries.  The gyros sandwich was served with homemade Tzatziki sauce.  It was all good…with the big difference between Riceville Tennessee and Chicago Illinois being the Tzatziki sauce.  The chef/owner’s version was his grandfather’s and it didn’t include very much garlic in the recipe. 

We were quite full and very content when we left the Greek Café at Silver Springs Vineyards, headed north to our home.  It was a very nice meal.  Now we just have to return for more Greek food and to sample their wines…

Silver Springs Vineyards and Event Center (with the Greek Café), is located at 3725 Highway 11S in Riceville Tennessee.  The restaurant and tasting center is open from 11 AM until 8 PM Tuesday through Saturday and they are open for brunch on Sundays…from 11 AM until 2:30 PM.  Website: https://silverspringsvineyards.com/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave