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Sample Past Posts
- Remembering the Schoolhouse(s) Known as “Bell Ridge” in the Morrison City area of North Kingsport, Tennessee January 31, 2020
- A Song of Unity from Long Ago August 19, 2019
- Beautiful Hills of Home August 16, 2019
- When Your Family Tree Becomes All Hung Up July 22, 2019
- “The Storms are on the Ocean” as a Metaphor for Homesickness June 15, 2019
- “Excuse Me, May I Look Inside Your Biscuit?” May 3, 2019
Top Posts & Pages
- A Barony in the Mountains of Southwest Virginia
- Remembering Vacation Bible School in the '60s and '70s
- The Flood of 1977
- Disappearing Towns: Morrison City
- Robert Sayers Sheffey, Mountain Preacher and Man of Prayer
- A Sunny Day in Sharon Springs
- A Conversation that didn't Go Well
- History of a Part of Weber City, Virginia
- Places I've Lived: Paint Lick, VA
- Ode to Soup Beans and Corn Bread
Tag Archives: East Tennessee
Remembering the Schoolhouse(s) Known as “Bell Ridge” in the Morrison City area of North Kingsport, Tennessee
There are three main places where children form their identity (or at least they used to): 1. Their home, 2. Their church, and 3. Their school. Bell Ridge Elementary was a school built to serve people of the northwest corner … Continue reading
Posted in History, Uncategorized
Tagged Appalachian, Bell Ridge, East Tennessee, Holston, holston river, Kingsport, Kingsport Tennessee, Morrison City, school, Tennessee
2 Comments
The Healing of the Broken Rooster
I met Dana Reed when I moved to Jonesborough, Tennessee in 2003. “Coach,” as they called him, since he had been a coach for more than a generation of young people in the schools of Washington County, Tennessee, was grinning … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged air port, apple pie, army-navy surplus, broken rooster, Coach, delight, donkey cross, East Tennessee, fried pie, grin, head rooster, Hospitality, ministry, pottery, rooster, story, storytelling
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Gone to Conference
“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”–Hebrews 10: 25, (King James Bible) I am not sure who first thought … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Annual Conference, appointments, Church, civil war, day lilies, East Tennessee, Lake Junaluska, license, means of grace, Methodist, ministry, North Carolina, ordination, preacher, preaching, singing, Southwest Virginia, union confederate, United Methodist
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The Model City
I grew up next to Kingsport, Tennessee. Kingsport has had several lives, the most recent being a period of industrialization, growth, expansion, and relative decline. This period was much touted at the beginning as the town became known through the … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged annexation, Bristol, East Tennessee, economic development, Greeneville, holston river, john Nolan, Johnson City, Kingsport, model city, Norton, Southwest Virginia, Weber City
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Reflections on Appalachia, Part One: Mountaineers are Always Free!
I am taken with the stories of the settlement of my home region in the early history of the United States. The mountains became a home of hope for many who were getting away from something worse somewhere else. Their … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged abolition, appalachia, Appalachian Mountains, Appalachian Region, Battle of King's Mountain, civil war, East Tennessee, free, freedom, halifax, jonesborough, Methodist, mountain, mountain people, mountaineers, North Carolina, northern, pioneers, revolutionary war, Rocky Mount, Sevier, southern, southwestern Virginia, state of franklin, Tennessee, Tipton, washington, West Virginia, willie jones
2 Comments
A Lost Historic Site
Samuel Patton was born in 1797 in the Lancaster District of South Carolina. As a young man he was part of a family that was religious, but not enthused about it. One of his grandmothers was known to say, … Continue reading
Chewing Gum and the Rapture
I don’t know when I first became aware that little blobs of pink on the bottom of the church chairs was actually chewing gum. But I am sure I saw some the night Pastor Steve came to preach. The minister … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Baptist, concert prayer, East Tennessee, hairspray, Jesus, Juicy Fruit, polyester, prayer, preacher, revival, Southwest Virginia, Sunday
1 Comment
Compromise Church
Up in a narrow hollow in East Tennessee there is a little white, country church called “Compromise.” It is on Route 70 between Rogersville and Kyle’s Ford. It’s been there quite a long time. It looks pretty serene, with a … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Apostle Paul, Church, Compromise Church, East Tennessee, Holy Spirit, Jesus, polarized world, United Methodist Church
3 Comments
Things I Like About Kingsport
Everybody has a home town. I guess mine is Kingsport, Tennessee, even though I was actually raised just north in a little nearby community across the state line in Virginia. Kingsport was our place to go for nearly everything we … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged East Tennessee, holston river, John Nolen, Kingsport, Kingsport Tennessee, long island of the holston, Tennessee, Virginia
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Decoration Day
Long before it became a day to honor the people who had died in war, the people of the hills of home would go each spring to the family or church graveyard. They went in springtime after all the gardens … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged appalachia, death, Decoration Day, East Tennessee, Kentucky, Memorial Day, Ralph Stanley, sadness, tradition, United States, Virginia
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