Chores are done, now we can go play again.
This journey took us to the Museum of Appalachia, in Clinton, which is just up the road from where we are staying. Visit: https://www.museumofappalachia.org.
The museum was founded in 1969 by John Rice Irwin (JRI), and is nestled in amongst an authentic village (made of buildings from different locations in the region).
As with most museums, the starting point is the gift shop and restaurant to buy tickets. Once visitors leave the gift shop, they are welcomed by some of the locals.
We smartly marched over to the Hall of Fame building to start our tour.
Most of the people in the Hall of Fame are friends of the founder of the museum. As visitors walk into the building, there is a wall filled with folks and their stories.
Let's meet a couple of the friends, starting with Levi Collins, from nearby Cherry Bottom.
Levi kept himself busy over the years as a farmer, miller, coal miner, and a blacksmith.
Meet Condy Foust, born on an isolated farm near Clinton.
Here he is pictured "paling-splitting", in other words, splitting lumber to make either pales, or fencing. In the fall he would help museum folks make molasses.
This here is Dolly Hoskins Turnbill. 
Here at age 86, she is proudly holding a basket a childhood friend made for her, and had collected eggs in it, she figured, for nearly 65 years.
After reading the stories about the folks that live/lived in the region... I could see living their lifestyle... a simple one.
The region has a great deal of Native American Indian history as well. The next exhibit contained many artifacts giving witness of the rich culture.
This toy really intrigued me, it was from a prominent businessman now living in Tennessee, but grew up in North Carolina.
This tractor was made for him, using medical tape containers, a block of wood, a wheel from some piece of old furniture, and some wire.
A Native American Indian Nutcracker
I suppose what I like about the folks represented here, is that they made due with what they had, because there wasn't a lot of money lying around, but a lot of enjoying of life. The people of the region were inventors, designer, and innovators.
A gentleman/farmer/inventor, Asa Jackson was known throughout the middle Tennessee region for his Perpetual Motion Machine. This machine was designed and built in the 1800s. As you may know from the title, this machine could power itself... forever. The story goes that Asa hid the machine in a cave during the Civil War, and even dismantled it when it was unattended, that way people wouldn't figure out how it worked. The framing and churn were added by museum staff. The churn is the item at the bottom left in the photo.
John Rice Irwin (JRI) bought the machine from the great-grandsons of Asa in 1994.
Children were not wanting for toys growing up, there was always something a toy could be made from.
This toy really intrigued me, it was from a prominent businessman now living in Tennessee, but grew up in North Carolina.
A lot of the artifacts here were made from scrap lumber and crates.
You may notice the train towards the top of the photo, which was made by a seven-year-old boy, named Olen Marshall.
Crates were used for other forms of entertainment too. Take children's furniture for example.
As the story goes about this chair, Howard Hitchcock was one of 16 children, and furniture was scarce in their household. His daddy worked farms clearing the land, receiving a fourth of the crop yield for his family, and he made a chair from orange crates. The children went to work as soon as they could handle a hoe or pitchfork. Howard was the only sibling to complete high school, at 17. What Howard remembers is: we raised what we ate, and ate what we grew. After school he married his wife, Francis Nash, who was 14. She remembers them going to and auction one day and buying everything they need to set up a household, paying a whopping $15.00. Time marched on and Howard and his wife live in a nice house, buying and selling antiques. The short of the story, they gifted the chair to John Rice Irwin.
The other great thing about country life... everything has a story.
TAKE A BREAK, THERE IS MUCH MORE TO SEE.
Keep in mind as you read this post today, when I say this region I mean the Appalachia Mountain country, so you will see things from Tennessee to Virginia.
Mountain folk couldn't always afford health care, and probably can't today, thanks to our economics, so they relied on local folk with knowledge of healing.
There was one such man in Blackwater, Virginia, his name was Dr. Andrew "Andy" Osborne. 
Dr. Osborne was skilled in blacksmithing, carpentry, farming, and clock making (that used wooden cogs), and developed his interest in medicine at an early age. What he did was follow his uncle, who was a doctor, through the back woods of Tennessee and southwest Virginia. What peaked his interest was the high mortality rate of infants; sadly, he lost 10 of his children either in infancy or childhood.
Replica
Original (in decay after his death)
At age 24, he took and passed the Virginia Medical Examination, and was issued a license to practice medicine. He built his "Doctor's Office", or "Medicine House", as he called it, and worked tirelessly serving the communities around him. What you see inside of the office is from his actual medicine house, with a couple exceptions.
People would walk miles for his services, even with that, he still traveled extensively on horseback throughout the countryside. It has been said that while traveling long distances, he slept in the saddle, and when he returned back to his cabin, his horse would noisily nudge the gate until the doctor woke up. Dr. Osborne turned no patient away, and did not ask for payment, those that could afford to pay, generally did. This was evident after his passing away in 1937, because he had few worldly possessions, and the preacher presiding over his funeral had to provide him a suit to be buried in.
We move into entertainment next. Some of the people you may recognize, but let's start with one you may not know, unless you are into country or folk music.
You'll possibly know this next guy.
Us older folks knew him as Grandpa Jones, from Hee Haw. He was a strong supporter of "old time music".
Lewis Marshall Jones grew up in northwestern Kentucky. By the time he was in high school he was copying Jimmie Roger songs, and appearing on a radio station show called The Young Singer of Old Songs. He did a stint on the Lum and Abner Radio Show before he and a friend met singer Bradley Kincaid. While working with Kincaid at radio station WBZ in Boston, Kincaid gave him the nickname "Grandpa", because he sounded old and grouchy on the morning show. By 1969 he was appearing on Hee Haw, working with Minnie Pearl, and David "Stringbean" Akeman. Grandpa Jones left us in 1995, to play banjo up above. For more information visit: https://countrymusichalloffame.org/artist/grandpa-jones.
Cabin used as Daniel Boone's home in the series Young Dan'l Boone.
Another local boy to the region was Roy Claxton Acuff, was born in Tennessee.
As a youngster he got his love for music from a variety of sources, ranging from folk ballads to his sister's classical vocal training. His bigger love during his high school days though, was sports, lettering in basketball, baseball, and football. He went on to play semi-pro baseball, and was recruited by a major league team. Unfortunately he was sidelined during the 1929-30 season due to an injury.
While recuperating he began practicing the fiddle, and by 1932 he was touring with a medicine show. He and several other musicians touring formed a band, that would later be dubbed The Crazy Tennesseans by a local radio station announcer. His radio fame caught the attention of a record producer from American Record Corporation (ARC). The band was brought to Chicago, where they recorded their first twenty songs in 1936.
Becoming more famous Roy decided that it was time to head for the Grand Ole Opry, however, Opry's George D. Hays denied his requests to appear. It wasn't until 1938 that Roy got the opportunity to play at the Opry, thanks to the intervention of a promoter named J.L. Frank. His performance of the classic The Great Speckled Bird generated a lot of fan mail. With their growing popularity, J.L. Frank suggested that they change their band name, which they did, to Smokey Mountain Boys. Roy was the lead in the band, which drove their popularity. Opry executives put him at the center of a budding star system.
By 1940 Roy was soaring as a headliner for an Opry show, songbooks, records, and gate receipts from touring, all this put him in a new tax bracket, hitting the $200,000 mark in 1942. He had business prowess too, forming the Acuff-Rose Publications. The partnership was formed under his wife Mildred's name, and Fred Rose. The company was the foundation for music publication in Nashville, it also was the Acuff's richest source of income.
Time moves by quickly, sometimes too quickly, and Roy's style of music was being surpassed by artists like Eddy Arnold, singing a pop-oriented brand of country music. Then there was Ernest Tubbs with his honky-tonk style, both nothing like Roy's old-time music style.
In 1946-47 Roy left the Opry over a salary dispute, but did later return to host a segment of the Opry, the Royal Crown Cola Show. He did not sit on his laurels though. He opened a recreational park in Clarksville, Tennessee, unsuccessfully ran for Tennessee governor, and went on an international tour with the Opry troupe in 1949, entertaining the U.S. forces in Europe.
His later years records sales were so-so, but he continued to stay busy, working with other artists, forming another business, and appearing on Hee Haw occasionally. In 1962 he was admitted into the Grand Ole Opry "Hall of Fame". He was known as a salesman for the Grand Ole Opry. You can learn a little more about him at: https://countrymusichalloffame.org/artist/roy-acuff.
John Rice Irwin received this fiddle from Roy on October 30, 1987, after he finished his Opry performance.
Are you getting the sense that these folks love their music., if you are still wondering, the next section should remove doubt, which will be mostly pictures, few words.
Here we gooooo...
This one some say is questionable as to its claim as a fiddle. Acquired in the mountains of Western North Carolina, it is made of a single natural formation.
Folks in the Appalachia region use whatever materials were available to them when it came to their entertainment. This hub cap banjo is made from a hub cap that was found along side the road, the head is scrap tin, the neck and sides are carved from black walnut, the other side of the neck overlay is fretted and inlaid with polished steel, to simulate mother-of-pearl. Oops, lotta words.
The entire body and head of this banjo are made from heavy gauge tin, the neck is maple, and the tuning keys are from an old guitar. This banjo appeared to be a four string, but actually was a five string at one time. This banjo is from the southwest region of Virginia.
This instrument is unique, as some of its characteristics are mandolin, some are guitar, however it is looked at as a hybrid banjo because of the four strings and other traits. This instrument is made of oak, with a floral design, and the cutouts are pasted on the body and neck.
This instrument is closer to a dulcimer, which we will see later on.
Have you ever heard "the jawbone of an ass"? This musician put the jawbone of his departed mule to use, as a fiddle. Here is Raymond Fairchild playing his fiddle.
Lets talk dulcimers.
As the name implies, this dulcimer is made from a gourd. Minnie Black, the maker of this gourd, got her idea when she noticed that the shape look similar to a fiddle, so she finished the job. To keep the story short, she and a group of friends would perform using her gourds. Her reputation spread far and wide, appearing on the David Letterman Show, and making a visit to the Johnny Carson show, both in the late 1980s.
The following banjo was made by a gentleman that makes traditional style banjos for a living.
Pryse Venable was walking through a flea market one day, and came up with his "bedpan" banjo idea. One day a visitor to the museum gave it a new name "ukuweewee", and it stuck.
Guitars are not safe from man's imagination either.
John Rice Irwin wasn't sure if his friend Paul Casey made this guitar for playing, or just to be mean; it is a playable instrument no less. The museum calls it the Commode Guitar, but Paul refers to it as the "shitar".
As we continue our journey through what can be used for music, lets take a gander at a combination of gardening and smoking pleasure.
This is a one string banjo made of a common hoe and cigar box. Music is made using a regular fiddle bow and moving the cigar back and forth on the single string.
This next photo is an upgraded guitar, but I don't think the design went too far.
The ironing board guitar was considered a "steel guitar" because a metal slide was used for making the notes as it was moved up and down the strings. This particular guitar was played by Bill Croxdale (a.k.a. Bobo the Clown) for 40 years, starting in the 1930s, around the Knoxville area.
What is great about traveling is the opportunity for learning the cultures of different regions, here is no exception. The next area in the museum is associated with basket makers.
Most of the baskets are made from oak saplings. Husband and wife team Nancy and Russ do basket weaving exhibitions at the museum, some of which are on display. From time to time, John will ask them what size basket they would like to make, and the general response is whatever you (John) would like. One day they pinned him down, not letting him escape until he gave them an answer... and that was... big enough to sit in.
Here it is live.
If it weren't for our country folk, a lot of arts and crafts would be gone. There was a display cabinet that showed off some of the wonderful carvers/whittlers in the region.
There was definitely a lot of exhibits to see in the Hall of Fame, but we are going to move onto the next building, which is a tad smaller. 
This building would be the Gwen Sharp Playhouse. At age five, Gwen's father had this little playhouse built for her. She was able to enjoy the playhouse for six years before the TVA bought up land to build the Norris Dam. The museum graciously accepted the gift of the playhouse from Gwen... she was 84 when she gifted it.
Moving on to the next building, we come to someone's home.
Meet Charlie Fields (a.k.a. Cedar Creek Charlie). Charlie was one of eleven children. It was reported that he never learned to read or write, and when his father died and his siblings moved away, he took care of his mother until she died. After her death is when his new found hobby of painting everything red, white, and blue - either stripes or polka dots started. The room in the two lower photos are a replica of his room, the items in the room are actual artifacts from his room. John Rice Irwin (JRI) was able to procure them after the death of Cedar Creek Charlie, with the help of Professor J. Roderick Moore, of Ferrum College, in Ferrum Virginia.
This was the Arnwine Home, built between 1790 and 1820. Arnwine ancestors lived in this house well into the 20th century. The house was moved from its original location when TVA was gobbling up land to built the Norris Dam, condemning the land, the Arnwine family was paid $1,028.50 for their 20 acre parcel. Believe it or not, fifteen family members lived together in this cabin once, a long time ago.
Next door we find Tom Cassidy's cabin.
Tom Cassidy was a musician living in Union county Tennessee, and spent his last few decades living in this hot bachelor pad, passing away in 1989. When the museum purchased the 8'x8' cabin in 2007, it was exactly as Tom left it... a photo of country music icon Kittie Wells hanging on the wall; looking up to the ceiling, visitors can see where bullets perforated the tin roof.
Tom Cassidy's was heard saying: "I've got that little cot in there, a chair, a stove for heat and cooking, a frying pan, a bean pot, an old dresser, my fiddle, and my pistol. What more does a man need?"
Saying goodbye to Tom, we headed for another large barn. Before we walked into the barn I stopped at what looked like a water trough... I was wrong. 
This is actually a salt kettle, used to boil down salt-ladened water. When the Civil War started President Lincoln ordered his generals to destroy all salt kettles found. They thought they destroyed this one, but it was repaired, and buried to hide it from the Union Army. A hundred years later, this kettle was uncovered when a school was being torn down.
Our present day prisoners have the good life, unlike the pioneer days. On the other side of the barn entrance were a couple of jail cells.
These two cells date back to 1874, and were used in Madisonville, Tennessee in 1917. As you can see, they were designed to hold four prisoners, which would be unacceptable in today's prisons.
In the barn we go. The Display Barn is filled with artifacts relating to the lifestyle in the Appalachian region of America.
This is just the first floor, and only a part of it. Hiking past the milling stones, we arrived at a tar rock. 
The way it worked was fairly simple. Rich pine was placed on the rock, an upside down kettle was put over it, the cracks were sealed, and a fire was lit on the kettle. When the pine heated up, it released tar/pitch, which ran through the grooves into a container. This tar had many uses, two of which were greasing wagon wheels, and treating hogs for lice. The owner of this stone carried it through the hills on a mule sled, making tar for people. I like descriptions of where people lived. The owner of the stone lived in a place called Bell Farn, Kentucky, which was on the Tennessee state line, at the mouth of No Business Gorge, so named because people had no business being there.
Hunting is a big thing in the mountain country because it was a major portion of their diet. To be able to get enough meat on the table, they needed a good gun. Throughout the Appalachian region were skilled gunsmiths who could make a rifle from nothing but a piece of tree, and good metal. Today a gunsmith has many electric machines to create weapons, but in the hills, they relied on manual power to operate their machines.
This here machine bores rifle barrels, putting the necessary twist grooves in the barrel.
Have you ever received a piece of mail bordered in black? 
At one time this was how word got to someone regarding the death of a friend or loved one.
Temporarily I am going to stay on the note of "death". Man can be ingenious about how to kill things... some are on display here at the museum.
Enough about death.
Have you ever known anyone that was OCD about spots? you are going to meet one now.
The next building started off with about twenty, one ton crosses out front, engraved with "JESUS SAVES". These crosses were the dream of Harrison H. Mayes.
His story starts in the year 1918, when he was crushed in a coal mining incident, and was not expected to survive. Young Harrison took to the path of asking the Lord "pull me through", and if he did, he would be God's faithful servant the rest of his life. Once healed, Harrison followed through with his promise, however, he was not a good orator or church choir singer.
He went back to the mines, and that is when he came up with an idea on how he could evangelize... a big black hog. Yep, he took his black sow and painted two words in white on her sides... SIN NOT. That sow ran loose in the coal camp, and there wasn't a person that was not aware of the celestial admonishment carried by the lowly hog. He knew his calling, and went to work, painting messages on trees, rocks, barns, and even coal cars bound for distant towns and cities.
Harrison would work two shifts at the mine, saying "one for my family, one for the Lord. It was during this time that he got the idea to make the concrete crosses that he intended to mount in each state. Harrison never asked for donations for the effort he was trying to achieve. He was truly a man that trusted in God, which was evident in one occasion. His wife Lillie recalled the time they just had their third child, and God had called him to go on a two week trip, putting up signs. They had $6.00 to their name, he kept $3.00, and gave her the other $3.00. With no food in the house, this was where their faith in the Lord payed off, because a woman offered Lillie $.25 cents for every dress she made her. When JRI visited the couple in 1985, Harrison agreed to give him one of the extra crosses... and would not take any money for it. 
Standing with some of his crosses.
Let's take a look at the house Harrison built in 1946-48 for his family.
Even though it took Harrison several years to build this house, he had a plan. This "to scale" was made by his son Clyde, and there were a lot of interesting features to this house, you ready, it's a long list:
- The front portion of the house had 12 windows, represented the 12 Apostles.
- The back portion of the house had 10 windows, represented the 10 commandments.
- 8 doors going outside, represented the 8 people on the ark.
- The house is in the form of a cross, and Harrison referred to it as the air castle.
- The JESUS SAVES is a metal sign over the house.
- The entire front portion of the house (right) was made of concrete blocks painted white, and embedded with black crosses.
- A wooden anchor served as the front walk, and was inscribed with the words Anchor your heart to the Cross.
- Over each double window the words "JESUS SAVES" was inscribed.
- There were three chimneys in the shape of crosses, that represented Jesus and the two thieves.
- The fence around the house had seven concrete posts, represented the seven continents.
- There were eight metal posts that represented the other eight planets.
- There was a wooden post between the concrete and metal posts, which represented the earth, Harrison called it the Judas post, because one day it would rot away.
- The fence was strung with barbed wire, which represented the Crown of Thorns.
- There were seven strands of wire that represented the seven times Jesus spoke from the cross.
- There were two 1,400 pound crosses at the front of the house.
- There were 28 concrete signs in the back yard, some crosses, some hearts, designated to be erected as follows: Suez Canal, Italy, Egypt, Illinois, Connecticut, Arizona, Canada, Panama Canal, Brazil, Germany, Idaho, Alabama, Mars, Atlantic Ocean, Alaska, Jerusalem, Australia, Florida, Colorado, Juniper, Burma, Mexico, India, China, Delaware, Arkansas, Venus, and Pacific Ocean. There were two undesignated, JRI received one of them.
I talked of Harrison going out to mount his crosses, there was a plan there too, in his workshop he had a map of his trips.
Here are a couple of examples of his work.
Photos courtesy of Nettie Jarvis Antiques
Courtesy of southeasttennessee.com
Harrison and Lillie passed on sometime before 1996. One of their daughters was putting the house up for sale, and that is when the museum procured the rest of the signs (crosses and hearts).
Crossing over to the other side of the room, we visit with James Bunch. James had a hard life, father died before he was born, and his mother "lost her mind" when he was two. His grandparents raised him, but by the age of eight, he was working in the local sawmills, only attending school for a few months. His work life consisted of farming, logging, carpentry, and 12-14 hour days as a general laborer.
When his beloved wife Harriet became bedridden, he reused to leave her side, tending to her every need. He refused to put her in a nursing home, staying at her bedside for fourteen years. It was at this time that he took up whittling. Over the years he created thousands of items from what he observed, and memories of his life in the mountain. What you will see here is only a fraction of his accomplishments.
The McClung House, built around 1790. Their family was one of the earliest to settle in the Knoxville area; the cabin was inhabited by the McClung family for several generations. During the Civil War their home served as a hospital, housing and treating wounded soldiers.
Everything you are seeing is made of wood.
STRETCH BREAK, GO GET A REFRESHMENT.
We're goin' back outside for a walk around the village.
Harness and Saddle Shop
This is the "Mark Twain family cabin" (reconstructed). Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens) did not live in the cabin himself, it was his parents, John and Jane, and older siblings; Samuel wasn't born until they moved to Missouri. The cabin did not look like this when it was rediscovered in 1990.
The relocation and reconstruction took several years to get off the ground, it had to be moved from Possum trot to its new location at the museum.
This structure was built circa 1810 by Mark Monroe, serving as a kitchen for his family. When their original log cabin was replaced by a framed house, this structure become a smokehouse, storing their year supply of hog meat, some of which was hickory smoked.
The General Bunch House was the first cabin erected on the museum grounds, back in 1960. The cabin was built by Pryor Bunch and his eight-year-old son, General. This is a two room cabin to house the family of fourteen. General remembered the days he dragged logs in from with mountains, using a yoke of oxen. To give you an idea how isolated their home was... they traveled12 miles to the closest store for necessities.
Bunch Family Smokehouse
Corn Mill
Broom and Rope Building
Corn Crib, with Parking
Basic Corn Crib
The Bark Grinder was a mule driven grinding stone, used to pulverize slabs of tree bark. The process produced tannic acid, used in the tanning of hides for leather. This leather was used for making shoes, saddles, harnesses, and a variety of other items.
Loom Building
Large Family, Large Smokehouse
Moving on to the rest of the village.
Wheelwright Shop
Storage Barn
Hen House
Hog Scalding Kettle
The Parkey Blacksmith Shop
We are about ready to head to the "barn"/gift shop ourselves. There are a couple of more things to see, such as housing for the local flying residents.
These bird houses were made from gourds.
The last structure to see was the cane crushing device. This device was driven by mules to crush the liquid out of sugar cane. You ask yourself... why would they need something to crush cane... sugar is a necessary ingredient in making moonshine.
Off to the gift shop.
Here is your pin for going through the museum. Visiting the museum and village is an all day excursion, that was very enjoyable.
