EAST TENNESSEE HISTORY CENTER (Mark)

Cheri went to a quilt show.

(Surprise!)  She will probably do a post on the show soon.

I decided to take a short drive to downtown Knoxville, TN, and spent my time in this History Center.

After entering and having a nice conversation with the front-desk personnel, I begin heading down the hallway and saw this stained glass:

The Louisville and Nashville Railroad was a Class 1 railroad, carrying both freight and passengers.  It began operating in 1850 and was run for 132 years.  At one point the railroad had 10,051 miles of track.

The museum has a wonderfully set up Corner Drug Store with contents from a number of local stores that have gone out of business.  It would be easy to spend a couple of hours looking at this display alone.

Some of the different wares once sold.  The label of this one raised some questions:

If you had a devil of a cough, do you think this would be helpful?

If one of our readers can tell me why you would want Milk of Magnesia in your toothpaste, please comment!

Case after case similar to this one provides countless vignettes for anyone interested in medicine, photography, or history:

In 1863 it cost six cents to mail a letter.  In 1883, the price dropped to four cents, and then in 1898 down to the lowest price in U,S, history, two cents.  The price slowly crept back up since 1898; in 1968 it again cost six cents to mail a letter.

I found these stamp dispensers fascinating:

Jack Huff was an exceptional hiker.  The chair you see is the one he used to carry his mother to the top of nearby Mount Le Conte because she wanted to see the sunset from the mountain.

Here is a link to an article written by war reporter Ernie Pyle regarding that story.

The Great Smoky Mountains, part of the Appalachia Mountain Range, divide North Carolina and Tennessee, and they have influenced and produced some of the most important music in the U.S.   Cheri and I have been taking an OLLI class on the music from this region, which we will tell you more about later.

The museum has a large section devoted to the music of the region.  And yes, some of it has to do with local legend Dolly Parton.

This is one of the younger musicians of the area, Wyatt Ellis:

Carl Butler is one of the legendary musicians from the area:

I am not sure what Cheri might say if I decided to dress myself in some of those clothes.

And to finish off; an old playbill advertising a concert: