Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 41
The Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum stands along U.S. Highwayy 25E, south of the Cumberland Gap, in
Claiborne County, Tennessee at Lincoln Memorial University.
another soul when you're up here," Dotson says.
"That's the magic of Hensley Settlement."
In what seems like a century later, but really only
a few miles away, I stroll the streets of downtown
Middlesboro, Kentucky. I sample a fish sandwich at
The Avenue Café. Still, I can't stop staring at the
restaurant walls, showing off the incredibly rich history of the "Magic City."
Some folks, I'm told, still want to give this place
an extra "ugh." They want to still spell the city's name
the old-fashioned way: Middlesborough.
"Some of the older residents here in town, who
are really into history, are still upset over it," says Dan
Butler, an assistant at Kentucky's Bell County
Tourism Office. "They just think that it should have
kept the original English spelling."
Middlesboro originated from the 19th century
dreams of Alexander Arthur, a British industrialist
who put forth plans to produce the "Pittsburgh of
the South." As it turned out, geologists have discovered, Arthur had planned his dreams at the center of
a crater: This city was built in the remains of a meteor,
crashing millions of years earlier. "It created the
Middlesboro basin where the city is now situated,"
says Tim Cornett, a historian at the Bell County
Historical Society Museum.
Here, in the 1950s, a young man named Harvey
Lee Yeary played football at Middlesboro High
School. In later years, that man became bionic in the
1970s as TV's "The Six Million Dollar Man." His
stage name: Lee Majors.
North of Middlesboro, for a night, I stay at Pine
Mountain State Resort Park. I also arrive early
enough to enjoy the dining room view and dinner
buffet.
Sunday: Pine Mountain and Chained
Rock
At daybreak, you can hit the breakfast buffet at the
state park. Then go work off any extra calories by
hiking down the Laurel Cove Trail to see the natural
rock bridge called Powderhorn Arch, standing about
eight feet high and stretching 40 feet across the trail.
"Pine Mountain should be the place where you
come where it's quiet," says Butler, who served 30
years at the park as chef and business manager. "You
can relax. It's not the glitz and glamour."
But, Butler says, be prepared to laugh. This is
also where you'll find the famous Chained Rock
- an attraction since the 1930s. Here, members of
the Kiwanis Club of Pineville devised an unusual
safety strategy when they fastened a laughably large
chain to a clifftop boulder. That was done, they
said, so that rock won't roll. This comical creation
became the must-see Chained Rock - a landmark
reached by a short trail yet visible from the town
of Pineville.
MARCH/APRIL 2015 | 41
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015
8 States of Great Drives for Spring
Photoessay: The New Green and New Blossoms of Spring
Dining Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley
Move Over Jamestown: Was the First Inland U.S. Settlement in the N.C. Mountains?
Weekend! Visiting the Historic Cumberland Gap of Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia
New Home from the Ashes: The Bonesteels’ Asheville Residence
Letters, From the Editor, Worth a Click
Mill Creek Stories
Creature Feature
The Hike
Mountain Report
Great Buys in the Mountains
Festivals & Events
Mountain Garden
Guest Column
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - Intro
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - Cover1
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - Cover2
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 3
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 4
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 5
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - Letters, From the Editor, Worth a Click
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 7
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - Mill Creek Stories
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 9
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - Creature Feature
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 11
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - The Hike
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 13
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - Mountain Report
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - Great Buys in the Mountains
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - Festivals & Events
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 17
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 8 States of Great Drives for Spring
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 19
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 20
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 21
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 22
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 23
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 24
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 25
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - Photoessay: The New Green and New Blossoms of Spring
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 27
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 28
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 29
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - Dining Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 31
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 32
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 33
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - Move Over Jamestown: Was the First Inland U.S. Settlement in the N.C. Mountains?
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 35
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 36
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - Weekend! Visiting the Historic Cumberland Gap of Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 38
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 39
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 40
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 41
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - New Home from the Ashes: The Bonesteels’ Asheville Residence
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 43
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 44
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 45
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 46
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 47
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - Mountain Garden
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 49
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - Guest Column
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - Cover3
Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - Cover4
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