Victoria, TN train depot

Victoria is a small town in Marion County along the Valley View highway (old TN28). Queen Victoria donated a bell to the local Bethel Church and the locals showed their gratitude by naming the town after her.

This brick building was originally a Combination freight and passenger train depot for the Sequatchie Valley Railroad (and eventually NC&StL) likely dating back to the late 1860s. If you look closely, you can see the Victoria name plate above the door.

Although partially obscured by a tree, there is also a hand-painted sign for Ketner's Feed Mill - "Definite Feeds for Definite needs" - Master Mix Feeds - Custom Grinding, Mixing - Molasses. I don't know if this building was once a store, or if it was simple an advertisement for the nearby Ketner's Mill.

Today, the building is a private residence.

Nickajack Cave Wildlife Refuge

Located in Marion County, TN, Nickajack Cave not only has quite an interesting history but also has an important collection of endangered species. The entrance is 140 feet wide and originally 50 feet high.

Originally located on Cherokee Land, the cave was located near the Cherokee city of Nickajack. Beginning in 1800, saltpeter (which is a key ingredient to gunpowder) was mined here, and eventually used for the War of 1812 and then the Civil War. Around the time of the war, the cave was owned by Robert Cravens, who also owned Lookout Mountain Cave and is best known for his Cravens House.

Starting around the 1870's, the cave opened commercially. The Shellmound Railroad Station was very close to the cave which operated passenger service to and from Chattanooga daily. Tour guides would take visitors through the cave on boats. By the 1940's, the cave was run by Leo Lambert (who also operated Ruby Falls) under the name Nickajack LaCaverns. By the early 1960's, the cave was closed commercially, but the cave was still accessible by people who were willing to walk a quarter mile in waste-deep water.

One part of the lore of the cave happened in 1927 when the cave was being shown by Lawrence S. Ashley, who supposedly disappeared in the cave during exploration. His disappearance was covered by both the local Chattanooga newspapers and the New York Times. After being "lost" from August 15 through August 22, 1927, Ashley reappeared, claiming that he dug his way out through a new entrance located 8 miles away. This entire episode was a hoax designed to gain publicity for the cave and increase the number of tourists visiting the cave.

in 1967 with the construction of Nickajack Dam about a mile away, the landscape of the entire area has changed. What used to be an entrance 50 feet high is now half underwater. The old ticket booth and entrance gate are under the water there somewhere.

in 1968, Johnny Cash visited the cave with the intention to commit suicide. While there, he had a spiritual experience that caused him to stop his drug use.

Environmentally, the cave his home to about 100,000 Gray Bats, which is an endangered species. Every evening, many of the fly out of the cave for about 45 minutes to feed on insects. In 1980. the Tennessee Wildlife Refuge Agency closed off access into the cave and added a fence across the entrance. Also at the cave are Indiana Bats which hibernate here. Cliff swallows nest on the natural rock face above the entrance to the cave. Until the cave was flooded, there were three species that lived only at the cave including a crustacean, a pseudoscorpion and a beetle.

From the parking area, the TWRA added a 1,000 foot boardwalk which provides the best view of the entrance and the nightly bat show.

Post Card Tuesday: Monteagle Motel

This motel atop Monteagle was along US41. It was town down about 10-15 years ago. Here is my photo from 2006:

Sam Houston Academy - Jasper, TN

The following description is taken from the TNTrailsandbyways.com Pie in the Sky Trail as stop #36:

This 1857 Greek Revival building just a block off the square has a rich history. It has hosted county meetings about secession and served as a hospital for both Federal and Confederate Civil War forces. Currently, the building is the home of Olive Branch Masonic Lodge #297.

Sweetens Cove Primitive Baptist Church

From Wikipedia:
Primitive Baptist Church of Sweeten's Cove is a historic Primitive Baptist church in Marion County, Tennessee, located in the Sweeten's Cove area in the Sequatchie Valley, about 7 miles north of South Pittsburg.

Sweeten’s Cove, which is identified as Sweeden’s Cove in some old maps and documents, was an area of early settlement, primarily by members of the Beene (Bean) and Raulston (Roulston) families. The church was established around 1821 as Union Primitive Baptist Church. It adopted its current name in 1834. The church building was completed in 1853.

On June 4, 1862, Sweeten's Cove was the site of a minor battle between Union Army forces under General James Negley and a Confederate cavalry unit led by Colonel John Adams. Twenty unidentified Confederate soldiers who died in the battle are buried in the Bean-Roulston Cemetery, which is about 0.7 miles (1.1 km) north of the church.

The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

The noteworthy spot where Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama all meet

The spot where Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama meet has a marker. Over the last decade, this spot has been in the news as Georgia has wanted access to the Tennessee River when the state suffers a drought.

This video includes instructions on how to get there, plus the nearby Nickajack Cave.

The Children's Holocaust Memorial - Whitwell, TN

The small southern town of Whitwell made national headlines when a small school project grew into a major tribute to tolerance and a remembrance for the millions who died in Nazi concentration camps.

Whitwell is a small town in Marion County, TN. After the coal mines closed, the area became quite poor. What happened next may help change the perception of what rural life in the south is all about.

Without any indication of what was to come, it started simply enough in 1998 in a Whitwell Middle School History class discussing World War II. The teacher discussed how six million Jews were slaughtered in the Nazi camps and a student asked how big Six Million is. In a town of just a little over one thousand people, it's hard to imagine just how big six million really is. One student doing research discovered that people from Norway wore paper clips as a symbol of resistance against the Nazis.

The teacher thought it would be an interesting exercise to see if they could gather a few paper clips as a small sampling of how big six million could be. The students began a letter writing campaign asking various people to donate paper clips to the project. After a few thousand had come in, some reporters came to visit the school to see what was going on. Those reporters told about the school's project and told the story nationally. A couple of years after they had started, over 29 Million paper clips had been sent to the school.

The school began to ponder what they should do with all of the paper clips. A couple of Jewish reporters who stayed in contact with the school searched Germany and found a vintage rail car which had been used to transport Jewish captives to the camps. The railcar was transported by boat to Baltimore and CSX delivered the car to Chattanooga in 2001.

Many students and townspeople came together to make the memorial site a long-lasting tribute. 11 million of the paper clips were placed inside the rail car, remembering not only the Jews but all of the other groups that were also killed in the Nazi camps. This memorial was dedicated on Nov. 9, 2001.

A documentary was filmed about the project, a full length movie titled "Paper Clips." I highly recommend everyone interested in this memorial should see that film.

Sequatchie Cave

Sequatchie Cave State Natural Area is located in the town of Sequatchie, TN in Marion County. The calf-deep pure waters of Owen Spring Branch flow out of the mouth of the cave. When the water levels are low, people have explored about a mile into the cave. There are also a couple of endangered species that live here, the Caddisfly and the Royal Snail.

The City of Sequatchie was developed because it is close to the waters here. In the 1850's, the landowners gave the land to the city. In the late 1920's (I think) the area was opened as a roadside park complete with a couple of concrete picnic tables and large boulders around the drive. (The driveway to the park is along Valley View Highway which I believe was an original segment of the Dixie Highway in the area.) While the park is still maintained today by the county Highway Department, it is also listed as a State Natural Area. On the day of my visit in the Winter of 2013, there was a posted sign that the entering the cave was off limits as all state owned caves are closed indefinitely as researchers study the White nose Syndrome of bats.

Ketner's Mill on the Sequatchie River

Orphan David Ketner moved to the Sequatchie Valley in 1824 and opened a grist mill in an area today known as Ketner's Cover at the base of Suck Creek Mountain. His son Alexander bought a new site along the Sequatchie River in 1868 and completed the brick grist mill seen here in 1882 where it remained in operation until 1955.



A couple of decades later, the Ketner family undertook a new beginning for the mill ushering in a new era. After undergoing a restoration, the mill was reopened in 1977 along with the first annual Ketner Mill Country Fair. That same year, the mill was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The mill continued to be operated year round until 1992 upon the death of mill operator Clyde Ketner, grandson of David Ketner.

The yearly Ketner's Mill Country Arts Fair is still going strong. held every fall, the 2016 event will be the 40th year. Still owned by the same family, now the 5th generation runs the mill, but only for a short period every year to make enough flour to sell at the yearly fair.

The Children's Holocaust Memorial - Whitwell, TN

The small southern town of Whitwell made national headlines when a small school project grew into a major tribute to tolerance and a remembrance for the millions who died in Nazi concentration camps.

Whitwell is a small town in Marion County, TN. After the coal mines closed, the area became quite poor. What happened next may help change the perception of what rural life in the south is all about.

Without any indication of what was to come, it started simply enough in 1998 in a Whitwell Middle School History class discussing World War II. The teacher discussed how six million Jews were slaughtered in the Nazi camps and a student asked how big Six Million is. In a town of just a little over one thousand people, it's hard to imagine just how big six million really is. One student doing research discovered that people from Norway wore paper clips as a symbol of resistance against the Nazis.

The teacher thought it would be an interesting exercise to see if they could gather a few paper clips as a small sampling of how big six million could be. The students began a letter writing campaign asking various people to donate paper clips to the project. After a few thousand had come in, some reporters came to visit the school to see what was going on. Those reporters told about the school's project and told the story nationally. A couple of years after they had started, over 29 Million paper clips had been sent to the school.

The school began to ponder what they should do with all of the paper clips. A couple of Jewish reporters who stayed in contact with the school searched Germany and found a vintage rail car which had been used to transport Jewish captives to the camps. The railcar was transported by boat to Baltimore and CSX delivered the car to Chattanooga in 2001.

Many students and townspeople came together to make the memorial site a long-lasting tribute. 11 million of the paper clips were placed inside the rail car, remembering not only the Jews but all of the other groups that were also killed in the Nazi camps. This memorial was dedicated on Nov. 9, 2001.

A documentary was filmed about the project, a full length movie titled "Paper Clips." I highly recommend everyone interested in this memorial should see that film.

CSX 5318 Crosses the Nickajack Lake Causeway

Nickajack Lake is formed by Nickajack Dam on the Tennessee River in Marion County, TN. This causeway carries one set of tracks as well as highway TN156. The tracks are part of the CSX mainline and every train from Chattanooga to either Nashville or Huntsville passes through here.

Judge Allison / Dixie Highway Marker

In the earliest days of American Highways, before there was the numbered route system of today, there were National Auto Trails. One of the most prominent of these trails was the Dixie Highway where the western branch connected Chicago and Miami. The first and only president of the Dixie Highway Association was judge M. M. Allison of Chattanooga. The original route through the area involved building a road up and down Walden's Ridge in the Suck Creek area, a project that lasted from about 1919-24. Since this area atop Walden's Ridge was the highest point along the Dixie Highway as well as vaguely the midpoint between Chicago and Miami, the Association decided to build a small roadside park here as well as this monument which was dedicated in 1924.

An editorial discussing the event in the Atlanta Constitution by editor Clark Howell, one of Georgia’s two directors on the Dixie Highway Association, said, “No man in the south has contributed more to the development of the south--indeed the whole country for it is a national project-- than Judge Allison in his faithful and untiring work in this one outstanding interstate highway project”

The text of the marker, which still stands, states: "This memorial is erected by the people of the United States to mark their appreciation of the great service rendered our country by Judge M. M.Allison, president of the Dixie Highway Association since its organization in 1915. The Dixie Highway was founded upon his faith, his hope and his far vision, his indefatigable labor throughout the states wherein it winds its useful way made possible its realization."

With all of the hairpin turns and difficult terrain to navigate, an alternate and more popular route between Jasper and Chattanooga was soon developed, which today is highway US41. In other words, the original Dixie Highway marker was essentially bypassed for a more convenient route, however this small pullover and monument is still there today as the road is now state highway TN27.

Martin Springs

Martin Springs seems like it should be one of the most interesting places to visit in Tennessee, and yet I've had trouble finding anybody who had ever heard of it.

This interesting geologic feature is located in Battle Creek Valley not far from where Interstate 24 ascends Monteagle on the east side of the mountain. This is the entrance to a water-filled cave and it is said that the springs have 6500 gallons of water flow out of it every minute forming Battle Creek!

Some of the earliest history to occur here was this was along the Bell Route of the Trail of Tears and the area was used as a campsite by the Cherokee in 1838. There is a historic marker here that notes the Trail of Tears as well as Civil War Battles that took place here.

The Dixie Highway, one of the earliest cross-country highways in the country, passed right by this spring. Thornton Herbert Martin bought the land at the spring and soon opened Martin Springs Tourist Camp which offered cabins and a boardinghouse for the early highway travelers. Back then, anyone who had a spring advertised the supposed healing properties of the water. Eventually this segment of the Dixie Highway became US41 and was much traveled for many years until the interstate came through the area and US41 was rerouted. I'm not sure when the tourist cabins closed but an interstate makes it tougher to stop at spur-of-the-moment places such as this.

2021 Important update! In this post, I previously documented how I confirmed this location was open to the public and then provided directions how to find it. In April 2021, the owner contacted me and clearly said visitors are no longer permitted. I recommend you respect his wishes.

Tennessee Highway 2

Single digit state highway signs are some of the toughest to find. They tend to mark what the state originally considered the most important routes across Tennessee, but usually become bundled with U.S. routes. The state markers were systematically removed so to not confuse motorists. As of today, I have found signs of 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 & 8.

The best that I can tell, TN2 was the route from Nashville to Chattanooga. This route was originally the Dixie Highway but eventually became the important US41. When Interstate 24 was constructed, that alleviated traffic off of US41/TN2. After Chattanooga, TN2 went to Knoxville.

There are only so many ways you can get down off of Monteagle. Interstate 24 on the east side of Monteagle became where US41 had been, and US41 between Monteagle and Jasper were reroute through Tracy City over what used to by TN150. In the 80's, road officials felt both directions of I-24 going through that area wasn't getting the job done and a massive construction project was done for new eastbound lanes coming down the mountain. Now the westbound lanes going up the hill is what the Dixie Highway / US41/US64/TN2 Used to be.

Once you're at the base of the incline, TN2 is still there, as it parallels I24 from exits 143 to 152. I would suspect this highway now gets very little traffic, from the locals and from roadgeeks like me.

Neon Big Daddy's Fireworks

Big Daddy's Fireworks is at an I-24 exit in Marion County, TN. There are lots of billboards with this guy all along the area. He looks like a caricatured Texas oil tycoon, but still I think I'd rather get fireworks from him than Nervous Charlie (located north of Nashville on I-65).

Cameron-Patton Hotel - South Pittsburg, TN

Along the main road (old US72) through the heart of South Pittsburg, TN

I don't have any info about this former hotel other than the name of the building on the side, in addition to the classic Drink Coca-Cola mural.

Oak Grove Cumberland Presbyterian Church

The hand painted sign out front mentions the congregation was founded in 1888. This church building is located along highway TN27 in Marion County, TN.

The Children's Holocaust Memorial - Whitwell, TN

The small southern town of Whitwell made national headlines when a small school project grew into a major tribute to tolerance and a remembrance for the millions who died in Nazi concentration camps.

Whitwell is a small town in Marion County, TN. After the coal mines closed, the area became quite poor. What happened next may help change the perception of what rural life in the south is all about.

Without any indication of what was to come, it started simply enough in 1998 in a Whitwell Middle School History class discussing World War II. The teacher discussed how six million Jews were slaughtered in the Nazi camps and a student asked how big Six Million is. In a town of just a little over one thousand people, it's hard to imagine just how big six million really is. One student doing research discovered that people from Norway wore paper clips as a symbol of resistance against the Nazis.

The teacher thought it would be an interesting exercise to see if they could gather a few paper clips as a small sampling of how big six million could be. The students began a letter writing campaign asking various people to donate paper clips to the project. After a few thousand had come in, some reporters came to visit the school to see what was going on. Those reporters told about the school's project and told the story nationally. A couple of years after they had started, over 29 Million paper clips had been sent to the school.

The school began to ponder what they should do with all of the paper clips. A couple of Jewish reporters who stayed in contact with the school searched Germany and found a vintage rail car which had been used to transport Jewish captives to the camps. The railcar was transported by boat to Baltimore and CSX delivered the car to Chattanooga in 2001.

Many students and townspeople came together to make the memorial site a long-lasting tribute. 11 million of the paper clips were placed inside the rail car, remembering not only the Jews but all of the other groups that were also killed in the Nazi camps. This memorial was dedicated on Nov. 9, 2001.

A documentary was filmed about the project, a full length movie titled "Paper Clips." I highly recommend everyone interested in this memorial should see that film.

Nickajack Dam

Nickajack Dam is a TVA hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River just upstream from Chattanooga.

Before the completion of Hales Bar Dam in 1913, the Tennessee River Gorge was one of the major impediments— along with Muscle Shoals and the Elk River shoals— to year-round navigation on the Tennessee River. Along with unpredictable water levels, the gorge was filled with numerous water hazards, some of which had been given nicknames such as "The Suck", "The Skillet", and "The Pan." In the early 1900s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers realized that a dam near the southwestern end of the gorge would flood the water hazards and eliminate the gorge's rapid downstream current. Chattanooga engineer Josephus Conn Guild offered to raise funds to build this dam in exchange for rights to the dam's electrical output. After receiving authorization from Congress in 1904, he organized the Chattanooga and Tennessee River Power Company (later TEPCO) in 1905, and the company began building Hales Bar Dam in October of that year. Hales Bar's weak limestone foundation — which hadn't been considered in the selection of the dam site— presented numerous obstacles from the outset, but the dam was finally completed in 1913.

In 1939, after a contentious court battle, TEPCO was forced to sell its assets— including Hales Bar Dam— to the Tennessee Valley Authority. The dam had been leaking since its construction, and TVA immediately initiated a series of foundation improvements that by 1943 had succeeded in halting the leaks. In 1960, however, the leaks had returned, spilling at an alarming 2,000 cubic feet per second. Around the same time, TVA began expanding locks on its dams to at least 600 feet to accommodate the increase in traffic the river had experienced since World War II, and it was determined that expanding the Hales Bar lock would be "prohibitively" expensive. Rather than spend the necessary expenses to upgrade Hales Bar, a decision was made in 1963 to build a new dam altogether on a more solid bedrock a few miles downstream.

The Nickajack Dam project was authorized January 9, 1964, and construction began April 1, 1964. Funding set aside for repair work on Hales Bar was transferred to the Nickajack project. The reservoir's construction— which basically involved extending the Hales Bar Reservoir 6 miles downstream to Nickajack— required the purchase of 8,300 acres, 500 acres of which had to be cleared. 82 families and 8 miles of roads had to be relocated. Two generators and several switchyard parts were moved from Hales Bar Dam to the new dam. Construction was completed on December 14, 1967, at a cost of $73 million. Operations at Hales Bar Dam were halted the following day, and by September 1968, Hales Bar Dam had been dismantled and its reservoir merged with Nickajack Lake.

Marion County Courthouse at Night - Jasper, TN

This courthouse was the third courthouse in Jasper. The first brick building was built in 1824. Needing more space, a second and bigger courthouse was built in 1880. It burned down in 1922 and this courthouse was finished in 1925. This building also suffered fire damage in 1984 and it was renovated while changing the look somewhat.

This two-story brick building is of Neo-Classical design. It features multiple arched windows and an arched main entrance pavilion. Also incorporated into the design are two story Doric pilasters and full entablature at the roof. The building is also located in the center of Jasper's town square, which is where highways US41 meets up with US64/US72.