history

When Gatlinburg was known as White Oak Flats

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by Sandra Merville Hart

Indian Gap Trail was a footpath that Cherokee traveled to hunt in the Smoky Mountains. It connected to a trail that followed the West Fork of the Little Pigeon River through what is now Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, and Gatlinburg over the mountains into North Carolina.

There were many settlers in Sevier County when Sevierville became the county seat in 1793. William Oglesby came to the Gatlinburg area from Edgefield, South Carolina. He cut and notched logs to build a cabin with the help of the Cherokee. Then he returned home for his family. Unfortunately, he caught malaria and died in 1803.

Martha Jane Huskey Oglesby, his widow, brought her family to the mountains and found the logs as her husband left them four years earlier and built a cabin. They shortened their name to Ogle.

Jane’s oldest daughter, Rebecca, was already married when they arrived. She and her husband James McCarter settled in what’s now called Cartertown. Isaac Ogle, Jane’s oldest son, owned 50 acres around Mill Creek.

By 1802, Richard Reagan had moved with his family from Virginia. Daniel Wesley Reagan was born on October 15, 1802, the first child born in the new settlement that was soon to be called White Oak Flats for the area’s abundance of white oak trees.

Pioneers settling in White Oak Flats around this time were John Ownby, Jr. and Henry Bohanon. Other early family names are Whaley, Trentham, Pinckney, and Maples.

There were no wagon roads. The pioneers carried their possessions over rough trails to make a home in the Smoky Mountains. They chopped down trees to plant crops and build cabins and barns.

James Bohannon was the first person to die in White Oak Flats. While carrying a heavy sack of maple sugar across a foot log bridge on the Pigeon River, he fell off and drowned.

Cherokee and Creeks resented their presence—it caused fights and friction. Gradually the Native Americans left the Smokies.

Many early residents may have been Revolutionary War soldiers who received fifty acres of land from North Carolina. (Tennessee had been part of North Carolina during the war.) Soldiers brought warrants with them, paying 75 cents for their property. The Sevier County Courthouse burned in 1824, losing all records, so this can’t be proven except by family tradition.

Worship services were first held out-of-doors until a church was built where the roads crossed. (Ogle Brothers’ store later stood there.)

Folks continued to move to the area. A second church was built near the mouth of Mill Creek on river road. This five-cornered building served the community as a church and school from 1816—35. They then built a log building, The White Oak Flats Baptist Church, on the Bearskins Creek bank in 1835.

The post office moved to Radford Gatlin’s store and White Oak Flats became known as Gatlinburg in 1856.

Sources:

“Gatlinburg, Tennessee,” Bearskin Lodge, 2020/08/24 https://www.thebearskinlodge.com/gatlinburg-history/.

“Gatlinburg, Tennessee,” Wikipedia, 2020/08/24 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatlinburg,_Tennessee.

Greve, Jeanette S. The Story of Gatlinburg, Premium Press America, 2003.

“The Story of Gatlinburg,” Gatlinburg Convention and Visitors Bureau, 2020/08/23 https://www.gatlinburg.com/the-history-of-gatlinburg/.

History of Pigeon Forge

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by Sandra Merville Hart

Like other tourists to the Smoky Mountains, my family has spent many happy days in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. My parents, who used to live nearby, told me that it was a small tourist town into the 1970s. A recent vacation showed that every square foot along the main road is covered with restaurants, shops, motels, and shows. When did it change? And what is the history of the town?

Mordecai Lewis left Virginia and received 151-acre land grant from Governor Blount. In 1790, he built the area’s first forge on it. His son-in-law, Isaac Love, who inherited his property, built an iron forge along what’s now known as the West Fork of the Little Pigeon River in 1817. Iron bars, farming tools, and building equipment produced by this forge were sold throughout the country.

William Love and his brothers, sons of Isaac, built Lewis Mill (today’s Old Mill) near the forge in 1830. Farmers brought wheat, corn, and oats to make flour at the gristmill.

Beech trees lined the river, attracting huge flocks of passenger pigeons to nest in its trees and feast on beechnuts. Sadly, the once massive flocks of birds are now extinct.

When William Love was appointed postmaster with the post office inside the mill, Pigeon Forge received its name for his father’s forge and the passenger pigeons.

The mill was sold to John Trotter before the Civil War. He used his mill to support the Union. Clothing for Union soldiers in Gatlinburg were produced by secret looms on the second floor. Trotter used the third floor as a hospital.

The town’s population remained small—154 in 1907. Tourism increased in the mountains after the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was dedicated in 1940.

Rebel Railroad, Pigeon Forge’s first theme park opened in 1961. Klondike Katie, a coal-fired steam engine, was the main attraction. It changed ownership in 1970 and became Goldrush Junction. Another new owner in 1977 renamed it Silver Dollar City. Country singer Dolly Parton became a co-owner in 1982. Four years later, Dollywood opened.

Pigeon Forge became a city in 1961. Tourism boomed twenty-one years later. The city has grown rapidly to become a popular vacation location—a long way from a forge and a mill that was its claim to fame 190 years ago.

Sources:

“8 Huge Moments in Gatlinburg History and Pigeon Forge History,” Timber Tops Cabin Rentals, 2020/08/23 https://www.yourcabin.com/blog/moments-in-gatlinburg-and-pigeon-forge-history/.

Greve, Jeanette S. The Story of Gatlinburg, Premium Press America, 2003.

“History of Pigeon Forge, TN,” Smoky Mountain Navigator, 2020/03/23 https://www.smokymountainnavigator.com/explore-the-smokies/pigeon-forge/history-of-pigeon-forge-tn/.

“Our Old Mill: History in the Making,” The Old Mill, 2020/08/23 https://old-mill.com/our-history/.

“Smoky Mountain History: How Did Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Sevierville Get Their Names?” Visit My Smokies, 2020/08/23 https://www.visitmysmokies.com/blog/gatlinburg/smoky-mountain-history-how-cities-got-their-names/.

“Step Back in Time at the Old Mill in Pigeon Forge,” Pigeon Forge.com, 2020/08/23 https://www.pigeonforge.com/old-mill/.

Christmas During World War II

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The United States was in a war-time economy during World War II. With many of our men serving our country in Europe and the South Pacific, our women went to work.

There were many items families did without in a wartime economy. Buying the special gift at Christmas was especially difficult.

Rubber was in demand so tires for cars were scarce. Common gifts for children like basketballs, volleyballs, and tennis shoes were unlikely to be under the tree.

Most Americans were limited to four gallons of gas a week, so they didn’t make unnecessary trips. If grandparents and other relatives did not live nearby, you might not see them often.

The local ration board had to issue a written certificate to buy a bicycle.

Metal was needed for tanks, airplanes, and battleships. Citizens couldn’t buy cars, pots and pans, strollers, toy trains, and alarm clocks.

Long distance phone calls were another limitation for Americans, who were encouraged to keep the phone lines open for the soldiers.

A common practice before the war was to purchase goods on account—charging them. During the war, bills were required to be paid within two months. If the bill wasn’t paid on time, the account was frozen.

Popular gifts during the war were ration stamps, which enabled folks to buy particular items. Hats, socks, mittens, and household goods were much-appreciated gifts. Book sales soared. Board games, perfume, and radios were other common presents at Christmas.

Of course, families missed their husbands, fathers, brothers, and uncles serving across the sea. All other hardships dimmed in comparison.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Waggoner, Susan. It’s A Wonderful Christmas, Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2004.

 

Christmas Lights

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by Sandra Merville Hart

Before Christmas lights adorned Christmas trees, candles were lit on the branches to signify the light of Jesus. The family gathered in the parlor while fathers lit the candles. Because of the fire hazard, these were quickly extinguished.

After Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, Edward Hibberd Johnson had an idea. In 1882, Johnson displayed his Christmas tree by his New York City parlor window where it was plainly visible from the street. He strung 80 light bulbs together (red, blue, and white) and arranged them around the tree which stood on a revolving pedestal. The power for the lights and pedestal came from a generator.

To ensure his lights received the public’s notice, Johnson contacted reporters. The brilliance of the lights stunned them. Folks on the street stopped to gaze in wonder. However fascinated people were, decorating with lights wasn’t feasible for most.

President Grover Cleveland helped popularize Christmas lights when he had the White House tree decorated with them in 1895.

Electricity wasn’t widely available for many years—and the lights were expensive. In 1903, a set (20 plain, 4 red, and 4 frosted bulbs) cost $12 when the average hourly wage was 22 cents!

The price dropped to $1.75 for a sixteen-foot string by 1914.

Today, Christmas lights adorn our trees and our homes. Many of us still take our families out to see special light displays during the holidays.

And we have Edward Hibbert Johnson to thank for this beautiful idea.

Sources

Chan, Melissa. “Here’s How Christmas Lights Came to Be,” Time for Kids, 2019/08/15 https://time.com/4152307/christmas-tree-lights-history/.

Malanowski, Jamie. “Untangling the History of Christmas Lights,” Smithsonian.com, 2019/08/15 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/untangling-history-christmas-lights-180961140/.

Waggoner, Susan. It’s A Wonderful Christmas, Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2004.

 

The Christmas Tree

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by Sandra Merville Hart

The tradition of Christmas trees began centuries ago. Citizens of Alsace, France, bought trees to set up, unornamented, in their homes in 1510.

In Germany and Austria, traditions in the 1700s were to hang evergreen tips upside down. Often decorated with apples and nuts, these Christmas trees also earned the name ‘sugartrees.’

German settlers in Pennsylvania had community Christmas trees by 1747, yet most Americans still considered them pagan symbols in the 1840s.

The White House’s first Christmas tree was with President Franklin Pierce in 1853, around the time Christmas trees began to be sold in the United States.

Even so, only twenty percent of American families had Christmas trees in 1900. Twenty years later, it was a tradition in most American homes. The popularity of the trees brought shortages, leading to Christmas tree farms.

Artificial trees, available from the 1880s, were often used by poorer families.

After World War II, the demand for Christmas trees by nostalgic British soldiers exceeded the supply of evergreens. The Addis Brush Company of America, who had manufactured artificial brush trees since the 1930s, sold thousands of trees in Great Britain.

Addis then manufactured a Silver Pine tree, made of aluminum, in the 1950s. It was sold with a Christmas tree color wheel that illuminated the tree in different colors as it revolved.

Another fad began in the 1960s—flocked Christmas trees, where spray is added to resemble snowy branches.

Whether your preference is for real or artificial trees, Christmas trees remain a beautiful holiday tradition.

Sources

History.com Editors. “History of Christmas Trees,” History.com, 2019/08/15  https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-christmas-trees.

“History of Christmas Trees,” National Christmas Tree Association, 2019/08/15 https://www.realchristmastrees.org/dnn/Education/History-of-Christmas-Trees.

Waggoner, Susan. It’s A Wonderful Christmas, Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2004.

Boar’s Head Festival

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In 1340, according to legend, a student at Queen’s College in Oxford, England, read a metal-bound book of Aristotle as he strolled through the forest to Christmas Mass. Wild boars, a menace to society, roamed the woods and one attacked the young man. With no weapons, he rammed his book into boar’s mouth, choking the animal to death. Roasted boar was often served at medieval banquets. A procession carried in the boar’s garnished head into the dining hall that night while carolers sang. This presentation at Christmas became a symbol of Jesus’s triumph over sin.

St. John’s College in Cambridge celebrated the Boar’s Head Festival by 1607. An expanded cast of historical characters, lords, ladies, knights, hunters, and others told of the birth of Jesus. Magi and shepherds were added later.

Mince pie and plum pudding were served at the festival and the Yule Log was lit.

The medieval festival is still celebrated in Europe and the United States. The formal program at Christ Church Cathedral in Cincinnati includes: Orchestral Prelude, Procession of the Beefeaters, The Yule Sprite Comes, The Boar’s Head Procession, The Yule Log, The Waits, The Angel, The Shepherds, The Magi, The World joins the Kings and Shepherds, Recessional, Orchestral Postlude and The Yule Sprite Returns.

During the Boar’s Head Procession, a boar’s head is carried in by knights and others.

There is symbolic meaning to the parts of the medieval service that occurs between Christmas and New Year’s Day. The costumes and processions transport guests back in time and is worth experiencing.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Berten, Jinny Powers. Cincinnati Christmas, Orange Frazer Press, 2011.

“The Boar’s Head and Yule Log Festival Tradition,” Christ Church Cathedral, 2019/07/29 ttps://cincinnaticathedral.com/boars-head-tradition/.

Civil War Women: Bettie Duvall, Confederate Spy

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Washington D.C. resident Rose O’Neal Greenhow had been asked to discover troop movements and battle plans. She had information that Union troops had been ordered to attack Manassas. As a Confederate spy, she had a network of folks to deliver the coded message to Confederate General Beauregard. She gave the information to sixteen-year-old Bettie Duvall. (One source spelled her name “Betty.”)

On July 9, 1861, Bettie, a beautiful Southerner, disguised herself by selling buttermilk and sweet cream at the city market. She left the city, alone, on a farm cart. She rode past the 1st Massachusetts Infantry headquarters. A dirt lane led her to a friend’s plantation near Langley where she stayed for the night.

The next morning, she relinquished the farm cart. Dressed in a stylish riding habit, Bettie rode horseback to her intended destination—the village of Fairfax Court House. Manassas was ten miles from the village.

She met Confederate soldiers at an outpost near Vienna. At her request to speak with Brig. Gen. Milledge Bonham, they took her to his headquarters in Fairfax Court House. Beauregard had just taken over command, but Bonham was his top aide.

At first, Bonham refused to meet her. Upon learning that the beautiful woman was prepared to take the message to General Beauregard herself, he agreed to talk with her.

He recognized her “sparkling blue eyes, perfect features, glossy black hair” as a Southern lady from the spectator gallery at Congress. He agreed to forward on her message.

To his astonishment, she removed the combs from her hair knot. Shaking her beautiful hair loose, she untied a small silk package about the size of a silver dollar from the long strands and gave it to him.

Beauregard learned from the message that an attack was ordered within a week.

The advance warning led to a Confederate victory at the First Battle of Bull Run.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Monson, Marianne. Women of the Blue & Gray, Thorndike Press, 2018.

Winkler, H. Donald. Stealing Secrets, Cumberland House, 2010.

Zeinert, Karen. Those Courageous Women of the Civil War, The Millbrook Press, 1998.

 

Civil War Women: Kate Cumming, Confederate Nurse and Diarist

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In the 1840s, Kate Cumming’s family emigrated from Scotland when she was a child, eventually settling in Mobile, Alabama.

Her mother and two sisters went to England when the Civil War started. Kate stayed in Mobile with her father. Her younger brother enlisted in the 21st Alabama Infantry as part of Ketchum’s Battery. Kate gathered hospital supplies to support wounded soldiers.

In 1862, Reverend Benjamin M. Miller’s speech encouraging women to serve in the hospitals stirred Kate. Inspired by this speech and Florence Nightingale’s example, Kate joined forty other women in Corinth, Mississippi, to nurse Battle of Shiloh wounded—despite her family’s objections.

She briefly returned home that summer yet yearned to continue nursing the soldiers. She traveled to Chattanooga with two other women to volunteer at Newsome Hospital. Her nursing help was eventually accepted.

In September of 1862, the Confederate government began allowing nurses to be paid. Kate enlisted in the Confederate Army Medical Department. Despite her personal sadness at watching soldiers die and battling poor hospital conditions, she worked as matron with Dr. Samuel Stout, medical director for Army of Tennessee, in various locations in Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia.

As a matron, Kate managed hospital departments, nursed soldiers, foraged for supplies, cooked, sewed, wrote letters, and supervised other workers.

She also maintained a detailed diary. This honest account of day-to-day nursing tasks and the men she served also shows tragedies Southerners faced in increasing measure as the war progressed.

After the war, Kate published her diary, A Journal of Hospital Life in the Confederate Army of Tennessee from the Battle of Shiloh to the End of the War: With Sketches of Life and Character, and Brief Notices of Current Events During that Period.

The author’s introduction was written in 1865—before publication. Kate is bitter about treatment from the North after the war’s end and urges all to unite. Her hope in publishing her diaries is to show Northerners how all have suffered. She wants reconciliation.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Cumming, Kate. Edited by Harwell, Richard Barksdale. Kate: The Journal of a Confederate Nurse, Louisiana State University Press, 1959.

Hilde, Libra. “Kate Cumming,” Encyclopedia of Alabama, 2019/04/11 http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1101.

“Kate Cumming,” National Park Service, 2019/04/11 ttps://www.nps.gov/people/kate-cumming.htm.

“Kate Cumming,” Wikipedia, 2019/04/11 ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Cumming.

Rohrer, Katherine E. “Kate Cumming (ca. 1830-1909).” New Georgia Encyclopedia. 08 June 2017. Web. 11 April 2019.

 

Civil War Women: Sarah Morgan Dawson, Confederate Diarist

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Sarah Morgan Dawson was twenty when she began writing in her diary on March 9, 1862. The Civil War raged near her family’s home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Her family had already known hard times. In 1861, illness claimed her father’s life and a duel claimed a brother’s life.

War threatened to divide her family. Three brothers fought for the Confederacy and another, though he sided with the Union, refused to fight against his brothers.

Baton Rouge fell into Union hands. Most citizens ran for their lives, including Sarah’s family. She returned a few times to gather possessions from her home, but found that the Union soldiers who occupied the city had ransacked it. The home was unrecognizable on her last trip—the soldiers had plundered valuables and destroyed what they left behind. Sarah didn’t return to her childhood home until after the war.

Made homeless by the war, her family wandered from Baton Rouge, staying with friends and strangers.

Food supplies dwindled. Sarah had money to purchase food yet some places had none for sale.

They stayed near the Confederate army, making friends with many soldiers. Sarah did all she could to help them. Her family had escaped with few clothes … and everyone else was in the same predicament.

A serious buggy accident injured Sarah’s back. The injury prevented her from walking more than a few steps. She clung to her faith throughout the difficulties that mounted almost daily.

Her Union-sympathizer brother urged them to stay with him in New Orleans, which was now under Union control. They had little choice. A hard train ride and then a schooner took them to New Orleans.

Upon their arrival, they had to take an oath of allegiance to the Union. A Southerner at heart, taking the oath broke Sarah’s spirit. Even worse, Sarah’s mother complained so passionately to the Union soldiers of all she’d suffered at their hands that she was almost arrested. Sarah’s brother smoothed things over and took them into his home.

At the beginning of 1864, Sarah’s heart broke to discover that two of her brothers died. They’d lost so much to the war that she hated the Union.

General Lee surrendered on April 9, 1865. Sarah’s diary entries stopped on June 15, 1865.

It was published and inscribed: “To those who endured and forgave”.

Sarah read her diary many years later and wanted people to know that through it all, God never failed her. “Whatever the anguish, whatever the extremity, in His own good time He ever delivered me. So that I bless Him to-day for all of life’s joys and sorrows—for all He gave—for all He has taken—and I bear witness that it was all Very Good.” –Sarah Morgan Dawson, July 23rd, 1896, Charleston, South Carolina.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Dawson, Sarah Morgan. A Confederate Girl’s Diary: Civil War Centennial Series, Indiana University Press, 1960.

 

WWII Gave Job Opportunities to Women

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Today’s post was written by fellow author, Linda Shenton Matchett. Welcome to Historical Nibbles, Linda!

When I was growing up, my folks didn’t believe in “girl jobs” and “boy jobs.” Hence, my brothers learned how to cook, wash dishes, and do laundry, and my sister and I learned how to mow the yard and shovel the driveway among other chores. That philosophy is decidedly different from the cultural norms prior to WWII.

Then war came, and men began to leave the workforce in droves. Support for women to seek volunteer and employment opportunities began at the highest level. In one of his fireside chats, President Roosevelt said, “There need no longer be any debate as to the place of women in the business life of this nation. The enlarging war effort calls for the services of every qualified and able-bodied person, man or woman.”

Unfortunately, for the first eighteen months of the war, organizations and employers struggled to go against deep-seated traditions and concepts making them reluctant to hire women. As a result, there were “boy jobs” and “girl jobs.” One of the organizations where a young lady could work or volunteer without recrimination was the United Service Organization (USO). Founded in 1941 by combining the Salvation Army, YMCA, YWCA, National Catholic Community Services, National Travelers Aid Association, and the National Jewish Welfare Board, the USO had over 3,000 clubs worldwide at its height (there are only 160 day).

Despite ties to the military, the USO is not part of the government, but rather a private nonprofit organization. Therefore, fundraising was necessary to finance its operation. Thomas Dewey (FDR’s opponent in the 1944 election) and Prescott Bush (Grandfather of former President George W. Bush) spearheaded the campaign, and more than thirty-three million dollars was raised. Activities were countless: from billiards and boxing to dancing and darts. Services ranged from sewing on insignias to writing letters on behalf of the men. Candy, gum, newspapers, and other items were available for purchase.

Strict rules ensured the clubs were safe places for the junior hostesses-unmarried women typically in their mid-twenties. Senior hostesses acted as chaperones, and the younger hostesses couldn’t dance with the same man more than twice. Soldiers, sailors, and airmen could smoke at the club, but no was liquor served. In addition, formal attire was required of the girls, and the wearing of slacks was forbidden.

For more information about this worthwhile organization, visit http://www.uso.org.

-Linda Shenton Matchett

 

Blurb: Murder of Convenience

May 1942: Geneva Alexander flees Philadelphia and joins the USO to escape the engagement her parents have arranged for her, only to wind up as the number one suspect in her betrothed’s murder investigation. Diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa, she must find the real killer before she loses her sight…or is convicted for a crime she didn’t commit.

Set in the early days of America’s entry into WWII and featuring cameo appearances from Hollywood stars, Murder of Convenience is a tribute to the individuals who served on the home front, especially those who did so in spite of personal difficulties, reminding us that service always comes as a result of sacrifice. Betrayal, blackmail, and a barrage of unanswered questions… Murder of Convenience is the first in the exciting new “Women of Courage” series.

 

Linda’s Bio:

Linda Shenton Matchett is an author, speaker, and history geek. Born in Baltimore, Maryland a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry, Linda has lived in historical places most of her life. A member of ACFW, RWA, and Sisters in Crime, she is also a volunteer docent at the Wright Museum of WWII and a Trustee for the Wolfeboro Public Library. Connect with Linda on her blog. 

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