October 16, 2008 - It was a smooth and beautiful drive down to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and our new campsite at Smokemont Campground. The mountains were resplendant with fall colors, though not yet at a peak. No hookups at this site, so we had to make do with the self-contained features of our rigs. The Bergs, Creightons, and Palmers stopped in Cherokee for lunch at a Chinese restaurant - Mary's choice on her birthday - and it was good.
Larry quickly set up to start cooking a picnic supper - Sloppy Joes. At 5:00pm a Cherokee Indian came to the camp to tell us about his Indian heritage. He spoke for almost an hour with stories about the tribe - and then we ate. A cake followed celebrating birthdays and anniversaries that occurred during the caravan. Deep in the park woods, there were no sounds but for a few katydids and the sounds from a nearby creek. Some of the folks built a fire to extend the time of fellowship, but most retired at dusk for an early to bed evening.
October 17, 2008 - There was a light rain during the night and maybe a little wind. The ground was covered with leaves on this morning. It was a free day for the caravan, and folks headed in a variety of directions - some to Bryson City, some to Cades Cove, others to Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and Dollywood. There was a craftmen's fair going on in Gatlinburg, and with pleasant memories of visiting that once before, we chose to drive through the park crossing the mountains and check it out. The blue skies of the last several days were gone yet there was a beauty to the park, and there were a lot of other tourists on the road too - not unusual for the leaf season. Leaf color was near peak along the road between Smokemont and Newfound Gap.
Gatlinburg was as busy as ever with traffic proceeding at a snail's pace. There were over 200 booths inside the Convention Center comprising the exhibits for the Craftsmen's Fair - all sorts of artistic displays including paintings, photography, jewelry, chinaware, woodworking, leathercraft, lamps, ceramics, things to eat, weavers, sculpturers, stained glass, and clothing. Perhaps the most impressive was a man playing beautifully on a harp while his wife sold tapes of the music. His harps were also on sale. The craft fair was a good place to spend time while it was raining outside.
We drove on through Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge to Sevierville for lunch at the Apple Valley Restaurant. There were crowds of people and heavy traffic everywhere - no sign of any downturn in the economy or concern for the price of fuel here. After lunch we drove through fog and rain until we passed back through Newfound Gap. The rain stopped and the fog lifted on the east side of the gap revealing beautiful golden leaf colors.
Fred and Sara brought over chicken and dumplings for supper, then we played a game of six-man Joker with the Palmers which the girls won. Of course that was only because they could see better in the dark. We were playing on the picnic table outside after sundown.
October 18, 2008 - This was a day to rise early. We left camp at 7:15am for Bryson City and a train ride through the Nantahala Gorge on the Smoky Mountain Railroad. Along with about 600 other people, we boarded the train about 9:00am and pulled away from the station some fifteen minutes later. The first few miles were just through woods, then we came into view of Fontana Lake. The lake was down from its obvious high point, but still picturesque. Soon we were in the Nantahala Gorge following the Nanatahala River. There was little water flowing at first. That changed quickly at 10:00am when the upstream power company opened the flood gates at the dam. Rafters were obviously awaiting that as they appeared almost simultaneous to the high water.
The train stopped a couple miles beyond the Nantahala Outdoors Center, and the engine disengaged and came down a sidetrack to reconnect to the train's rear to return the way we'd come. We stopped for a short break at the NOC, then reboarded for the 44 miles trip back to Bryson City. A crowd of nearly 800 people were waiting to board for an afternoon ride. Aside from being a little cool, the ride was a pleasant adventure.
A railroad museum next to the depot houses a large collection of model trains and a nice 24'x45' layout of tracks where six or eight trains were running. The layout includes a freight yard that holds over 400 cars along with numerous buildings and a mountain.
We spent several minutes at the railroad museum then meandered through the shops in Bryson for awhile before visiting Jimmy Macs Restaurant for an early supper.
October 19, 2008 - We awoke to bright sunshine again after a couple days of gray. It was cold though - mid-30s. The ground was blanketed with leaves. We drove up the Blue Ridge Parkway to the high point at Richland Overlook. There was some color, but nowhere near peak at the lower elevations, outstanding color at 4,000 foot elevations, and way past peak above 5,000 feet. Richland Overlook is at 6100 feet. The parkway is always a nice drive, though definitely not the way to go if in a hurry. There was very little traffic compared to the road through the national park.
We made a couple of stops on the way home: Mingus Mill, and the old Lufty Baptist Church.
Mingus Mill operated as for about 50 years before the park was established. It has a long sluiceway taking water from a little creek. Instead of a big water wheel, the water is directed to a water turbine beneath the floor which turns the grinding wheels.
The old Lufty Baptist Church is at the entrance to Smokemont Campground, almost out of sight from the road and hard to climb up to. A sign indicates that it was established in 1836, long before the park was established. The building does not appear that old however, probably rebuilt at some later date. It was obviously no longer in use. Both front and rear doors were wide open. Hard bench seats in the one room appeared to have a capacity of 40 to 50 people - a little, old church deep in the woods.
Larry brought his dutch ovens again to cook chicken pot pie for supper. Sara fried up some apples off a nearby apple tree. We had cranberry sauce, moon pies, Klondyke bars, and bisquits for a feast. Then, after a final drivers meeting and some socializing around the campfire, everyone retired for another quiet night in the park.
Last posting for this page.
He lived there with his wife and daughter. Billed as "America's Largest Home," the Biltmore house is enormous with four acres of floor space. The house has 65 fireplaces, 43 bathrooms, 34 bedrooms, and 3 kitchens. It was just a bit overpowering. The estate is still owned by Vanderbilt descendants. It's obvious that they plow back the income into maintaining and renovating the house and grounds.
The walking tour of the house took about an hour. Construction cost of the house, even in the 1890s, must have been enormous. It was completed in 1895 after seven years of building. Every room is filled with works of art, antiques, special tapestry and furniture. A chess set once owned by Napoleon Bonaparte is the key item in the game room. The formal dining room seats 64 people with a triple fireplace at one end, each one of which is large enough to walk into without stooping. Many more rooms had been renovated and opened to the public than when we were there a few years ago.
Chrysanthimums by the thousands were planted all around the house and gardens. The grounds around the house and throughout the 125,000 acre estate are immaculately kept. Huge trees populate the forested areas, all of which were planted by Vanderbilt's landscape architect.
We ate a sumptuous buffet meal as a group in the Deerpark Restaurant, once the Vanderbilt's calving barn, then took a tour of the winery. The winery buildings were once Vanderbilt's stables. Following that, we toured the River Bend Farm where artisans were demonstrating blacksmithing, wood turning, and butter churning. There was also a country music group performing in one of the buildings.
