|
 |
The Tipton Family Memories
in Townsend Tennessee
by my dad- William Emert Tipton
I was born in 1924; my parents were Clyde Hampton Tipton and
Flossy Emert Tipton. I was one of six children, 3 boys and 3
girls. We grew up on the
Old Cades Cove Road,
which is now called Lawson Road. I share these memories so others
might have some idea what the Townsend Tennessee area was like in
my younger years, also the nature of family life as I remember it. |
|
|
| I can still remember farmers driving their
cattle and livestock by our house in the springtime to take them
threw Cades Cove to the Spence Field in what is now the Great
Smokey Mountains National Park (GSMNP). The farmers would return with them
in the fall. On one occasion my brother and I who at the time we
were about 5 or 6 years old, caught a donkey that had strayed and
gotten lost. We shut it up in our barn, which was the remains of
an old grist mill. We were going to keep it we thought. My dad
released the donkey that night to the owner I presume, and we were
very upset because he did. |
| |
| Old Cades Cove Road (now called Lawson
Road) at that time was traveled only by horses, wagons or buggies.
No automobiles went past our house near Short Creek. There was a
foot log to walk across on, everything else went threw the creek.
My dad later had a car called a “Whippit”. I don’t know whether
the car he bought for $25.00 was named a “Whippit” or if that was
a nickname he gave it because I recall him saying in a joking
manner he had to “whip it” to get it to run! |
| |
| Another memory I have in my youth is going
to the residence of Wade Gorley, who lived at the present location
of my son’s house and office of Tipton’s Cabin Rentals to listen
to the “Grand Ole Opry” on Saturday nights. The neighbors gather
there since there was no electricity and Wade owned a
battery-powered radio. Their residence was my father’s birthplace,
a large two-story frame house that later burned. |
| |
| I can remember like yesterday my family
picking blackberries on my great uncle Jake Tipton’s place, which
is now called Laurel Valley. At that time he owned 2,000 acres and
there were only two houses on it. I once was hunting there with
Ray Lawson, (Will Lawson’s son) a neighbor of mine and came upon a
Moonshine Still, where a fellow named “Slick” Able was making
whiskey. He had it very well hidden and very close to the spring
that feeds Tipton Branch. We knew him and talked with him for a
while and promised not to tell anyone about his operation, and
then we went on our way. As for Moonshining, the Tipton’s and
Emert’s were never involved in it that I knew of. However, several
families in Townsend did make Moonshine, It was quit common at
that time. I also knew a fellow by the name of “Fonz Cable”
(former resident of Cades Cove) he made whiskey at a spring on
what was called the Hotel Mountain. At present time it is called
Mt. Luke. I knew several others that made moonshine. Some people
made it to drink themselves as some made it to sell. |
| |
 |
My father worked at the Little River
Lumber Company. He walked 2 miles to work and 2 miles back
every day. He was paid 15 cents an hour in company money
called “Doogaloo” by the workers. The only place it could be
used was at the Company Store. The store was located near
the Little River behind the Little River Railroad Exhibit of
present time. |
|
| |
| I would occasionally walk to the store at
lunch hour from Townsend school, across the football field,
(located about where the Best Western Motel is now) around the
millpond where the logs were held, to the store. My dad worked on
a conveyor where the logs came into the mill from the pond to be
sawed. I could see him as I went around the pond from a distance.
The timber for the mill was brought in by train from what is now
the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. Dad’s job was to take
the rocks out of the logs that my have gotten there by draggin.
|
| |
| Dad taught my older brother and me how to
trap muskrats to get additional money. In winter we could make as
much money as dad made at the mill by trapping in Short Creek.
Muskrats were plentiful in the creek at that time which was lined
with cornfields. Muskrats sold for $2.00-$3.00 then. Dad also
bought other furs from people, graded them and shipped them to
Mossier Fur Company in Missouri. In spite of dad’s low income and
my mother staying at home to raise a family, we never went hungry
during the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Dad raised one hog for
every member of the family. It was my job to feed the hogs. We
also had a milk cow and my older brother’s job was to do the
milking. All of the children picked blackberries in the summer and
mom canned about 100 half-gallon jars each year for winter use.
The cellar was filled with canned goods from the garden in the
summer. We also grew watermelons in the summer and dad sold them
for 1-½ cents per pound. Take in account this is always to get
extra money for the family. We also raised chickens. The eggs were
used for food and also exchanged for coffee, flour, and sugar at a
small store that was located on what is now Old Tuckaleechee road. |
|
Continued Page 2 of 2 |
| |
|
| |
|
click HERE to return to TIPTON'S CABIN RENTALS home
page |
| |
|