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The
Tipton Place on the Loop Road |
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| When the Great Smoky Mountain National
Park was created I went to Newfound Gap where President
Franklin D. Roosevelt made a speech. We didn’t have a car
and my uncle Stanley Bird took us in his Studebaker. My dad
was a supporter of Franklin D. Roosevelt and was fired from
the Lumber mill because he campaigned for him in his first
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Park
Dedication |
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| election against Hoover. D.H.Tipton (Doc)
who married into the W.B. Townsend family (for whom Townsend was
named) was a republican boss and fired my father. I was told later
that my father went and told W.B. thanks for the favor, that it
was the best thing to ever happen to him. Because my father was
forced to look for a job and later got on at Alcoa Aluminum Co. |
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| I enjoyed baseball at a young age and
started playing at the age of 14 years with a Townsend men’s team.
We played other teams in Blount County. Each town had a team and
we played or practiced once a week in the summer with the Tremont
or Cades Cove CCC Camps (Civilian Conservation Corp.) When we
played the Cades Cove CCC’s in the Cove we traveled the narrow
Rich Mountain Road, which was then used both going and coming out
of Cades Cove. Luckily we never had an accident when we met big
CCC army type truck. |
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| We also use to play all along the railroad
and the swinging bridge along with swimming and fishing in Little
River. Our favorite place was from the Emert Bluff up the river
past where the Apple Valley Farms is now located. We would cut
pine poles to use for fishing. We fished at the Emert Bluff for
catfish. The minnows were seined for bait came out of Short Creek.
We used Chubs and silver sides, which are no longer in existence
in the creek. The pine poles were rigged with a trotline and set
in a crevice on the east side of the Emert bluff, where we caught
most of the catfish at night. By the way, the Bluff was named
after my Grandfather Fredrick Emert. I have commented mostly on
summer activities. Winter outdoor activities were a different
story. We hunted, along with trapping as I mentioned before.
Sleigh riding was a big thing on homesteads in places now used for
cabin rentals, roads, or businesses. All the
area was open to these activities-no limitations. Can you imagine
such an open space to hunt and roam as much as you wanted to! |
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| I have seen many changes in the landscape
of the Townsend Tennessee area and the lives of families since
those days in my lifetime when people were self-sufficient. The
fields were full of corn and the pastures were green. The
mountains and hills were wooded with no roads or houses on them.
Little River Lumber Yard was stacked high and wide in rows with
railroad tracks between them where Hwy. 321 and other business
buildings now stand. I can see these changes when I drive through
the Townsend area and thinking back to the time of yesteryear. It
is still very special to me and still is one of the most beautiful
place’s on earth. I can only hope the people that read this and
visit the area and hopefully stay at Tipton's Cabin Rentals can
visualize Townsend Tennessee and the history of this special place
as it was in the 1930’s. |
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Sincerely,
William Emert Tipton |
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click HERE to return to TIPTON'S CABIN RENTALS home
page |
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