Historic Union County

The Cradle of Country Music

There's a lot of love at the core of Luttrell Library director Kim Todd's new project: love for books, love for kids, love for family, and love for a sassy canine named Lil Bit.

Todd is set this winter to publish the first in a series of illustrated children's books featuring Lil Bit, her rescued terrier and Chihuahua mix. The book, called "Finding Home," is inspired by Lil Bit's real-life rescue story, which Todd is reluctant to reveal because it would spoil the story. Teddy, the boy who becomes Lil Bit's owner, is inspired by Todd's husband and fellow writer Ted.

Every month seems to have its major national holiday except August. Yet for American women, August holds one of the most important dates, August 26, 1920. This date brought full suffrage or the right to vote for women in America.

Tucked away atop Hinds Ridge, two miles across the Union County line in Grainger County, is Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center, whose mission is to study, teach and demonstrate sustainability and to provide experiential learning of Earth Literacy.

Chow Chow is delicious. I wondered where that name came from. Taking a jar in hand, I looked at it straight on. Why is it called Chow Chow? Curiosity got the best of me. I checked it out online. I am now more confused than ever. Consider these possibilities:
1. There are "Northern" and "Southern" varieties. Mine is Southern.
2. Some say it came South with the Acadian expulsion from Nova Scotia.
3. Others cite a connection with the Chinese rail workers in the 1800's.
4. A chutney from India is made from chayote, hence "chow chow".

The Union County Historical Society will host the 13th Annual Heritage Festival Quilt Show at the Union County Museum. The Historical Society extends a special invitation to bring your quilts to the museum on Thursday, October 5th between 1:30 and 6:00 pm.

Asa Napoleon McClain’s home place was what we know as the Bruce and Pearl Rutherford home and farm on old Highway 33 at Maynardville. Asa was a carpenter and built the two-story weatherboard home. The house is gone, but the spring house is still there. Asa McClain enlisted in the Union Army at Williamsburg, KY on April 11, 1862 and served under Col. Ausmus. He died May 20, 1864, probably of pneumonia; he was buried in College Hill Cemetery at Nashville. He married Elizabeth Rooks, and they are my great grandparents.
(See also Our Union County Families, p. 111.)

I have never heard anyone say, "Tea is tea." Green tea, black tea and exotic tea blends line the shelves at Food City. Why am I talking about tea? First of all, it's hot outside and I want a tall glass of iced tea. Then, too, my taste in tea has changed over the years. My favorite now is sweet tea. You can buy it in a gallon jug. Even the fast food places brew their own sweetened iced tea.

There was a time when green tea was king in our house. Mother would buy a one pound bag of green tea siftings. It wouldn't last long. Mother knew how to brew good tea. She would scald the tea pot with hot water, add the right amount of loose tea leaves and fill with scalding hot water. After it steeped a few minutes, Mother poured out a cup for Dad, first of all, and then for my two brothers and me. Finally she poured a cup for herself. That was the order for everything served at our table. I will talk about that another time.

Randy Boyd is running for Tennessee Governor. Literally. Boyd, a self-described "serial entrepreneur" and former Tennessee commissioner of economic development, has committed to run 537 miles and visit all 95 counties in Tennessee. And on August 16, his run brought him to Union County for a lunch with Union Countians at the Winery at Seven Springs Farm.

UT Extension Union County and Union County Business & Professional Association are teaming up to "Hay Bale Union County". The Hay Bale Contest is open to all businesses, organizations, groups, and schools. Decorate your business or set up a display that is viewable from a roadway. Entries will be judged on eye appeal, use of space & materials, creativity, and adherence to theme. The theme of the 2017 Heritage Festival is “Come Here, Come Home.”

The Union County Chamber of Commerce will sponsor the Photography Show for the Heritage Festival.

The contest for amateurs only will provide pictures of Union County to be used in promoting Union County as a tourist destination. Photographers may enter one photo in each category: “Come here,Come home”, Union County People, or Union County Places.

A favorite event is cruising back to Maynardville Public Library Saturday, Sept. 9. The fifth Thunder Road Author Rally will run 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. that day. The event is free to the public and to authors wishing to set up booths.

Maynardville Library Director Chantay Collins said the rally has been a huge success and has filled a need. It started when library employee Jessica Raley joined Knoxville Writers Guild. Around the same time, Chantay and Raley went to an independent author event in Knoxville.

The Union County Farmers Market got "corny" last Saturday with the second annual Youth and Corn Festival. The festival celebrates...you guessed it...Union County's youth and that special time of year when the corn comes in. Huff Farm was on hand with corn for sale, and there were corn-related activities aplenty.

Winning the Corniest Joke Contest was a young man identified only as "Tim." Winning the Corn Shucking Contest for age 6 and older was John March Schwarzen. Michelle Phillips won the day's door prize.

As a part of the “New Deal” programs of the mid to late 1930s, mattress-making workshops were organized and conducted at local churches and elementary schools across Union County. Each family could make enough mattresses for all the beds in their household. This was a federal government program through the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The particular mattress-making I attended with my sister, Johnnie Heiskell Merritt, and our mother, Elsie Seymour Heiskell, was at Raccoon Valley School. This school had been built by the Works Progress Administration and opened about 1938.

I like greens. especially in the spring. After a winter of potatoes, carrots and such, I am ready for a change. Of course, the first greens to be had are dandelion greens. I remember looking for dandelions in the tall grass along sides of the fields on our farm. They were the best. There was no road salt on them from the winter. They grew tall competing for sunlight with the grass. Armed with a sharp knife and a half bushel basket, I would cut a basket full. Then back to the house to clean and rinse and cook and eat.

Hello Union County 4-H Members, Friends, and Family, Welcome back to school and a new year with Union County 4-H! Decorating a hay bale at the TN Valley Fair has become a long-standing tradition with Union County 4-H Members. This year, we have one opportunity to decorate ONE hay bale for our county. Therefore, we will have a contest among different Union County 4-H Groups to win the County Idea Contest. In many years past, we have had Honor Club, Hog Club, Horse Club, Smoky Mtn Club all want to decorate a hay bale.