2003 Volume 17
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On 10/5 we started our waterfall tour of Tennessee. We stayed at Tennessee State Parks starting with Cumberland Mountain State Park.
We shopped at the Cumberland General Store. They advertise "...complete outfitters with goods in endless variety for man & beast". Where else can you find McGuffey's Readers, corn cob pipes, copper bathtubs, and harness parts? It's one of the most unusual stores I have seen.
Well, the tour went off without a hitch. It was really interesting. The Saturn complex is huge. They have approx. 8,000 people who work there (they call themselves "team members") and have a capacity of 1,000 cars a day. There is 2,400 acres, half is factory and half is farmed. They grow corn and soybeans. They don't allow cameras so I didn't get any pictures.
On our way south we stopped in Georgia at some parks we hadn't visited before. The first was Cloudland Canyon. It's just across the border near Chattanooga. It is located on the same plateau as Lookout Mountain and contains a deep canyon with a couple of waterfalls. Since you must hike down 1500 feet and then back up, I decided to just enjoy the view from the top.
We had seen so many ads for "See Rock City" that we went there. It was actually pretty interesting. It was originally a private garden until the depression. It was then opened to the public. It is a large-scale rock garden containing 400 species of local plants. The rocks are huge boulders and the paths lead over, under and all around them. Since it is on the top of Lookout Mountain, there are overlooks where you can see 7 states. We had lunch and spent a couple of hours there. on the way back to the campground we stopped at an overlook and watched a hang glider being towed up by an ultra light and flying back down to an airport in the valley. |
A BRIEF HISTORY OF ROCK CITY GARDENS
In the late 1920's, Garnet and Frieda Carter began to develop a large walk-through garden on their private estate. In 1930, Frieda marked the original path that was constructed and is now maintained by master craftsmen from this area. By gathering and preserving over 400 varieties of plant life indigenous to the region, Frieda received national acclaim from the Garden Club of America.
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Providence CanyonThe Park was opened in 1971 and the canyon is less than 200 years old. It was caused by erosion resulting from poor farming practices. |
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This is the Chattahoochee County Courthouse. President Carter rededicated it here on July 4, 1976. His ancestors actually worked in this building. |
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And this is the real Judge Judy. |
Here Judy is explaining to the interpreter how to cook. You believe that, don't you ???? |