Crossville, TN 9/20/13-9/24/13

Crossville, TN was planned as a pass through stop for us.  But as we keep finding there are interesting things to see everywhere we go.  Crossville is situated upon the Cumberland Plateau.  It just so happened that our first adventure day out was the local Apple Festival (a fundraiser for the Cumberland Homestead museum)...... Great Country Music, everything apple, lots of crafts made out of gourds, lots of homemade soaps and candles.  For us we had BBQ sandwiches, some of the best, as well as fried apple pies.  While there we also visited the Cumberland Homestead Museum.

History time....Remember FDR's National Recovery Act of 1933 (the New Deal) which created huge public works programs?  Well tucked away in this huge bill was a section called the Subsistence Homestead Communities.  The plan-relocate some of the over populated industrial areas, where unemployment was out of sight, to homestead communities.  The Cumberland Homestead Project was one of the first of these projects.  Almost 2,000 people applied, only 250 families would eventually succeed in home ownership.  Accepted applicants were trained for various tasks (farming, masonry, etc.).  They worked and kept 1/3 of their wages and 2/3 of their wages went into a future home that would be built by the community.  They built the local dam, worked the fields and built their neighbor's homes.   All applicants began living in their barn, and would eventually, if they stuck it out, have a house to live in.  For so many families this was an opportunity few could ever dream of prior.  Hard work, no handouts, and ownership could be theirs.  This was truly considered a success in this area.

While here we went to the Cumberland Playhouse (one of the 10 largest professional theaters in Rural America) which was quite impressive for a small town.  They had 2 different performances most days of the week.  We chose the Chinese acrobats show on a Sunday, but look forward to doing a return visit for a play.  The Chinese acrobats we saw were the Golden Dragons.  http://www.goldendragonacrobats.com/gallery/We both agreed that while very good, they were not as polished as the Peking Acrobats that we saw in Santa Clarita. That said, both are very good and if you have a chance you should see one of the Chinese Acrobat troops.  At this performance in Crossville we had front row center seats and that gave us a whole new dimension to the show (highly recommended), seeing the details that you can not see from a distance.  If you look at image 5 on the link above, that was something sitting 2 feet away.  Sorry, no pictures from us as they were not allowed.....check out the link and then go see them if you have a chance.

Our last day, to this short stay, we went to Fall Creek Falls State Park.  They are most known for Fall Creek Falls which is the tallest waterfall east of the Mississippi.  We rode our bikes here, taking us to Cane Falls, Fall Creek Falls and also Piney Falls.  We also did some short hikes, including down to the big Suspension bridge.  It was a beautiful day and the trails were lovely (although there were a few patches of moss that we had to be careful riding through).  We both agreed, a very worthwhile, beautiful and enjoyable day.


Cumberland Homestead Apple Festival

 Cumberland Homestead Tower

Cumberland Homestead House

Conquer!...Teri does the Suspension Bridge at
Fall Creek Falls State Park (besides the climb down to the bridge,
she is afraid of heights)

Fall Creek Falls Lake

 Piney Falls

The Gorge at  Fall Creek Falls SP

The Gorge at  Fall Creek Falls SP

Wild Turkeys at Fall Creek Falls SP

Fall Creek Falls (tallest waterfall east of the Mississippi)

States visited in our RV since retirement