Lenoir TN - 2018

Welcome to Tennessee!  We arrived at the Soaring Eagle Campground in Lenoir TN.  Only plan on staying here for a few days from 6 - 9 Aug.  Since we are rested up, we had places to go and things to see.

The first stop in our adventures was to go to the World's Fair in Knoxville! Too bad we were 36 years too late.  At least we managed to go to the World Fair complex and take some pictures.

Well since we were in town, we headed to the historic downtown area and did a walk-about.  During the walk, what did we find?  Blount Mansion.  This mansion was built in 1792.  It was one of the first framed houses west of the Alleghenies.  It served as both the residence of William Blount, Governor of the Territory South of the River Ohio and as capital of that territory,  now the State of Tennessee.  William Blount also was one of the signers of the Constitution of the United States.  Come to find out later that he became wanted for treason too.  He tried to get Great Britain to seize the Spanish-controlled Louisiana in hopes to boost western land prices (he was broke and needed money).   Anyway, read this to learn something that you may have or have not learned and forgot in school.  Oh, do you remember that the armies normally destroyed everything in there path?  Well I did, and the way this house was saved was they made friends with both sides.  So the armies left them alone since they could stay there and relax during their travels.  I do have some pictures to talk about.  So, let's do that. Also, here is all the pictures we took to include the River next to it.

 So do you know what this is?  It's buckles for shoes.  They believe these belonged to William Blount.

 This was one of the dolls his kids played with when they were young.





This picture shows you the pipes they used to smoke with.  One is really short compared to the other. This is because they had to constantly remove the tip of the pipe to clear it out (no pipe cleaners here!).  To the right of the pipes is a plate of old pipe endings.  When the pipe was done, they would melt them down so they could make new ones.  They found those pipe remains buried. Oh and they were made with clay I guess.

Well that was it for Lenoir TN.  Off to Kentucky now.  Staying at Dad's Bluegrass Campground in Franklin KY.