HANG DOWN YOUR HEAD TOM DOOLEY

 Ok, I got to admit that I didn’t just stumble on this little adventure. It did take some planning and a little bit of an effort. While I wasn’t completely successful It turned out to be an interesting little adventure.

How many of you have heard the song “Hang Down Your Head, Tom Dooley,” by the Kingston Trio. Well, did you know the song was based the troubled life of a man Named Tom Dula. A few years back while visiting my Mom in the Hickory, North Carolina area, I set out to learn a little more about the man and to see if I could find some of the places relating to Tom Dula.

Tom was born and raised in Wilkes County, North Carolina as a teen, joined the Confederate Army. After the war, Tom returned to Wilkes county and let’s say he became friendly with two girls that he grew up with, Anne Melton and her cousin Laura Foster. 

Now here is where things get a bit cloudy. Legend has it that Laura was pregnant, and that Tom had convinced her to slip off an elope. So, in the early morning of May 25, 1866, Laura left home and was never seen alive again. Her body was found several days later by her cousin Anne Melton, who named Tom as a suspect. Tom was captured by a posse working on the farm of Colonel James Grayson just across the state line in Tennessee.

 Following his arrest, he was held in the Old Wilkes County Jail and was represented by former Governor Zebulon Vance who had the trail moved to nearby Statesville, North Carolina. Tom Dula was convicted of the murder of Laura Foster and hanged on May 1, 1868

So, during my little adventure I wanted to see how many places that I could find. I started off in Wilkesboro where the old Jail is still standing. The jail was built in 1859 and during the Civil War held several Union Prisoners who were waiting to be transferred to a POW Camp. It was here that Tom was held while awaiting trial. From Wilkesboro,

 I made my way west on Highway 268 where I found a historic marker that is located near where Tom Is buried. I wanted to see if I could find the grave, but it is on private property and due to vandals chipping away at the tombstone the property owner has posted the property and locked the gate

But I did manage to find a copyright free photo of the grave on the internet. 

My final stop on this little adventure was about 5 miles further west on Highway 268. There in the middle of a farmer’s field, protected only by a white board fence is the grave of Laura Foster.

Not seeing any no trespassing signs and an unlocked gate, I made my way to the middle of the field where I found a simple tombstone that had the inscription “Murdered May 1865 – Tom Dula hanged for Crime.” 

A lot of the people in the area still thinks that Laura was murdered by Ann Melton.  There are some more sorted theories about the legend of Tom Dula and Laura Foster, but I'll leave it to you to research and draw your own conclusions.

It was an interesting and full day.  The next time you are listening to the radio and happen to hear "Hang

“Hang Down your Head Tom Dooley,” you will know The Rest of of the story.

MAIL POUCH BARNS

 Here is this week’s episode of Stay at Home Travel. Today, when we travel, we are bombarded with billboards advertising everything from Hotels and restaurants to Antique Shops and Roadside Attractions. There are so many of these that most of the time we drive right by without paying them any attention. But there was a time when advertising was not only unique but creative.

It was back in 2005 when I stopped at a small roadside restaurant on the National Road near Wheeling, West Virginia that I discovered a time when roadside advertising added character to the American Landscape. While having lunch, I noticed that the walls of the restaurant was dotted with photos of Mail Pouch Barns. After finishing my lunch, I was walking around the restaurant admiring the photos.

The owner approached me and for the next few minutes we chatted about how much I enjoy finding one of these roadside treasures when I am traveling. As we talked, he told me the man who painted most of these barns was named Harley Warrick. He went on to say that when Mr. Warrick was in the area, he would often frequent the restaurant and over the years they became friends. Because of his friendship with Mr. Warrick, the restaurant Owner, began stopping and taking pictures of the barn whenever he would come across one.

Over the years he has photographed more than 100 different barns or Roadside Treasures as he calls them. All of the more than 100 photos that hung in his restaurant are of different barns. After my visit I did a little research and found that Harley Warrick grew up on a dairy farm in Ohio. After a hitch in the Army he returned to Ohio where he was offered a job as – You guessed it – A barn Painter. It would be the only job he would ever have. He traveled from town to town, sleeping in his pickup truck, painting two barns a day.

For more than 50-year Harley traveled throughout rural America, painting and repainting more than 21,000 barns. But 1965, something called the Highway Beautification Act signaled the beginning of the end for the Mail Pouch Barns. Eventually, the Mail Pouch Barns were designated a National Historic Landmark and Harley was able continue painting the existing barns. Harley Warrick retired in 1991 and died 9-years later in 2000. He was the last of the Mail Pouch Barn Painters.

So now when I’m traveling around Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania and I see one of these wonderful barns, I make a point to stop and take a picture. Many of the barns are falling and the paint is fading, but I snap a picture anyway because once they are gone, there will never be anymore. So, the next time you are traveling the back roads of America and see one of these old barns think back and remember just how much character they add to the American Landscape, because soon they will all be gone.

ASPENVALE

Back in the summer of 2004 I was just out piddlin and ended up on Route 11 in Smyth County, Virginia. When I piddle, I tend to stay off the Interstates. Everyone knows Interstate Piddlin is not much fun. 

Anyway, I found myself in the community of Seven Mile Ford. It was there that I came upon a large stone monument standing in someone front yard. So, I stopped and discovered that this was the site of Aspenvale, which was the home of Revolutionary War General William Campbell. General Campbell is known as the Hero of the Battle of Kings Mountain and was a significant participant in the Battle of Guilford Courthouse.

Elizabeth Henry Campbell Russell

Another interesting fact is that General Campbell was married to Elizabeth Henry who was the sister of Governor Patrick Henry. Yes, the same Patrick Henry who utter those immortal words, “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death.” General Campbell died in 1781 and in 1783 Elizabeth married another General named William Russell.

The couple moved to Saltville a few years later and She became a devout Methodist.  In fact, she is credited with the growth of the Methodist Church in Southwest Virginia.  If you ever find yourself in Saltville, pay attention to the Large stone church that you see there. It is known as “The Madam Russell Church,” named for Madam Elizabeth Henry Campbell Russell. 

Now back to the large monument on the side of the road. It mentions the Aspenvale Cemetery is located nearby. So off I went.

General William Campbell

The cemetery sits on private property on top of a hill. As luck would have it the owner of the property was nearby and kindly allowed me to drive up to the cemetery. Here in the small family cemetery surrounded by a rock wall, I found the graves of General William Campbell, Elizabeth Henry Campbell Russell, and General Francis Preston, who was the son of Colonel Will Preston.

General Preston married William and Elizabeth Campbell’s daughter Sarah. The Preston’s initially lived in Saltville, Va., where they managed the Saltworks. On a side note, during the Civil War, Saltville was known as the Salt Capital of the Confederacy. The Preston’s became quiet wealthy and later built an elaborate home in Abington.  The Preston Home in Abingdon is today known as The Martha Washington Inn.

Wow, I discovered so much history, all because I decided to stop and read a Monument on the side of the road. That quick stop, turned into about a two-hour adventure right here my own back yard. Just goes to show, History is all around you, you just have to take time to experience it.

JOHN T. SCOPES

A few years back I found myself piddling around Paducah, Kentucky. As I was on my way to supper one evening, I passed a Kentucky Historical Marker. So, I pulled over to see what tidbit of history I had stumbled on. 

This History on a Stick stood at the entrance to Oak Grove Cemetery which is the final resting place of John. T. Scopes.  So, you know me and cemeteries, I had to go and explore. 

For those of you that don’t know or may have forgotten John Scopes was a football coach and part-time substitute teacher at Rhea County High School in Dayton, Tennessee. During one of his stints as a substitute teacher, Mr. Scopes taught a course that included Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. 

This course was in violation of a Tennessee Law known as the Butler Act, which prevented the teaching the Theory of Evolution in place of the Biblical Account of the creation of man. Scopes was charged and eventually went on trial. The “Scopes Monkey Trial” garnered national attention.

When it began in 1925, Mr. Scopes defense team included the nationally known lawyer Clarence Darrow. The prosecution team countered with equally well-known attorney name William Jennings Bryan. The trial lasted several days, but the most dramatic moment came when Darrow ask the jury to return a verdict of guilty so that the case could be appealed.  Darrow’s dramatic closing argument silenced Bryan and prevented him from delivering the closing argument that he had been working on for weeks. Bryan was humiliated and embarrassed. 

The jury deliberated only 8-minutes before returning a guilty verdict just as Darrow had ask. The Judge fined Mr. Scopes the sum of $100. Five days later William Jennings Bryan, lay down to take an afternoon nap and died quietly in his sleep. True to his word, Darrow appealed the guilty verdict and while the Butler act was found to be legal and constitutional, the Scopes Convictions was overturned because the fine was set by the judge rather than the jury. The State of Tennessee chose not to retry Mr. Scopes.

While visiting his grave that afternoon, I got to thinking, what happened to this man after the trial. Here is what I found out.

After the trial Mr. Scopes was humiliated and harassed by media and tried to retreat from public view.  He attempted to return to college, but his notoriety made furthering his education exceedingly difficult, but he succeeded and specialized in the fields of energy and geology. His notoriety coupled with the great depression made life hard for Mr. Scopes and he chose to step back into the limelight when he ran unsuccessfully for congress in 1932.

Following his political defeat, he again stepped out of public view and moved to Texas where he took a job in the oil and natural gas industry. He continued to further his education and became an expert in his field, working throughout Texas and Louisiana.  His only foray back into the public limelight was a 1960 appearance on the TV Show “To Tell the Truth.” He continued to work in the oil and natural gas industry and moved for the final time to take a job with Pennzoil in Shreveport, Louisiana. 

John T. Scopes, the little-known substitute teacher that gained national attention as the subject of the famous “Monkey Trial” died of cancer at his home in Shreveport on October 21, 1970. He is buried next to his wife and parents here in Paducah. 

THE STORY OF JAMES KEELING

A few weeks back, I took a little social distancing day trip down to Scott County and Bristol. I ended my day in Bristol’s East Hill Cemetery. As I said before, the monuments in some of these old cemeteries tell a story or at least tell enough of a story to make you want to know more about the person. That was the case as I walked around this historic cemetery.

As I was walking through the Civil War Section I came upon the grave with this inscription on the stone “The Southern Horatius – Successfully defend the bridge at Strawberry Plains, Tennessee on the Night of November 8, 1861.” This was enough to make me want to know more about James Keeling.So when I got back home, I did a little research and discovered that prior to the start of the Civil War

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Mr. Keeling was living and working on a farm owned by Frank Butler in the community of Strawberry Plains, northeast of present day Knoxville, Tennessee. The East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad passed through the farm and crossed the Holston River a couple of miles away. The Railroad during the Civil War was a vital supply link for the Confederacy. Because of this the Holston River Bridge was a target of Union Forces hoping to disrupt the Confederate Supply Lines.

In 1861, the railroad hired Mr. Keeling to guard the bridge. He would work on the farm by day and sleep at the east end of the bridge during the night. On the night of November 8, 1861, about 40 Union Volunteers under the direction of Sevier County Sheriff William Pickens approach the bridge. They were going to burn the bridge, however they hadn’t count on encountering Keeling, who immediately shot and killed Pickens, who dropped the lit torch into the river below.

The others Union Volunteers charged Keeling who engaged his attackers in a hand to hand fight in which two more Union Volunteers were killed. During the hand to hand battle one of the Volunteers got a shot off, wounding Keeling. Thinking he was dead and not having any way to torch the bridge they rode away. Seriously wounded, Keeling walked to a nearby home and a doctor amputated his hand, which was buried in the Stringfield Family Cemetery.

After the war Keeling struggled to make a living and later moved to a small farm near Bristol where he was regard by Confederate Veterans as a hero and was a popular figure at Confederate Reunions. Veterans often referred to him as “The Horatius of the South,” after the legendary Roman Figure who had also defended a bridge. James Keeling died on February 12, 1895 and was buried in East Hill Cemetery. His grave was unmarked until about 1909, when local citizens raised the necessary funds to place and dedicated the marker that I visited today.