Shop With Me

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Things to Do

Well, the update on Scott, he has made it thru day 9 and 257 miles. Today's route will take him from Buckingham VA to Cumberland VA. Continued good luck on your journey Scott. Thoughts and prayers are with you every step of the way.

If you are planning to make a visit to Johnson county here aare a couple of things you might want to put on your "To See" list.

Backbone Rock is a great place for hiking, a picnic, camping and swimming. It got its name because it is a stone ridge that extends from the Iron Mountain. In the early 1900's a railroad track was laid from the Sutherland area to Damascus VA to transport timber to market.
When the workers came to the stone interface about 75 foot high and 10 feet thick they figured the easiest way to get around it was to go through it. So they blasted the tunnel through it creating the world's shortest tunnel. After it was blasted it had to be hand chisled in order for the trains smokestack to go through. Today the main highway goes through the rock from Shady Valley to Damascus.
In the 1930's the CCC (Civilian Conservtion Corps) built steps and a trail so visitors could climb the rock. If you are visiting the area it is definitely worth seeing.

To get to Backbone Rock go to Damascus (middle of town) and follow Shady Avenue (TN State Route 133) south for approximately 3 miles.

Another great place to go in Mountain City is the Johnson County Welcome Center. You can find a variety of items and artifacts from early day Johnson County in the museum there. They also have tourist information and are open daily.

For those of you who want to follow Scott's journey his daily walk to the steps of the U. S. Capitol here is the link http://www.tencommandmentswalk.com/

You can leave comments on this page or if you prefer to contact me you can do so at kimilauri@msn.com. If you have memories you would care to share about living in Johnson County I would appreciate it if you would share those also.

3 comments:

Speedy said...

What do you mean you post is not interesting!! I love everything you write about...Sherri says HI

Joe and Sherri

The Happy Wanderers said...

Hi Jenny,
We love your blog also. We check it each morning. You do have some talent and I love it when you write about growing up. The neat places you write about remind me of the time I spent living with my grandparents.
Hope you'll be in Kerrville when we arrive on the 24th.
Hugs,
Ed & Marilyn

Anonymous said...

I wanted to tell you that my Grandma did the same thing with the chickens on the chopping block and they would run around. One Sunday she missed the chickens neck and cut off her finger Not a pretty sight.

Phyllis