Sunday, April 19, 2009

Almost out of Tennessee

We have now moved on to stay at Warrior's Path State Park, almost in the middle of Kingsport. It is a beautiful park and we have taken some very nice pictures of views, plants and animals, which are on our Picasa site

We have come here for 2 main reasons.
1. To find out more about the roots of bluegrass/country music
2. To see, what on Google Earth looks like, some amazing geology.

Kingsport is a large town/small city in the top right hand corner of Tennessee, not easy to get to. It is part of a trio of towns called The Tri-Cities, including Bristol and Johnson City.
Kingsport is tucked on the wrong side of the Appalachians from the more prosperous North Carolina, with its rich piedmont and coastal plain. However, on arriving here, we have found it to be an extremely interesting area. It is a communication gateway. It was the first area outside of the13 colonies to be settled and many pioneers came through here. It is home to Davy Crocket and Daniel Boone (close anyway). It was an important area in the war of independence, though it seems to have got off lightly in the civil war.
It was on one of the old Cherokee Indian pathways, hence the name of the State Park, Warriers Path. More recently it has become the recognised birthplace of Country music (and hence its offshoot of Bluegrass). It is an area rich in mountain music.

No comments:

Post a Comment