Methodist Church and Cemetery, Cades Cove, TN

This past Thursday, on a very cloudy day, George and I again drove to Cades Cove to check out the gravel road between Cades Cove and Townsend --over Rich Mountain. Before we went up the mountain, we stopped at another church in Cades Cove, the Methodist Church.

J. D. Mc Campbell, a blacksmith and carpenter, built a church, in the 1820's, in 115 days for $115. He later served many years as its minister. The congregation started in a log building, which lasted until they built this church in 1902.

Above is a picture of the little church taken from the cemetery beside it. Below are more.

Several of you have asked us to take more 'inside' pictures when we visit different places. SO--we did it for YOU, even though it was dark in there!!!! This picture shows the inside of the little church. There were several rows of pews, an altar/pulpit and even a piano... That's George standing there on the right!

Of course, I had to check out the pulpit.... BUT--luckily, I didn't start preaching... ha (See the old upright piano on the left?)

As we walked around the cemetery, this stone caught my attention... Look at it carefully... This family lost 3 baby boys in 3 years. How sad.

I couldn't read any words which may have been printed on this one, other than the word, MOTHER. BUT--I loved seeing the heart.

Another infant death; there were so many back then... What caught my attention here was the little lamb. Sweet, huh? And I loved those words at the bottom.

Finally, this is a picture of the front of the little Methodist Church. NOTE the two doors entering the church... This usually indicates that the church follows the custom of men sitting on one side and women on the other... But--I read that this church did not follow that custom. It seems that the church borrowed the building plans of another church that did divide its congregation by gender. Interesting, huh????

Hope you enjoyed seeing another one of the little churches in Cades Cove. In tomorrow's blog, I will show you this little church from up on Rich Mountain.

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Hope you had a wonderful weekend. We had 3 inches of rain on Saturday (YEAH RAH)---and Sunday was a PERFECT day in Tennessee (mild temperatures, gorgeous blue skies).... What can I say???? Life is GOOD!!!

Hugs,

Skyland Resort, Shenandoah National Park, VA

After this post, there are only 2 more sets to publish of my Birthday trip to the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive areas in Virginia from August 5-8. To see any of the other blog posts from this great trip, go to my sidebar, scroll down to labels, and click on Birthday 2010. Believe it or not, there are 12 posts already published in that set, not counting this one.

Today, I'm sharing with you a little more about the place where we spent the night on August 6, Skyland Resort. Skyland is off of the Skyline Drive near Milepost 42. To see the first set of pictures we took from here, click HERE. Above is a picture of the office --where George checked us in that afternoon. Below are more!!!

I want to go inside this building again... This is where we bought our Shenandoah National Park t-shirts, AND is where we ate dinner that evening. Remember the Blackberry Ice Cream Pie I mentioned before????? YUMMMMMM!!!!

Here is the amphitheater at Skyland Resort. They offer all kinds of interesting and historical programs at this little theater.

This is the back side of the restored 1911 cabin, which is called the Massanutten Lodge. In this building, you can read some great history of the resort. The Skyland Resort, much older than the park, played a role in its establishment. It was developed by George Freeman Pollock, a colorful character who induced a group of well-to-do city people to build vacation homes in this area, which is now part of the park. Pollock joined with a group of others who actively promoted the establishment of a national park in the southern Appalachian highlands. This lodge was one of the original buildings.

I love seeing how they used rock to build the homes back then. The Skyland Resort became the core of the new Shenandoah National Park after the National Park Service awarded the concession contract to the Sky-Line Company, Inc. in 1937. They then began to build new facilities. Twelve Skyland structures remain and allow modern visitors to experience life at the turn of the 20th century.

This is one of my favorite spots at Skyland Resort. This is the patio outside of their restaurant. The view is great --and being able to eat dinner either inside the restaurant or on the patio is great as you watch the sun go down in the west.

We loved this resort and recommend it to YOU if you ever go to that area. This is where we also saw deer wandering freely with no fear of all of the people around.

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Anyone having Blogger problem like I am???? Yesterday morning, I kept getting the message, "Service Unavailable"..... I lost lots of comments ---or didn't know whether they were published ---or because I did them OVER, maybe they published several times. I finally gave up!!! Grrrrrrrrrrr.... (Last night, things seemed to be better though, thank goodness!!)

Have a wonderful weekend. We drove to the Smokies again yesterday, and of course took MORE pictures.... Fun Fun!!!!!

See you Monday morning!!!!

Hugs,