Days 24 & 25

 We left our campsite in the Smoky Mountains around 7:30 AM and arrived in Asheville, NC early enough to have breakfast at the Sunny Point Cafe, a funky place in the funky part of town.  We love it and we weren't disappointed.

The Blue Ridge Parkway was built with WPW funds during the Depression to join Shenandoah National Park to Smoky Mountains National Park.  As we head north from Asheville we will attempt to follow this route as much as possible.

The Grove Arcade

The Basilica of St. Lawrence

Monday was Joni's birthday, so we celebrated at Vinny's Italian restaurant.

Spaghetti Carbonara for me

Chicken Parmesan for Joni

Our campsite #21, at North Mills River Recreation Area in the Pisgah National Forest

Our campsite was surrounded my Mountain Laurel, unfortunately it hasn't blossomed yet.

The Biltmore, constructed between 1888-1895 by George Washington Vanderbilt, who was the youngest of eight siblings of Cornelius Vanderbilt's son, William Vanderbilt.  William was the oldest son of Cornelius Vanderbilt. (Yes,that's confusing!)

The Biltmore estate required 1000 workmen; it has 250 rooms, 35 bedrooms, 65 fireplaces, 175,000 sq. ft. and it's located on 8,000 acres.

View from the rear terrace looking toward Mt. Pisgah

Monet

Renoirs

Days 22 & 23

We've been pretty much off the grid for the past two days; no internet & no showers, but we're loving it!

Our first stop of the day was the National Cemetery in Chattanooga where, among many others, are buried Andrews Raiders who stole the train in Kennesaw, Georgia.  The eight raiders who were caught were all hung; nine others escaped.

The grave of James Andrews who led the raid.

An adorable display in front of a dog kennel in Chattanooga.

The Smoky Mountain Railroad Model Train Museum in Bryson City, NC.  Over 4000 cars & engines combine to make this display, and another 3000 cars & engines are in storage awaiting another layout.  For those who want to know, these are 99% "O gauge" trains.

One of the many tourist traps in Cherokee, NC.

Poplar Tulip

Our campsite, B-24, at the Smokemont Campground in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

We may have been off the grid, but that didn't stop us from celebrating Derby Day with a couple of Mint Juleps.

We started Day 23 at this museum in Cherokee.  This museum not only focused on the Cherokee tribe, but covered the earliest Native American settlements in North America.  Although there was a lot of repeat information that we'd encountered in other museums, it was still very informative and we were glad we went.

This simple map gives an indication of how large the Cherokee lands were before they were forced to give them all ups and move to Oklahoma.

Plotting our next stops for the upcoming days.

After leaving the museum in Cherokee, we returned to the Smoky Mountains National Park, driving over the Newfound Gap, elevation 5,049 ft., which crosses the Appalachian Trail.  Newfound Gap is also the dividing line between Tennessee and North Carolina, with Tennessee to the north.

This stream ran parallel to our campground and provided just enough white noise to block out any noisy campers who were running air conditioners or portable generators.

Sunday night dinner:  pulled pork, brisket, baby back ribs, beans, & a biscuit.

Our travels for days 22 & 23.

Day 21

Our last pix from Red Top Mountain, Georgia

 We were on the road at 8:45 AM, heading north to Georgia’s Fort Mountain State Park which is about 50 miles south of Chattanooga.   It was raining this morning so we decided to just have cereal and juice in the van,  then pick up some coffee an everything bagel and a raspberry scone in nearby Cartersville.  

Continuing north, our next stop was the settlement of New Echota, which was the capitol of the Cherokee Nation.  The Cherokee were a peaceful people who quickly adopted and assimilated most of the customs, names, speech, dress, housing, government, and religions of the European settlers.  

The settlement of New Echota resembled many other communities in the United States in the 1800’s.  The Cherokee developed a written language, they had a newspaper, and a court system.  Touring the buildings of the restored village was no different than touring through Sturbridge Village in central Massachusetts.

The Cherokee Nation was recognized and operated as an independent country inside the United States.  However, in response to a continual series of treaty revisions and violations, the Cherokee sued the US government and won!  The lawsuit ended up in the US Supreme Court whose Chief Justice was John Marshall. Despite the fact that the Cherokee won the lawsuit President Andrew Jackson refused to honor the decision, and ordered US troops to enforce resettlement of all Cherokee people to Oklahoma.

The forced migration of the Cherokee to Oklahoma, which started in the fall of 1835, was known as the Trail of Tears.  Approximately 15,000 Cherokee started the 800 mile journey by foot, horse, wagon, and boat, but over 4,000 died along the way due to disease, exposure, and starvation.

In Georgia, the abandoned lands. farms, homes, and possessions were distributed to new settlers via a lottery!  The original village of New Echota was completely abandoned and essentially disappeared until it was rediscovered by archaeologists in the 1950’s.

This is the home of one of the most successful Cherokee, Chief James Vann, a businessman whose 1000 acre plantation employed over 100 Black slaves.  Vann was considered one of the wealthiest Americans of his time.  He was murdered, most likely by a disgruntled Cherokee who believed Vann was corrupt and taking bribes in order to agree to treaties that none of the Cherokee people supported.

Vann Plantation 

Leaving New Echota, our next stop was the town of Dalton where we had a fabulous lunch, probably our best meal of this trip, at “Cyra’s Simple Goodness”.

Knowing our dinner would be at the campground, Joni and I went big, sharing an appetizer, a mango curry burrata:  fried burrata (cheese( served over mango, cranberry and curry chutney, and accompanied with grilled stiratto bread.

My main dish was shrimp and zucchini fettuccine:  house made zucchini noodles tossed with a fresh chili garlic beurre blanc and served with grilled shrimp, spinach, corn, and peppers.

For a main dish, Joni chose a fried green tomato BLT with thick cut Nueske bacon, iceberg lettuce and a jalapeño bacon jame on grilled stiratto bread, served with Yukon Gold roasted potatoes.

We continued our splurge, sharing an Indian bread pudding with strawberries, raspberries, and whipped cream!

Leaving Dalton, which appeared to be a very prosperous and charming small city, we made one stop to take some pictures of the Vann Plantation, and then headed into the mountains to our campsite for the evening at Fort Mountain State Park.  The park, elevation 2500 feet, is nestled among the thick forests of the  southern Appalachians, very close to the southern end of the  Appalachian Trail at Springer Mountain.  This was our 4th or 5th visit to Fort Mountain….obviously we love it.