Aug. 9: Land Between The Lakes

Originally called Between the Rivers, the area came under the Tennessee Valley Authority as part of Roosevelt's New Deal in the 1930's. The Tennessee River was damned first, forming Lake Kentucky. Later the Cumberland River was damned making Barkley Lake (the one we're camped on) by the Army Corp of Engineers. The two lakes were joined by a canal eliminating the need for a lock and making for faster shipping of goods to the Port of Gulf of Mexico via the Ohio River and then the Mississippi River. The Land Between the Lakes is the largest peninsula in the United States.

"All of this came with a large price, human as well as financial. A great number of the area residents resented immensely the condemnation of their lands, especially when it was explained to them that most of the area was not to be flooded but rather to become a park. Some felt that they were being singled out as the mostly-impoverished and poorly educated of society to be taken advantage of by their government. Several even armed themselves with shotguns, determined to stop the condemnation, but beyond perhaps a few punctured tires, little actual violence ever occurred." Wikipedia

If I remember correctly from my reading at the headquarters located at Golden Pond in LBL, there were 3000 people had to be removed from this area. There are over 200 cemeteries still accessible and cared for by volunteers all over this area. Most are family plots; a few are associated with the local churches.

There is one whole area set aside for ATV's, Jeeps and dirt bikes - no rentals so we didn't get to play here. Lots of biking and hiking trails.

The Elk & Bison Prairie is a section that has been fenced off to allow these animals to graze and raise their young. Since 2001, 56 elk from this prairie have been reintroduced into North Carolina and Tennessee. This is a drive thru area, so chances are good that they will be walking across the road right where you are; however, that happens mostly in the morning and evenings. We were there at about 2:30. We saw some of the buffalo (there are 69) and one female Elk that had her back to us (there are 33 Elk in this area somewhere).

The Homeplace is a living history farm of this area from the mid 19th century. Aside from the local entertainment, others working the farm were in period costume. This house is called a "two pin" house. There are two living area separated by a "dog trot" or walkway. The kitchen is behind the house connected by a covered roof. The slot mid-way up the roof is where I
took the picture showing the tobacco crop out in front. Quilting was done on the front porch where there was ample light. Some can be done inside but sun light thru the windows and candle light are not good for small stitches. This particular quilt has been being worked on for a year and they're on the last row. Everything produced at the Homeplace is kept here - nothing is sold to the public.

Tobacco, however, is another story. The tobacco firing barn is where western Kentucky and some counties down into Tennessee cured or dried their tobacco crop. The leaves or "hands" were hung from the barn and a low, smoldering, smoking fire was kept burning on the floor to finish out the tobacco. This is used in chewing tobacco. Air dried tobacco is used for cigarettes and then there are all kinds of blends. The farmer we were talking to said that tobacco was a labor intensive crop and a complicated crop. The crop produced here is given away to anyone who wants it, so we walked out with one "hand" of chewing tobacco. This will be brought back home for our chewer friends - Brian and John Betzen from Larry's work and Keith from my work, to name the ones we know.


This is the tool shed. They make everything required for the farm at this shed. A couple of logs had been hauled in by horse and they were splitting some of it to make new chairs for the two houses on the property.




The day on the farm wouldn't be complete without some entertainment. Again, I had made a short video of this but the file will not load. They were serving watermelon for you to eat while the group was playing and Larry, of course, had some. They were playing bluegrass music.






At the end of a grueling day we needed sustenance. There is a place just north of LBL called Patti's Settlement. The waiting time for the Patti's Restaurant was 1 hour because we didn't have reservations, but Bill's Place got us in 10 minutes. Same menu, same kitchen - just a different setting apparently. Larry had a steak (again) and I had the local flavor of a Kentucky Hot Brown: Homemade slice of bread, toasted, with slices of turkey breast, slices of Black Forrest Ham, tomato (which I left off) covered with cheese sauce (last one I had was covered with white gravy) and a slice of bacon on top. Served hot. Really, really good. For desert, Larry had Dutch Peach Pie and here's the recipe for Sawdust Pie that I had:

7 egg whites, unbeaten
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 1/2 cups pecans
1 1/2 cups coconut
9-inch unbaked pie shell

Mix all ingredients together and stir by hand. Pour into unbaked pie shell. Bake in preheated 325 deg. oven until glossy and set (about 25 to 30 minutes).

DO NOT OVER BAKE! Serve warm with sliced bananas and whipped cream.

I guess her kids told her it looked like baked sawdust. It was wonderful. We each took half of our desert home. It was definitely better served warm. The web site is pattis-settlement.com.

The rest of the week will be spend at camp.