2020-10-18: Westbound Roadtrip Through North Carolina and Tennessee

Westbound and down, eighteen wheels are rollin'.... OK, so there aren't 18-wheels. But our time in North Carolina has come to an end and I gotta week to start the next project in Guy, Texas. TIME FOR ANOTHER ROAD TRIP! Time for geocaching, sightseeing, and exploring more backroads and byways between here and there.

Today we drove all the way over to Chattanooga, Tennessee. We discovered an old mill, a waterfall, a giant Harley-Davidson, a copper mine, and a historic cemetery. So climb into the GeoJeep and let me show you...

Not to take up too much time starting out, I quickly drive up to I-40 and head westbound. The first few hours were nonstop all the way to Cherokee, NC and our first geocache (GCGYMA).

For 50 years, nearby farmers brought their corn and wheat to Mingus Mill, built in 1886. The miller usually charged a toll of one-eighth of the grain the customer brought for milling. The gristmill's stone was turned by a water-powered, cast-iron turbine. From water pressure built up in the penstock at the flume's end, the turbine generated 11 horsepower, enough to run all the mill's machinery. On the second floor, the smut machine blew wheat grain free of debris, while the bolting chest separated ground wheat into grades by sifting it through fine to coarse bolts of cloth.

Mingus was the largest gristmill in the Smokies. Its 200-foot-long wooden flume brings water to the mill's turbine. As early as the 1820's, more progressive millers began using turbines to power their mills rather than waterwheels. The Mingus family sold the mill to the National Park Service in the 1930's.

Continuing the scenic drive west on US-74, we headed for Juney Whank Falls and our next geocache (GCMBAZ). This puzzle cache requires gathering information along the 4.4 mile Deep Creek - Indian Creek loop trail. However once we arrived at the trailhead we weren't up for a long hike. So we just took the short hike to the first of several waterfalls for some photos.

Here's one of those reasons why I like driving the backroads and byways through rural towns and communities across this great country. Passing by Cherokee County Cycles, I spotted this HUGE Harley-Davidson custom motorcycle along with a couple of other cool vehicles in the parking lot. I just had to pull in and get a few pics!

Crossing over into Tennessee, we check out the Great Copper Basin Earthcache (GCNP87) and a new caching county of Polk County. In 1843, a prospector, hoping to find gold south of the Coker Creek mine fields, instead located one of America's richest copper reserves. Over the next century, American and foreign companies chartered more than a dozen copper mines in the Ducktown Basin. The last mines closed in 1987. Many of the buildings still remain today.

We ended our day in Chattanooga at the National Cemetery for two virtual geocaches (GC5148, GC4E66). On Dec. 25, 1863, Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas, “The Rock of Chickamauga," issued General Orders No. 296 creating a national cemetery in commemoration of the Battles of Chattanooga, Nov. 23-27, 1863. Gen. Thomas selected the cemetery site during the assault of his troops that carried Missionary Ridge and brought the campaign to an end. The site Thomas selected was approximately 75 acres of a round hill rising with a uniform slope to a height of 100 feet; it faced Missionary Ridge on one side and Lookout Mountain on the other. Gen. Grant established his headquarters on the summit of the hill during the early phase of the four-day battle for Lookout Mountain.

By 1870, more than 12,800 interments were complete: 8,685 known and 4,189 unknown. The dead included men who fell at the battles of Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain. There were also a number of reinterments from the surrounding area, including Athens, Charleston and locations along the line of Gen. Sherman’s march to Atlanta. A large number of men—1,798 remains—who died at the Battle of Chickamauga were relegated to unknowns during the reinterment process. In addition to Civil War veterans, there are 78 German prisoners of war buried here.

The Andrews Raiders Monument, erected by the state of Ohio in 1890, is among the most unique memorials in the cemetery. The granite base and die is topped with a bronze replica of “The General,” the Civil War-era wood-burning locomotive famous for its great chase of 1862.

Today, the Chattanooga National Cemetery encompasses just over 120 acres and nearly 60,000 permanent residents.

After 300 miles of driving, it was time to call it a night. Tomorrow is another day with new adventures and things to see. I hope you have enjoyed today's journey and will return for many more...

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course. But also by using you favorite of these social media platforms: Facebook, MeWe, Gab, Reddit, Parlor, Twitter, RVillage, GETTR and Instagram. These all link directly to my profile. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

2020-09-20: Walking Around the Historical Augusta, Georgia and Finding a Few Geocaches

On this second day of our roadtrip, we started out in Augusta, Georgia. We've passed through this city many times but never really taken the time to explore it. So this morning before we continued the rest of our drive up to the RV park in North Carolina, we spent some time checking out the historical riverfront area of Augusta. So let's take a walk through this historic community.

Founded in 1736 on the western bank of the Savannah River, Augusta, Georgia became the second town of the 13th British colony. General James Edward Oglethorpe, the colony’s founder, ordered the settlement and chose its location at the head of navigation of the Savannah River below the shoals created by the fall line. Oglethorpe’s vision was to establish an interior trading post for purchasing furs and other commodities from Native Americans to compete with New Savannah Town, a small outpost on the South Carolina side of the river.

Augusta thrived as a trading post from the beginning, with several of the South Carolina traders moving their base of operations to the new settlement. By 1739 a fort was completed, and the official surveyor of the colony, Noble Jones, laid out the town. Its colonial plan was similar, but not as elaborate as the one used in Savannah. Augusta’s plan focused on one large square or plaza and was four streets deep and three streets wide. Fort Augusta was adjacent to the 40 town lots on the west side near the river. Augusta named two of its original streets for Georgia’s colonial governors: Reynolds Street for John Reynolds, and Ellis Street for Henry Ellis. These streets are still prominent features of the Downtown Augusta, Broad Street, and Pinched Gut Historic Districts.

As traders populated the town, they brought their wives and began to have children. The desire for a more civilized atmosphere dictated the need for a church. As a British colony, Georgia petitioned the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel for a minister after constructing a church building in 1749. The first minister, the Reverend Jonathan Copp, arrived in 1751 and began conducting services according to the rites of the Church of England. After Georgia’s division into parishes in 1756, the Augusta District fell into St. Paul’s Parish, and the Augusta church became known as St. Paul’s Church (GC7B87M).

The brick pavers above layout the site of the first church in Augusta in 1749. The first church was destroyed during the French and Indian War (1754-1763). When rebuilt, the church became part of Fort Cornwallis until its destruction in 1781, in the Second Siege of Augusta, during the Revolutionary War. The Trustees of the Academy of Richmond rebuilt the third church on this property in 1789. This church was where the First Presbyterian Church was founded in 1804. Later, the congregation would build a new church on Telfair Street and move in, in 1812. The Episcopalian congregation would regain ownership in 1818. Robert Lund designed a new church which was completed and consecrated in 1821. The congregation grew and built a church school in 1843, with an orphanage added in the 1850's. During the Civil War, the property served as a hospital for the Confederacy.

The Great Augusta Fire of 1916 burned the fourth church, along with over 30 blocks of downtown Augusta and Olde Town. Fortunately, they were able to save some of the church furniture. Services continued to be held under a tent and at the courthouse until a new home could be built. The fifth church is the one we see here today. The exterior was designed to resemble church number four, Federal Style. The interior was redesigned in the Georgian style. The baptismal font is from the first church and many items rescued from the fire, from the fourth church, are still in use here today.

According to the Find-A-Grave website, there are 166 burials scattered about on the St Paul's Church graveyard (GC1PA14) dating back to 1754. The cemetery is still used today though not as often as I'm sure even a small burial plot is prime real estate and very expensive.

After the Revolution Augusta became the temporary capital of the new state of Georgia between 1786 and 1795, and many of the leaders of the government moved to the town. One of the most notable was George Walton, a Signer of the Declaration of Independence, who built his home, Meadow Garden, on what was then the outskirts of town. The other of Georgia's Declaration of Independence signers, Colonel William Few Jr, was buried at the St Paul's Cemetery in 1828.

The town continued to grow in size and population governed by a group of Trustees of the Academy of Richmond County. In 1791 they added Telfair Street, named for Georgia Governor Edward Telfair. Telfair Street today is another major artery through the Augusta Downtown and Pinched Gut Historic Districts. President George Washington’s visit in 1791 was a highlight of this period. Legend has it that Augustans planted the large ginkgo tree in his honor at the proposed site of the Richmond County Courthouse, constructed in 1801 and now known as the Old Government House. The Trustees of the Academy built a new school building in 1802, the old Academy of Richmond County.

As Georgia expanded westward and the states of Alabama and Mississippi attracted many of its prosperous planters, Augusta’s economy began to stagnate. The Charleston and Hamburg Railroad in South Carolina reached a point directly across the Savannah River from the heart of downtown Augusta in 1832. In 1833 the Georgia Railroad, chartered in Athens, Georgia, began building westward from Augusta toward a yet unnamed settlement that would eventually become Atlanta.

The railroad did not ensure Augusta’s future, as the tug on Americans to move westward grew ever stronger, but other factors had a positive impact on the city. Spurred by the invention in 1793 of the cotton gin, local farmers grew upland cotton in the surrounding countryside making Augusta the center of a large inland cotton market.

Augusta served as a major center of the Confederacy, providing cotton goods, shoes, guns, munitions, food, and many other commodities. In addition, the city was a religious center of the South hosting meetings for the formation of both the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America at St. Paul’s Church, and the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States at First Presbyterian Church. The meeting took place there at the invitation of its pastor, Reverend Joseph Ruggles Wilson, who lived with his family in the parsonage, the Woodrow Wilson Boyhood Home.

Next door to the future President’s home was the parsonage of First Christian Church, home of future U.S. Supreme Court Justice Joseph R. Lamar. Wilson and Lamar, both sons of prominent Augusta pastors, were best friends as children.

Following the Civil War, Augusta’s economy struggled but rebounded with the enlargement and expansion of the Augusta Canal in 1875. Several large new cotton mills were built along its banks. As the old city continued to expand, most religious denominations realized the need to establish a second congregation in the western end of the city, and often a third or fourth in the suburban areas. With the expansion of the Augusta Canal, the city was once again a thriving center of a cotton economy. Cotton warehouses lined Reynolds Street between St. Paul’s Church on the east and 9th Street on the west.

Augusta's Imperial Theatre began in 1917 as a vaudeville showcase named The Wells Theatre. On Sunday, October 6, 1918, over 3,000 cases of Spanish Flu were reported. With the death of 52 servicemen from nearby Fort Gordon, the city announced the closure of all public venues, including the theatre. The quarantine began October 7, and during this time Jake Wells encountered great financial difficulties. He sold The Wells to Lynch Enterprises. On November 27, 1918, shortly after the sell, the quarantine is lifted and the theatre opened two weeks later. The Wells Theatre's was soon changed to The Imperial Theatre. Throughout the early 1900's the theatre continued to provide the city of Augusta and the surrounding area with great entertainment. In 1929, as vaudevillian acts decreased in popularity and motion pictures enjoyed meteoric success, Miller decided to renovate the Imperial into a full-time movie house in the popular art deco style. Decades later due to the decline of the downtown area, the Imperial continued as a film theatre until it closed in 1981. In 1985 it was recognized for its architectural significance and reopened as a performing arts venue with the help of local performing arts groups like the Augusta Ballet and the Augusta Players.

Saw this sign on another business in the historic district. I'm don't think there is a long history to research here, but I liked the appropriate name for the bar and thought I'd share it with you.

In 2005, a statue was dedicated in the historic district and James Brown Plaza in honor of the "Godfather of Soul" (GC11BDX). Born in South Carolina in 1933, the family moved to Augusta when he was five years old. He began singing in talent shows as a young child, first appearing at Augusta's Lenox Theater in 1944. As a singer, songwriter, musician and one-of-a-kind performer, James Brown has thrilled millions around the world with his hit recordings and electrifying performances. 

While there is much more that can be said of Augusta's history and many more places to see, we still have a long drive ahead of us to the RV park in North Carolina. So let us get back on the road for now. Until the next time...

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course. But also by using you favorite of these social media platforms: Facebook, MeWe, Gab, Reddit, Parlor, Twitter, RVillage, GETTR and Instagram. These all link directly to my profile. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

2020-09-19: Geocaching Roadtrip Through Georgia Finding Abandoned Buildings, Old School, and Santa Claus

Hello Everyone. Well we had a 4-day weekend off from work so I decided a spontaneous quick trip down to Florida and back would be good to fill the time. We packed a weekend bag and left the Lake Norman RV Resort in North Carolina on Thursday morning, arriving at a hotel on Daytona Beach. Friday was spent visiting family. Todays' blog is about our Saturday drive north through Georgia, sightseeing and geocaching along the way. So climb onboard the GeoJeep once again and let us see what we can find...

Driving north on I-95 and arriving in Brunswick, Georgia, I exit onto US-25 / US-341 to take the backroads and byways so that we can enjoy the ride more than the Interstates. It didn't take very long to find a treasure and reaffirm the reason we prefer the backroads of rural America. Passing through the small community of Gardi, Georgia, I spotted this old red brick building and just had to turn around for a closer look.

The Gardi area was being settled by the Street Family during the colonial days of Georgia. Around 1900 and as the community was growing, this brick building was constructed by the Odom Family and first used as a post office and general store. The Fore Family purchased the building around 1940 and turned it into an apiaries, selling their "Fancy Honey" to the community. The family still owns the property but has since expanded and moved their business to Darien, Georgia. The abandoned building is a reminder of Gardi's historic past.

Since I was already here, I checked the geocaching app and lo and behold there's a geocache placed here too (GC377Y1). Also on the corner is a Geodetic Survey Bench Mark which was placed way back in 1917.

Moving along up the highway at the snails pace of 55 MPH, on a 4-lane highway, with nothing but trees all around on both sides, makes me miss Texas. This same stretch of highway would easily be 70-75 MPH in the Lone Star State!

Turning north on US-1, I arrive into my first needed geocaching county. We stopped in a small town called Santa Claus, Georgia, yes there really is a town called Santa Claus, to find a quick geocache for Toombs County.

Next up over in Treutlen County, we get to our next geocache at the Old Soperton School (GC5DVA8). I spent about an hour or so researching this old schoolhouse. However I couldn't find any history on it. Maybe one of you readers can share some insight to this place.

We also stopped by a cemetery about 8 miles north of Soperton for another geocache (GC49JYF). The small well kept Ricks Family Cemetery has 72 interments according to the FindAGrave website. Daniel Ricks (1795-1878) settled in this area and opened the Blackville Mill. His son, 28 year old John Ricks, was the first to be buried in this cemetery in 1859.

Moving along into Johnson County, I stopped for a quick roadside guardrail geocache (GC2ADG3) just outside the town of Wrightsville.

A few miles north of there in Washington County, I arrived at my next geocache (GC5QVK3) with a sad story of forgotten history. According to the CO of the now archived geocache: "My dad bought this land in 1959. He passed away in 1996. My sister and I now each own part of this land. When my dad acquired the property there were remnants of markers or head stones made from coarse materials, probably a concrete-like material. A previous owner had removed the markers from the small graveyard. He plowed and planted over the area. No one knew the actual location of the graves. The story has been passed down that it was a small area of graves .No bones or materials have ever been found. As the older generation has passed on, the younger people here do not know that this ever existed. While there is no way to ever know more about this, we can still remember them." Only thing there now is this cross next to a pine tree.

Still in Washington County just a mile or two away, was this really creative geocache container (GC5QN7X) at the corner near the entrance of the owners ranch.

Further north just past the town of Gibson, We stopped for one more quick roadside guardrail geocache for Glascock County (GC3DA5F).

Now it's early evening and time for us to grab some dinner and find a hotel. We made it about halfway back to the RV Park in NC. See you back tomorrow to finish the roadtrip.

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course. But also by using you favorite of these social media platforms: Facebook, MeWe, Gab, Reddit, Parlor, Twitter, RVillage, GETTR and Instagram. These all link directly to my profile. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

2020-08-30: Touring the Biltmore Mansion Estate, the Largest Home in the United States

GROUP ROADTRIP!! Working in central North Carolina near the town of Maiden, I talked a few of my co-workers into taking a group roadtrip over to Asheville and tour the Biltmore House. Completed in 1895 with 178,926 square feet, it is the largest house in the United States and second largest in the world. Today was that day when the bunch of us walked the halls and rooms of this awe-inspiring house. So join us as we take a step back in time, share some history and photos. 

George Washington Vanderbilt II (1862-1914), the grandson of railroad tycoon Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt (1794-1877), fell in love with Asheville in 1888 while visiting the area with his mother Maria Louisa Kissam Vanderbilt. His older siblings had already built summer homes around New England. He decided he was going to build his "little mountain escape" in North Carolina and began purchasing land in 1889. Vanderbilt bought almost 700 parcels of land accumulating over 125,000 acres.

The massive construction project on the main house alone utilized over 1000 laborers and stonemasons. A 3 mile railroad spur was built to bring materials to the site. Also to aid in such a large undertaking, a woodworking factory and brick kiln were constructed onsite. The kiln produced 32,000 bricks a day.

The Biltmore Mansion has four acres of floor space and 250 rooms in the house, including 35 bedrooms for family and guests, 43 bathrooms, 65 fireplaces, 3 kitchens and 19th-century novelties such as an electric Otis elevator, forced-air heating, centrally controlled clocks, fire alarms, and a call bell system.

To the right of the marbled Entrance Hall, the octagonal sunken Winter Garden is surrounded by stone archways with a ceiling of architecturally sculptured wood and multifaceted glass. The centerpiece is a marble and bronze fountain sculpture titled Boy Stealing Geese, created by Karl Bitter.

The Banquet Hall is the largest room in the house, measuring 42 ft × 72 ft (13 m × 22 m), with a 70 ft-high (21 m) barrel-vaulted ceiling. The table could seat 64 guests and is surrounded by rare Flemish tapestries and a triple fireplace that spans one end of the hall. On the opposite end of the hall is an organ gallery that houses a 1916 Skinner pipe organ.

The two-story Library contains over 10,000 volumes in eight languages, reflecting George Vanderbilt's broad interests in classic literature as well as works on art, history, architecture, and gardening. The second-floor balcony is accessed by an ornate walnut spiral staircase. The Baroque detailing of the room is enhanced by the rich walnut paneling and the ceiling painting, The Chariot of Aurora, brought to Biltmore by Vanderbilt from the Palazzo Pisani Moretta in Venice, Italy.

The second floor is accessed by the cantilevered Grand Staircase of 107 steps spiraling around a four-story, wrought-iron chandelier holding 72 light bulbs. The second-floor Living Hall is an extension of the grand staircase as a formal hall and portrait gallery. Several large-scale masterpieces are displayed in the hall.

Located nearby in the south tower is George Vanderbilt's gilded bedroom with furniture designed by Hunt.

His bedroom connects to his wife's Louis XV-style, oval-shaped bedroom in the north tower through a Jacobean carved oak paneled sitting room with an intricate ceiling.

Fully electric and centrally heated, Biltmore House, at the time of its completion, was considered one of the most technologically advanced structures ever built and is still admired today for its innovative engineering. It used some of Thomas Edison's first light bulbs, boasted a fire alarm system, an electrical call box system for servants, two elevators, elaborate indoor plumbing for all 34 bedrooms and a relatively newfangled invention called the telephone.

The basement level featured activity rooms, including a large muraled room often used for kids as a haunted house during Halloween,...

a two-lane bowling alley,...

an indoor, 70,000-gallon heated swimming pool with underwater lighting,...

and a gymnasium with once state-of-the-art fitness equipment.

The service hub of the house is also found in the largest basement in the U.S. It holds the main kitchen, pastry kitchen, rotisserie kitchen, walk-in refrigerators that provided an early form of mechanical refrigeration, the servants' dining hall, laundry rooms, and additional bedrooms for staff.

One of the two ornate elevators located within the mansion.

Following George’s early death at age 51 in 1914, his wife, Edith, sold a large portion of the original landholding to the government — 87,000 acres — to preserve in a natural forestry state, following his intentions for the acreage. 

Over the next few years, selected properties were sold from the estate, including the Biltmore Village. Today the Biltmore Estate encompasses about 8,000 acres.

Biltmore's unique horticultural environment creates a blooming season that begins in early spring and continues until the first frost: in other words, something is blooming at Biltmore from March through November. Even during winter months, the conservatory is full of colorful tropical plants such as poinsettias, orchids, lilies, cacti and bougainvillea.

After more than two hours of touring the Biltmore Mansion and Gardens, we all drove over to the Biltmore Village. I think the biggest interest there was the winery. The ladies spent much of the time there. Candy purchased a Biltmore wine glass for her two bottles of Biltmore wine.

Before heading home, we stopped at a Greek/Italian restaurant for a late lunch / early dinner. From there it was a drive back to the Lake Norman RV Resort. A great adventure was had today and this time with a group of friends. Until next time...

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course. But also by using you favorite of these social media platforms: Facebook, MeWe, Gab, Reddit, Parlor, Twitter, RVillage, GETTR and Instagram. These all link directly to my profile. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

2020-07-04: Day 2 of Our Roadtrip Through the Smoky Mountains and Finding Fugitive Crash Site and Smallest Post Office

Welcome back friends, Jeepers, Geocachers, RVers, and Adventurers. On this Day 2 of our long weekend roadtrip geocaching through the Smoky Mountains, we got to see the beauty of the mountains while discovering some other sites of interest as well. Such as the bus and train crash scene from the movie "The Fugitive" and the smallest post office in the country. But not to get ahead of myself. So climb aboard the GeoJeep and lets go exploring.

Leaving Morganton, I drove back north towards the Blue Ridge Parkway. Our first stop was just a simple LPC (Light Post Cache)(GCV6EB). It made for a quick stop and credit for Mitchell County. Now usually you'll find just a pill bottle with the logsheet inside under these skirts. But this was a first time for me seeing that the entire skirt was used as the geocache container.

A few miles later over in Yancy County, I made another quick park and grab geocache stop to claim a find in that county (GC18PVC). Continuing on US-19 over into Madison County, we made a stop at the Mars Hill Recreation Park for one more quick geocache (GC5CWVV).

The next one on the list is just another of the many reasons I like Geocaching. In Jackson County, specifically in the town of Dillsboro along the banks of the Tuckasegee River, there's a geocache hidden up above the Fugitive Train Wreck (GC3F9ZA). In the 1993 movie "The Fugitive," starring Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones, included a wreck involving a train and a prison bus. 

This wreck was staged near Dillsboro on a rail siding in the GSMR maintenance yard, between the working rail tracks and Haywood Road, the rail cars and bus remain in the same location today. Year round you can get a good view of the Illinois Dept of Corrections transport bus. But as you can see from our photos, the train is a bit hard to see with all the summertime foliage.

We even drove around to the other side of the river to get a different view, but not much better. The best view of the wreckage would be to take a ride on the Great Smokey Mountain Railroad which runs on the tracks right along side of it.

Driving west on US-64 to Clay County, the most western North Carolina county we needed to complete our map, we target the nearest geocache "The Legend of the Fairy Cross" (GC3GX90). This section of US-64 runs alongside Buck Creek. We exit the highway closer to the geocache onto the parallel National Forest Road, which looks like it might have been the Old US-64.

There was a small pull-off area to get to Buck Creek, so I decided to stop for a moment for some photos. I like these old roads enclosed by bushes and trees. After a few minutes of enjoying the sounds of the creek and taking some photos, we drove up a little further and turned onto Buck Creek Road.

For all my geocaching friends I thought I'd post a rare photo of my GeoJeep. Usually I'll post just the hood logo in front of something or have the tracking code blurred out like in the pic above. I'm only gonna leave this here a week, maybe longer, so log your "Discovered It" soon. I don't normally allow virtual discoveries so please don't copy this photo to your social media sites. And please include the location of where I'm parked in your discovered log. Thanks.

50ATJ9

Now back to the geocache. According to the description on the cache page: "this general area has a great history of minerals and mining. We are aware of at least 4 abandoned mines nearby. One of the minerals unique to the area is staurolite crystals, also known as fairy crosses because of their unique shape.

"Two thousand years ago, so the Cherokee legend of Fairy Crosses begins, the "Yunwi Tsunsdi," or Little People, lived in the beautiful mountains of what is now North Georgia and Western North Carolina. Shy and elusive creatures, the Little People were revered throughout the Cherokee Nation for their ability to find people lost in the thickly forested mountains of the region.

"One evening, while the Little People were enjoying an enchanted celebration of dance, music and song, a foreign messenger arrived bearing the sad news of the Crucifixion of the Son of the Great Creator. So moved were the Little People upon hearing the news of the loss of one so great, that they were moved to tears. As their tears fell to the ground, they turned into Fairy Crosses, where they can be found to this day."

Well I don't know anything about the little people or fairy crosses, but I did find the geocache down by the creek. I looked along the banks a few minutes for some minerals or cool rocks, but I didn't see anything special. Didn't want to spend too much time there though.

Finally rounding the corner and headed back to the east towards the campground, we followed US-64 into Highlands and Cashiers. Once in Highlands, I started taking the rural backroads to my next stop. It was there we found the Smallest U.S. Post Office in the country, at just 6 feet by 6.5 feet.

Originally built in 1878 about a mile away on Whiteside Road next to a grist mill at Sliding Rock, our next stop below. It remained there for 69 years and its first postmasters were Thomas and Elizabeth Grimshawe. In 1911 the Grimshawes sold their property to Warren and Lena Alexander who acted as the postmasters for 36 years. In 1947 they sold their property and the post office was moved near its current location once owned by the Alexander's daughter. Mae Alexander Passmore was postmaster for the final 6 years until President Dwight Eisenhower closed all third class post offices in 1953.

It was then moved and used as a ticket office and post card stand until returning here in 1976. Falling into disrepair and still getting the occasional tourist visitor, in 1999 neighbors decided to restore the post office and move it off the road a little bit and provide safe parking. From the photos displayed inside, the front area where I'm sitting was the customer area and the back half for mail and storage. Currently hanging on the back wall is the last flag which flew over the post office from the 1950's.

Driving a mile up the road we get to Sliding Rock. Actually a waterfall flowing over a large smooth rock, it turns a creek into a natural waterpark. A popular place in the summer time to cool off as you can see. There was a geocache on the short trail leading from the parking area to the rock but I couldn't find it. (The cache has since been archived as many others could not find it as well.)

And finally, one last quick roadside geocache (GC3C0B0) in Transylvania County to complete my final 100 North Carolina counties Geocaching map!

That was it for Day #2 of our long holiday weekend. On Day #3, Candy wasn't feeling well and we drove nonstop back to the campground at Lake Norman. I hope you have enjoyed this roadtrip through the Smoky Mountains. And perhaps found something I've written about to add to your bucket list of places to visit. See you back real soon.

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course. But also by using you favorite of these social media platforms: Facebook, MeWe, Gab, Reddit, Parlor, Twitter, RVillage, GETTR and Instagram. These all link directly to my profile. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.