Morning Walk

With the sum of temperature (F) and relative humidity hovering around 160, it's get out early or forget it!

Past the founder's house,

through the village,

and Newbury Pond.

Ant hills along the walkway.

An abundant seed crop on the Redbuds.

Where a Luna Moth lost its life during the night.

Virginia Creeper growing up the side of a tree,

balanced by Poison Ivy growing on the other side.

.... and the rains came.

Our heat wave finally has been broken as rain has returned to the plateau. But the rain was ushered in by high winds that dulled the joy of its arrival. The first victim noticed was the truck belonging to the chef at the Harrow Road Cafe.

A large branch broke off a nearby tree and almost perfectly centered itself on the truck's cab.

Although six years old, the truck had been pampered and cared for. Now he waits for the insurance company to make the repair or replace decision.

Several trees and branches were felled around Rugby. This is a large Black Walnut tree that stood next to Ruralia, one of the historic houses. Fortunately it fell away from the house and missed both the shed and a new sign at the entrance to Boyle Woods.

The picture below shows it standing next to Ruralia, just outside the fence to the right.

The winds have now ceased and for the past 24 hours we've enjoyed nearly continuous periods of gentle to soaking rains. Things are already starting to green up. Hope it wasn't too late to save the sweet corn crop!

Sunday Morning

Top Secret!

The State of Tennessee's tourism office has developed a number of driving trips across the state. The newest one is in our area. The Top Secret Trail has the subtitle " Proton Beams to Utopian Dreams," which captures the two places I have lived in Tennessee:

Oak Ridge,

and Rugby. The trails also visits many of the spots readers have seen here over the past 18 months. Such as,

LaFollette,

Harriman,

 Museum of Appalachia,

Oliver Springs,

Norris Dam,

and Livingston. We'll see more spots on the Top Secret Trail in the coming weeks, and maybe we'll venture onto the White Lightning Trail that traces the paths of bootleggers running moonshine out of the mountains down to the cities. (Actually, we have already, but that's for later.)

Silent Saturday

Newbury House

The 1880 Newbury House was built as a boarding house and continued in that role well into the 1920s. Today it is operated as a B&B by Historic Rugby, Inc., and has served as the overnight lodging for numerous visitors who have gone on to buy property in Rugby. We stayed there several times in the 1990s. A decade later it was showing signs of needing some serious TLC. We are proud to say that has been accomplished, and the Newbury House is once again an inviting spot to relax and enjoy a week or a weekend.

My favorite spot is the sun porch on the back, overlooking Newbury Pond. It's been freshly redone and is about as inviting as any spot can be.

Or spend a winter evening in the spacious parlor. It's a most Victorian spot to read or enjoy a glass of wine with friends.

All of the guest rooms are decorated with period furniture. The Thomas Hughes suite is spacious and comfortable.

Or choose one of the single rooms, such as this one named for the author's mother, Margaret Hughes,

or this smaller one named for his niece, Emily. And now you can check rates, availability, and make reservations on the Historic Rugby web page.

Welcome to Historic Rugby

Like most people, my wife and I found Rugby strictly by accident. We stumbled onto it in 1971 while out cruising the mountain roads in our then MGB. It's in a very rural part of east Tennessee, as evidenced by the hay bales in the field behind the welcome sign. We began coming here regularly a decade later after tiring of the crowds in and around the Smoky Mountains. Here we found peace, quiet, and friendly folks, and a large National Park under development with (then) almost no one in it. It became our preferred place to hike.

Our mountains aren't quite as high as the Smokies/Blue Ridge, but we still love them. So when we were able, we moved here. Unfortunately, we don't have oil beneath our land like some of our neighbors have. In this photo you can see an oil well pump jack and separator tanks. One of the local farmers told me that when he bought his land the seller had offered it without the mineral rights. Those would be $5,000 extra. He decided to go ahead and buy the mineral rights. He said it was the best investment he ever made. The oil they later found paid off the farm and sent all of his children to college.

This final shot has nothing to do with this post, except I liked the patch of butterfly weed that was growing near the welcome sign.

Y'all come! It's peaceful here!

Silent Saturday

Adena Cottage

Adena Cottage is an original Rugby house, built in 1884 for Sara Worthington Pomeroy and her husband, Frederick Wellman. Mrs. Wellman was the granddaughter of Thomas Worthington, the sixth Governor of Ohio and Ohio's first Senator. The house was named for Adena Plantation, the Worthington home near Chillicothe, Ohio. Adena Plantation is itself today a state memorial. The Worthington home, built in 1807, is one of only three houses designed by Benjamin Latrobe still standing in the U.S., and is part of the only plantation-style complex in the state of Ohio. Because of nearby mounds, the name Adena has been applied to a pre-Columbian Indian culture that existed from about 800 BCE into the first century AD.

Adena Cottage was extensively restored and modernized about a decade ago, and includes on the property the original stable and carriage barn that has been modified into guest lodging. But just so the guests won't lose sight of its original purpose, the horse's stall remains!

The Wellman's had a son and two daughters. Mrs. Wellman and both daughters are buried in Rugby's Laurel Dale Cemetery.

Apparently neither daughter married, and both died relatively young. One was only 31 and the other 38.

Adena Cottage is currently being offered for sale.

Silent Saturday

Silent Saturday

Silent Saturday

Uncovering a hidden history

By now regular readers know that Rugby, Tennessee, was founded in 1880 by British author and former member of Parliament Thomas Hughes. It was another 19th century Utopian experiment, this time to create a class-free society where the younger sons of the British landed gentry could escape the constraints imposed by class and primogeniture. And as with most other such experiments, it was short lived. In the more than 130 years since its founding, more than half of the early structures have been lost to fire or decay. Some have been reconstructed, following drawings or photographs of the original structures. Other important structures await the arrival of someone with the interest and money to reconstruct them. Now, thanks to a grant, we can see a few of the more important buildings while they await revival.

Historic Rugby, Inc., has placed display signs at the former sites of several buildings. Probably the most important of these buildings was the Tabard Inn. Named for an inn in the Canterbury Tales, there were two Tabard Inns in Rugby, both of which burned. When the second burned in 1899, the Rugby community was already in decline and the owner/operator, Abner Ross, left Rugby to start a new community he named Deer Lodge. Reconstruction of the Tabard Inn was once a goal of the National Park Service, in conjunction with the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area. Unfortunately, the necessary funding was never found.

Roadside Cottage or Grey Gables sat on the corner opposite Thomas Hughes's Kingstone Lisle. The property is currently owned by Linda Brooks Jones who operates the Grey Gables B&B at the other end of the village.

The former site of the Perrigo/Alexander Boarding House has been bought by the operators of Rugby's Spirit of Red Hill Art and Odiments Shop, who plan to start reconstruction later this year. When complete, it will house their business plus lodging for overnight guests. The Spirit of Red Hill currently occupies the first floor of the Board of Aid to Land Ownership building, which means there will be room for one additional business in the village when they move out.

The Thomas Fardon Drug Supply and home was located at the northwestern end of the village business district, next to what is now Martin's Roost, a vacation home in what was once a blacksmith shop. I think Fardon's was one of the most interesting examples of mixed use architecture I've seen. His house and shop were under the same roof, both with entrances on the main street. I'd love to see someone rebuild it.

We look forward to when these, and other historic buildings, will be reconstructed, adding to the visitor experience and recreating the Rugby of the 1880s.

Sun Porch

This sun porch is on the front of The Lindens, built in 1880 as a residence for Nathan Tucker and his wife and named for the two European linden trees that still shade the front yard. Tucker was the first manager of the Rugby Commissary, originally a cooperative general store and now the museum store. Mrs. Tucker grew flowers on this porch which she used to decorate the altar in Christ Church. Now it's a warm spot to sit on a cool day, especially pleasant with the new crop of snowdrops and daffodils blooming just outside.

Silent Saturday

Sunday Morning

Silent Saturday

Silent Saturday