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07 April 2006 - Friday
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Our main object this day was McMinn County, Tennessee where we
would hopefully find some interesting information about our Douglass
ancestors starting with our 5th great-grandfather Robert who in
1787 had come into the upper part of east Tennessee from Virginia. Eventually he and his son John (4th
great-grandfather) finally settled in McMinn County around 1822. The Douglass homestead was originally
located near the site of the ancient Cherokee town of Conasaga, said to have
been visited by DeSoto and his expedition, June 1, 1540.
We drove north from the campground for about 45 minutes to the tiny
village of Cog Hill that is made up of no more than a dozen homes. We were aware that John Douglass had owned
a gristmill and a sawmill here along the Conasauga Creek and upon his death
in 1863 his son-in-law William Cass became the proprietor. Since it had been 184 years since the
Douglass family had come here we did not have any high expectations of
finding any outstanding landmarks of their lives. Boy, were we wrong!
Immediately upon entering Cog Hill we were presented with the site of
the old Cog Hill mill. Although it
is doubtful that the dilapidated building presented to us was the original it
surely could have been the one operated by John’s son-in-;awWilliam Cass.
Cog Hill Mill, McMinn Co., TN
After taking some photographs we proceeded over to the Cog Hill
Baptist Church where the caretaker proudly showed us around the inside. We were prepared to take some more photos
of the Douglass family gravesites but as a result of our conversation with
him we determined that we were at the wrong church! He kindly gave us directions to the Old Salem Baptist Church
located just a few miles away. Here
we were happy to find the Douglass burial plot and surprised at the good
condition of the 150 year old stones.
Before we departed we walked the cemetery looking for other kin but
didn’t find any.
By mid- morning we were back on the road to Athens, which is the
county seat of McMinn County. Upon
reaching the courthouse we were happy to see a sign that there was a room for
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McMinn County Historical
Society located in the basement of the building. We found the room and as luck would have
it Ms. Marion Clark was present. She
assisted us as we searched for any information on the Douglass Family. Much to our surprise the society did not
have any specific genealogical information on our ancestors so we promised to
send her what we had after we ended our trip. As it was now time for lunch we left a donation and walked up
the street to a Mexican restaurant that had been recommended by Marion.
By 12:30 pm we were on the road again looking for Interstate 75. On the way out of town we spotted a huge
Wal-Mart up on a hill off to our left.
Fred shouted for a camera so he could take a picture of the massive
structure. We decided at that moment
that a Wal-Mart stop was in order. At
the store Fred was informed that we were shopping in the world’s third
largest Wal-Mart Super Center.
3rd largest Wal-Mart in the world
As we had no other visits planned until Texas we looked forward to
several days on the big highways rather than the small back roads we had
enjoyed so much up to this time. By
about 4:00 pm we had entered Alabama, the ninth state along our route
west. After a stop at the visitor
center we decided to drive to Birmingham and camp for the night at the Oak Mountain State Park. Most campers are well aware that locating
campgrounds in a State Park can sometimes take one on a fairly lengthy drive
through the park. The planners of
this state park seem to have accomplished this and then some. After driving several miles we finally
came upon the park office. Upon inquiring about a campsite we were directed
to the campgrounds located another 6 miles down the road! Along the drive into the park we were
impressed with the beautiful and finely appointed horseback riding center. The park also has a marina, petting zoo,
tennis and 18-hole golf course. When
we finally arrived at the campground we were given a site that wasn’t much
more than an untidy gravel parking space in a generally crowded and downright
unattractive RV loop. Oak Mountain
deserved our rating of a “ 2 “ because it appeared to us that Alabama should
attempt to provide campers with facilities as good as what is maintained for
golfers and horseback riders! |
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