Power Lines, Churches, Tobacco & Liquor, Oh My! (Knoxville, Oak Ridge: houses, neighborhood)

[3tailswaggin]

I have a question... I could not help but notice all the high tension towers, power lines, churches, and tobacco & liquor stores in the area.

Are the "natives" just used to this, or am I perhaps seeing too much of the wrong places.

The power lines especially bothered me... really spoil the view in a lot of places. It seems weird to see a lovely property with these huge metal towers and lines crisscrossing.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by 3tailswaggin

I have a question... I could not help but notice all the high tension towers, power lines, churches, and tobacco & liquor stores in the area.

Are the "natives" just used to this, or am I perhaps seeing too much of the wrong places.

The power lines especially bothered me... really spoil the view in a lot of places. It seems weird to see a lovely property with these huge metal towers and lines crisscrossing.

Yep lots of power lines and churches. What's the deal with the booze and cigarettes?

[3tailswaggin]

I saw lots and lots of tobacco and liquor stores on my visit, I thought it was weird. Don't know whats up with it, just wondering if maybe I was being too critical of my surroundings

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by 3tailswaggin

I saw lots and lots of tobacco and liquor stores on my visit, I thought it was weird. Don't know whats up with it, just wondering if maybe I was being too critical of my surroundings

It's ironic, isn't it? Always gives me a chuckle. Now, bear in mind that there are plenty of dry counties around here, too. Not in Knoxville, though.

I guess you can sit back and say that you are in The South, and that also comes with lots of perks, too. Or if it irks you, then you know this isn't your place.

I'm a Democrat-Kennedy-atheist and the place suits me just fine! Knoxville is very welcoming of everyone. And I am in a neighborhood with really old people that all attend the Baptist church down the street. Doesn't stop them from saying, "hi," offering assistance or patronizing my husband's automotive business.

I can't get this kind of stuff in Massachusetts.

[knoxgarden]

People still smoke here although it's banned indoors and even at places outdoors. East Tennessee was a big tobacco growing area and if you drive out Hwy. 11W through the Clinch Valley you'll still see tobacco fields in bloom. It was a way to make good money on small plots of land. There are still some tobacco warehouses in Rogersville, TN.
Most tobacco farmers have gone out of the business. The state is using the tobacco buyout money to help farmers get into organic farming and selling through farmers' markets and agri-tours. It's great for farmers and for consumers. We've got wonderful farmers' markets plus lots of organics.
Welcome to Pick Tennessee Products.
And check out Knoxville Permaculture for organics and raw food links. There was a raw food restaurant in Knoxville. Not sure if it's still around. There was also a gourmet dog bakery but I think they went out of business.
Knoxville Permaculture Guild - Building Permanent Culture in Knoxville
A lot of counties around Knoxville are dry so you'll see a lot of liquor stores advertising. And Southerners do like their liquor, wine and beer.
There are a lot of churches around for the same reason. People like to go to church here. It's not required and there are Rationlists and Wiccans and Pagans and Athiest societies for those who don't. Church here is social as well as worship.
The power lines are TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority). FDRs rural electrification of the 1930s. Get used to them, they're here to stay. THey've got an interesting history.
TVA: Electricity for All
On the plus side, we've got some of the cheapest electricity in the country.
On the minus, a big ash spill near Kingston/Oak Ridge.

[jabogitlu]

After living here a while, you probably won't even notice them. I don't think we have that many tobacco and package stores, but, I guess it's what you're used to. Yes, there are lots of churches. Hello, it's the South!

[3tailswaggin]

I'm from the deep south, Charleston, SC. We have lots of churches too, but most are AME or Southern Baptist, and not nearly as many as I saw up in the Knoxville area.

We grow tobacco too, but I don't see the tobacco stores here, I guess we ship all ours to China???

Yes, we have a lot of liquor stores here as well, but they are called "Sweet Shops" not liquor stores, go figure

We don't have mountains. You don't have Hurricanes. I think I like it where you live

[JMT]

At first I didn't know what to think of this post, but when I researched it I discovered that the OP is right.

I did a quick internet search for tobacco stores in Knoxville TN and Charleston SC. Charleston has something like 39, Knoxville has something like 137.

A similar search for churches shows that Knoxville has 2493 churches and places of worship while Charleston has 983.

And yet Knoxville's MSA population isn't much larger than Charleston's (680,000'ish vs. 630,000'ish).

I have no explanation as to why there are more tobacco stores in Knoxville than Charleston. I know that tobacco has historically been an important cash crop in East Tennessee, but I always thought it was an important cash crop throughout the Carolinas, too.

But I do think I have an explanation for the churches. Bear with me on this. Way back before there were lots of good roads around here, the rural communities surrounding Knoxville were pretty isolated. The topography of the area is VERY hilly, making it very difficult for people to travel to a different community. Therefore, every community had its own church--and probably several churches to reflect the dominant denominations of the area (Methodist, Cumberland Presbyterian, Church of Christ, and various Baptist denominations). The churches tended to be very small. The pastors/preachers would travel; the parishioners stayed put.

As Knoxville has grown and swallowed up these smaller communities, their churches have remained and have grown, too.

I've never lived in Charleston so I can't say if attending church is as big there as it is here. But it really is big here. I mean really. Back when I taught high school we were instructed to lighten the homework load on Wednesday nights because that was church night. And this was in a public school.

As for all the power lines, I think there are some good explanations for those, too: ALCOA, Oak Ridge, and TVA.

During WW2 something like 15% of all the electricity in the entire country was consumed by ALCOA (mammoth aluminum smelting plant in, well, Alcoa) and Oak Ridge. In fact, I've read that one of the reasons Oak Ridge was chosen to develop the atomic bomb was because there was already a huge power grid in the area to supply the giant ALCOA aluminum plant; Oak Ridge all by itself consumed 13% of the country's electricity.

There are a dozen hydroelectric dams in the area thanks in large part to TVA but also the Army Corps of Engineers. Most were built back in the days when it was simply much more economical and much quicker to build overhead electrical transmission lines rather than underground lines. And since places like ALCOA, Knoxville, and Oak Ridge were pretty far apart, and since both ALCOA and Oak Ridge were a huge part of the war effort which required a lot of power redundancy to protect against attack, it required a lot of overhead power lines going in all directions.

That's a really long answer, and I hope I didn't bore everyone with it.

[Pam& Bill]

JMT,
Tried to give you cookies but I have to spread it around. I don't think your answer was boring but rather interesting and educational. Your points all sound like good ones to me.
Pam

[hiknapster]

Fabulous post, JMT. I was finally able to give you more rep points, so I gave you some from Pam, too!