Tennessee Factoids (Memphis, Knoxville, Johnson City: for rent, hotels, houses)

[LauraC]

I've been learning a lot of facts about Tennessee, its counties and its towns/cities from some books, from some government websites, DVDs and newspapers and I'd like to post some of them. I'll start off with 10 and every day will add more to the list. If you live in Tennessee already and know some yourself or you don't live there yet but have found out some by research or visits, please post them. If you have questions about any of them, please start a new thread so this one doesn't wander.

Factoids

Bristol, Tennessee is closer to Canada than it is to Memphis, Tennessee. Memphis is closer to the Gulf of Mexico than it is to Bristol.

Fall Creek Falls drops 256 feet. It is the highest waterfall east of the Rocky Mountains and is 90 feet higher than Niagra Falls. (Fall Creek Falls State Park is in Bledsoe and Van Buren Counties.)

Tennessee got its nickname as The Volunteer State during the Mexican War when in 1848 residents were insulted that Tennessee was asked to only send 3 regiments of troops. Some volunteered to fight with other states and some wanted to pay for the privilege to do so. The military had to hold a lottery to be fair to everyone. Tennessee's willingness to fight earned it its nickname.

Tennessee has 2 poisonous spiders - the brown recluse and the black widow. They like basements and other dark places around buildings like outhouses.

Paris, Tennessee hosts The World's Biggest Fish Fry the last week in April and serves up over 10,000 lbs of catfish. The first one was held in 1953.

Andrew Johnson was the last President from Tennessee.

East Tennesseans leaned more toward the Union than the Confederacy and there was often a lot of conflict between neighbors.

Tennessee has 54 State Parks, 16 parks have hotels and 27 have RV camping.

The Farm, located near Summertown, is one of the longest lasting hippie communities in the US.

Bald eagles spend their winters at Reelfoot Lake in northwestern Tennessee (Tiptonville). Every winter the State Park offers eagle bus tours (January - March) to observe bald eagles and other waterfowl. Reelfoot lake was formed by an earthquake.

[hiknapster]

I knew all of that except the last two factoids. Where the heck is The Farm?

[helix139]

I went to college in columbia, tn and we had a classmate from the farm. She had dirty feet, wore flip flops, and looked very hippish...tie dyed, long stringy hair that didn't get washed on cold days. Rumor was that all the folks on the farm bathed in some creek. The farm is just a large hippie community. Nice folks though!

[Tek_Freek]

Freaky! Been on ebay Computer Discussion group and there's a thread over there with talk about Brown Recluse and Black Widow spiders.

Nasty if you get bit.

Good thread, keep 'em coming!

[hiknapster]

Oh, I don't know about the hotels at the state parks. They have villas and six inns. The state parks are wonderful here.

[JMT]

Yes Tennessee has some wonderful state parks. Fall Creek Falls is, by far, my favorite. In fact, I've already told everyone I love that when I die, I want my ashes scattered over Fall Creek Falls.

If you haven't seen the Disney movie (not the cartoon) The Jungle Book, go watch it. It was filmed at Fall Creek Falls.

[GrannyLois]

Fall Creek Falls State Park has very nice hotel-type rooms, and cabins.

Roan Mtn State Park has cabins for rent.

I don't know about any of the other state parks, as far as rooms go. But these two are really nice.

[hiknapster]

I've seen the "cabins" at Norris State park. They are really these contemporary "mini" houses. Cute and very affordable. There is also an Olympic pool at that park. I couldn't believe a state park would have those kind of facilities.

[LauraC]

More Factoids:

There are more species of trees in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park than there are in all of Europe.

Morristown's Main Street sidewalks are 20 feet off the ground. Cross walks allow you to cross the street from up high without stepping into the road.

Contrary to the TV show theme song, Davy Crockett (or David as he was actually called) was not "born on a mountaintop" in Tennessee. He was born along the banks of the Nolichucky River.

Between June of 2006 and today (12/10/06), Tennessee has had 51 earthquakes in Ridgely, Dyersburg, Tiptonville, Niota, Dayton, Graysville, Townsend, Sweetwater, Greenback, East Brainerd, Greenback, Henning, Friendsville, and Johnson City. Of those earthquakes, Ridgely has had 26 of them. The most severe was in Dayton (a 3.5). The largest measured earthquake in Tennessee was in Memphis (5.0) in 1865.

Bucksnort, TN got its name because back in the 1800's you could get a snort for a buck at a place that sold whiskey.

Manchester is the site of Bonnaroo, a Woodstock like music festival that attracts up to 150,000 people every summer.

Rutledge Tennessee has a Tomato Festival that includes a tomato war where particpants must don white tee shirts and be "dead" when there is evidence of a direct hit by a tomato on the shirt. Hits elsewhere are considered to be wounds and "ammo" is limited.

The highest paved road east of the Mississippi is at Clingman's Dome (6,300 feet in elevation). The 6 mile road dead ends at an observation deck.

Knoxville is the birthplace (1932) of Mountain Dew, originally meant to be a mixer for whiskey.

Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary now called Brushy Mountain Correctional Complex is a big prison in a remote area of the Cumberland Plateau nearest to the town of Petros. It was originally established back in the 1890s to put the inmates to work as coal miners. In 1977, James Earl Ray, the killer of Dr Martin Luther King, escaped from the prison into the forest. Bloodhounds were released and he was re-captured within 54 hours.

[heathersmom]

I love reading your information(factoids) about TN- keep up the good work! I look forward to reading some more!
Thanks for this service here are some more...

*Tennessee has more than 3,800 documented caves.
*There are more horses per capita in Shelby County than any other county in the United States
*Kevin Costner owns a home in Franklin TN
*Nashville has the highest concentration and deepest talent pool of musicians on the planet