11 minute read
Adjournment
from August 2020 Arab
Escape stress and relax at a TVA campground; we’re open!
The natural beauty of the Tennessee Valley is one quality that makes our region a great place to live. You don’t have to go far or spend a lot of money to enjoy the great outdoors with your loved ones this summer.
As part of our mission of service, TVA manages nearly 293,000 acres of land Valley-wide (TVA public lands). One way to make lasting memories and escape the stress we’ve been facing in 2020 is to surround yourself with beautiful scenery and go camping.
The campgrounds are open for business, with some COVID-19 restrictions in place. In general, social gatherings are limited to eight people, social distancing of six feet from other visitors is required, and visitors are asked to practice good hygiene by washing hands frequently, using hand sanitizer and coughing or sneezing into a tissue.
Take a road trip to visit and enjoy one of the following sites:
Cherokee Dam Campground, near Jefferson City, Tennessee, has 44 camp sites that all have a view of the surrounding lake and mountains. Pop up your tent at one of the five primitive sites, or pull up an RV and enjoy access to electrical and water hookups. One of the smaller of TVA’s campgrounds, Cherokee offers bird and wildlife watching and swimming.
You can also bring your boat and use the Cherokee
Dam boat lift for fun on the lake.
Melton Hill Dam Campground, located upstream of Melton Hill Dam in Lenoir City, offers 15 tent sites along the river for those seeking a more rugged camping experience. The other 35 sites have electric and water access. Campers can enjoy swimming, canoe access, and lake and river fishing. It’s about 30 minutes from Knoxville for those who want to be close to a city.
Watauga Dam Campground offers beauty and tranquility on the Watauga River in Eastern Tennessee. The overlook for Watauga Lake is on top of the mountain by the campground, and The Appalachian Trail crosses the road a few miles from the campsites. For those who love to hike, this is the site for
Kevin Chandler is general manager, Alabama District Customer Service, for the Tennessee Valley Authority. you. No tent sites are available, but there are 29 RV sites, many of which are on the river.
Please note that public restrooms, playgrounds, visitor centers and large group pavilions remain closed for your protection during the pandemic, so plan your trip accordingly.
To keep the public lands and waters pristine, please review the rules before heading out. The rules are located on TVA.gov, as well as an interactive map that you can use as a guide to find undeveloped public land near you.
If you want to stay a little closer to home while still enjoying nature’s beauty, consider visiting one of the trails in TVA’s designated Small Wild Areas (SWAs) in Alabama. SWAs are sites with exceptional natural, scenic or aesthetic qualities that are suitable for low-impact public use, and where some facilities have been installed to help make the land available to the public (e.g., foot trails, signs, parking areas, backcountry campsites).
Honeycomb Trail is located in Guntersville, Alabama, and features 9.2 miles of hiking trails that are moderate to difficult.
You can dip your toes in one of the many springfed creeks along the trail, and you can watch for bald eagles and osprey.
The Trailhead is at Guntersville Dam.
Marbut Bend Trail, located in Elkmont, Alabama, at the Wheeler Reservoir, is a 1.1 mile loop that is easy to navigate. The boardwalks take you through a wetland and over a pond created by a beaver dam. The combination of wetland and field draws a lively mix of wildlife to watch and photograph. The trail is about 12 miles northwest of Athens, Alabama on Highway 99.
Muscle Shoals Waterfall Park provides breathtaking views of historic Wilson Dam and a series of waterfalls. The .18 mile trail is easy to walk, and the mist from the waterfalls is cooling during the hot summer months.
Even though the summer of 2020 won’t be traditional in a lot of ways, we are still fortunate to have fun opportunities for families to come together safely and enjoy time together in the Valley. I hope you are able to spend time outdoors, take your mind from the stress and escape from our daily pressures by visiting one of these natural wonders in our region.
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Festivals in the age of social distancing
Southerners have always liked to get together.
Family reunions, church socials, birthday parties. We can even turn a funeral into a gathering.
We particularly like festivals, and down in the South we have some humdingers.
For example.
Every year the town of Sally, South Carolina, hosts its annual Chitlin Strut, where everyone has a dandy time eating fried and boiled pig guts.
Then there is the Marlington, West Virginia, Road Kill Festival, which features a cook-off where creative chefs prepare dishes which, according to the rules,
Harvey H. (Hardy) Jackson is Professor Emeritus of History at Jacksonville State University. He can be reached at hhjackson43@gmail.com
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“must have as their main ingredient any animal commonly found dead on the side of the road.”
However, festivals are not always about food. Though eating something you would not normally eat seems to be an important criteria for having an event, these gatherings are often about doing things you always wanted to do but didn’t because your Mama probably wouldn’t approve.
Like hollering.
Which is what they do at the National Hollerin’ Contest held at Spivey’s Corner, North Carolina. A few years ago the winner was on the The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson and you can still find it on the internet. Something more wholesome to do than trolling politics and porn.
Pikesville, Kentucky, has Hillbilly Days, where local folks do all sorts of things they believe they would do if they were really hillbillies. The main thing they do is shake down city slickers who pay big bucks to attend and who buy all sorts of doodads that local folks pass off as the real thing.
Up north and out west they also have festivals, but they lack something. Out in Pullman, Washington, they have the National Lentil Festival, which promotes healthy eating. Sally, South Carolina, does not fear the competition. In California there is the Tarantula Awareness Festival, which features a “hairy leg contest.” OK, it is California where “awareness” is a big deal, but I’ll take a pass.
Alabama is loaded with festivals – Google Alabama Festivals, pick one, and go to it. The Big Bug Fest in Tuscaloosa gives folks an opportunity to appreciate insects and even eat one – on purpose. There are festivals devoted to gospel music, the blues, and tacos. Talk about diversity.
For years a group of civic-minded hunters down in Clarke County held the Armadillo Gourmet Society Wild Game Supper. The hunters cooked what they had killed. Their wives made desserts. Tickets were sold. Politicians showed up and contributed. And the money went to the Sheriffs’ Boys’ Ranch.
Meanwhile, down on the Gulf Coast, some folks heard of an Oklahoma cow chip throwing contest, and decided to throw a fish instead. The result: Alabama’s most widely known contribution to the festival frenzy – the Flora-Bama International Mullet Toss. I have been there, done that, and got a T-shirt.
But not this year.
The virus that has done so much damage to the nation has caused festivals to be canceled in Alabama and beyond. Someone suggested that wearing a mask could keep out the smell of chitlins as well as any germs lurking around, but it is kinda hard to eat when your mouth is covered.
As for tossing fish, anyone who has ever been to the Flora-Bama wing-ding knows that social distancing just ain’t gonna happen. With that in mind, organizers of the event have postponed the throwing until a later date. They are not alone. All around the state concerned folks are putting up TBA postings to let everyone know that the future is uncertain.
So, we must wait it out. Meanwhile those who can should fire up the grill, turn some ice cream, and make the best of a bad situation.
Something Alabamians are good at.
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