Greenback Castle

Saturday, March 26, 2016, a day to remember for several reasons.  First, my Dad passed away on this date in 1996 and today I did a Perry Ward, I took a ride just to look at something I had not seen before.  He loved to just pick a road and ride, turn, ride, eat, and ride back to the house.  As if driving a truck as a job wasn't enough driving.  So, Hello Pop, this story is for you.

It was foggy this morning, less than a 1/4 mile visibility so I was a little later than usual in getting out.  Temp was in mid-40s or so as I pushed Sweet Thang out of the garage at 8:40 a.m.  Dropped the garage door, fired her up and off we went to McD's for a cup with the elderlies to wait for the fog to lift.  Such a beautiful day.  Plans for this morning was to take a quick solo ride down to the small community of Greenback, TN.  I actually didn't go into the town but to the outskirts to view the Greenback Castle.  Greenback is about 30 miles south of Seymour on US 411. Below are two links that will give you the story of this unique place and the reason for its construction.  It is a work in progress and may never be completed.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfIcyILobq0

 www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/27376 

This is just another beautiful day and since it is the Eve of Easter, that just makes it even more glorious.

It makes getting out and riding so nice that you just don't want the day to come to a close even though tomorrow is suppose to be just a beautiful with much more meaning.

One of my favorite photographic scenes.  And all it is is an old red barn with a silo but with the blue sky and the green grass, it just looks so regal.  Of course that's my opinion.

Even the cows, donkeys and trees look happy today.  And no, I've only had two cups of coffee.





Traffic is medium for this time of day down to Maryville, and then through the city itself.  A lot of bikers out today, many headed toward The Dragon, along with a State Trooper.  But not me, I'm heading on down beyond The Dragon turnoff.  About 40 minutes later I pulled away from McD's I pulled into the front of the Greenback Castle.

This structure was started after the gentleman's brother died.  He just started building and each day after work he would work on the place.  It has a lot of religious notations, like crosses, tablets, etc., and could stand a bit of cleaning up.  Apparently new ideas pop into his head for it seems as if nothing quite gets completed before something new starts off.  It is built out of hand made bricks, bricks picked up along the way, cement blocks, glass bottles and some wood.  And it just goes on and on and on.  You can read the details from the two links.  I will just show you some of the pics that I liked of the place.

 First picture is the "money shot" of Sweet Thang in front of the Greenback Castle.  A Lady at the Castle.  The following pics are starting at the front potion, going counterclockwise around the building with a few inside shots thrown in.  In the artistic world this would probably fit into the category of "Folk Art".  It just goes to show you what you can do when you turn your mind loose and use any available materials you can get your hands on.

There are little niches, nooks and cubby holes all around the building.  Sort of reminds me of the Winchester House in CA.

There's stuff in the yard like these bird baths on the right to unusual statuary like those on the left.  I saw religious crosses as well as American Native designs.  Owls sit in little nooks at the top.

There's writing on thee walls, and some inscribed in cement when it was wet. You will see turrants that are not all the way to the top, to ornaments embedded in a garden spot.

There are numerous archways both inside the building as well as from the outside.  Decorations galore, like these two large crosses on either side of the entry way.

It even has it's own cemetery complete with headstones.  I didn't know anyone buried there, if they are there.

Inside one of the enclosed areas on the back was a built in chess board complete with chess pieces.

And a lot of the building has constructed walkways with symbols and decorative pieces of tile, glass, etc., as well as various stones.

This handmade placard looks more like Egyptian which I found to be one of a kind around or in the whole building.

Building materials varied according to where you were along the structure but it sure took a lot of cement.  And oddly put together, not like most blocks would be stacked.

This was an interior room that I found the ceiling to be very decorative in its construction, like a large ribbed umbrella.  I has not been completed but will eventually have a top acting as a floor.

 Another room had this painting on the wall along with some whips, chains and lashes.  Maybe this indicated torturing.  I forgot what was written on the tablet in the corner.

 This looks like a fireplace but it has no opening for the fire and it is on the outside of the house.  Maybe at some time there will be a ceiling or roof and this will be on the inside.

Walls on all sides, but no roof.  However, the arched entry way is quite nice since it is withing a circle wall structure.

A plaque mounted in the wall on what looked to be a fireplace.

                A tunnel of archways not under a roof.



 The plaque was an insert in this fireplace

Another entryway to the room that had a bulletin board with references to tis building by various newspapers, TV networks, etc.

Built in stone what-knot shelf for your travel souvenirs.  Or whatever.

A wagon wheel, a dream catcher, Native American Indian symbols on the wall  all out of brick with some of it painted.

On the SE corner is a wall constructed of various bottles, mostly beer, and cement.  The only other time I saw one of these was in Nevada where a pioneer constructed a house of bottles and adobe.  Made so much noise that he had to go stop up all the bottles that had the opening facing outside.  When made them whistle.






This is a cut-away showing how the wall was constructed.

That wee thing sitting in the opening is a ceramic owl.  Notice the religious symbols on the wall and the archways worked into the wall but not open.

Lots of bulbs planted around the place and some were very newly planted in a flower planter.


Most of the sidewalks were very decorative like that shown above.  Some had colored marbles, various colored tile pieces and this one I call Autumn because of the many colored leaves.

A giraffe column with spikes.  Or something like that.

And, yes, I hear the clapping, the last picture of a big and small owl keeping watch over the place. 

After my sightseeing tour of the house, which is open for touring without a guide during the daylight hours, i mounted my faithful steed and headed back to down town Seymour, TN.  What a beautiful day.

It is interesting to find places like this, not hard to find on the internet if you want to spend some time strolling through each town, community, back road but not necessarily on the AAA Tourguide Map.  It is funny how many people I spoke to about this place this morning that didn't know that it existed.  We often get caught up in seeing what's out there that we forget to look to see what's in our won backyard.  That's just another one of the neat things about traveling.

Total mileage for this trip was about 65 miles.  Not much saddle time but wide open roads with very few changes in direction.  Great day, great weather, and interesting subject matter.  Another nice adventure.

Okay, to my Facebook buddies, tomorrow is a very special day.  So get off your backsides, get all dooded up, including shaving unless you're wearing a full or partial beard, put some of that sweet smelling stuff on, and take your Sweet Lovely to church and then to a scrumptious noon day meal at a sit-down place, no drive-thru.  And it wouldn't hurt to rush out now and pick up one of those non-waxy chocolate rabbits for her to wake up to even though she'll tell you that you didn't need to do that, do it anyway.  I am thankful what what I have and have been given, I hope you are too.

Until the next adventure, drive/ride safe, enjoy life and loved ones.

To Cataloochee Valley The Hard Way

Wednesday, March 23, 2016.  It's a cool morning, 51 degrees but feels more like 40, day has broken and it's time to ride.  So at 7:40 a.m. I pushed Little Hoss out of the garage for a day of frolicking in the mountains.  Met up with biker friend Paul at the Exxon Station and away we went.  Stopped off in Sevierville on US 411 at Food City Deli for breakfast.  All sated, now it's time to ride.  So we hopped on our trusty steeds and headed out to make a turn onto Jones Cove Rd. on our way to the Foothills Parkway, a bit of I-40 before turning off for the climb to the top of the mountain.  We were going to Cataloochee Valley in NC but from the TN side of the mountain.

The blue line is our route for the day and where the red dot is, just grab a memory pencil and do a squiggly line all the way back to the beginning on the left side.  As mentioned earlier, about 30 miles of that is gravel, in the mountains and some are state highways without center lines, barricades nor gas stations.

Just out of the subdivision the sun was well on it's way to a beautiful day.  The air was nice and crisp.

Shane, this one is for you.  Seven Islands School House, bathed in morning sunlight.

After breakfast we hit Jones Cove Rd. which goes East out of Sevierville. At this time of the day the traffic was very light.  After a bit we hit the Foothills Parkway at Cosby, TN.

Early morning look at the Smoky Mtns.  They act just like a magnet.  Just keeps pulling you in.

Bathed in bright sunlight they still look majestic.  Lots of time in those old hills.  Lots of memories of years gone by also.  And yet, they still stand mighty.

We came off the Foothills and hit I-40 East toward Ashville, NC.  Great run through the mountains and well decorated with Redbud trees.

We made a right turn off the interstate and now we're heading toward the top of the mountains for the Valley.

Almost dry riverbed shows the diminished amount of water that is being let out of the hydro owned and operated by Duke Energy.

We finally ran out of paved road and now will run several miles of gravel.  Fairly good road surface, a bit dusty so I lag behind to stay out of some of the dust.

I'm not intimidated by the sign but the blind drivers do bother me a bit.  And some of them don't know to slow down when they meet another vehicle.

Up up up you go winding around the mountain all the time being really watchful for large rocks sticking up out of the dirt in front of you, loose gravel spots and some chuck holes.

When you finally crest one mountain then what goes up generally goes down.  And believe me, it's more difficult to go down than to go up on crushed rock.  Notice the lack of barriers to keep you from dropping several hundred feet to the bottom.  Unless, of course, you manage to have a tree stop you at some point while on the way down.  I tell Paul that if he runs off I'll just mark the site and tell his wife where he left me.  I know, sick joke.

We made a stop here to remove some clothing as it was getting warm.  There is a sign on the front saying "Horse Stuff".  All I saw was a donkey in the field behind the structure.

Back on the gravel and doing a bit more climbing.

Then we came to the first of two such bridges.  I let Paul go first to test it.

A nice flowing stream beneath the bridge.  A few more miles and we needed to make a right turn.  Two more miles and we would be at Cataloochee Valley.

The second bridge crossing the same stream just at a different point.

The Palmer House is at the head of the Valley and was constructed in 1903.  It was a log house and the siding was put on  years later.  It contains a lot of pictures and writings about its history.  At this time it was locked.

Little Hoss parked in the parking area near the front of the Palmer House.

Paul reading up on what's on the bulletin board and then riding on into the Cataloochee Valley.

An Elk cow was standing fairly close to the road so my small telephoto got me a better look at her.  Sign in entrance says to stay 150 ft. away from them.  Just up ahead on the left side of the road a big Bull Elk stood but before we could get close he took off for the woods, crossing the road well in front of us.




You can't see them as they are dark and in the shadows of the trees, but there's about a dozen Elk standing and laying around.

 A good look at the mountains on one side of the valley.

Took a close-up of these two turkeys gracefully walking across the grassy area.











Same two turkeys but enhanced by a split rail fence.

This was the church they were walking behind.  I was told that at one time the road ran in front of the church.

Beechgrove School.  And no school buses to ride.

The class room.  Compared to today's schools, this was extremely plain.

The room behind the room with the desks.  Don't know exactly what this was used for.  Nothing fancy for sure.

Back on the gravel and on
our way out of the Valley and onward to Max Patch.

Now we can build up some speed to blow the dust off.  Running along the river was nice and scenic as well as some of the farm fixtures along the way.  Turn just before you get to the red barn.

There's a lot of pretty farm land in this area and some nice old farm houses.  We're still in NC at this time.

North Carolina Christmas Tree country.  These look as if they were left several years ago, maybe waiting for someone that wants a 20 ft. tree.

We turned yet again heading this time for Max Patch, a bald knob which is just a bare round top mountain.  A lot of people go there because of the scenic view from the top.

This will be the longest gravel run of the day.  And yes, that white stuff is snow.  Several places where the last snow a few days ago still remains.  But with the warming temperatures it won't be here much longer.

Past Max Patch we ran across a group of horse riders doing some trails up in the mountains.  With them was one fellow's Blue Heeler, a real friendly pup.

Around a turn you get another grand look at the mountains of the area.

I stopped to take this picture.  Give you 2 tries to guess why I stopped to take the picture.  What does it look like to you?

Heading down and back to civilization but first a look at an old house that has seen a lot of damp cool days as indicated by the moss on the roof.

The road below is where we're going, we just have to safely get there.

Back on the highway to Newport, TN we run through a small valley with some nice farms and has some beautiful trees, in this case a Redbud in front of a Bradford Pear.

Heading back to the house after a stretch and snack break.  My second cup of coffee for the day.  I was going into withdrawals.   Temp was hovering around 70 degrees and we were winding up a great day of riding.  Todays ride was 180 door to door taking 9 hours counting breakfast, rest stops, sightseeing, snacks and a stop by my favorite motorcycle shop to order a new seat for Little Hoss.  Thirty miles of this was mountain rock.

As i close with this adventure ride, I know most of these stories are alike, winding paved or gravel roads, mountain scenery, farms and buildings and every once in a while a bit of history thrown in.  So please treat them like a travel brochure.  Read it and then toss it.  I know some of you have never been to this area and some my never visit it.  I enjoy showing what God place here and some of the things that makes it what it is, a beautiful state with lots of natural stuff to see.

So until the next Valkyrie Adventure episode, I pray for everyone, especially our country and those that are being inflicted with danger and harshness.  I hope you and yours have a wonderful Easter Day.  We are here because.........