Sky Farms Tennessee

21/11/2024

27/10/2024

Color is here!

30/08/2024

17/07/2024

airbnb.com/h/sunhousetennessee

The Sun House

24/05/2024

11/05/2024

Celestial harvest season!

11/05/2024

What a night!

16/02/2024

A place with pendulous trees, an affable breeze, all in nature's ease.

With Columbia in the background, Woodland Park never ceases to instill a sense of wonder. We hope that everyone has had a great week so far and an even better weekend ahead!

15/02/2024

Entire home/apt in Summertown, United States. Retreat to this country getaway and gaze at the twinkling constellations under a Tennessee sky. If you’re looking to escape from the city, Sky Farm...

10/02/2024

Too cool!

The origins of Railroad Bed Pike

In a previous post, the Railroad was mentioned as the mode of transportation used by many visitors to the Summertown resort.

The Railroad first reached the Summertown/Crestview area in 1883. Soon thereafter, a spur was built off the mainline about 300 feet north of the intersection with what is now Hwy 20. That spur traveled parallel to Hwy 20, behind the current location of the Water Towers and continued to cross Hwy 20 again just North of the sharp curve and continue down what is now known as the “Railroad Bed”. The tracks ran thru Barnesville and Baugus communities to the Napier area, which was the location of iron ore mines.

There are stories of armed ambushes of the train in the area between the main Railroad Line and Holloway Street, as the train slowed to make the turn onto the spur.

After the iron ore mines closed, the tracks were removed and chert/gravel was put over the old track location to create the road now known as the Railroad Bed (or Railroad Bed Pike).

The road remained a dirt/chert road until it was tar/chipped, then later paved, in the early 1980s. Back when it was still a chert road, a heavy rain would wash out the chert and reveal the old railroad cross-ties, or the holes where timbers were previously. This would give a “washboard” effect as you rode down the road.
Many of those old railroad cross-tie timbers still sit under the paved surface.

Additionally, especially during the dry summer months, vehicles traveling down the road created a significant amount of dust, which would coat the trees and vegetation along the roadway with a heavy coat of dirt. Those living along the road would also see their homes, yards and vehicles get the same heavy coating.

In the summer evenings, you could sit outside and listen to the whippoorwills making their unmistakable calls. When the road was paved, as with other dirt/chert roads in the area, the whippoorwills moved on to other locations, as they prefer to live in dusty environments.

The attached map from 1922 shows the spur and the various small communities along the spur. Thank You to Alicia & Kevin Davis for this photo.