{"id":4000,"date":"2013-11-03T08:00:07","date_gmt":"2013-11-03T08:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/janetgover.com\/?p=4000"},"modified":"2013-11-03T08:00:07","modified_gmt":"2013-11-03T08:00:07","slug":"log-cabins-and-railway-carriages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/?p=4000","title":{"rendered":"Log Cabins and Railway Carriages"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The cabin was built about 1860 and was set in the woods near the top of a ridge.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is amazing where music will lead you.\u00a0 In this case \u2013 to a shotgun shack in the Appalachian Mountains and an art deco railway carriage in Chattanooga.<\/p>\n

Recently we went to a gig by US folk artist Diana Jones<\/a>.\u00a0 She sings songs of Appalachia. Mine disasters, murders – cheerful stuff. She\u2019s very good \u2013 and talked about recording her latest album in a shotgun shack at the Museum of Appalachia.<\/p>\n

As we were due back in the US of A for a wedding \u2013 this was too good an opportunity to miss. So we headed south into the Tennessee Hills.<\/p>\n

Webmaster John gets megapoints for booking us into a cabin on a ridge.<\/p>\n

There was no wi fi, and barely anything resembling mobile phone service. It was like stepping back into another era.<\/p>\n

The people who lived in cabins like this usually built them out of timber from their own land.<\/p>\n

Before saw mills arrived, they split the wood by hand. \u00a0The families who lived in them were often the poorest of the poor.<\/p>\n

Unlike them \u2013 we had electricity, running water and central heating.<\/p>\n

\"We<\/a>
We did NOT have to use the outdoor facilites – for which I was extremely grateful.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The cabin was fitted with a comfortable bed, a shiny bathroom and a modern kitchen. But the 1964 Sears catalogue on the coffee table was totally authentic \u2013 and fascinating. You really could buy anything from them\u2026<\/p>\n

\"I<\/a>
I think my Mum had dresses like this – and a steal at just $7.84<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We drove to a nearby famers market and I bought some fabulous heirloom tomatoes to add to a salad for our dinner. They looked \u2013 and tasted \u2013 like nothing I had ever had before \u2013 really giving us an old-time feel.<\/p>\n

\"I<\/a>
I am not quite sure why they were ‘heirloom’ tomatoes – but they were unusual colours and shapes and tasted just wonderful.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

The gaps in the cabin walls were filled with some kind of\u00a0modern concrete-like substance\u00a0\u2013 not just mud,\u00a0but the feeling was there. John, however, did NOT play the banjo on the porch.<\/p>\n

\"Rocking<\/a>
Rocking chairs are everywhere in Tenessee – even at the airport<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So \u2013 why shotgun shack? The popular answer is that you could fire a shotgun from the back porch, through the open doors and hit someone standing on the front porch. There are other explanations:\u00a0 that the planks they were built of came from crates that used to hold shotgun pellets. A more serious explanation suggests it\u2019s a mis-pronunciation of an African word used by slaves. Personally \u2013 I like the first explanation the best.<\/p>\n

We headed a bit further south the next day \u2013 and forward a bit in time to the era of the big bands.<\/p>\n

I remember my Dad playing piano and singing Glenn Miller\u2019s Chattanooga Choo Choo. Well \u2013 guess where we ended up.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The blown light suggests and old-time Hoochie Coochie dance show – but there was nothing like that – just the train.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

The railway traffic was moved out of the centre of town a long time ago \u2013 and the original heritage building rescued to become a hotel. \u00a0The carriages \u2013 yep. You got it…<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The most luxurious railway carriage I have ever been in.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There were lines of carriages parked at the old platforms \u2013 each with power, heating, and of course\u2026.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A much better proposition than the bathrooms on the London bound commuter train.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I know \u2013 it was tourist central, but we were tourists and we loved it! So much more fun than a motel beside the interstate (and a lot more expensive too, which is why we spent the rest of the trip in motels by the side of the Interstate).<\/p>\n

\"You<\/a>
You don’t actually leave the station ’bout a quarter to four – but who cares?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And yes \u2013 I spent the next few days singing (in my head) … Pardon me boy, is that the\u2026. (you know the rest.) That was my trip down memory lane \u2013 here\u2019s one for<\/a>
\nyou too.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  It is amazing where music will lead you.\u00a0 In this case \u2013 to a shotgun shack in the Appalachian Mountains and an art deco railway carriage in Chattanooga. Recently we went…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","category-music","category-my-travels"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7g6jm-12w","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4000\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}