Taverns and gathering places

I don't think any of my immediate ancestors had come into Tennessee by 1775.  They were a couple of years later.  But these were people who were alive at the same time, hacking out settlements in a wilderness.  And since I live in the Appalachians these days, I am very awestruck by what a job that must have been.
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What can I contribute to the Sepia Saturday meme for this week?  (Others may post something that meets this suggestion HERE.)



Can I find something to do with racing, flags, pipe smoking, hats of different styles, women in long dresses sitting and looking around, or little girls with black stockings...?

And the actual print has this description at Sepia Saturday.
Opening Of Norwood Sports Pavilion (1909) East Riding Archives Flickr Stream

However faded the print may be,  the celebrations are clearly visible, with flags flying and the very best hats being worn. The occasion was the opening of the new pavilion for the Beverley Town Cricket, Bowling and Athletic Club, in Beverley, East Yorkshire. The eagle eyed amongst us may just notice a cricket score in the background. Whatever game you play and whatever theme you care to identify and follow in this fine old photograph, all you have to do is to post a post on or around Saturday 15th July 2017 and link it to the list below.

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Bean Station Tennessee never had anything to do with cricket, bowling or the kind of pavilion that is shown above, I'll just bet.

The Bean Station Inn, pencil drawing (not clear focus)

My Tennessee settling ancestors were coming from Virginia, over passes, along trails that may have been cut by Daniel Boone.

Tavern at Bean Station

The tavern pictured in my header at the very top of my blog is where my ancestors may have wet their whistles many years later, (1850) the ones who had trekked out to Willis, Walker County, Texas.  The Rogers landed there before the civil war, having settled originally in Tennessee in 1794.

(Here's the header pic that has since been changed...)

The Holston River ran along Bean Station and was the route taken towards what would one day become Nashville.  It runs into the Tennessee River, which runs into the Ohio, which runs into the Mississippi, thus this was a major river artery for going west.  But I dare say that the Rogers of Sevier County (further south in the mountains near the Smokeys) would have travelled by land.  Many of the families settled in northern Louisiana rather than going on to Texas.

Today Bean Station overlooks the Cherokee Reservoir, held behind a TVA dam and hydroelectric facility of the same name, located downstream from Bean Station.  TVA is the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built many dams and formed reservoirs all over Tennessee in the 1930s through 50s.  It was the aim to provide rural electricity to many people who lived out on farms a long distance from cities.  Telephones came about the same time, once poles and wires were laid.  And the reservoirs became lakes for recreation.

Today Bean Station is at the junction of US Highways 11W and 25E, and there is a crossing through several islands in the Cherokee Reservoir, or perhaps they still see it as the Holston River there.  Once you get on the south shore from Bean Station there's an Old Kentucky Road in Morristown, TN.

Red ball is Bean Station

Bean Station is about 2 hours from where I live, using an interstate highway system, crossing at least 2 of those TVA reservoirs, going through some tunnels in the mountains.

Property for sale in Tennessee currently