Recent Posts
Advantages of Building a Railroad Over Clinch Mountain April 25, 2016 Conveyences - Around 1911, the Clinch Valley surroundings witnessed a pronounced business awakening and subsequent development, requiring railroads to carry coal to places of consumption and to tidal ports. The older sections adjacent to Bristol, Abingdon and Johnson City were securing a limited benefit from the lucrative sources, which it was feared would lead into a state… Continue Reading
CC and O Railroad’s 1910 Excursion through Blue Ridge Mountains February 23, 2015 Conveyences - December 1, 1910 found area residents at the Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio Railway depot in Dante, Virginia anxiously waiting to embark a train for an invigorating snow-capped scenic excursion across the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains to Spartanburg, SC. The travel guide was Mr. David C. Boy, a stenographer for the railroad at its Johnson City… Continue Reading
Railroad Employees Spend Day on Train Excursion Through the Mountains, 1886 October 20, 2014 Conveyences - In the early morning hours of July 1886, one thousand employees of the Railroad Employees' Mutual Relief Association (REMRA) of Knoxville and their immediate family met at the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad Depot replete with food containers for their annual 200-mile scenic excursion into the East Tennessee mountains. One passenger, John Frazer, described… Continue Reading
Charlie Morris’s Love of the Clinchfield Railroad Endured 40 Wonderful Years April 28, 2014 Conveyences - Charlie Morris, a 1961 SHHS graduate spent 40 years on the Clinchfield Railroad (CRR), knowing from his first day on the job that it would be his life-long career. After graduation, the baseball standout went to work at the Jewel Box on E. Main Street. One day, he was approached by a baseball scout suggesting… Continue Reading
1870 Writer Described East Tennessee As the “Switzerland of America” December 30, 2013 Conveyences - In 1870, an unidentified writer, whom I will refer to as Mr. John Doe, described a train trip he took to Clinch Mountain. The range was about 25 miles south of the Cumberland River and ran nearly parallel with it for many miles, with several breaks and name changes. John deemed East Tennessee as the… Continue Reading
1910 Clinchfield Excursion Followed Completion of the CC&O Railway April 15, 2013 Conveyences - On October 29, 1909, the Carolina, Clinchfield & Ohio (CC&O) Railway completed track from Dante, Virginia to Spartanburg, SC. Festive celebrations were observed in both Johnson City and Spartanburg that year. I wrote a column about it in September 2011. The Johnson City one took place at Hotel Carnegie on E. Fairview with the presidents… Continue Reading
1956 Southern Railway Train Wreck Caused One Fatality, Two Injuries February 18, 2013 Conveyences - Today’s column photo should take many of my readers on a nostalgic journey back to the old long ago razed Southern Railway Depot. It was a fun place to go, especially when trains arrived and departed. It was even more pleasurable to purchase a ticket and ride the rails. My subject concerns an unpleasant incident… Continue Reading
Area Historians, Goforth and Hodge, Relived 3Cs Railroad in 1986 October 1, 2012 Conveyences - Yesterday, September 30, 2012, marked the anniversary of a historical event that occurred 126 years ago. Two local history buffs met on September 30, 1986, the 100-year anniversary of the incident, and relived the story for an article for the Johnson City Press-Chronicle. Jim Goforth (Erwin historian and author) and Tom Hodge (historian and Press-Chronicle… Continue Reading
A 1922 “Good Old Days” Drive Along Johnson City Streets December 26, 2011 Conveyences - Today, let’s crank up the Yesteryear Time Machine and drift back to the “good old days” of December 26, 1922 to drive along Johnson City’s streets when its population was about 15,000. When we arrive, we find the temperature to be in the upper 20s with just a hint of snow flurries. For the most… Continue Reading
Johnson City, Spartanburg Celebrated 1909 CC&O Railroad Completion September 5, 2011 Conveyences - The completion of the Carolina, Clinchfield & Ohio (CC&O) Railroad from Dante, Virginia to Spartanburg, South Carolina occurred on Friday, October 29, 1909. Festive celebrations were observed in Johnson City and Spartanburg. The excitement was the fulfillment of a new railroad that would transport coal from a rich coalfield. It was built at an enormous… Continue Reading