Trip to North Carolina - 2004
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Ashe County to Bristol, Sullivan County, Tennessee
From Ashe County I made a slight detour and went due east over to Bristol, Tennessee to see what I could find out about the Pemberton's, my Mother's paternal family. I am related to Col. John Pemberton through his daughter Sally. He was a Captain in the Overmountain Militia men famous for gathering the Overmountain men from Eastern Tennessee and Southwestern Virginia under the Oak Tree in his front yard to fight at the battle of King's Mountain which was one of the turning points of the Revolutionary War. At the end of my trip I ended up at King's Mountain which is on the North Carolina - South Carolina Border down by Charlotte, so it was a healthy march across the state of North Carolina for the Over the Mountain men.
My trip to Sullivan County started with going from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Appalachian Mountains.
Coming from the state of Washington, they are all hills to me and I must admit it is hard to understand where one Mountain range ends and the other begins! But they are beautiful.
The Pembertons settled in the Holston Valley just north and east of Bristol on the State line between Tennessee and Virginia. Actually they probably live closer to Abingdon, Virginia than Bristol, Tennessee.
Holston Valley, Sullivan County, Tennessee
The area the Pemberton's live in is very picturesque and is becoming the suburbs to Bristol. They farming community is giving way to large homes on acreage and subdivisions. It didn't appear to be a lot of farming doing on. Without too much trouble I found the Pemberton Road.
The following pictures show what a lovely the Holston Valley is and how the Pemberton's must have had quite a farm here. They owned thousands of acres. All the pictures are taken on land that was once owned by Col. John Pemberton.
I then found the Pemberton Homestead and the famous Pemberton
Oak.
It must have been quite a tree when standing. "The Pemberton Oak was a 500-year old white oak tree which stood near the Virginia-Tennessee border and was the muster site of Capt. John Pemberton's Sullivan County militia company. It fell on August 2, 2002 and was the last living artifact of the Campaign of the Overmountain Men. " Here are pictures of the Pemberton Homestead and Pemberton Oak. One taken right after it fell in 2002 which was sent to me by Robert Pemberton and then one today and then the plaque on it from the DAR.
Holston Valley to Washington County, Virginia
Washington County Virginia is just across the state line. I drove to Abingdon and spent some time there doing research at their Historical Society. What a great facility and so many wonderful documents. I am back researching my paternal side the Priest's and the Price's. They lived in Russell and Washington Counties in the late 1700's and early 1800's.. The Priest's owned lots of land in this area and were involved with the Indian Wars. William Priest had a Fort close to Elk Garden where they lived. I drove across a set of mountains from Abingdon to Elk Garden one evening. It was quite breathtaking and very rural. There weren't any cars on the road. It was very desolate. This picture is taken looking back at Washington County from the top of the ridge.
Elk Garden, Virginia and Priest Mountain
The Priest's lived at Priest Mountain near Elk Garden, Virginia. Below are some pictures of the area and Priest Mountain. There is nothing left at the town of Elk Garden and note the rocky soil. I can see why they moved on. The land must have been terrible for farming.
Priest Mountain is just to the North of Elk Garden. I am not positive this is Priest Mountain, since it is no longer on the maps, but from the old land documents I am pretty sure it is. It is more of a hill than a mountain, but in1790 it must have looked like a mountain.
from the front and from the back
I then drove south down the Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail to the
Cumberland Gap.
I have read so much about Daniel Boone and the Cumberland Gap I wanted to see
it. My paternal Priest family was here. My maternal Wilkerson and
Halley families went through the Gap on the way to Boonesborough. On the
way I stumbled across Martin's Station. Joseph Martin was a contemporary
of William, David and Samuel Priest who is on land documents with him and I am
sure fought the Indians with him. Martin's Station is in Lee County. This
is how my ancestors lived.
First the drive down SW Virginia looking at the Appalachian Mountains. They must have been very daunting to the early pioneers. I went down the Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail. This is what the early pioneers saw as they migrated to the Cumberland Gap.
As I said Martin's Station was very interesting. These people were so sturdy and hard working. It is just amazing.
Floyd County, Kentucky
After leaving Russell and Washington Counties I went up to Floyd County, Kentucky. I met up with Theresa Wichman a descendant of Abner James. It is so ironic, Theresa used to live about 10 minutes from me in Redmond, Washington and we didn't connect until after she moved to Louisville, Kentucky. She is just delightful and we wanted to find the James homestead. It is currently owned by descendants of Susanna James. We also connected with my Priest cousins Ernestine (Ernie) McCoy and her brother Jack Clark. They are George W. Priest's grandchildren and Ernie lives in Virginia and Jack in Pikeville. Jack is a retired State Patrolman and knows the Brushy Creek area well. They are so nice. I am very lucky to have such a great family. Unfortunately, we didn't quite make it to the homestead. We made it to the road, but it was impassable due to a recent flood and the fact they are strip mining the back part of the property. I have a much better idea of where it is and next time I go I'll know exactly where to go.
Here is Ernie at the mouth of Brushy Creek.
and Jack and Ernie at the mouth of Brushy Creek and
Jack
and Ernie and me at the mouth of Brushy Creek. The James had a water-mill
here on the creek.
"Samuel built a water-mill at the mouth
of Brushy Creek, and did custom grinding for his settler friends. The McCoys,
Roops, Fraleys, and others came to the primitive mill. Mrs. Smith says her
grandmother Pernina told her that Samuel inquired whether his wife would rather
have the mill as a gift or the sum of $500.00 he had saved. Pernina took the
mill. After her husbands death she and her stalwart sons operated it. "That mill
raised my children, several grandchildren and great-grandchildren,"
Source: Mountain Kinsman Ride.
Here
are Theresa and me
at
the Floyd-Pike County Line. Jack remarked how much it had changed up here
in the past 20 years. How much it had overgrown and gone back to nature.
Much of the farming had disappeared. He said when he was a child there
were many families that lived up here. Now there are very few.
You can see where the farms used to be,
and
this is one of the few area that was still under cultivation. It also
happened to be part of the original James homestead. Here are more
pictures of the Brushy Creek area
It is a lovely, little creek, but in years past before the dam, you could float logs down Johns Creek so both creeks must have been much larger.
Going up Brushy Creek to where the James-Priest homestead was we were surprised to find the Lower Johns Creek Sportsman's Club on property that must have been about where the Priest homestead was. Next to it was a road going back to where the strip mine is. As you can see the Sportsman Club was established in 1993.
Here are some additional pictures of the hills of Floyd County. I feel such a connection here.
