We’ve all been to the doctor at some point in our lives. Being in the 21st Century, we are accustomed to all the fancy technology, modern-day medicine and all the headaches that come with paying for it.
Continue reading This Old Building in Land Between The Lakes was a Doctor’s Office
The remains of this limestone slab furnace are all that is left of The Great Western Iron Works. Great Western opened in 1855 and in a 34-week period produced 1,350 tons of iron. The production of high-quality iron required twenty bushels of charcoal, 800 pounds of ore, and 80 pounds of limestone.
Visitors to Land Between The Lakes can take a step back in time to an era before virtually any modern amenity. The Homeplace 1850s Working Farm and Living History Museum features an active farm with period buildings, tools, animals, and interpreters dressed in attire of the 1850s.
Continue reading The Homeplace 1850s Living History Farm & Museum
Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area was once home to over 2,000 families and several small tight-knit communities. The Tennessee Valley Authority took over the vast 170,000-acre peninsula between Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley in the 1960s. TVA purchased the land from the families and many of them found new homes in nearby communities.
One resident, however, refused to move.
Continue reading The Last Resident of Land Between The Lakes
The United States Geological Survey has a great online mapping feature that is quite addicting and can suck you in for a while.
Continue reading Old Maps Overlaying Today’s Reveal Big Changes
Several years ago, right after we had our first child, we were treated with an afternoon off from our little guy and ventured out into the vast woods of Land Between The Lakes.
The destination was Pryor Creek, just south of the KY/TN border near Lake Barkley. We were on the hunt for an old abandoned bridge, and with some luck, we found it. We went in the summertime and had to fight ticks, mosquitoes and a lot of overgrowth.
Recently I decided to take advantage of a warm winter day to revisit the Pryor Creek bridge ruins and see if I could get better photos. With all the briers and vegetation gone, it would be a lot easier to get to. It was good to get these photos!
Continue reading Pryor Creek Bridge in Land Between The Lakes
The purpose of Four Rivers Explorer can be traced back to my years as a kid. You can read more about that here on our site bio page. To quickly summarize, my family traveled down US 79 between Paris Landing and Dover, Tenn. several times back in the early 1990s.
Each time we went down the road, I always looked for the bridge. No, not the one crossing Kentucky Lake or the one at Dover, but a small abandoned bridge right on the edge of US 79. It’s hard to see it in the summer with all the overgrowth, but you could get a great look at it in the winter time.
My family and I planned a day trip to Stewart County to check out some places including a location known as “Mint Springs” in extreme southwestern Land Between The Lakes. My late grandfather took me there once when I was a kid. Back then I went swimming in Lost Creek while he gathered up some water from the spring. He called this place “Mint Springs” but I really don’t know if that is the actual name of the place or just the name he gave it. There is a location near this area called Mint Springs Hollow but it isn’t near the spring.
