Tennessee Overhill

09/29/2026

Overhill Stories: The Cherohala Skyway

This week, we are looking at the history of the Cherohala Skyway and the decades-long effort to build a highway connecting Tellico Plains with Western North Carolina.

Long before the Skyway opened, local leaders in Tellico Plains were working to create a road across the mountains. Among them was Charles Hall, who served as mayor of Tellico Plains for 31 years and became one of the people most closely associated with the project. Hall was an original member of the Cherohala Commission, which proposed a scenic highway between Tellico Plains and Robbinsville, North Carolina.

In 1958, Hall and members of the Tellico Plains Kiwanis Club helped organize a Wagon Train from Tellico Plains toward Western North Carolina. The event was intended in part to draw attention to the need for a better road connection through the mountains. What began as a local effort became a long-running tradition, and Hall continued serving the Wagon Train for decades as wagon master or chief scout.

The road itself took much longer to become a reality. Hall and others continued working with state and federal officials to secure support and funding for the route. Nearly four decades after the first Wagon Train, the Cherohala Skyway was completed and dedicated in 1996. Today, the approximately 43-mile route connects Tellico Plains with Robbinsville and passes through the Cherokee and Nantahala National Forests. It is designated as a National Scenic Byway.

In 1997, the Tennessee General Assembly recognized Hall’s role in the project by naming the bridge over Laurel Branch on State Route 165 the “Charles Hall Bridge.” The legislation cited his long service to Tellico Plains and Monroe County.

Much of the history surrounding the Skyway and the Wagon Train has been preserved at the Charles Hall Museum & Heritage Center in Tellico Plains. The museum opened in 2003 and today preserves more than 10,000 artifacts along with thousands of photographs and documents related to Tellico Plains and the surrounding region. Pam Hall Mathews, Charles Hall’s daughter, currently serves as president of the museum’s board and continues the work of preserving and interpreting that history.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Cherohala Skyway’s opening, making it an especially appropriate time to look back at the people and events that helped turn the idea of a mountain highway into the road we know today. The Charles Hall Museum is also marking the anniversary through its annual Cherohala Skyway Festival which will take place October 24 this year.

Want to learn more? Join us for our October Gems of the Past: Overhill Histories Lecture Series as Pam Hall Mathews shares stories and little-known history from the Wagon Train and Cherohala Skyway archives preserved at the Charles Hall Museum & Heritage Center.

The program will be held at the Gem Theater, 700 Tennessee Avenue in Etowah. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and the lecture begins at 7:00 p.m. Admission is free.

Sources and Further Reading:
Charles Hall Museum & Heritage Center
www.charleshallmuseum.com, Tennessee General Assembly, Public Chapter 135 (1997), “Charles Hall Bridge” www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/100/Chapter/PC0135.pdf, U.S. Forest Service www.fs.usda.gov, Charles Hall Museum & Heritage Center, Cherohala Skyway Festival
https://www.skywayfestival.com/

Photography by Briana Pagdon

09/20/2026

Sundays At Our Overhill Table
Sunday, September 20

This week, we are doing something a little different and taking a look at a sampling of the places and foods that make the Tennessee Overhill feel like home.

The Tennessee Overhill Heritage Association spent part of this week in Gatlinburg for the Governor’s Conference on Tourism. Gatlinburg is certainly an interesting place to visit, but after several days of crowds, traffic, and a very different pace, it was good to come back to the Overhill. A weekend spent making the rounds through some of our familiar places turned out to be a pretty good palate cleanser.

We stopped by the Mennonite Farmers Market in Delano, where the late-summer produce is still putting on quite a show. Baskets of okra, peppers in just about every color, and plenty of other vegetables made it difficult to leave empty-handed. From there, a stop at Tellico Grains Bakery in Tellico Plains meant taking a look at the pastry case, which is always dangerous if you arrive hungry.

The weekend also included The Match Bookshelf, Bald River Falls, the Cherohala Skyway Visitor Center, and the Charles Hall Museum & Heritage Center.

Back at home, some of the vegetables from Delano found their way into a pot of bean soup along with bacon from Benton’s Smoky Mountain Country Hams in Madisonville.

Travel has its place, but so does familiarity. Sometimes a few days away are enough to remind you how much you appreciate the roads, shops, markets, mountains, and meals that make your own corner of the world feel like home.

We might be biased at the Tennessee Overhill, but we think our three little counties in this corner of the world are the best.

Photo Credit: Briana Pagdon

09/07/2026

Sundays At Our Overhill Table

This week, we are stepping outside traditional Appalachian food and stopping by Cajun Lady Seafood.

We tried the coconut shrimp with fried corn on the cob and hushpuppies. Everything was hot, crispy, and full of flavor. And if you visit, save room for the bread pudding.

Sometimes the Overhill table is about tradition, and sometimes it is just about finding a good meal close to home, and Cajun Lady Seafood is one of the best places to do just that.

Photo Credit: Tennessee Overhill Heritage Association

08/31/2026

Overhill Stories: The Old Line Railroad

Winding through the Hiwassee River Gorge, the Old Line Railroad has carried more than trains through the Tennessee Overhill. For more than a century, it has connected communities, supported industry, and shaped the landscape and history of southeastern Tennessee.

The railroad was built in 1890 as part of an effort to create a rail connection between Knoxville, Tennessee, and Marietta, Georgia. One of its most recognizable features, the Hiwassee Loop, was completed in 1898 around Bald Mountain in Polk County. Together with a distinctive section of track in Georgia known as the “Hook,” the Loop helped earn the railroad the nickname “Hook and Eye.” Today, the Loop remains one of the best-known landmarks along the route.

The Louisville & Nashville Railroad took control of the route in 1902. A few years later, L&N constructed a flatter, more direct route between the Etowah area and Marietta. Railroad employees began referring to the newer route as the “New Line” and the original mountain route as the “Old Line,” names that have continued for more than a century. Construction of the New Line also led to the development of Etowah as a major railroad center and planned community.

The Old Line continued serving the copper mines, marble quarries, and other industries of the region for decades. When CSX announced plans to abandon the Etowah-to-Copperhill portion of the railroad in 2001, local governments, organizations, and concerned citizens formed the Old Line Railroad Coalition to preserve it. In 2002, the Tennessee Overhill Heritage Association purchased the line with financing from Glenn Springs Holdings, helping secure an important piece of the region’s transportation history.

Repairs and rehabilitation followed, and the railroad eventually returned to passenger service. Today, the Old Line carries visitors through the Historic District of Reliance, along the Hiwassee Scenic River, through the Cherokee National Forest, around the Hiwassee Loop, and toward Copperhill as part of the Hiwassee River Rail Adventure. A 19-mile section between Reliance and Farner was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

Want to learn more about the railroad that helped shape the Tennessee Overhill? Our next Gems of the Past: Overhill Histories will be Thursday, September 3, featuring former Tennessee Overhill Director Linda Caldwell presenting on the Old Line Railroad. The program begins at 7:00 p.m. at the Gem Theater in Etowah.

Image: ‘The Loop on the L. & N. Railroad, near Tennessee-Georgia line,’ c. 1930–1945. Published by The Asheville Post Card Co. Courtesy of the Boston Public Library, Tichnor Brothers Collection. Public domain.

08/30/2026

Sundays At Our Overhill Table
Sunday, August 30

This week, we are doing something a little different and heading to Legends & Lore Pizzeria in Madisonville for two of their more unusual creations: pickle pizza and apple pizza.

Neither is a traditional Appalachian dish, but both use flavors that have long had a place in kitchens across the region. Pickling was an important way to preserve garden produce, while apples were dried, cooked into preserves, made into apple butter, and used in familiar desserts like fried pies and stack cake.

Legends & Lore takes those familiar flavors in a completely different direction. Their pickle pizza is topped with garlic-infused pickles and plenty of melted cheese. The combination is rich, tangy, garlicky, and much better than it probably has any right to be.

Then there is the apple pizza, topped with apples, a crumb topping, icing, and caramel. It is part pizza and part apple dessert, and it is absolutely delicious.

We like finding places across the Tennessee Overhill that are willing to have a little fun with food, and Legends & Lore Pizzeria certainly does that. These may not be traditional Appalachian recipes, but they are a good example of familiar flavors finding new places at the local table.

Check out their menu here: https://www.legendsandlorepizza.com/menu

Photo Credit: Tennessee Overhill Heritage Association

08/27/2026

Written of This Place
Thursday, August 27

Today we return with words from Dolly Parton, a voice born in the mountains of East Tennessee and carried far beyond them.

“I can see the light of a clear blue morning.”

Dolly Parton, “Light of a Clear Blue Morning, 1977”

Tennessee lost its brightest voice this week. Dolly belonged to the Smokies, but the faith, music, and mountain traditions that shaped her are familiar across the Tennessee Overhill. She carried those things with her into the wider world and, in doing so, carried East Tennessee with her.

For generations here, old hymns and gospel songs have given people words for sorrow and for the hope of morning after darkness. Dolly sang from that same tradition.

This week, we remember a Tennessee daughter whose voice reached far beyond these mountains, but never seemed to leave them behind.

May she now rest in the light of a clear blue morning.

Editor's Note: For anyone feeling the weight of this week and in need of something uplifting, that gospel tradition will be heard in Etowah this evening. The Original “Battle of Songs” begins at 7 p.m. at the Gem Theater, featuring The McKameys and Jeff Tolbert and Primitive Road. https://www.itickets.com/events/486232.html

Photo Credit: Briana Pagdon

08/26/2026

This installment of Gems of the Past: Overhill Histories features Dr. Brett Riggs presenting “When the Revolution Came to Great Hiwassee,” an examination of the impact of the American Revolution on Great Hiwassee and the people who lived there.

Riggs explores this important period in Tennessee Overhill history, examining how the events of the Revolution affected Great Hiwassee and its inhabitants.

Recorded July 16, 2026, at the historic Gem Theater in Etowah, Tennessee.

Watch the full lecture on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/siMvYgz3UAA

Videography and editing by Drayton Blackgrove of Delay In Block Productions

Dr. Brett Riggs presents “When the Revolution Came to Great Hiwasse...

08/23/2026

Written of This Place
Saturday, August 22

I know I used a passage from Emma Bell Miles in the last Written of This Place, but I am still reading through her journal entries, and they are a treasure trove of poetic naturalism. Again and again, she finds language for the small sounds and lives that make up the Southern Appalachian landscape.

“Piano-tinkle of drip on pool. Delicate silvery nocturnes of the frogs.”

Emma Bell Miles
Once I Too Had Wings: The Journals of Emma Bell Miles, 1908–1918
May 24, 1908

Miles wrote these few lines during a Sunday at an old farm in Summertown, where a deserted log house stood in its orchard. Her entry is brief: water dripping into a pool, frogs calling nearby. Yet she hears them together as music, turning the sound of frogs into “silvery nocturnes.”

Her words were written on Walden’s Ridge, west of the Tennessee Overhill, but the sound she heard is familiar here. Among the frogs that inhabit Tennessee are the Gray Treefrog and Cope’s Gray Treefrog, two species so similar in appearance that they cannot reliably be distinguished by sight alone. It is their voices that tell them apart.

My wife and I were lucky enough to come across this little frog while walking the Eureka Trail in Englewood. Against the weathered wood of the railing, its mottled body nearly disappeared into the grain. It would have been easy to pass by without ever noticing it. But when evening comes, frogs like these become part of the sound of a Tennessee summer, their calls moving from the trees and woods around us.

Miles paid close attention to these small presences, giving space in her writing to lives and sounds that might otherwise pass unnoticed. My wife and I try to pay that same homage to the often overlooked lives of the Overhill, whether they move through the trees, fly through the air, swim beneath the water, or simply rest beside the trails we walk. It is an attention to place that we hope to pass on to our daughter, so that she too learns to notice the natural beauty of our world wherever she may be.

P.S. If you too would like to read her journals, I will share a link to purchase a copy in the comments.

Photo Credit: Briana Pagdon

08/20/2026

This installment of Gems of the Past: Overhill Histories features Eric Hughey, site manager of Fort Loudoun State Historic Park, sharing the history of one of the Tennessee Overhill’s most significant eighteenth-century sites.

Built in 1756 during the French and Indian War, Fort Loudoun stood in Cherokee country and became part of a complex period of diplomacy, trade, alliance, and conflict between the British and the Cherokee. Hughey explores that history and the events that led to the fort’s surrender in 1760.

Recorded July 2, 2026, at the historic Gem Theater in Etowah, Tennessee.

Watch the full lecture on YouTube below.

Videography and editing by Drayton Blackgrove of Delay In Block Productions.

This installment of Gems of the Past: Overhill Histories Lecture Se...