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• 

09

We re-visit an old Cable Country favorite. It’s an update with The Dancing Man of Avery County. 

The Dancing Man is still dancing.

“I love to dance”, says perky Bob Aldridge. “I just can’t stay away from it”.

The man they call, “Old Happy Feet”, is still hopping.

“I believe it’s just borned in me”, says Bob. “My Daddy started me out when I was about six years old and I been dancing ever since”.

Since our last dance with him five years ago..this dancing dean hasn’t slowed down any.

“No, no, I can dance all night and it don’t bother me a bit”, he says. “I had cancer one time. I really believe that that’s what keeps me a going is that dancing and music it just puts something in me that I don’t know I just can’t be still when that gets started. Well, it just puts a funny feeling to you and you can’t be still”.

He’s 5 foot 4..barely over 110 pounds..but he’s a big man on the dance floor.

“I can get out and go to a dance and I feel just like a 20 year old”, Bob states proudly.

He still cuts a rug the old time way.

“A buck dance it’s a little bit closer on the floor”, says Bob. “You stay on the floor a little closer. It’s what I call an old time dance a lot of people don’t do it you know”.

He has added another portable fold up floor to his two steppin’ stock. Now he carries two with him everywhere he goes.

“And if I hear a good song I’ll just get out and dance where I’m at”, he laughs.

A 76-year-old dancing dynamo who’s strutted his stuff for the likes of Minnie Pearl and Ricky Skaggs.

“I really couldn’t count the bands that I’ve danced with”, Bob looks off in the distance and says. “I like Blue Highway awful good. I can stay right with them but I like Sigmon and Poole, I like all of them you can’t name a band that I don’t like that’s bluegrass”.

No doubt about it, the Dancing Man of Avery County is happiest when he’s dancing but, it’s more than that..old Happy Feet wants to leave a heritage”.

“I feel like if I can get my grandchildren and great grandchildren, I’ve got two, get them started into it why I want to keep it a going” says Bob. “If I ever leave here I hope it keeps going”.

He’s leaving a legacy by living to dance.

“Just as long as I can get up on my feet and get ‘em to work”, adds Bob.."I’m gonna keep ‘em a going”. 

Posted by Tim Cable

Fall is busting out all over the highest ridges of Carter County. 

Right now on Roan Mountain, the big orange is playing..or in this case, the big orange-ish red. What is the colorful cultivation?.

“Mountain Ash”, says longtime Roan Mountain State Park employee, Muriel Hobson.

Though it’s a member of the rose family, lots of folks mistake it for a flower.

“They do”, says Muriel. “They’ll ask us what it is but it’s Mountain Ash”.

Busting out in brilliant clusters of orangey red berries..happens around this time most every year.

“In September”, Muriel says. “It’s been that every year since I been up here”.

Some years are better than others.

“Now it don’t hit every year”, says Muriel. “It’s been about two years since we had a good bloom on the Mountain Ash but it is really pretty this year”.

Now the top of this mountain is usually known for its brilliant blooms of Catawba Rhododendron in late spring and early summer. But some say the Mountain Ash is just as pretty.

“It is, I’d just as soon see it as the rhododendron”, states Muriel.

A pretty sight alright..but are the berries edible? Well, birds sure like them and there’s been scattered reports of bears eating them.

“I’ve not seen a bear this year”, says the spunky Muriel. “I been up here 15 years and I’ve seen two bears since I’ve been up here”.

But as for human consumption..well, apparently the berries are too acidic to be eaten raw but they can be made into jelly or wine. And how long will the berries be ripe?

“They’ll last maybe another month but they’re starting to fall a little now”, Muriel adds. “But if the weather stays good they’ll last another month”.

Another month..to bask in the beauty of a berry filled mountain paradise.

“It’s really pretty”, says Muriel. “We just love to work up here. It’s a beautiful place”. 

Posted by Tim Cable

She’s a State Park Manager who’s just wild about the woods. 

You might call Jennifer Bauer an outdoors expert.

“Well, I don’t know if I’m an expert”, laughs Jennifer. “But I can certainly say I enjoy the outdoors”.

She’s been with the Tennessee State Parks System since 1980.

“Spent most of my career on the trails and back in the woods”, she says.

I guess you couldn’t call her a woodsman.

“I must be a woods woman or is it a woods person”, Jennifer laughs.

Not nature boy..or in this case, nature girl.

“Woods woman, the nature woman”, she adds.

Well, no matter what you call her..her love of nature inspired her to write her fourth book, “Wildlife, Wildflowers, and Wild Activities”.

“You know we live in such an incredible area”, says Jennifer. “We’re fortunate to be here in the Tennessee Mountains that are absolutely awesome. This book is really a compiled collection of I guess many of the tried and true activities that I’ve conducted with children, adults, families, people from all walks of life”.

Sense awakening activities like identifying leaves by their smell and feel first.

“It’s a very interactive book and it’s written for all ages”, Jennifer says. “Kind of a tantalizing sort of an inspirational type of book that talks about water, bugs, trees, plants even things that you’d see under a microscope. Just enough information and little activities to get out there and kind of get your hands into it and see what it’s all about”.

After watching a leaf identifying activity that Jennifer’s leading at Sycamore Shoals State Park, I decide to give it a try. I close my eyes, feel the contours of the leaf and quickly decide that what I’ve got in my hands is a dogwood leaf. I get a tap on my shoulder and young Kelly says, “Mr. Cable, that’s not a dogwood, that’s a sycamore”.

Well, I may not get it..but Jennifer sure is glad these kids do.

“You got all the leaves exactly right”, she tells them. “Give yourselves a round of applause”.

So I guess above all, you could definitely call Jennifer Bauer a true conservationist.

“I guess you could say yes, I consider myself a conservationist”, says Jennifer. “Above all, an environmental educator that’s something that I’m just very passionate about. If I’m fortunate enough to live til I’m 80, I’ll hopefully still be hiking up the sides of the mountains”.

For more on Wildlife, Wildflowers and Wild Activities..pick up a copy of tomorrow morning’s edition of the Bristol Herald Courier and read Joe Tennis’ article in the Empire Section.

Posted by Tim Cable

Fall is here so let’s begin scouting out a few prime spots in our region where leaf looking will be lovely. 

If you had to describe Breaks Interstate Park in one word, it would probably be..breathtaking. To begin with, there’s the gargantuan gorge.

“It’s 1600 foot deep, five miles long”, says Park Manager, Carl Mullins. “They call it The Grand Canyon of the South..biggest gorge east of the Mississippi”.

The gorge is a carved crevice cut out of Pine Mountain over 200 million years time..courtesy of the Russell Fork of the Big Sandy River.

“It just cut a break in it and that’s where the name Breaks derived from”, Carl says. “Just made a horseshoe around that granite rock”.

Get a birds eye view of nature’s horseshoe at the Towers Overlook.

“That’s the most popular overlook we’ve got”, says Carl.

Take a hike to one of the other six major overlooks here..like the Stateline Overlook.

“Stateline being the one where you can look down in Kentucky”, adds Carl.

No matter which overlook you look over..in a word, it’s..

“Breathtaking”, says Carl. “And the Good Lord made that and they didn’t make it nowhere else”.

But you know, something else that’s breathtaking at Breaks is all the wonderful water activities you can make a big splash with. The park’s expanded into Kentucky by purchasing land around the Ratliff Hole river access to create a nice area for swimmers, white water rafters and primitive campers. Then, there’s the shimmering lake.

“Our Laurel Lake has paddle boats on it”, says Carl. “It’s a 12 acre lake”.

All in all, Breaks is a breathtaking break from the everyday rush of life.

“Its’ unique location, it’s back in the mountains, back in the woods”, Carl says. “We’ve got about anything you want here”. 

Posted by Tim Cable

The Spivey Mountain Boys will open tonight for Appalachian Trail at the Music on the Square event at 7:00 in downtown Jonesborough. 

The Boys are sure men among boys when it comes to making music.

“Me and my brothers have played most of our lives”, says Lead Singer, Marlin Hensley. “And in the early 90’s we formed this band we have now, The Spivey Mountain Boys and we got two friends in the band, Bobby Ramsey and J.P. Metcalf”.

These days, the band is sitting on top of the world. Their first C-D is called, Runaway.

“We tried to do enough of the traditional music to keep it bluegrass”, Marlin says. “But we like to try to do the new stuff and our own mix and harmonies to make it our own sound”.

They put their own personal bluegrass touch on the title track..the old rock and roll standard, Runaway. It’s a new style on an old classic. But their style stays steady.

“We’re straight bluegrass”, says Marlin. “We’ve tried to promote bluegrass in our area. Bluegrass music, it’s a family style music. We was just brought up doing it, we like to do it, we enjoy it more than anything. We’re not in it for the money or anything like that we just enjoy playing the music and having a good time. We’re not by far being professionals or anything like that we just love the music and love doing our little part”.

Posted by Tim Cable