 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Subject: | | Re: JERRY!!!!! |
| From: | |
Gerry Bacon
|
posted
Fri, Jul 31 2009, 3:15am
|
No. My wife is from there. She moved here to Detroit in '67 and hadn't been back there since '76. It was my first time. We stayed with her aunt in Johns Creek, I believe. We spent a lot of time in the cemeteries, looking up her kin. We went to Davidson Cemetery four days in a row! We also went to Ferguson Cemetery and a really small one at Ratliff's Creek where her sister was buried.
Betsy Lane (Layne?) is evidently named for her great or great-great grandmother, I can't remember which. She is also reportedly related to Ocatvia Hatcher, so we crawled around that goofy cemetery above town. Don't they bury anyone on level ground there, lol?
We also hit the cemetery and the library. The people there were incredibly helpful and nice.
We were sitting in Jerry's (?) having something to eat when the bike run did a short parade into town.
I had a fantastic time. You may have seen me. I was the Michigan Yankee in the green Jeep Commander who seemed to be perpetually lost, creeping up and down the hollers, holding up traffic and gawking at all those mountains, lol. |
|
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Subject: | | Re: JERRY!!!!! |
| From: | |
kittenz
|
posted
Sat, Aug 1 2009, 5:10pm
|
Maybe I did see you ... were you the one holding up traffic? (jk :-)
It's Betsy Layne (Layne was her surname).
Yes the restaurant is Jerry's. It's a sort of local icon, and they have the best strawberry pie in the world.
We really don't bury people on level ground, for a couple of reasons:
(1) "Back in the day", when most family cemeteries were begun, there wasn't nearly as much level ground here, and ALL of the level ground was used for farming. People didn't even LIVE on the level ground, they just farmed it. There weren't any good roads into this entire area until the 1950s, and even then most of the roads were narrow, winding 2lane roads (the one down Johns Creek was one of the wider ones, if that tells you anything ;-p )So almost all food was grown locally, and almost all the level ground was farmed.
(2) Most of the level ground here is "bottom land", that is, floodplain land. We have massive floods in the spring and sometimes in autumn too, and anyone foolish enough to build in a bottom was subject to being flooded. Cemeteries were never built on bottom land because during floods the coffins would be disinterred by flood waters and wash away.
Did you get to visit The Breaks while you were here? It's The Breaks Interstate Park, and it's the deepest canyon east of the Mississippi.
There are a lot of transplanted Kentuckians in Michigan! I lived there for a long time as a child, in western Michigan though, in rural areas near Grand Rapids. I also lived in Detroit (well actually Ypsi) in 1975 - 76. Still have a lot of friends and family, from Muskegon to Holland to Detroit and points between. |
|
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Subject: | | Re: JERRY!!!!! |
| From: | |
Gerry Bacon
|
posted
Sat, Aug 1 2009, 6:57pm
|
Yes, we did visit the Breaks. It's an absolutely gorgeous spot! I couldn't believe they only charge two bucks to get in. Hell, here in MI, we pay five just to go to a park with nothing to see, so I thought it was a hell of a deal.
Yes, the wife's maiden name is Layne. She is descended from Tandy Layne. Some of the other family names are Kimberlin, Gibson and Ackers. I'm not too sure about that last one.
To emphasize to others how small Besty Layne is, you have to cross a one lane bridge to get back in there. We drove in looking for her grandmother's house, which must be gone now, and when we were leaving, there was a Jeep getting ready to cross that bridge. Instead of going across, he backed up and waved us on ahead of him. I know he wanted to check my plates, lol. With not much more than a dozen or so houses, we stood out like a sore thumb and I guess he wanted to make sure we weren't up to no good.
I can't believe that John's Creek was one of the wider roads, lol. I appreciate the explanation on the flat ground. I also understand about the flooding, since the wife's cousin lost his bridge this spring. He's constructing the new one with old drilling pipe. Speaking about the roads, we came down an area called the Cowpens (?), a long downhill stretch with some crazy turns. The wife actually got car sick and I had to pull over for a few minutes while she recovered.
If anyone visits Pikeville, stop in at the museum. It's small, but very nice and the curator is super friendly, just a good old boy who really enjoys his job. Next door is the visitor's center, in an old trolley car. The people there are just super friendly.
I've already been told by the wife that we will NOT wait another thirty years to go back down, lol. That's fine with me.
And yep, I was the one holding up traffic, lol. |
|
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|
