Day 4 November 27, 2005
Rugby in Tennessee
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I spent the night south of Harriman near I-40 and took these pictures as I passed back through town this morning. The first is of a motel directly across the street from th post office. Each unit is free standing. They look like they could be extra large pre-fab tool sheds. There is no name on the sign and no telephone number or any other contact information. The large sign says "MOTEL - DAILY & WEEKLY" and the smaller one "MOTEL - CABLE COLOR TV - Reasonable RATES DAILY OR WEEKLY". At least I believe that's the word "daily" on the smaller sign. In the photo it seems to be blacked out. An interesting place that I regret not having investigated a bit closer.

The second picture is the diner we didn't eat at yesterday and the third is the Temperance Building. Harriman was founded as an alcohol free town and remained that way until 1994. But it seems that there have been spirits in Harriman for a long time. They just weren't in bottles. Today the building was getting all dressed up for Christmas.

I had breakfast at the Cumberland House in Wartburg then headed up the street for a picture of the Morgan County courthouse. Note another indication of how happy the area was to see the 278th return.
I really liked this post office in Sunbright, TN. The town isn't very big (population 577) and neither is the building. But, instead of settling for a bland brick cube, Sunbright residents put some nice looking columns on the front and have a pretty classy looking place to get their mail.

The deserted White Oak Lodge is almost next to the post office. Both pictures were taken from very nearly the same spot. It's another example of the Crab Orchard sandstone buildings so common here.

Here's another Baby Boomer Bob recommendation. The town of Rugby was founded in 1880 by Englishman Thomas Hughes. Hughes was a successful author ("Tom Brown's School Days") and a social reformer. His utopian vision never quite materialized but it came close. In 1884, 350 people, including Thomas's eighty year old mother, lived in Rugby. He never actually moved here himself, however, since he couldn't talk his wife in to it. "My son is a genius." "My husband does the dumbest things."

Twenty original buildings are still standing and four are included in a guided tour that is available. The tour starts at the former schoolhouse which also houses a museum. Hughes did spend a month or so on Rugby each year and had a house here. That house, named Kingstone Lisle, is on the tour. That's Kingstone Lisle behind guide Dennis. The house is completely furnished with period pieces. Many of the furnishings are original to Rugby and that includes this piano. The latch shown is on the gate leading to Kingstone Lisle. Legend has it that it was designed to defeat the efforts of a local donkey who had mastered the normal latches. The other buildings on the tour are the church and library. Christ Church Episcopal has services every Sunday and has since 1887. The library looks much as it did in 1882 and that includes walls lined with over 7000 books. A cafe, a commissary, and a bed & breakfast are in operation today and lots are available for purchase. There are, of course, some architectural restrictions on new buildings.

At Burnside, the railroad bridge over the Cumberland River caught my eye and I found that I could get near it on the south side. I also got close to the rather bland US-27 bridge. Even though the auto bridge isn't particularly picturesque, it is a good spot to view the railroad bridge.
In Somerset, KY, there is a "muffler man" actually holding a muffler? What's up with that?
Near Hall's Gap I turned at a "Historic Overlook" sign and found this. No other signs and no clues as to what makes it historic although it is clear that the history includes a fair amount of partying and spray painting. Good view, though. The third photo is on the road below the overlook. Of course, the pavement of this particular deep cut section isn't exactly visible from there.
I turned at this intersection in hopes of finding a Shun Pike road sign but all I found read Shun Road or maybe it was Shun Avenue. So I had to settle for this shot of the roadside sign. It's at the south edge of Nicholasville and is labeled Shun Pike by both DeLorme & Garmin.

It was 5:30 when I reached Lexington and darkness was fast approaching. It seemed especially sad to do it so soon after seeing the "shunpike" sign but I abandoned plans to follow US-27 to Ohio and moved onto I-75 at Lexington's north edge. I don't really regret the decision since it was completely dark within minutes.

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