Hi Hinds-L members: Don't read this unless you like to hear travelogues. We are back from our combination family vacation and research trip. We invited our daughter and her two (11 & 7 yrs) to join us so we did little actual library research but lots of tramping over areas where we believe our ancestors (or their siblings) were located. I took lots of slides so we can enjoy the trip again as we show it to George's mom and our children. The colors in NC & TN had just changed and were gorgeous the entire trip. The first couple of days we just kept saying, "Wow - look at those colors." The newscasts said that because of the drought - the colors would not last long and we noticed we could see through the trees much easier on our return trip to the airport. We started the trip by seeing the old Indian Trade Trail where it crosses the Eno River at Hillsborough NC. A recontruction of an Indian village has been built there. Hillsborough Historical Society is in a Quaker style restored home and has a walking trail of the old homes in the town. We drove the route instead and then headed northeast of town to find an old Quaker cemetery. It was not marked in any way. I suggested we ask a road crew and my husband remarked that road crews usually don't know anything about the area they are working in. But, I insisted - and the crew said, "Sorry, we are from VA." We all got a laugh about that one. My husband finally flagged down a lady leaving a churchyard and she was knowledgeable about the area.. Even when we knew where it was - the rock wall could not be seen. It is totally hidden in brush and fallen trees. The very kind lady whose family used to own the land said that we were very welcome to visit anytime. The graves have been marked with tiny orange flags that have faded with time. Vines and brush cover all the graves. We spotted some of our Quaker collateral surnames. We then went on to the Battleground of Alamance. Rows of different color flags mark the positions of the armies which made it quite understandable to our 7 yr old grandson. He was even determined on hiking into the forest to find the green flags marking where the patriots camped the night before the battle. The family visited Old Salem in Winston-Salem while I spent the next morning at the Quaker Library at Guilford College. I copied a lot of info and pages of books which can be studied later. I also copied the beginning chapters of a book about the Hunter family - hoping to make a connection with our Elizabeth Hunter, a Quaker. And, I copied some stories about the Joseph Maddock, associated with the Regulators who it is said later moved to Alabama. We then headed south to visit the Deep River Quaker Meeting House and the Centre Meeting houses - both are still in active service. My Quaker ancestors (Beeson and Bond) were connected with both. We roamed around the cemeteries and spotted names from collateral families. Our own ancestors died before the Quakers believed in using markers. The minister at Deep River showed us the cornerstones of the original wooden meeting house. We then visited the Polecat Creek area near the Centre Meeting which is where some of the Hinds families had land in Randolph Co. just across the border from Guilford Co. Late that afternoon we hiked the Guilford Courthouse Battleground and then visited the reconstructed cabins where the British were based before the battle. It is said that the Quakers cared for the wounded after the battle - possible some of our Beesons and Bonds. In the early evening we visited the site of BeTHABara - the site of the original settlement of the Moravians. It had a re-constructed fort and archaelogists have marked the foundations of the original buildings. On the hill behind the fort - our grandchildren found the old cemetery with some of our early collateral names. So, some of our ancestors may be connected with the Moravians. I took lots of photos of gravestones dates in the 1700s - still legible. We headed to Burke Co. and visited the plantation where McDowell, the owner, hosted the Overmountain Men a few days before they fought the loyalists at Kings Mtn. He was also a Colonel in that battle. We took the tour of the Cherokee Village at Cherokee - the grandchildren like the garden hike better than the explanation of he Indian crafts. But, we left with a better understanding of the Cherokee as a whole - especially the ones that escaped the Trail of Tears and stayed behind in NC. While I spent the day at the terrific McClung Library at Knoxville - the family spent the day at Dollywood learning all the old colonial crafts and enjoying the rides. I copied the Hinds vertical file and the Kay Lamb file on HInds. Both folders had a lot of handwritten documents which will take a while to dicipher. So, I tried to spend the day looking at books and not trying to dicipher the old fashioned handwriting on the spot. As I dicipher the documents I'll send them to the Hinds-L list. We spent a morning visiting the Beaver Creek and Flat Creek area east of Knoxville both associated with Hinds families. We ended the tour at House Mountain which is mentioned as being near a family property. That afternoon - I returned to McClung while the family hiked to the top of House Mountain. The next day we traveled north to Halls Crossroads then took a photo of Bull Run Creek on our way to Hinds Creek Valley. We toured up and down the valley taking photos at different spots. (This is the Hinds Creek Valley in Union & Anderson counties) I then spent some time at the Union County historical society and copied some maps and some pages from various books concerning the Hinds. We considered visiting the marker in honor of Sharp's Fort which is now underwater as part of the TN Valley Aut;hority. ( A Levi Hinds is mentioned as one of the original settlers connected with Sharps Fort.) But, it was quite a hike and we wanted to reach Cumberland Gap in the daylight. At Cumberland Gap - we drove to the Pinnacle Outlook and hiked around the loop at the top - then spent some time at the Visitors's Center . We spotted a hard plastic 3D map on the counter that had Cumberland Gap, Hinds Creek Valley and House Mountain on it. It also had the name of the ridge making the north side of the Hinds Creek Valley- it is named Hinds Ridge. We were surprised at how close House Mountain is to Hinds Creek Valley as the crow flies. The map could not be folded and was too large to fit into our luggage so we took down the name of the manufacturer and plan to order it by mail. The next morning we found the Iron Forge in the town of Cumberland, TN and followed parts of the original Daniel Boone trail up to the gap. At reaching the top - we followed a bit of the wagon trail that was built in 1796 to allow wagons to cross. Before that the supplies had to be unloaded from wagons and taken across by horse or mule. Then the wagon was dismantled and taken across in pieces and re-assembled on the other side. Since Hinds Creek Valley and House Mountain are so close to the Gap - we feel fairly certain that is the route our family took to their land on the Cumberland River in Wayne Co. KY. Sad to say - we did not have time to follow our family's footsteps to KY but headed south to Sycamore Shoals to see where the Overmountain Men had gathered to begin their trek across the Smokies in pursuit of the loyalists under Col. Ferguson who had threated to burn their homes if they did not stop hassling the British authorities. (These men are portrayed in the recent movie, The Patriot.) We drove from Sycamore Shoals to Asheville NC to spend the day at the Biltmore Estate built by the Vanderbilts. The next day we visited the Battleground of Cowpens (which happened several months after Kings Mountain and was where the Overmountain Men had camped the night before the Kings Mountain battle). From Cowpens we went on the visit the Battleground at Kings Mountain and hiked the Patriots trail around the mountain and the loyalist positions on top of the mountain. We found the grave and monument to Capt. John Mattock and his three compadres who were killed in the battle. We feel that our Edward Mattix may be the Edward Mattock mentioned in the battle with his brothers, Capt. John and Charles. We are still trying to find proof of the connection to us. Some historians write the name as Mattox - some as Mattock. One historian says the family later moved to Georgia. From Kings Mountain - we stopped at a local tavern and had North Carolina pork barbeque sandwiches- the best. Then on to Charlotte where we had an interesting visit at the Charlotte History Museum. We spotted two items donated by two Wall sisters, discendants of the Hezekiah Alexander on whose land the museum is built. His rock house still stands there. What we found interesting about the Wall sisters is that one of them married a Garren and we have a couple of HInds that married Guerons, Guerins, etc. The head curator happened to walk into the museum as my husband spotted the Garren name. She is newly appointed and is working on an inventory of all of their items. The Wall items were donated 30 years ago - drat. During our conversation - she asked my address in case she finds out any more about this Garren connection - and discovered that her parents live in our county and she, herself, graduated from Calif. State Stanislaus here in Turlock. She then went on to Oxford for her doctorate. Small world We then visited the early 20th century factory town of Kannanopolis with the factory at one end of Main St. and the church at the other. Every house had a front porch and almost every porch had a swing. The two smokestacks at the factory say "Cannon and Fieldcrest." They are still hard at work. And, that was the end of our journey. We then headed back to the Raleigh-Durham airport and on home to rainy California. By the way, the weather was perfect the entire trip except for a few sprinkles at the Biltmore estate. NC & TN are really hurting for rain but it was great for travelers. And, the colors of the trees were amazing. Regards, Nan Wolf, Manager of Hinds-L list [email protected] P.S. Thank you Charles for babysitting the list while I was away.