I love seeing connections and having ah ha moments.
Tonight as I sit on my sofa finalizing my topic for my class, Comparative History, I see a photo on a webpage that I’ve found searching the effects of the Louisiana Purchase on new frontier cities in Tennessee, and I recognize the photo. (see above photo). It’s the photo of Daniel Boone on the gap, on the Cumberland Gap and the Wilderness Road.
It’s a fun connection because I just visited Cumberland Gap Historic Park and hiked the trail to the Cumberland Gap. I also toured the Visitor Center where this painting is displayed. (Maybe it’s a reproduction at the park.)
Here’s the photo I took at the park, it’s a different perspective of the photo at the top of the page.
The last few months I’ve been making an effort to go see things, historical things, Tennessee things, since I live here now. The history here is fascinating and I want to know everything. The Cumberland Gap is a great place to hike and learn the history of the Cumberland Plateau.
Object Lesson Trail at Cumberland Gap
Confession: Until this year, I’ve never been interested in history before 1840; no matter what country or region. I have always been interested in the American West, at mid-nineteenth century – it’s history and literature.
Current thinking: After reading about the French Revolution, I’m a bit hooked on French history and how it effects the American western migration.
Here’s the ah ha part:
I attended a Knoxville 250 symposium and the keynote speaker was Jack Neely who is a Knoxville Historian. He talked about Knoxville when it became a state in 1791.
[Knoxville,Tennessee in 1793, painting in the East Tennessee Historical Society in Knoxville]
He talked about the historic, makeshift territorial capital, how it bordered a foreign country (Spain and then France). He talked about a frontier city that I couldn’t image.
Also part of the talk was Dr. Brooke Bauer who talked about “Cherokee Women, Warfare, and Resilience in the Early American Republic.” She was the main reason I wanted to attend this event. I knew she was a Cherokee scholar and I wanted to hear her talk about her expertise. Her talk was so interesting, and why I love being in Grad School studying history.
And now, the time period between 1775 and 1820 is very interesting to me.
Revolutions and the Atlantic World is now a fascination. And, this period of time in Tennessee is very interesting because now I’m learning, people migrating west came through Tennessee or went west themselves. I want to learn about their stories.
That is what school is supposed to do – keep you learning all the things you tried to avoid learning. Now I can start reading about Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett with a better perspective.
My other research project for my another class is Exodusters. I’m still fine-tuning the research question but it will focus on the women who participated in the Exoduster movement from Tennessee in 1879.
