Most of us probably don’t put much thought into the history of the roads we drive every time we leave the house. Matter of fact, we probably complain about the roads more than we appreciate them. Complaints like the pavement is rough or the roads are too curvy. Many of the roads we drive on today were a beaten path that horses pulling wagons used to travel.
Wayne Bailey has lived in Union County his whole life off Jerry Hollow Road, which is off the lower end of Hickory Valley. Wayne remembers the trip to the city of Maynardville took nearly 30 minutes—a trip that now takes maybe a bit more than 10 minutes if you’re driving the speed limit. One reason the trip is shorter is because now the road is asphalt instead of gravel. The other reason is the path has been altered a bit to straighten out the roadway.
Wayne told me how Hickory Valley just past the Hwy 61 intersection dipped down further than it is now about where Bobby Lord lives and you had to drive through the creek. Then the road climbed up from there and went behind Big Ridge Elementary School. Just past the school you crossed a wooden bridge as the old road then came out about where Beeler Road is now. Wayne described the gravel roads as being rough and rutted out. With many obstacles like these being straightened out and paved over, our trips are much easier.
Wayne said the trip might have been longer back then but many times you did not have to drive as far depending on what you needed. There were three stores between his house and the intersection of Hickory Valley and Hickory Star. The first store was the Georges’ that offered Texico gas. Just up from it was the Breedens’ store, and it was a Gulf service station and right before the Hickory Star intersection was a Shell Station that had a yellow store owned by Grade Loy. Wayne said that just below the Georges’ store there was even a theater for watching motion pictures.
Years ago, I met a fellow that told his grandmother’s story about her trips to from Maynardville to Knoxville before there were cars. She told of how the trip would start on a Friday afternoon with members of the community traveling together by horse and buggy. Those traveling to Knoxville would make it to Halls Crossroads just before dark and would camp out together under a big oak tree. In the morning they would make their way to downtown, they would do their trading and make it back to the same oak tree that evening. They would wake up Sunday morning and finish their trip back home.
Think about that as you spend 30 to 40 minutes to drive downtown to buy Christmas gifts for the family.
Think about how our grandparents and great-grandparents had to take a whole weekend to trade homegrown farm goods for necessities like sugar and salt. As we travel for the holidays, let’s be grateful that we have solid asphalt roads and warm dry vehicles to travel in.