by Mike Steely | Nov 12, 2018 | Columnist, Steely
By Mike Steely One of the most rustic and wondrous areas within a couple of hours drive from Knoxville can be found at Pickett CCC Memorial State Park. The CCC stands for the Civilian Conservation Corps which worked to create the park, as the Depression Era federal...
by Mike Steely | Oct 8, 2018 | Columnist, Steely
By Mike Steely Sometimes you just have to get away for a day or two. My wife and I did that recently after both of us were stressed out and neither of us in good health. We hooked up our little pop-up camper, reserved a camping spot on the Little Pigeon River,...
by Mike Steely | Oct 1, 2018 | Columnist, Steely
By Mike Steely “So much fun it’s a crime” is the motto of Alcatraz East, an unusual attraction in Pigeon Forge. It looks very much like a prison on the outside and inside are several floors with displays on just about every crime and major criminal and victim you can...
by Mike Steely | Sep 17, 2018 | Columnist, Steely
By Mike Steely We are so blessed to live in an unusual part of our nation. You may not think of it but there’s lots of places within a day’s drive where you can encounter oddities of nature and man. For instance, Cumberland and Pine Mountain in Tennessee, Virginia and...
by Mike Steely | Sep 10, 2018 | Columnist, Steely
By Mike Steely So much violence, sadness and history is woven into the place but it’s a place you’ve got to visit and experience for yourself. Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary opened on August 4th as a tourist attraction and if you’ve ever wondered what prison life...
by Mike Steely | Aug 27, 2018 | Columnist, Steely
By Mike Steely Looking for an afternoon drive? How about heading south along what was once the Old Federal Road? The route was first developed in a treaty in 1805 and improved in 1819 as a toll road. Today we know the basic route as Highway 411. The highway skirts the...
