Category: History

Charles Weigle In Chattanooga

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date July 18, 2024

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. I think I’ve been to Chattanooga Tennessee once in my lifetime – 32 years ago in July 1992 during a road-trip with my little brother (age 17) from Huntsville Alabama. I picked him up after Space Camp, and we drove to Nashville, Knoxville, Gatlinburg, and Chattanooga Tennessee, and then from there to Atlanta. That was a fun adventure in my 1989 Geo Spectrum that included a trek on U.S. 441 up, through, and down the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina. We drove and climbed to the top of Clingmans Dome at 6,643 feet above sea level – the highest point on land that I’ve ever been to.

My retirement hometown of Sebring Florida has a little bit in common with one of those cities above – Chattanooga.

As you may have read previously here on my blog – I’m a docent at the Charles Frederick Weigle House Museum here in Sebring. Come visit us. We’re open 5 days a week – Tuesday to Saturday – from 10 to 3. Before I was a docent – I was a frequent visitor of the historic house, and I was (and still am) intrigued by its 102 years of history. I will never stop studying the history of the house, the man and his wife who lived in the house, and the city that they called home.

Dr. Weigle – an evangelist and songwriter – lived in the house from the time it was built brand-new in 1922 – until 1951 – when he “retired” to Chattanooga Tennessee. I put “retired” in quotes because he actually went back to work up there in his early-80s. He and his wife moved there so that he could work at Highland Park Baptist Church. He wanted to spend his remaining years of life near a Bible college campus so that he could help train and inspire young people in the Lord’s work. The church provided Dr. Weigle with a nice apartment, and he lived there until he passed on 15 years later in 1966.

He maintained his residence in Sebring during much of that time. He continued to study the Bible, and teach, and preach, and write music during his last 15 years in both Chattanooga and Sebring.

Less than 2 weeks after his 95TH birthday – he had entered Heaven’s gates to be with the Lord eternally. Today – he’s buried with his second wife Carrie in a cemetery in Sebring – just a couple of miles away from his longtime house by the lake.

Next #TravelThursday – I’m exploring Highlands, Polk, Osceola, and Orange Counties in Central Florida over 7 days with my little brother. And the Weigle House Museum makes an encore appearance. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Chattanooga, Florida, Museum, Sebring, Tennessee

Blogging Driving Food Geography History Travel

The Ringling

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date July 11, 2024

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. A couple of months ago I visited The Ringling estate in Sarasota Florida. It was another field trip with the Sebring Historical Society – the group that I serve with. I was with a group of about 30.

Our chartered bus departed from the parking lot of our museum at 8:43 AM. The drive to the Gulf Coast took a little less than 2 hours. Our first stop in Sarasota was Der Dutchman – a large Amish-style restaurant, bakery, and gift shop. At the restaurant you can either order off the menu or enjoy the buffet. (Our “all-inclusive” trip included the buffet.) We arrived there as Breakfast was wrapping-up and Lunch was just getting started. Some in our group enjoyed a late-Breakfast. I enjoyed a hearty Lunch. It was all good. I think my favorite dish was their slow-cooked old-fashioned Roast Beef. It was quite delicious and juicy. We spent over 2 hours there eating, browsing, and shopping.

Our next stop was the Ringling estate. We spent 3 hours there, and our group pretty much split-up to tour the museums and grounds at our own individual paces. I visited much of the estate to include both circus museums and Ca’ d’Zan (“House of John” in Venetian) – John and Mable Ringling’s personal residence (built from 1924 to 1926) overlooking Sarasota Bay.

My favorite part of the circus museum was the 38,000-square-foot / 42,000+ piece miniature circus display that was essentially a ¾-inch-to-the-foot scale (1:16) model of a typical 24-hour day in the life of the Ringling Brothers And Barnum & Bailey Circus during the 1920s and 1930s. I think that was probably my favorite part of the entire estate. I did a walkthrough at the beginning of my visit, but there were so many other people doing the same thing that I couldn’t fully enjoy it, so I returned a couple of hours later to check it all out again in greater detail with far less people around. Circus fan Howard Charles Tibbals designed and built the model from 1956 to 1974 (age 20 to 38). It premiered at the World’s Fair in Knoxville Tennessee in 1982. He set it up at its current location at the museum in 2004 and 2005. What an amazing accomplishment to build that miniature circus !

We got back to Sebring after 6 PM. It was a fun day out with my historical society friends. It was revealed that our next field trip will be in just a couple of weeks – a 4-hour St. Johns River cruise out of Sanford Florida with a big multi-course lunch and a comedy play. I’m looking forward to it !

Next #TravelThursday – What do Sebring Florida and Chattanooga Tennessee have in common ? Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Amish, Circus, Florida, Museum, Ringling, Sarasota, Sebring

Blogging Driving Geography History Holidays Home Travel

Happy 248TH Birthday America

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date July 4, 2024

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last week I wrote about the 17TH day of my April retirement road-trip – returning here to my home state of Florida. And I wrote about the 18TH and final day – westward and southward away from Yulee along Florida State Road 200, and onto U.S. 301, U.S. 441, Florida State Road 33, a series of old narrow backroads in northern Polk County (following Google Maps), and back to U.S. 27 and the Heartland of Florida.

The purpose of this road-trip was to see America, and I saw a good part of her on this 18-day, 7-state, and 2,807-mile excursion across our southern states – northwestward from Florida to Alabama to Mississippi to Louisiana to Texas – and then southeastward from Texas to Arkansas to Mississippi to Alabama to Georgia to Florida.

Out of 2,807 miles – only 186 miles were via the Interstate Highway System. It was the rural portion of I-10 in the Florida Panhandle and into South Alabama – 149½ miles from west of Tallahassee to east of Pensacola, and 36½ miles from west of Pensacola to east of Mobile. Much of my route occurred on U.S. 98, U.S. 84, and U.S. 82 – old U.S. highways – the way we used to see America before the Interstates came into existence.

I drove 1,216 miles during the first 5 days of my road-trip, and that took me to Wylie Texas – where I spent 8 days and nights with my family. I didn’t drive at all for 7 days in a row.

I drove 1,591 miles during the final 6 days of my road-trip from Wichita Falls Texas (the northernmost and westernmost point) back home to Florida.

The most miles driven in a single day occurred on Day 14 when I drove 366 miles from Wichita Falls to El Dorado Arkansas. The next day came in 3RD place – 348 miles from El Dorado to Tuscaloosa Alabama. That’s 714 miles in 2 days. Over the course of 11 actual days of driving – I averaged 255 miles per day.

I filled-up with gas 7 times on this road-trip, and I paid anywhere from $2.899 to $3.499 per gallon at the pump (before credit card discounts). I averaged over 45 MPG.

For many years I imagined (and talked with friends about) a 100-day / 10,000-mile retirement road-trip clockwise around the circumference of the U.S.A. – from Florida to Texas to California to Washington – across the northern tier states – over to Maine – and then down the Eastern Seaboard back to Florida. This wasn’t that trip, but it was at least a quarter of that trip. By keeping mostly to old U.S. highways – and some state, county, and local roads – I saw America, and she is beautiful. Each state that I visited had its own unique charm and identity to it. I obviously love my home state of Florida for everything that she has to offer and for everything that she has done for me over the past 36+ years. I definitely need to spend more time in and see more of Mississippi and Alabama – even if I don’t drive all the way to Texas. And I’ve got Georgia on my mind too. I want to explore your historic seaside towns – especially Savannah.

#ArkLaTex & #ArkLaMiss – I learned of those two terms while in South Arkansas. It was fun to see more of Arkansas than ever before in my life. I liked what I saw from Texarkana to the Mississippi River, and now I want to see more. Maybe even your mountains upstate.

I visited a lot of great historical museums along the way, and I met and talked with a lot of fellow docents serving at these museums – preserving, protecting, and promoting the history around them. I saw a lot of good, and a little not-so-good at these museums. These were all lessons learned as I continue working with some of my local museums.

This is the 13TH and final part of my look-back at my April retirement road-trip. I wrote all of it during the month of April and into the first couple of days of May – while my mind was still fresh from the trip. It was fun planning the trip, and then doing the trip, and then writing about the trip during and after it. But I’m just getting started. Now that I’m in the retirement chapter of my life – I hope to spend more time seeing America – by road – by rail – and perhaps – maybe even by Mississippi River cruise. America – you look great at 248 !

Next #TravelThursday – Let’s join the circus ! Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Alabama, America, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas

History Holidays

Happy Flag Day

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date June 14, 2024

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Today – June 14TH – we observe Flag Day here in the U.S.A. It commemorates the adoption of our flag – our “Stars And Stripes” – “Old Glory” – on this date in 1777.

For more on the origins of Flag Day – click here.

Tags Flag, Flag Day