On the first day of our vacation, dear husband and I decided to drive off without the boys to scout out a lake. It was going to be a long trip and the boys wanted to stay home. It was a good decision. We were going to visit Dale Hollow Lake which is on the KY-TN border and a long way from home. We decided to take a longer route to avoid a few narrow, curvy roads. I still ended up getting carsick twice. It was beautiful country, but boy were we back in the sticks. I thought we lived in the country. The little town we were in did not have cell phone towers. It did not have cable television. It did not have any place to eat! We finally asked around and found a little restaurant and had a so-so cheeseburger. We visited a couple of marinas which I have to say were nice and then we started back home. This is where it gets good.
Many years ago after watching Sergeant York, we looked up Pall Mall on the road atlas. I had mentioned this to dear husband before we left as we were going to be near there. We hit the backroads and our first stop was the cemetery where Alvin C. York is buried. It is across the street from the church he attended. Then we drove to the post office/general store that was owned and operated by York and his sons. The clerk there told us that they had a self-guided tour that began with a movie and asked if we would like to watch it. We watched it in a little section of the general store that resembled a small chapel. We sat in pews and watched the movie.
After browsing in the general store, we left and walked over to the York home. The home is fully furnished and open free of charge to the public. York's son, Andy, is a park ranger and was there the day we visited. The home is beautiful. The dining room was decorated for Christmas. I wondered if they left everything the way it was after York's wife, Gracie, died. We walked through the home looking at all the rooms. There was a very old sun bonnet that belonged to York's mother. After we came back downstairs we talked a long while with York's son. There was a piano in the parlor, but it had a sign that read Do Not Touch. He asked if either of us played the piano, and I told him I did, but that I was rusty. He told me to sit down and play. There I was, sitting in Alvin and Gracie York's parlor, playing You've Got to Walk That Lonesome Valley! If I had thought, I would have played Give Me That Old Time Religion. That is the song that is featured throughout Sergeant York. We didn't visit the grist mill. We are saving that for when we visit again with the boys in the fall. Here are some pix from our trip.
Alvin and Gracie York Gravesite
Gracie York Memorial
Alvin York Memorial
A small flag left by someone
Post Office and General Store
Typewriter and Memorabilia
York Family Dining Room
Tank
You can read about the Sergeant York Foundation HERE.
Alvin York Teacher's Guide and 5th Grade Lesson Plans can be found HERE.
The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sergeant York And His People, by Sam Cowan
