Day 9, Sunday, April 24, Leaving Cherokee Lake headed to Dixie Caverns (Virginia)

We woke up to a gorgeous morning on the Cherokee Lake and headed back to I-40 East, to make our way ultimately to Roanoke, VA. Our stop in Roanoke is for visiting the Dixie Caverns Cave and Campsite. I had always wanted to include a stop, to see one of the numerous caves and caverns that lie under various parts of the Appalachian mountains. We have visited Ruby Falls and Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga and the caverns under that mountain, so I was interested in seeing others. Dixie Caverns is located just outside of Salem, VA.

On the way to Roanoke, we noticed a sign to one of the “attractions along the way” that interested us enough to make a side trip to Greeneville, TN. For those of you like us who didn’t know it, this is the home of our 17th President, Andrew Johnson. President Johnson was born in North Carolina, but he spent his teenage and adult years in Greeneville. He is also buried there, on a hill overlooking the town at his request. We spent about an hour and a half at the National Parks Visitor’s Center, looking at a replica of his childhood home in NC, his early home in Greeneville with his mother and brother, his tailor shop and his residence. It was an interesting side trip. We learned quite a bit more about Andrew Johnson than either of us knew. He was a fascinating person and an interesting historical character. Goggle him!! 

(Replica of Andrew Johnson's birth home. Actually born in North Carolina, but moved his family to Tennessee at age 15.)

(Information about Johnson's slaves. Later he freed his slaves then freed all of the slaves in Tennessee, a couple of years before the Emancipation Proclamation.)

(Upper pic: the Bible on which Johnson took his presidential oath of office; Lower pic: the necktie he wore for Lincoln's funeral.)

(Lincoln, a northern Republican, and Johnson, a southern Democrat, though against secession, ran as the "National Union Party".)

(Andrew Johnson Visitor's Center.)

(Statue of President Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States, first to assume office after the assassination of his predecessor, first to become impeached, though not convicted.)

(Leaving Greeneville, TN)

We decided to get lunch about half way to Salem, NC in Bristol, TN. Turns out that Bristol is truly a city in two states. Bristol is divided between TN and Virginia, but it is one town. The Main Street in town where we ate lunch was in Virginia, but we had to exit in TN and drive through the residential area close to the expressway in TN. It looks like it would be difficult to navigate. The water was supplied by Bristol, TN, but the streets were divided north and south into TN and Virginia names, like below.

It was quite a lovely midsized town.

After we spent time on our side trip, we resumed our journey toward Salem, NC and ran into a crash on I-40 E which had one lane on the highway closed and the other one crawling like a snail. We decided to exit and follow the parallel road Hwy 11E. This road winds through the mountains alongside I-40 just like Hwy 41 does to I-75. Since our campground was off of Hwy 11, we just took the scenic route and saved ourselves some frustrations. Unfortunately, we got a little turned around and initially passed the campsite. After seeing the town of Salem and Roanoke College, we realized that we had gone too far and turned back.

We rolled into our campgrounds after 6, started a fire and enjoyed the lovely cool evening outside. We played cards while the coals got hot and our fish for tonight’s dinner and the steak for tomorrow’s dinner cooked on the grill. It was a great way to relax after the long day that we had. We are looking forward to seeing the caverns tomorrow.

P.S. This campsite is crowded and lacks any ambiance! We miss the one that we just left in Cherokee Lake.