Thursday, June 11, 2015

Good Split Rail Fences...

On our recent trip down to North Carolina and the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, we saw quite a few split rail fences.  I've always wondered how you get started putting one of those together.  I suppose I could Google it, but I'd rather just try to figure it out.  Anyhow, here are a couple of the fences we saw.

This first one is in front of the John Oliver cabin in Cades Cove, which is located in the Tennessee section of the national park.  I wanted to go there because I am a distant relative of John Oliver.  From conversations with my family, I've determined that he was my Great Grandfather Oliver's Great Uncle.  I know that's a little off the beaten track family-wise, but still it was fun standing inside a place where I actually do have a family connection.


Here I am standing on the porch.


It's a small cabin -- one room down and one room up.  But it sounds like they managed to make do.

In my Facebook post when I was trying to figure out the relationship between  John Oliver and me, I got a post from my aunt Wanda that I made me laugh.  She said: 

The first time we went to Cade's Cove, Bunni (Wanda's daughter and my cousin) was about 10 years old. She needed to find the restroom, but apparently there weren't any. So she went back to the car and we eventually found her there with this poem she had written:

Great, Great, Great Uncle John, 
where in the world has your outhouse gone? 
I've looked in the cabin, 
I've looked all around, 
but that dadblasted outhouse 
just couldn't be found! 

This other fence was on the property of the cabin we rented.  There were significantly more rooms in our cabin than in John Oliver's and we were very comfortable there.  There was a full outhouse inside on both floors.  So we managed to make do very well indeed.



Linking to The Run*A*Round Ranch's Good Fences!


15 comments:

TexWisGirl said...

love the zig-zag rails (to look at, but i'd sure not want to mow near them!) adorable poem. quite clever! :)

eileeninmd said...

The split rails are neat looking fences! They seem to be in a lot of national parks. Thanks for sharing your Cades Cove visit. Have a happy day!

Buttons Thoughts said...

Oh I love those fences the history that goes with them makes me wonder about the time and the people. Love Bunni's poem. Hug B

Anonymous said...

I too like the zig,zag fencing.

21 Wits said...

I wonder how they do mow around them. These are really a lovely way to fence!

Margaret Birding For Pleasure said...

Interesting about your family connection yo that place and I move those fences.

Ida said...

How fun to know you have a family connection with this place. I think split rail fences look so cool. Loved that last one and I got a good chuckle over the Outhouse poem.

doodles n daydreams said...

That's a really neat cabin and to have a connection does make it more special. Does your daughter still write poetry? That was clever for a ten year old.

Diana

Unknown said...

LOL the outhouse poem..always liked the split rail fencing myself but never had any...sounds like an adventure...great photos

Nicki said...

How cool to have a personal connection with the location - plus, it is pretty. I love split rail fences - they give a location so much character.

Stephanie said...

I am a fan of Split Rail fencing! We have some here in the neighborhood. Great shots!

MadSnapper said...

what a beautiful place to stay. love that tiny cabin and the fences to... i like having my outhouse inside also.... funny poem.

Pamela Gordon said...

I wonder how they managed to split the cedar poles like that 'back in the day'. The poem is so funny! Clever girl. It's really neat to find a family connection to a historical place and nice to see a photo of you! :) Interesting post.

Debbie said...

i thought what tex said, what a pain to mow around!! they are pretty and who's that cute chick-a-dee??? lookin' very fine in her robin blue!!! hehehehe

Brian King said...

Love those kinds of fences! Beautiful photos!