Today I went to Great Smoky Mountains National Park and made the hike up to Alum Cave Bluffs (follow the link for a tiny picture). The air was cool but the skies were bright and sunny, affording great views of the surrounding mountains.
An interesting factoid regarding the bluff’s history from Hiking Trails of the Smokies:
During the Civil War, Confederate Colonel William Thomas, leading a group of soldiers composed mostly of Cherokees, built a road to Alum Cave Bluffs. Believing the minerals in the bluff, which include sulfides and salt-peter (substances essential to the manufacture of gunpowder), to be a vital strategic resource, he built a small stockade called Fort Harry near the Chimney Tops to protect his crude mine.
There apparently aren’t any records on how much was actually mined there. But had the course of history run just a little bit differently, we might be reading how a bloody showdown at Fort Harry was the pivotal turning point in the Civil War, rather than that little dust-up at Gettysburg.
Anyway, the hike up to Alum Cave Bluffs is a worthwhile one, earning a Resonance thumbs-up.