March 2002 August 2002
Better check this page often, as things are jumpin' around this old town..... You might want to check out the archived pages at the bottom of this one to see if you missed anything. If you have a slow connection, this page may take a little spell to load. They say patience is a virtue, but I know nothing of it.
One of the coolest aspects of this thing I do with the website is that it allows me to meet the neatest people. Many times I hear from folks who once lived in our little town. Sometimes job considerations, family demands, running from the law, etc., dictated that they must needs move off and settle elsewhere, but they find their heartstrings being perpetually tugged in this direction. That's all right.... I understand completely the phenomenon of having roots that extend deep and wide.
Heard from McAdoo Bruington the other
day. Many of you will remember my previous writings about him and his remarkable wit (and
memory!). Mr. Bruington lived in Oliver Springs around 1924-1929. He sends me stuff
all the time, and each time, I watch the mailbox like a kid watching for Santa. Anyway, he
was telling me a most humorous story about an incident involving Margaret Richards, 
one of the sisters who was tragically murdered
in Feb. 1940. It seems as though Mr. McAdoo was visiting the OTHER Presbyterian Church one
evening
(his father C.L. Bruington
pastored the Cumberland Presbyterian Church up at the corner of Spring St. and Winter Gap
Avenue).
Margaret's sister Ann
was playing the pump organ and Margaret
was in one of the pews. When the time came for the offering plate to come around, the
worshippers began dropping in their offerings (Mr. McAdoo says that in those days, the
sound of coin against plate was more common than the rustle of folding money). As the
plate got to Margaret and she went to put her money in, the plate slipped from her grasp
and hit the floor with a resounding crash, and all the coins went rolling off willy nilly,
many rolling all the way down to the front where they found the big furnace grate as if by
magnet, dropping in one by one. Needless to say, it was a hugely comical moment, with
Margaret wilting with embarrassment.
While we're on the subject of neat people, I had the good pleasure of corresponding with Michael Hart of Beaumont, Texas, who turns out to be descended from the Wiley family of local fame and legend. Students of Oliver Springs history know that one can scarce begin to tell our story without bringing the Wileys front and center.
Anyhow, to cut to the chase of this story, Mr. Hart mentioned that he happened to have some pictures to share with us, and graciously sent them along. Here they are, along with a brief spiel about the signifigance of each......
ELIZA JANE WILEY, daughter of Henry H.
Wiley, was born March 16, 1823 in Grainger County, TN. married first COL. WILLIAM PAYNE
SMITH who was the son of Merriweather Smith of Kingston, a man of no small
importance..
.JPG)
The picture at left is of Eliza Jane Wiley near the end of
her life, at approximately 90 years of age. This picture was taken in Oliver Springs.
(Click on photos to enlarge)
.jpg)
Here is another photograph of
Eliza Jane Wiley Smith Mitchell, also provided by Mike Hart of Beaumont, Texas. Eliza Jane
Wiley Smith is Mike Hart's great-great-great-grandmother!!
Their daughter, the beautiful MARY
JOSEPHINE SMITH, .JPG)
born 1843, married J.W.
Vannerson, and apparently migrated to Marshall County, Kentucky, where she died on April
29, 1867 at the tender age of 24. (Thanks to Mike Hart of Beaumont, Texas, for
providing both the information and the precious image of his Great-great grandmother Mary
Josephine Smith Vannerson!)
Their other daughter, SALLY M. SMITH,
born 1845, married in 1863, WILLIAM S. DOYLE. They lived in, and probably built, the Doyle
home
(Now home of JAMES D. KELLY family)
Their son, WILLIAM P. SMITH, JR. born 1847, married MARY JANE MITCHELL. In the late
1880’s he built and operated a school on Morgan Street in Oliver Springs which was
known as the Smithsonian Institute. 
It was a finishing
school and a teachers' institute. The school building was bought by Benjamin Bradford of
New York City and remodeled into a mansion with imported wall paper and furnished with
elegant furniture. The house was sold to OTIS AND JANICE GROSS, who lived there many years
before its sale to the present owners, the Palmers. Mrs. Barbara Palmer is a Smith
descendant, and she and her husband have restored the old home beautifully..
After Col. Smith’s death in 1847, Eliza J. Wiley Smith married JABEZ GILEAD
MITCHELL. Their daughter, ELIZA JANE “LIDA” MITCHELL, (1855-1929)
married WILLIAM CAMPBELL WALKER. They first lived on Main Street, but built a fine home in
the 1890s with an observation tower on Walker Avenue - later WILLIAM DEADERICK home.
LUCY GEERS, daughter of Martha Elizabeth and William Stephen Geers, married DR. JOSEPH D.
WALKER. They built a home on the corner of Walker Street and Kingston Avenue, next door to
his brother, which was sold to Mr. and Mrs. ARTHUR DEADERICK in 1941.
How do I know all this? Simple.... took most of it straight from the works of Snyder Roberts in his "History of Oliver Springs and Its People". The rest of it I made up... (just kidding)
I make constant reference to all 4 volumes in my work with the Historical Society. In them, you will discover a people and a town unlike any other. By the way, all 4 volumes are now back in print due to popular demand. Need a volume? Need all four? Click below for details..
The 2002 Fall Festival is now history... Very successful from whichever angle you looked at it, we had great music, great food, great fellowship, great weather.... and we sold a boatload of the 2003 edition calendars. This event is one of our biggest fundraisers, in addition to being just plain fun. Like any nonprofit society dedicated to making a difference, Money and hard work are the collective wind that fills the sails and makes the ol' schooner skip merrily along from trough to crest.....
Above, Megan Brown delivers the goods in an awesome performance that ended with us begging her back in the afternoon....
Veronica and the girls of 4EverHis blending that sweet, sweet gospel harmony ...
Tricia May impressed us with a soulful mix of country, pop, and patriotic tunes..
The Johnson Family delivering the "Old Time Gospel Sound"....
And below are some random shots of folks just having a good time...
I know you all are aware of the very
positive buzz around Oliver Springs lately. Drive through the Old Town and see where Mr.
Jack Green is renovating the old Oliver Springs Drug Store Building to its former glory. 
The grand arches are once
again exposed and being restored, the brickwork regrouted and repointed, the ceilings
restored to their vaulted grandeur. I dropped by and spoke with Mr. Green about his
efforts, and came away very excited and encouraged about his progress to date, as well as
his plans for the continued restoration of this landmark building. Just across the street
at the Sienknecht Building can be seen the efforts of business partners Maurice Phillips
and Vickie Hill,
people who, like Mr. Green,
are putting their money and sweat equity where their mouths are, making an investment in
our little town. Drive a little further west on the main highway and see the dramatic
results of Ed and Linda Coker's beautiful restoration of the Wiley/Harvey H. Hannah
Mansion. Double back to Estabrook Avenue and see the fine job Terry Holland is doing on
the grand old Keebler/Ladd/Faith Taylor house. Meander up to the top of the hill above
Spring Street and admire the splendid old Col. Wm. P. Smith Finishing School, now having
been lovingly restored by the Palmers. And on and on it goes......
Oliver Springs is indeed making a comeback. How successful we are depends entirely on us.
The people who shaped Oliver Springs into a grand tourist mecca at the close of the 19th
century were not smarter than us, or better than us. What they had was a vision of
excellence. They lived here, and they invested here. We see glimpses of it at work with
the beautiful brickwork-patterned sidewalk renovations around town. Now if we can only get
the Victorian streetlamps in place....
Well, we did it... we finally finished designing the 2003 calendars. Talk about a job... The first calendars are now printed and bound, ready for the grand debut at the Fall Festival on October 19th. There is a lot of pride and effort that goes into these calendars: researching dates, events, people, and the veracity of said information. The 2002 calendars were an unqualified success, so rather than satisfy ourselves with the status quo, we hunkered down hard to make the 2003 edition even more desirable... more pictures, more informative sidebar articles, better print standards. I really think we succeeded.
One interesting story about the cover photo... to even the casual O.S. history observer it can be seen that the grand old house shown is the Richards Mansion. This photo has a most unusual history. I had a friend mention to me sometime back that the lady living in the old Mamie Lee Diggs house had found an envelope containing a large format negative. She had no idea what it was of, but when she showed it to a mutual friend of ours, it was determined to be a picture of the Richards Mansion. Word got to me through the grapevine, I immediately began beseeching her to allow me to scan it, she properly deferred to Mr. Tom Diggs, owner of the house, who subsequently gave me his blessing to take possession of it for the Historical Society. As far as we can determine, it is a one of a kind photograph. We are proud to have it gracing the cover of our calendar. A most interesting twist to this story is that many of you will remember that a young Tommy Diggs was one of the boys who carried the note from schoolteacher Miss Mary Richards to the house on that ill-fated day in February 1940. This was after Mary Richards had failed on repeated attempts to contact her sisters Ann and Margaret via telephone. Tommy Diggs was subsequently one of the first ones on the scene when Miss Mary went screaming from the house after finding her sisters murdered. Tommy Diggs grew into a fine man who is a great member and supporter of our Historical Society. Thanks, Mr. Diggs.
By the way, I have been spending some time down at the Historic Old Courthouse in Kingston where the Roane County Heritage Commission has their museum and archives, and I feel absolutely compelled to mention how wonderful they are in helping me find whatever it is that I am looking for. If you ever wanted to see a group with their act totally together, pay them a visit. They love what they do, and it shows.
Roane County is almost singular among counties in that it has an essentially unbroken thread of archives, deeds, court proceedings, et al, dating back many, many moons. Most other counties around here have had serious loss and damage due to fires, floods, nonchalance, etc.
Darleen Trent, Mr. Bailey, and the others down at the Historic Old Courthouse have that fire in their eyes that another history buff will readily spot......
Speaking of gratitude, I really have to thank Mr. Sonny Harvey for his invaluable help to me in rounding up priceless old photographs. (That's him above, to the right of the picture with yours truly). Mr. Harvey is a large part of the glue that holds our Society together, and if you've been to one of our meetings, you know whereof I speak. If they ever sent him to the middle east, those Israelis and Arabs would soon be sharing chips and dip. Also here is where I give a heartfelt tip of the hat to Mr. Snyder Roberts, the late great historian and scribe of our fair town. Mr. Roberts, without your diligence in chronicling and preserving pictures, anecdotes, etc., of our past, there would be no calendar, and precious little for the Historical Society to preserve. Though you have passed from this sphere, your work endures. Also to Pat Roberts McDonald for carrying the torch for so long... Thank you, Pat, for making it easier for us.
More to come....
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