Ruby Fell

Our last day in the area now known as NOT Chattanooga was spent visiting the place where Ruby fell.  It is also called Ruby Falls.  Actually, the only thing Ruby did was to fall in love with Leo Lambert who knew of the caves in Lookout Mountain.  In 1905 the Lookout Mountain Cave was sealed for construction of a railway tunnel.

Ruby Falls Castle

It seems that in the late 1920's Mr. Lambert decided to reopen the caves as a tourist attraction and purchased land above the caves.  He drilled an elevator shaft opening down to a previously unexplored cave section.  He also found an underground waterfall and named it after his wife, Ruby.  I can only speculate that after spending days and nights drilling the new opening he needed to earn a few points with the missus.

Ruby Falls 145' Tall

We took the elevator down the 265 foot shaft to the beginning of the tour.  After eating breakfasts at Hampton Inns and other meals at Cracker Barrels, getting through the narrow passages of the cave were a challenge.  Headroom was also at a premium in places.  I noticed that most of the tour guides were short and slender.

After our tour of the cavern and falls, we headed up higher on the mountain and visited Cravens House and the Lookout Mountain Battlefield.  This location is the site of several famous battles of the Civil War.  Why it is called the Civil War escapes me since civility was the last word I would use to describe it.  The battlefield is festooned with markers explaining the activities of the various confederate and federal troops that were part of the history of this site.  The people in this area of the country are enamored with the Civil War.  They build monuments, have re-enactments, start arguments and generally relive a war that was lost by the south.  I find the Civil War an interesting part of our history and one that we should all know and understand.  Beyond that, I'm ready to move on.

Very near the Cravens House is a  photogenic Tudor style home with a slate roof.  A bit of research finds that the 1920's home belonged to Richard "Dick" Hardy, the former mayor of Chattanooga.

Richard "Dick" Hardy House

The Hardy house has infinitely more character than the Cravens House and, since both were technically built after the war, this home should also be on the preservation list.

Your traveling duo then moved its base of operations to the palatial home of Matt and John.  This five star B&B operates in the mountains of Bakersville, North Carolina.  John has disdain for the term chef, so I have to refer to him as merely a "culinary wizard of exceptional talent", aka CWET, pronounced seewet.  We spent two glorious nights at this very exclusive B&B.  We made one excursion to Blowing Rock to see the sights.  There was a bit of fog at Blowing Rock as shown in the picture of the downtown main street below.

Downtown Blowing Rock with FOG

There is nothing like driving the Blue Ridge Parkway with fog so thick that the taillights of the car 60 feet in front of you look like two fireflies seen at 100 yards.