BY DENISE WILLIAMS
Staff Writer

LIMESTONE — Like most kids growing up in the late 1950s and early 1960s, I spent a lot of time in front of the family television watching Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone on the frontier. Of course, I admit that for the most part I continually confused them because Hollywood had the good sense to have Fess Parker play both parts.

When I moved to Tennessee I was surprised and pleased to learn that both men had Tennessee connections and I made it my business to visit as many Crockett- and Boone-related sites as I could.

Early on, I learned that Crockett’s grandparents lived in Rogersville and I visited the site of Crockett Spring and his grandparent’s graves.

Then I learned that Crockett’s parents had managed a tavern in Morristown and I made it my business to go check that out, too.
Somehow, I managed to miss the spot where the old guy was born. I rectified that situation earlier this month and was quite pleased with my visit to Davy Crockett Birthplace State Park in Limestone.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I got there. In my imagination, it would be a little cabin sitting in the middle of a field with nothing much else to do.

To my surprise, I found that, like every other Tennessee State Park I’ve visited, this park has a little bit of something for every member of the family.

The history buffs in the group will enjoy the cabin itself. Although it isn’t the original cabin, every log in it came from other structures dating to Crockett’s time period.

The cabin is furnished with period-correct items that would have been found in a frontier household.

I admit I was surprised to learn that Crockett’s parents never actually owned the land the cabin sat on. They were sharecropping on property belonging to a man named Gillespie, according to park manager Mark Halback.

Halback said that although mansions from that time period have been preserved, few frontier homesteads survived. Most were lost to progress or the homes were torn down and the logs reused.

By the time historians and other buffs realized the importance of a home, they had to play “catch up” and  try to put things back to the way they were.

This is similar to what happened with Crockett’s birthplace. By the time history realized this was a pretty cool guy and his roots should be protected, everyone who actually knew where the cabin had been was long dead. All they knew was that the Crockett cabin had been located somewhere between the ridge and the creek.

During the Crockett centennial celebration, a man acquainted with the Crockett family showed them the exact spot where the cabin had been.

In 1955 a stone was dedicated on that spot. The replica of the cabin stands nearby.

There were a couple of interesting features in the park. The first was a monument circled by a short wall representing all 50 states. Stones native to each state are incorporated in the monument wall and engraved with the state’s name.

Volunteers and a park ranger were tending the pioneer garden next to the monument during my visit. The little garden has a rabbit-proof fence and contains the types crops homesteading families of the time would have grown.

During my visit, I noticed a construction project going on next to the cabin. When I got closer I noticed they were building a period-style arbor over an oven which is used to bake bread during reenactments and living history events.

I enjoyed the brief history lesson and wished I had visited the park when the visitor’s center and museum is open.

After bidding Halback and the park volunteers a good afternoon, my husband and I grabbed our fishing gear and decided to take on the nearby Nolichucky River. The fish won.

I was surprised by how nice the park was. Picnic tables line a flat area next between the river and the cabin. As we were packing up to leave the park, a family was preparing to celebrate a birthday gathering in one of the pavilions.

I may have taken an embarrassingly long time to discover the birthplace of Davy Crockett, but I’m smart enough to know I need to go back again soon.

GETTING THERE: From Morristown, take Highway 11E to Limestone and follow signs to the park.

WHEN TO GO: Year round.

ADMISSION: Free.

HOURS: 8 a.m.-dusk.

INFORMATION: Phone: (423) 257-2167.

On the Net: Davy Crockett Birthplace State Park