Thunder on the Mountain and Some Caching 5/2/2008

They expect thunderstorms here later tonight or early tomorrow and they did say that some of them could be very severe with 2" or more of rain so we may have to scoot out of here quickly tomorrow morning or wait out the storms depending on the timing as we will be on our way to Pigeon Forge, TN.
Well anyway we did go out to do our last day of caching in this area and started out with a cache in the old train depot in Crossville. The Crossville Railroad Depot was where Sgt. Alvin York boarded a train for fame and glory as the most prominent hero of World War I. It has since been made into a gift shop and there's more to see at every turn than you every thought possible in this one-of-a-kind gift shop housed in Historic Crossville Depot. Your eyes will be filled with the imaginative, creative and beautiful gifts available. But the aroma of the freshly brewed gourmet coffees and teas will insist you have a cup. And not to be left out are the delicious gourmet sweets calling to you from their counter.
Next was a cache near a Italian restaurant,then one near an outdoor store, then one behind a shopping mall. Next cache was located in a small park and we mean small park.
Next cache was at the Cumberland Playhouse near the entrance and there is quite a story behind it as follows. In 1963, Crossville, Tennessee was a town you passed through on the way to other places. Located in Cumberland County, the town and surrounding Appalachian region was economically depressed. In December of that year, Paul Crabtree's The Perils of Pinocchio was presented at the Crossville Junior High School with a cast, crew and orchestra of 200 youngsters. The performance electrified the community. to a community with no museums, college, university, live performance organizations, one movie theater and an hour-and-a-half drive to the nearest city, the idea was extremely compelling that Pinocchio might be the beginning of new educational horizons for their children. Civic and cultural leaders asked Crabtree how they could keep things like Pinocchio happening in Crossville. He replied, "Well, you'd have to build a theater. The old junior high auditorium isn't even safe." Remarkably, in a town of 5,000, in a county of 25,000, that's exactly what they did. The entire community got behind the idea of the Playhouse because people believed it could make a vital contribution to education and the local economy and help create some new jobs. The Cumberland County Playhouse is now the only major non-profit professional performing arts resource in rural Tennessee, and one of the 10 largest professional theaters in rural America. It serves more than 145,000 visitors annually with two indoor and two outdoor states, young audience productions, a comprehensive dance program, a concert series and touring shows. The Cumberland County Playhouse is the only non-profit professional performing arts organization in Tennessee that wholly owns and operates its own major performance facility. With an annual budget of over $1,800,000, the Playhouse is among Tennessee's most sufficient arts institutions. Since its opening in 1965, 78 - 85% of all revenues have been from earned income, including funding of the construction of the original facility. The Playhouse operates on a balanced budget and has no accumulated deficit. Construction of a 27,000 square foot expansion to the original facility has recently been completed, making the Playhouse a four-theater complex featuring proscenium, black box and outdoor arena spaces. It was quite a lovely facilty and it was to bad they didn't have any shows while we were here.
Next cache was in a very exclusive neighborhood, then a virtual cache located at the local airport, next cache was at an Oriental restaurant in a light pole, then a cache at a hobby store named Hobo's. The cache was named in honor of a local caching couple who just found there 10,000 cache, who we are meeting for dinner tonight along with another couple from this area TheTwoOldCrows. Next cache was an ammo box placed in the country under some of the Old Orchard Stone we saw yesterday. Then our last cache was behind a shopping center on a light pole.
Well as you can see there wasn't much historical today to speak of so not many pictures. We drove back to the coach and had lunch and we both showered and Mom did the cache logs and I am doing the blog now. As I said earlier we are meeting 2 other caching couples for dinner at a local restaurant so that should be fun. Well we will say until tomorrow and we love and miss you all.


Picture List:1,2,3,4-Crossville Railroad Depot, 5,6-Crossville's First Steam Engine, 7,8,9,10,11-Cumberland Playhouse.