This weekend my southern beau and I did some adventuring. We set out on the back roads headed to visit a friend, but left ourselves plenty of time to stop and take in a few sights. One sight (or maybe I should say taste) in particular has to do with that glorious sign you see above.
We ventured from Knoxville heading west on I-40, exited at Crab Orchard, Tennessee and wound through a few hollows before we arrived at state HWY 127 and Cumberland Mountain State Park.
The park and surrounding areas hold a dear place in my heart because it was there my great-grandparents were selected to be homesteaders through FDR’s Federal Homestead Act back in 1934. They never got to live in what would have been their homestead house because they moved to Michigan where my grandpa took a job at a steel mill, but they were part of history and their names are etched on the monument at the Cumberland Homestead Tower & Museum.
While exploring Sunday, we saw where a craft fair was taking place at the state park, the headlining act of which were the fried pies. As a side note, I love that fried pies are trendy right now. Of course, they are sometimes called ‘hand-pies’ but we all know what’s what. My great-grandma (the one whose name is inscribed above) used to make fried pies in batches of at least 100 or more. I can remember my grandpa bragging on how she’d work so hard making fried pies to take to folks they would visit.
After strolling through the crafts area, the southern beau got a fried blueberry pie, which we devoured right away. I chose chocolate & banana cream (pictured above), but I saved it until we got home so I could take a proper photo. So delish! I always like living in the south, but any day I can get a made from scratch fried pie while rolling down a backwoods Tennessee byway with my sweetie, I love living in the south!
