Waverly Hills Sanatorium

Waverly Hills, Kentucky. Thousands of people have walked these corridors. Thousands of people died in these rooms. Hundreds of people walk in the darkened footsteps of the past, during the haunted hours, looking for the dead. I, too, awed by the history, the architecture and the decay, spent a cold, early spring night on the property. I listened. I looked. I communed with the past, and as certain subjects beckon me, entice me, obsess me, Waverly Hills Sanatorium caught my heart and pulled. Joining my fellow Forteans on this excursion, I soon tired of random clicks of the shutter into dark nothingness. The glare of electric strobes froze my interest even more. So after strolling on the fifth floor, I indulged my creative muse and photographed her as best I could, paying homage to my romance of what once was here.

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• LOCATION:
• Latitude: 38.130147
• Longitude: -85.841728
• 4400 Paralee Lane, Louisville, KY 40272

• A LITTLE HISTORY:
• Waverly Hills was named such because of a small, one room school house that had been located on the property before the sanatorium was built. The school teacher there named her school that because of her love of Scott's Waverly novels. 1
  
• The first tuberculous sanatorium on the property was a two-story structure that could hold between 40 and 50 patients. 1
  
• The structure that still stands, was completed in 1926 and could hold around 400 patients. 1
  
• Waverly Hill Sanatorium closed its doors as a tuberculous hospital in 1961. 1
  
• In 1962, it became WoodHaven Medical Services, a geriatric home. 1
• In 1980, the state closed WoodHaven. 1
  

• STRUCTURES:
• The main hospital structure
  
• The laundry (information center and gift shop)
  
• The Body Chute
  

• CURRENT USAGE: Private facility. Paranormal tours are available with reservations and for a fee.
  

• REFERENCE
1. Waverly Hills Historical Society
   

Fort Loudoun

Vonore, Tennessee. What can I really say about historic Fort Loudoun? It has been a part of my life for two years (come November). Often I am struck with awe at the beauty of landscape (though it is a bit marred by the new housing development that has gone up on the other side of the lake - realize I speak for myself here, no one else). Sometimes I get lost in time when the park has closed to visitors and we remain in in the 18th century, watching the sunset, swimming in the lake, and singing old tavern songs. It is really amazing in the fading light of an exhausted sun to watch a random person wall across the hill, lantern light shining the way towards the comfort of the barracks. Sometimes I look for the original occupants, trying to understand, but then I feel like an impostor on 17 feet of new soil that covers the original fort, a necessary change thanks to the work of the Tennessee Valley Authority.

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• LOCATION:
• Latitude: 35.598485
• Longitude: ,-84.216642
• 338 Fort Loudoun Road Vonore, Tennessee 37885

• A LITTLE HISTORY:
• The fort was built to house the Independent Company of South Carolina (1756) and to help protect the British Colony of South Carolina interests from the French during the French and Indian War.
  
• It was named after John Campbell, the fourth Earl of Loudoun, who was the British Commander-in-Chief in North America from 1756 to 1758. (3)
  
• This secured an alliance between the British and the Overhill Cherokee Nation. (1)
• In 1759, the British and Cherokees began warring over suspicions and betrayals by one another. (2)
• These included the execution of 23 Cherokee at Fort Prince George in South Carolina in late 1759. (3)
• In response, the Cherokees halted Fort Loudoun's supply line through the mountains to Fort Prince George. (3)
  
• By June 1760, rations were reduced to one quart of corn per day divided among three persons. (3)
• On August 6, 1760, the Cherokees laid siege to the fort and the Independent Company of South Carolina Surrendered. (2)
• On August 9, 1760, the British garrison left the fort with 180 men and 60 women and children. (3)
  
• On August 10, 1760, the retreating garrison was ambushed by the Cherokee and many of the garrison were killed or sold off into slavery. Those killed included all the officers, except for one, and twenty to thirty others. (3)
• The fort was later burnt down by the Cherokee.
  

• STRUCTURES:
• This the second reconstruction of the fort.
• The first was reconstructed by the Works Project Administration.
• The current site is now 17 feet above the original site and has ongoing reconstruction. (4)
  

• CURRENT USAGE: Historic Site, Museum, and Recreational State Park
  

• REFERENCE
1. www.fortloudoun.com/
2. Historic Fort Loudoun, Paul Kelley, Fort Loudoun Association, 1958.
3. www.tennessee.gov
4. www.wikipedia.org
   

Fort Marr

Benton, Tennessee. Fort Marr, in my mind, has gone down during this project as one of those iconic if not ironic sites. The very first time I went looking for Fort Marr, I had no luck what so ever in finding it. Not even the locals at the corner gas station seemed to know of this piece of Tennessee history. I kept driving back and forth on Route 411 and nothing, no sign of it. Even my partner, whom I called numerous times on that frazzled day, was able to conjure directions to it from the Internet. That afternoon I came home completely frustrated.

A few weeks later, my partner decided to come with me on a second attempt and had he not been driving, we would have missed it completely. There it sat, on the grounds of the Polk County Jail, in an area almost hidden from traffic, as it sits lower than the road. But there it was. And it even had a large sign, facing the parking lot of the jail.

But, luck had it out for me. Those digital images disappeared. They vanished back into air as if I had never pressed the shutter.

Needing to go back to that area this winter, we made another pilgrimage and photographed it before the first little bit of snow fell on East Tennessee.

It is also my hope to journey back again and find the real site of the fort.

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• LOCATION:
• Latitude: 35.167298
• Longitude: -84.659329
• Off of Rt. 411, Benton, Tennessee 37307
  
• Located on the grounds of the Polk County Jail (no signage off of Rt.411)
• Not on original location
  

• A LITTLE HISTORY:
• The origins of this fort are speculative. (1)
  
• One perspective claims that it may have been built in the early 1800s as a military command post when a treaty with the Cherokees authorized the construction of a federal road from Georgia to Tennessee
• Another perspective holds that it was built around 1814 when a road through the area was used to supply Andrew Jackson's army during a war with the Creek Indians.
  
• The blockhouse was thought to be part of what was Fort Morrow, which became a stop-over to hold Cherokee's during the Cherokee Removal. (1)
  
• In 1858, the blockhouse was moved to a local farm. (1)
• In 1923, it was relocated to the Polk County High School grounds.(1)
• 1965, it was relocated to its present site. (1)
  
• Ft. Marr has gone by a few names throughout history: (1)
  
• Fort Armor
• Fort Morrow

• STRUCTURE:
• What is left of Fort Marr is a two story block house made out of oak hewn wood. (2)
  
• The second floor is twenty-four feet square and extends four feet out over the first floor. (2)
  
• There are 72 gun apertures, of which riffles could be fired and second floor projections have holes cut in the floor so that occupants could shoot directly down on any attackers. (2)
  
• There has been renovation to this structure, including a new roof. (1)
  
• The part of the building's upper floor has been removed. (1)
  

• CURRENT USAGE: Historic Site
  

• REFERENCE

1. Tennessee Trail of Tears Association
2. W.J.Marrs Personal History Site