Coming in at number 10 is a visit to the porcelain/pottery shop next to the camp ground. The 9^th most appealing activity is to rock on the porch. The 8^th requested interest was a hands-on leather flower workshop with a hands-on candle making clinic coming in at number 7. Making table top scare crows was the 6^th most popular thing to do at camp. A hands-on design program with items collected from a nature walk around the grounds came in 5^th place. Many hikers are eager to see the Stone Door, which came in as the 4^th most popular thing to do at camp. What do campers like to do more than hike… roast marshmallows by a campfire, of course which came in at number 3. The 2^nd most looked forward thing to do is an historic cottage walk. And the most anticipated activity… drum roll please… a wildflower talk and sale.

Due to the way the Assembly charges, our registrar, Ann Schimpf, will be responsible for booking both your food and your lodging this year. In order to simplify this process we have combined the costs. You will pay one price, per person, that includes your registration fee, your room and your meals (there is no tax). The lump sum price may appear high but it is comparable to the costs of previous camps. Since Beersheba Springs has little in the way of alternative restaurants, there will be no meals on your own. All our meals will be provided in the dining hall and we will eat together as a group. This is like a cruise where you pay one price and everything is included (and we won’t even expect a big tip at the end!) Since the TFGC is not set up to take credit cards your payment will need to be made by check only.

For those of you unfamiliar with the location of Beersheba Springs, it is about 24 miles south of McMinnville and just north of the Salvage Gulf State Natural Area. In comparing the drive to Beersheba Springs with the length of a trip to the popular Fall Creek Falls, Knoxville and Johnson City residents will add 30 minutes to their ride to camp, while the Chattanooga group will only add a couple of minutes to their time in the car. Nashville and Memphis members will get a break this year because they are about 30 minutes closer to the camp location.

An Executive Committee meeting will be held before camp on Sunday evening, October 2^nd with the Fall Board Meeting held 9:00am the morning of October 3^rd. Camp will begin with a 12:30 lunch on Monday. Look for further information concerning the schedule of events in the next Volunteer Gardener and on the TFGC website.

We are doing our part and rolling up the sleeves of our work shirts to make this a memorable camp experience. You can do your part by planning to attend one of the annual highlights of our TFGC gardening year. Joyce and I look forward to seeing you at camp. It’s just not the same without YOU.

Anne Leonard

 

Beersheba Springs History*

When Beersheba Porter Cain, wife of McMinnville merchant John Cain, followed a mountainous Grundy County pathway in 1833, she discovered the chalybeate spring (a spring that is said to have health-giving properties because of iron) that would come to bear her name.  The bluff site high above the Collins River Valley became the home of this noted antebellum watering place.        By 1839, Beersheba Springs had incorporated and begun official operation as a summer resort.  A small hotel was built, along with a row of log cabins. The somewhat primitive establishment benefited from the stagecoach traffic along the new road running from McMinnville to Chattanooga.  Cabins sprang up as well-to-do local families discovered this idyllic haven and began making annual treks.         The acquisition of the property in 1854 by Colonel John Armfield ushered in a period of intense development that gave the mid-nineteenth century cottage community its present flavor and layout.  Armfield oversaw the building of a new luxurious hotel, along with the cabins and grounds that could accommodate four hundred guests. At that point, twenty cottages were perched on the grounds, each with its own charm.   Two cottages were built for Bishops Otey and Polk as Beersheba Springs vied for the Episcopal university that would be placed at Sewanee.          Armfield later added a laundry, ice houses, billiard rooms and bowling alleys to the grounds.  French cooks and servants catered to the wealthy patrons.  A band brought up from New Orleans supplied the music for the dances.  The watering spa     also adhered to the custom of the “playing of the coach” up the mountain. The horn of the coachman conveyed when the horses were resting and would let the staff know how many new visitors to expect for supper.                                                          It would be from the wooden observatory at the front of the hotel that Confederate and Union activity in the valley below could be watched as the Civil War engulfed this region and this exclusive way of life.  The constant threat of raids and plundering unsettled the area.  By the close of the conflict, the “old order” had faded away.  Beersheba Springs passed into  the hands of Northern investors.        Though the resort reopened in the 1870s, it never recaptured its former glory.  The Methodist Church acquired Beersheba Springs in 1940, and after extensive repair work and some limited improvements, began to use it for assembly and summer camp.  The antebellum atmosphere of Beersheba Springs remains in its numerous nineteenth century structures and its lasting ties to its place in local history.   *From the Tennessee State Library and Archives

Beersheba Springs Assembly

Conference Center

524 Armfield Avenue
Beersheba Springs, Tennessee 37305