| ||||||||||
 
Dr. Ronald P. Rogers CHIROPRACTOR Support for your body's natural healing capabilities 270-384-5554 Click here for details 
  
Columbia Gas Dept. GAS LEAK or GAS SMELL Contact Numbers 24 hrs/ 365 days 270-384-2006 or 9-1-1 Call before you dig 
Visit ColumbiaMagazine's Directory of Churches Addresses, times, phone numbers and more for churches in Adair County Find Great Stuff in ColumbiaMagazine's Classified Ads Antiques, Help Wanted, Autos, Real Estate, Legal Notices, More... 
|
November 20, 1979 Around Adair with Ed Waggener The article below first appeared in the November 20, 1979, issue of the Adair County News. Topics included the origin of the Chance post office name, a magical breakfast in Wartrace, Tennessee, and quick analysis of the chances in the next race for 5th District Representative. --Pen By Ed Waggener There was a Chance community would get a post office, and that's how Chance; Kentucky, came to get its name, according to Mrs Virgil Bryant, who researched the question. Mrs. Bryant offered the information after being told of Robert I. Smith's request for information relating to strange U.S. place names. She writes,"Henry Bardin was trying to get a post office for what is now the Chance community. He sent off some names to try and get an office located there, but each name,it seemed, was already in use." "Then one day a fellow asked, 'Reckon there is a chance we will ever get a post office here?" Mr. Bardin said, 'I don't know, but I am sending that name in." So the Chance post office was established around 1900 where the trading post is located, at the intersection of Highways 768 and 1952. "It was discontinued for a short time and re-opened at the last location on road number 1952. The-office-was permanently closed about three or four years ago. That completes the information requested by Mr. Smith, whose complete address is Robert I. Smith, Newsdesk, Detroit Free Press, Detroit, Michigan 42831. We were In Lynchburg, Tennessee, on a recent Sunday morning. Lynchburg is in Moore County, about 80 miles southwest of Nashville. It is the home of the famous old Jack Daniels Distillery. When we arrived in town, it was 10:00 a.m. Every business house in town was closed up during church hours, and we needed to find a rest room. We met one kind fellow who offered to help. With a mischievous grin, he said, "Now, I tell you what, everything is closed except the funeral home. What you do is, you go right in there like you were a mourner. The rest room is on the left." Then he added, "And, if you would, I wish you'd look at the corpse and sign the register. Old fellow was a friend of mine but he didn't know too many folks. It would make the family feel real good if you'd do that." It was a fair trade, which we accepted. We had such a good feeling, ourselves, over the arrangement that we thought for a time about staying for the service that afternoon. Our thoughtful guide was to have been a singer at the service. Getting to Lynchburg was more than half the fun. We had spent the night in Shelbyville, Tennessee, where the publisher of the local Times Gazette, Fran Kim Yates, had been kind enough to let us see a special computer system designed just for newspapers. I had wanted to see Bell Buckle, Tennessee, where the Webb School is located, and Wartrace, and Lynchburg, just because of the name. When we got to Wartrace, an old old town which claims to be the birthplace of the Tennessee Walking Horse, nothing appeared open. But the old Floyd's Walking Horse Hotel appeared to be in use. I just wanted directions to Lynchburg, but when the gentleman opened the door, the smells of breakfast cooking emanated from the kitchen. I asked if we could take breakfast with them. By then, the owner of the hotel, Nelle Williams, came down the stairs, and was almost insistent that we take the morning meal with her. "Just let me set up the table," she said. When we went to the dining room, we found a place straight out of 50 years ago, much like the dining room in the old Sulphur Well Hotel at Sulphur Well, Kentucky, or the Donohue at Red Boiling Springs, Tennessee. Mrs. Williams served the meals semi-family style, asking us only what meat we wanted and how we wanted our eggs. The service and the food was beyond modern comparison. The table was mounded up with platters of homemade country biscuits, old country ham, red eye gravy, creamery butter, homemade preserves, cold roast turkey, a pitcher of water, a hot pot of coffee, and glasses of chilled orange juice, and the best grits in the South. All the while, Mrs. Williams and a guest at the hotel, Mr. Oille Stiltner, a transplanted Kentuckian, maintained a running commentary on the past glories of Wartrace. "It's War-trace'," Mrs. Williams insisted. "A fellow called me up during the Shelbyville Celebration one year and asked if there were any rooms in 'Wart Race' and I told him, 'No. At least I don't know about any rooms in 'Wart Race, but I have a room here at War-Trace." Then she added, "But I guess that you could call it 'Wart Race,' the way it's spelled." Ollie told us about the photo (there are horse photos on every wall) of the famous walking horse, Strolling Jim, "Why," he said, "Strolling Jlm was the first world's champion walking horse. He's buried right behind this hotel. Colonel Floyd, who built the hotel, first saw him in a field, pulling a plow for a farmer. He liked the way Strolling Jim walked, even behind the plow. He offered a big price to the farmer for Strolling Jim and the farmer sold him, right out of the field. Just unhitched him from the plow. The rest is history. Strolling Jim put this place on the map." It was true, but the maps we were given didn't show us how to get from War-trace to Lynchburg. We had to rely on Ollie Stiltner and Nelle Williams for that. One thing we wouldn't forget, though, is the way back. To a funny named Little Tennessee town we stopped in almost by accident. Tennesseeans have a way of making you feel that way. It looks like the Democrats will field only one or maybe two or three candidates who will try to replace Dr. Tim Lee Carter as Representative from the Fifth Congressional District. So far, the most speculation is on whether young Pat McWhorter, Albany, will seek the Democratic nomination. McWhorter most recently distinguished himself with some highly successful field work for Governor-elect John Y. Brown, Jr. There are an awful lot of ifs for a Democrat. It would take a presidential landslide and a big draw from Senatorial candidate Wendell Ford to pull the Democratic candidate for congressman through. On the other hand, there could be a Republican candidate from every precinct in the district, so many are announcing. One Adair County Republican noted, "All a candidate will have to do is get every vote in West Columbia and that would be enough to the Republican nominee for Congress!" This story was posted on 2020-09-13 14:40:51
Printable: this page is now automatically formatted for printing.
Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know. More articles from topic Around Adair with Ed Waggener:
August 16, 1977 Around Adair with Ed Waggener November 1, 1977 Around Adair with Ed Waggener August 26, 1977 Around Adair with Ed Waggener November 23, 1977 Around Adair with Ed Waggener March 22, 1978 Around Adair with Ed Waggener April 21, 1978 Around Adair with Ed Waggener September 10, 1977 Around Adair with Ed Waggener June 10, 1980 Around Adair with Ed Waggener September 1977 Around Adair with Ed Waggener April 13, 1978 Around Adair with Ed Waggener View even more articles in topic Around Adair with Ed Waggener |
 
115 Jamestown St. Columbia, KY. 270-384-2496 
  
   
 Provided by the Adair Co Fiscal Court and the Adair Co. Emergency Mgt. Agency 
|
||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
Quick Links to Popular Features
Looking for a story or picture? Try our Photo Archive or our Stories Archive for all the information that's appeared on ColumbiaMagazine.com. | ||||||||||
|
Contact us: Columbia Magazine and columbiamagazine.com are published by Linda Waggener and Pen Waggener, PO Box 906, Columbia, KY 42728. Please use our contact page, or send questions about technical issues with this site to webmaster@columbiamagazine.com. All logos and trademarks used on this site are property of their respective owners. All comments remain the property and responsibility of their posters, all articles and photos remain the property of their creators, and all the rest is copyright 1995-Present by Columbia Magazine. Privacy policy: use of this site requires no sharing of information. Voluntarily shared information may be published and made available to the public on this site and/or stored electronically. Anonymous submissions will be subject to additional verification. Cookies are not required to use our site. However, if you have cookies enabled in your web browser, some of our advertisers may use cookies for interest-based advertising across multiple domains. For more information about third-party advertising, visit the NAI web privacy site.
| ||||||||||
