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Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association March 13, 2008 Minutes – Monthly Meeting
Attendance: Margaret Allard, Howard Harvey, Diana Davis, Dick Raridon, Mona Raridon, Roger Macklin, Ginny Macklin, Helen Jernigan, Jack Mansfield, Jane Shelton, M.B. Pete Scott, Bill Tewes, Becky Norwood, Andrei Petrov, Lloyd Stokes, Betty Stokes, Mick Wiest, Simone Jones Farquharson, Phillip Varnadore, Ted Lollis, Ed Westcott, J. D. Hutchins, Harold Jernigan, Bobbie Martin, Bill Henry, Don Hunnicutt, Emily Hunnicutt, Anne McBride, Keith McDaniel, Dave Miller, David Hackett and Bill Wilcox.
The meeting began at 7:05 p.m. in the Wildcat Den Room of the Midtown Community Center. There were 32 people present. (See attachment 1 on file.)
ORHPA President, Keith McDaniel presided at the meeting.
Keith opened the meeting by welcoming everyone. He introduced Anne McBride, Sign Committee Chair, to discuss the status of our future ground sign. Anne McBride reported the sign permit was received from the City of Oak Ridge on March 13. With the sign permit in hand we will now proceed to order the ground sign approved by the ORHPA Board of Directors. They have approved the Sign Option B, an internally lighted 4 x 8 foot sign on a brick base. Anne reported the total cost for this sign option, including electrical hook up, is approximately $8800. We are asking the membership to please consider donations to cover half of the cost. Donations may be mailed to ORHPA Sign, P.O. Box 5825, Oak Ridge, TN 37830.
Keith introduced Bill Wilcox to speak about the status of the Partners for K-25 Preservation Project. Bill reported he attended the Site Specific Advisory Board meeting on March 12 where the SSAB conveyed to DOE the results of the public meeting on February 19 where they received comments on K-25 preservation. The ORSSAB's Chair, Darryl Bonner, of their "Sub-committee on Historic Preservation of K-25" made the report for his committee recommending (in 7 pages) that the North Tower be saved in accordance with PKP Option D. He also reported that the questionnaires received from the public in the public meeting of Feb 19th and since then were overwhelmingly in favor of saving the North Tower. After spirited discussion and debate the entire ORSSAB approved their sub-committee's recommendation by a majority vote, and it will go to DOE later this month.
The official report from the ORSSAB group will come out later this month. Bill thanked everyone who came to the meetings, wrote letters, completed surveys and spoke to DOE officials in support of saving a portion of K-25.
Keith McDaniel invited Jack Mansfield to speak about the status of his John Hendrix Memorial Prayer Walk Project. Jack reported there will be a public hearing on part of his project at the City Council meeting next Monday evening, March 17. The City Council meeting begins at 7 pm. Jack and his wife Myra have requested permission to build a small house on their property at Hendrix Creek. Their proposal is on the City Council agenda for first reading and it is listed near the beginning of the agenda.
Mick Wiest, Co-chairman of the ORHPA Secret City Festival Committee reported the committee will be having a meeting on March 14 at 2:30 p.m. at the Midtown Community Center. Everyone who would like to participate is welcome. ORHPA will have heritage displays in the Civic Center’s A, B, and C rooms at the Festival.
Keith McDaniel reported that we are looking for a replacement for Howard Harvey as Building Supervisor. Howard is no longer able to continue in the position. Anyone with suggestions for a replacement for Howard should contact Keith or a board member.
Harold Jernigan, ORHPA Membership Chair asked that anyone who has not renewed their membership for the 2008 year please do so. The membership year runs from Jan 1 through to December 31. Membership dues and renewals may be given to a board member or mailed to the ORHPA, P.O. Box 5825, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. Individual memberships are $20 and family memberships are $30.
Ted Lollis mentioned he has been very successful in auctioning off personal tours of Oak Ridge for organizations he is working with.
Bobbie Martin introduced her class mate, David K. Hackett as the guest speaker for the evening. The title of Mr. Hackett’s talk was “America’s Crossroads; A Place-based Systems Approach to Discovering our Heritage.”
Mr. Hackett told us his personal definition of history, is “history is like a braided rope of stories twisted all together.”
He proposed that we focus on developing 3 or 4 themes for our heritage tourism activities. The most obvious theme being the Secret City of WWII, the next theme would be the geology of the site we are all living on, followed by the theme of America’s crossroads being located right here.
This area has been a crossroads for eons of time. Because of the land barriers (mountains and waterways) the trail north to south through our area was the great beasts’ –mastodons’ trail - before it became known as the Great Warrior’s Path. This was the path from the ice areas to the gulf and eventually Emery Road; the wagon trail west came through here.
A final theme would be the wealth of natural resources we are surrounded by, greenbelts, wild lands, trails, recreational parks, and rowing areas. Two of the items we could be making better use of are the Indian mounds in the area and the Freel’s Bend Cabin.
Mr. Hackett stated the history of our area is written in the stone. The fossils found here are 500 million years old. The valley we live in and the mountain ridges surrounding us are the result of plate tectonics (known as the Wilson cycle); the colliding of continents created the long layers of alternating limestone and shale all across our valley running north to south. East Tennessee did not exist before 500 million years ago.
There are several mounds in our area constructed by Native Americans. Across from the K-25 facility is a mound area that has been identified as created by natives of the Dallas and Mouse Creek tribes. There has been very little work done on the Native American settlements in this area since the 1940’s.
William Sturtevant of the Smithsonian Institution has identified our area as being inhabited mostly by a tribe of Native Americans known as the Yuchi. The Yuchi were mound builders and were considered the spiritual leaders where ever they mixed with other tribes.
The Cherokee are most likely a group that broke off from the Iroquois Confederacy and came south more recently, perhaps in the mid 1500’s after many of those living here died off from disease. Estimates are as many as 90 to 95% of the Native Americans in this area were wiped out by disease within 10 years after they came into contact with Hernando De Soto’s expedition.
Many villages have been excavated around Norris Lake. The excavations show evidence of collapse between 1560 and 1570. The Yuchi “footprint” was a square pit house. They used story telling stones which are found at their sites. Their language was unique. One of the words from their language is “Tennessee” meaning “confluence of streams or waters.” Some other words from their language are “S’a”, meaning earth and “Tso” meaning sun or sacred. The name “Tybee Island,” means Salt Island in the Yuchi language.
There are currently members of the Yuchi tribe living in Oklahoma, where they still practice the mound building religion. There is also a town of Yuchi outside of Columbus, Georgia.
Our Oak Ridge Turnpike basically follows along the original trail through this area. The original name was “The Warrior’s Path.”
Keith McDaniel thanked Mr. Hackett for coming to speak to us.
Bill Wilcox announced the guest speaker at our next meeting, April 10 at 7 p.m. will be Katy Brown of the Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau. Katy will have a representative of the State Tourism group with her. They will be talking about the Great Smoky Mountains Sustainable Tourism Summit scheduled for April 28 to 29 at the Knoxville Convention Center. More information is available on the summit at www.tnvacation.com/sustainable . We need to be looking at what makes us unique and telling that story. We also need to look at all the cultural and environmental aspects of our community and what we have to offer visitors beyond just the history. There are many stories about the world changing discoveries at ORNL, for example, that have not been well told.
The meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m.
Minutes respectfully submitted,
Anne McBride, Secretary, Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association March 16, 2008 |
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