Sunday, September 16, 2018

Brushy Mountain State Prison

Here is a historical place if you like prisons. I don't but at least this one was empty. We found this near the Frozen Head State Park in Petros Tennessee and decided to pay the $24 entry fee. The old prison has been turned into a tourist site, including a restaurant with a moonshine distillery. We skipped the restaurant and moonshine and went on back to the prison museum. You can tour almost all of the old prison as it was when it closed. 

The Brushy Mountain State Prison has quite a history. The original prison building was constructed in 1896. That building burned and the current building was constructed the in 1930's. Prisoners were used to mine coal from the nearby mountains. The prison is actually surrounded by mountains except for the entry road. Walking through is a bit spooky. There was a prison guard that had worked there and he told us a few stories about things that happened there. You don't want to be in prison!

One famous prisoner was James Earl Ray, convicted of the assassination of Martin Luther King. He escaped June 10, 1977 with six other inmates by climbing over a fence. Ray was captured less than 58 hours later in rugged mountain terrain 8 1/2 miles from the prison. There was a story told in the museum that Mrs.King did not think he was the assassin. The prison closed June 11, 2009. Its functions were transferred to the Morgan County Correctional Complex which is on the entry road to Frozen Head State Park.




Mountains all around.


Not sure what this separate building was but it doesn't look like a nice place.



We went in anyway. It was not that bad.



This is the "Hole". Four cells no windows and just where the inmates did not want to be.

Lots of news articles were on display.

There were a number of inmate paintings around the building.

There were many items on display in the museum room.








This must have been a entertainment stage in the yard.


This was the maximum security section added in the 1970's.

There were 584 inmates at one time so row after row of cells.

Not a nice place to live for years.

















Jimmy Carter Presidential Museum & Library

I am late getting this one on the blog. We left Georgia and are now in Crossville Tennessee. After visiting Jimmy Carter's home town Plains Georgia, we decided to go into Atlanta to the Carter Center and see the Museum. We are going to miss the Peanut Festival in Plains on September 22. The library is closed to general use and requires application in advance to enter the library for research purposes. The museum is open to the public. If you visit Plains Georgia or the Atlanta museum complex, you will see all the great things Jimmy and Rosalynn did and are still doing for many places in the world. They still live in their modest home in Plains and it's still protected by the Secret Service. We planned to see the Ebenezer Baptist Church National Historic Site where Martin Luther King was a pastor. The church is only a few blocks from the Carter Center. There was an event at the church and traffic and parking made it too difficult to get there.



The museum has the story of their lives.
This display was his Navy duty on nuclear submarines.

Jimmy was a state senator then the Governor of Georgia.

Swearing in as Governor of Georgia

Then he ran for president against Gerald Ford

Campaign items and there were many more displayed in the museum

Election night and his usual big smile.


Model of the oval Office

His six choices for vice president. Mondale was his final choice.

Watergate was still a political item even though Gerald Ford tried to put it to rest.


Giving the Panama Canal to Panama was a big controversy for Jimmy.

He provided many peace talks and was successful on many trips.

The Camp David Accords where Egypt and Israel signed a peace agreement, still
in effect today. It was a success after many days of talks at Camp David.

Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin
on 17 September 1978.


Display about the start of the Carter Center.

Jimmy has written about 24 books. I only have one of them because I don't
have enough space in the motor home for many books. 


The Medal of Freedom presented to Jimmy & Rosalynn


The Nobel Peace Prize

And many other awards.

Leaving the traffic of Atlanta after our failed attempt to stop at the
Ebenezer Baptist Church.