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20
Sept
Dispatches from the US: Life in Harrogate, Tennessee
David Hutter is a Harrogate-based ghostwriter (davidhutter.net). In the second of his articles on Harrogate, Tennessee, he writes about life in the area.
It seems inconceivable to us that a “city” the size of Pannal would have a university.
So, I spoke to Alexandria Olson, the Archivist at the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum, to find out how Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee was established.
She told me:
During the American Civil War, East Tennessee remained loyal to the Union, and Abraham Lincoln knew that and wanted to give back to the community eventually,
Of course, he was assassinated. But one of his generals, Oliver Otis Howard, remembered this promise, and when he had the opportunity to fund a university down here, he said he would do it if it was a living memorial to Abraham Lincoln.
Founded on what would have been the president’s 88th birthday in 1897, LMU is a private university specialising in healthcare and catering mostly to graduate students, which is reflected in the calm environment on campus.
A university named after a US president in a 'city' the size of Pannal.
“We’re not necessarily a party school,” LMU staff member Hannah told me outside the university’s Carnegie Library.
But as its academic reputation has grown, so has LMU’s student population – and, in turn, the character of the whole town has changed somewhat.
“It used to be all farm country,” Mayor Troy Poore said. “It’s still rural, and there are still farms, even inside the city limits. But as LMU has grown, they have changed the overall atmosphere. Not in a bad way – it’s just different.”
David's son Ezra in front of the chair in which Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, which they saw later on their trip, at the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation in Detroit.
While the presence of around 6,000 students (compared with 4,400 residents) means that businesses such as restaurants thrive, there are some negative impacts, too.
“It’s changed the dynamics of Harrogate a little bit,” Poore added. “It’s made cost of housing more expensive. Housing used to not be expensive here, but over the last 20 years, it’s changed.” Nonetheless, he said, the town still has a “pretty laid-back atmosphere”.
And there is one former local resident who perhaps epitomises East Tennessee nonchalance more than any other: Lee Majors, the 87-year-old actor who grew up in Middlesboro, just three miles across the Cumberland Gap.
Being a child of the 80s, I sometimes watch his action-adventure series The Fall Guy with my young sons, and while driving, we frequently listen to the theme tune he recorded for it, ‘The Unknown Stuntman’. So, my boys were thrilled to see the (American) football field that was named after Majors at his old high school.
Mayor Poore told me:
He was a football hero round here,
He wasn’t an All-American, but he was a star, a real good athlete. I’ve met him several times. He worked at A&P grocery store with my uncle. When he became famous and came into town to see his parents, he would put on his sunglasses and baseball cap and come over to a pizza place called The Oasis to get a cold beer, sitting in the corner.
In the late 1970s, Majors also regularly took his then wife, Farrah Fawcett (one of the biggest TV stars at the time because of her role in Charlie’s Angels), to this remote part of the western Appalachian Mountains.
“He used to come back here a lot, but now, we haven’t seen him in a while,” said Cherae, a staff member at the hotel in Middlesboro where we stayed.
Well, if it’s any consolation, the locals might see my family again. Because for outdoor enthusiasts like us, Harrogate, Tennessee is a great destination.
The Stray Ferret would like to thank David for writing such interesting articles for us. If you want to write about something local (well, in David's case, not quite local!) then please do get in touch contact@thestrayferret.co.uk. We want more local people to get involved.
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