The Original Mast General Store

Valle Crucis, North Carolina

Circa 1950

The Valle Crucis location was added to the National Historic Register of Places

 April 3, 1973.

The Mast General store, a historic Southern icon, has a rich history spanning over a century, beginning in Valle Crucis.  The original store was founded in 1883 by Henry Taylor and referred to as the Taylor General Store.  It eventually became known as the Mast General Store after W. W. Mast took over in 1913.  The store was a vital part of the community, offering a wide variety of goods and services.  It became known for its slogan, "if you can't buy it here, you don't need it".

The original Mast Store carried everything from cradles to caskets.

In 1988, the first store outside of Valle Crucis opened in Boone, North Carolina. In 1991-2005, additional stores opened in the folllowing NC communities .. Waynesville, Hendersonville, Asheville and a smaller Candy and More concept store in Blowing Rock.

The Mast General Store continues to operate with eleven locations across North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee.  Mast General Stores are recognized by the National Register of Historic Places as one of the best remaining examples of the general store concept. It is still the center of the community housing the post office in Valle Crucis and offering coffee for 5 cents on the honor system.  

The store sells commodities such as home goods, outdoor clothing and gear, footwear, work clothes, old-fashioned wind-up toys, regional books and music, honey and more than 500 varieties of old-fashioned candy! 

Candy! Galore!

And More Candy!

Mast General Store

402 S. Gay Street 

Knoxville, Tennessee

The City of Knoxville was the first capital of Tennessee.  The plat for the town was surveyed by Charles MClung and included provisions for a town common along the waterfront, a church, a graveyard and a school which was chartered as Blount College in 1794 which was the beginning of the University of Tennessee.

Described as an "alternatively quiet and rowdy river town", Knoxville for a time was indeed part of the Wild West.  The infamous Kid Curry, a member of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch, was arrested and held in Knoxville's jail.  He later escaped and galloped out of town on a horse he stole from the sheriff.

Manufacturing and distributing became an important part of the local economy for Knoxville with the Tennessee River and the rail lines making much of the city's growth possible.  Gay Street was the center of commercial development and was lined with stores, warehouses, stables and more.  And then came the Million Dollar Fire of 1897.

It was 4 a.m. in the morning when flames were seen leaping through the roof of the Hotel Knoxville located right where the Mast General Store is today.  The fire department scrambled and got as many boarders out as possible.

Knowing the fire could get out of control, the fire department in Chattanooga was contacted and their pumper made the journey to Knoxville aboard a train in record time (at speeds topping 90 miles per hour).  One building had to be dynamited to control the blaze. By the end of the day, only five lives were lost, the Chattanooga Fire Department returned home to cheers and two blocks of Gay Street lay in smoldering ruins.  The losses were valued at $1 million and the cause is yet undetermined. 

Out of the ashes arose the building residents and tourists see today on Gay Street though when the building was rebuilt, it was home to the McNulty Grocery and Dry Goods Co.  In 1901, M.M. Newcomer's Department Store made the move from across the street into the buildng at 402 South Gay Street.  It was one of Knoxville's bigger stores.

As an interesting aside to the history of the actual building, the original Mast Store in Valle Crucis had a long relationship with Knoxville, which makes the store on Gay Street even more interesting.  In perusing the invoices for goods purchased for the shelves from 1902 until 1920, numerous invoices had Knoxville addresses. One of the addresses is just down the street at what is now the Downtown Grill and Brewery.  In the early 1900s, it was Woodruffs, a wholesale and retail house for all kinds of goods.  

In 1932, the Knox Dry Goods Store replaced M.M. Newcomers.  Through the years it provided all kinds of goods and services including a beauty shop on the second floor.   Knox Dry Gods modernized its name in 1954 becoming known as The Knox.  It was a mainstay in the downtown area until 1977 when The Boston Store moved into the building.

The Mast General Store opened in August 2006. 

Knoxville is now a city offering sophistication along with down home style.  When visiitng the area, stop in at the Visitor Center to enjoy the Blue Plate Special.  It's not something you eat, but rather a heapin' helpin' of good music, plus you'll discover all kinds of places you'll want to visit.  

Sidenote:  Information about The Boston Store and its history will appear on this blog as one was in Erie, Pennyslvania and many other U.S. cities.

 

AIRSTREAM

The famous travel trailer has many nicknames 

 "Silver Bullet" 

and

 "Toaster-on-Wheels".

Summer 2025 is here so look for the legendary and iconic Airstream!

Sleek and shiny, Airstream trailers have been turning heads on the highways since they first started caravanning across America in the 1930s.  These "aluminum skinned, gleaming silver bullets" are currently enjoying a revival in popularity.  Praised for their clean lines and timeless aesthetics, movie stars and design buffs are snapping up these vintage beauties.  Airstream has always been synonymous with the freedom of the open road.  Today the dream lives on.

Wally Byam

Airstream trailers are manufactured in Jackson Center, Ohio.  The company, now a division of THOR Industries, is the oldest in the industry.  THOR Industries, Inc. was founded on August 29, 1980 when Wade F.B. Thompson and Peter B. Orthwein acquired Airstream.  THOR became a public company listed on the over-the-counter market.  In 1986, THOR was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.  The same year, Forbes Magazine ranked THOR sixth out of the "200 best small companies in America".

Airstream was created by Wally Byam who began building Masonite trailers in Los Angeles during the late 1920s.  In 1936, Byam introduced the "Airstream Clipper" which was essentially a rebadged 1935 Bowlus Road Chief with the door relocated from the front to the side.  Bowlus is an American luxury travel trailer with a front door, aerodynamic shape with a polished aluminum body. Hawley Bowlus designed and built the travel trailer using his knowledge of aircraft construction.  Aspects of the design were used on the first aluminum-body Airstream trailers and the Airstream Clipper.  Bowlus stopped producing the trailers in 1936.  

William Hawley Bowlus

(1896-1967)

Bowlus was an American designer, engineer and builder of aircraft (especially gliders) and recreational vehicles in the 1930s and 1940s.  Today, he is most widely known for his creation of the world's first aluminum travel trailer, the Bowlus Road Chief which Airstream imitated in 1936 to create the Clipper.  This followed his prior framed work as the superintendent of construction on Charles Lindbergh's aircraft, the Spirit of St. Louis. 

Bowlus was an expert at soaring flight and gave gliding lessons to both Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh.  In 1930, he and Lindbergh glided at various locations in California.  Most notably, Point Loma in San Diego where Bowlus conducted many flight tests.  Anne Lindbergh became the first woman in the United States to receive a "first class" glider license.  In 1954, Bowlus was inducted into the Soaring Hall of Fame.  

This 1962 Airstream Tradewind on display at a Vintage Camper Trailer Rally in Gillette, Wyoming was custom ordered by then President of Airstream, Art Costello in 1961.  This trailer is one of only two known gold Airstreams.  

The Airstream brand is truly a design classic so it is no wonder it's always been popular among famous people who have acquired a taste for the finer things in life.  Whether it's actors, musicians, sportspeople or even politicians, the Airstream has never lost its appeal.  Among the names are the following:  Pamela Anderson.  In 2001, Anderson was given her Airstream by Playboy magnate, Hugh Hefner.  In 2006, an update to the interior decor was done. Since then it was sold at auction. 

The Apollo 11 Astronauts, Commander Neil A. Armstrong, Command Module Pilot, Michael Collins and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr.  splashed down in the Apollo capsule July 1969 following the first moon landing.  The astronauts then spent a period of time aboard a Mobile Quarantine Facility.  The facility was a specially converted Airstream trailer.  An Airstream dubbed the 'Astrovan' was used for many years to transport astronauts from the mission control building a few miles to the Space Shuttle launchpad.

The Mobile Quarantine Facility aboard the USS Hornet listen to United States 

President Richard M. Nixon on July 24, 1969 as he welcomes them back to Earth.  President Nixon Congratulated these brave men on their safe journey to the moon, their safe landing and their safe return to Earth. 

Oscar winning actor, Tom Hanks owned an Airstream and used it while on location during the making of eighteen of his films between the 1980s and the 2010s.  Hanks would rest between takes in his own personal Airstream trailer parked on set for the duration of filming.  Hanks preferred to live in his Airstream than stay in the trailers provided by the studios.  Hanks stated "I had spent too much time in regular trailers with ugly decor and horribly uncomfortable furniture so I decided to buy a brand-new Airstream shell with an interior made to my own request."  His Airstream was used by the actor on the sets of Philadelphia, Castaway, Sleepless in Seattle and Forrest Gump.  In 2021, this piece of movie history was sold at auction by Bonhams for $235,200.00.

Other actors in love with Airstream include Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, 

Matthew McConaughey, Sean Penn, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt,

Denzel Washington and Sandra Bullock.

It's not just entertainers who have displayed great affection for Airstream.  These fabulous trailers have also impressed in the world of politics.  President John F. Kennedy used one as his mobile office during weapons testing in the New Mexico desert.  First Lady Laura Bush used one as her private trailer during a morale mission to visit troops in Afghanistan in 2008.

 

 

The Verdin Company Story

..Bells and Clocks since 1842..

The Verdin Company is a world-renowned, six generation family manufacturer, pioneer and innovator of cast bronze bells, electronic carillons, clocks and towers.  Verdin products enrich communities, churches, parks, golf courses, college campuses and city streetscapes around the world.  

When two French immigrant brothers, Francis de Sales and Michael Verdin came to the Cincinnati, Ohio area from Alsace, France in 1835, they were determined to use their iron forging skills to build clocks in America.  The two brothers immediately established a tower clock business in the famous Over-the-Rhine neighborhood in Cincinnati, where their first documented installation was a clock and bell at Old St. Mary's Church in 1842.  

One of the nation's oldest family-owned manufacturers, Verdin is known for innovation including the electric clock winder in 1910, the first electric bell ringer in 1927, the largest swinging cast bell in America and the only traveling bell foundry in the world.  With a national sales force, a dedicated team of service professionals and international recognition for craftsmanship, Verdin has over 55,000 installations in churches, universities, municipalities and businesses across the country. 

Cousins Tim and Bob Verdin with cousin, Jill Verdin Crew

In the tradition of the last several generations The Verdin Company is led by three Verdin cousins, Tim and Bob Verdin and Jill Verdin Crew.   They learned the business from and were inspired by their fathers after that generation took ownership from their grandfathers.  Tim, Bob and Jill are the 6th generation of their privately owned business which was founded in 1842.  Quality products and solid customer relationships are Verdin's most important goals.  After more than 183 years, The Verdin Company continues to have an impact on the industry as a pioneer and innovator. 

A Verdin Clock

in

Westfield, New York 

Thank you, Mayor David L. Carr

"meet me at the clock"

Indiana University

Bloomington, Indiana

Dover, Ohio

Mount Holly, North Carolina

Timeless and Elegant Post Clocks

"I knew if we wanted our clock to last, it had to be a Verdin."

Annemarie Horton, New Jersey

The polished Hershey Kiss

ready to be shipped to Hershey Park in Hershey, PA.

A bronze bell made in the iconic shape of a Hershey Kiss!  The Verdin Company designed, cast and installed this beauty for Hershey's Chocolatetown, an all new region at Hershey Park, where fun meets chocolate!  Where else than in Hershey, PA.

 

Gay Street

Downtown Knoxville, Tennessee 

Since the development of  Gay Street in the 1790s, Gay Street has served as the city's principal financial and commercial thoroughfare.  It has played a primary role in the city's historical and cultural development.  The first paved street contains Knoxville's largest office buildings and oldest commerical structures.  Several buildings on the street have been listed on the Historic Register of Historic Places.

The Gay Street Commerical Historic District, added to the National Register in 1986, originally consisting of 35 buildings constructed circa 1880-1940 along Gay Street and adjacent side streets.  The buildings ranged from 1890s-era wholesale outlets to 1930s-era movie theaters such as the Gay Theatre, the Bijou Theatre, the Riviera Theatre and the Tennessee Theatre.

Kress Building

417 Gay Street

Circa 1937

The former Kress building has a 8,000 square foot ground-floor footprint. At one point in the early mid-1900s, S.H. Kress & Company operated more than 250 department stores in the southern and western United States.  In 1925, they added a Knoxville location, putting up a three-story building plus a basement at 417 S. Gay.  Knoxville's Kress business has been gone for decades, but the building itself has remained a vital historical and architectural landmark on the downtown landscape.  Now the structure is finding new life as a multi-purpose development thanks to a local developer who purchased the property in 2020.  

Bijou Theatre

803 S. Gay Street

The Bijou was added to the National Register of Historic Places December 4, 1975.

The theatre opened on March 8, 1909 and over the next four decades would host performers such as the Marx Brothers, Dizzy Gillespie, John Philip Sousa, Ethel Barrymore, Houdini and others.  After a period of decline in the 1960s and early 1970s, local preservationists purchased the building and renovated the theatre.

The Bijou Theatre building consists of two parts, the original hotel section completed in 1817 and the rear theatre section built in 1909.  The theatre has a capacity of approximately 700 with two balcony levels.  There are two loggia levels and three box levels on each side of the building.  The stage is 35 feet deep and 69 feet wide. 

The Bijou orchestra floor, boxes and stage viewed from the upper right loggia.

 Sunsphere

Knoxville, Tennessee 

Completed in 1981 at a cost of $3.7 million. 

The Sunsphere's reflection in World's Fair Park

October 6, 2017

The name "Sunsphere" for the structure in Knoxville was derived from its design and the theme of the 1982 World's Fair for which it was built.  The golden orb atop the tower was meant to represent the sun and the energy of the sun.  The original base of the structure was blue to blend with the sky, further reinforcing the solar theme. 

The Sunsphere is a 266 foot tall hexagonal steel truss structure located in World's Fair Park in downtown Knoxville.  It is topped with the 75 foot gold-colored glass sphere that served as the symbol of the World's Fair.  Directly across a man-made pond from the Tennessee Amphitheater.  They are the only remaining structures from the fair. 

The Tennessee Amphitheater

The 1,400-seat amphitheater was designed by structural engineer Horst Berger and Geiger Berger, engineers of New York City.  They were known for their work with tensile architecture and the artchitectural design of the amphitheater is notable for the tensile fabric membranes that hover over the theatre.  

The amphitheater was condemmed to demolition in 2002, but was renovated between 2005 and 2007, reopening in 2007.  The amphitheater was voted one of the top 15 architectural works of East Tennessee by the East Tennessee chapter of the American Institute of Architects.  Since its reopening, the amphitheater continues to be used for concerts including the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, Knoxville Opera and the Tennessee Children's Dance Ensemble. 

The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra conducted by Lucas Richman performing at the  annual Independence Day concert on the south lawn of the World's Fair Park for the City of Knoxville's Festival on the Fourth.

July 4, 2011

The Sunsphere under construction

View from the Top

Photo Credit to Ron Plasencia

Photo taken at twilight, merging three separate exposures to create a high dynamic range image.  

"The lighted fountain caught my eye, so I walked around to find the best angle to capture it.  This one has become my favorite image of Knoxville."

Ron Plasencia

Knoxville at Night

Knoxville News-Sentinel

May 1, 1982

Opening Ceremonies at the World's Fair

May 1, 1982

The World's Fair theme was "Energy Turns the World".

Dinah Shore, Governor Lamar Alexander, President Ronald Reagan and Jake Butcher

May 1, 1982

The Rule High School Marching Band marches in Knoxville one year to the date of the opening of the World's Fair.

May 1, 1981

The World's Fair Construction Site 

December 13, 1981

Postcards from the World's Fair

Charles and Helen Hutchinson of Cincinnati, Ohio were the 11th millionth visitors to the World's Fair.  Helping celebrate the occasion are World's Fair Commissioner General Dortch Oldham, Knoxville International Energy Exposition President "Bo" Roberts, Jr. and World's Fair Board of Directors Chairman Jake Butcher.  

October 30, 1982

Singer-actor, the late Kenny Rogers in town to promote the opening of his new movie "Six Pack" took time out on July 6, 1982 to survey the World's Fair from the top of the United States Pavilion in Knoxville.  With him was his wife Marianne Gordon, a regular, at the time, on the popular television series, "Hee Haw".  

The United States Pavilion pictured at the World's Fair near the Amphitheater.

May 2, 1982

An aerial view of the World's Fair Site

The Strohaus (formerly The Foundry)

October 2, 1982

Musician and singer, Glen Campbell taped a television show during the World's Fair at the Strohaus.

May 3, 1982

Knoxville's Rick Kuhlman and a handful of partners resurrected World's Fair Beer for the 35th anniversary of the 1982 World's Fair.  

An aerial view of the Sunsphere and World's Fair

May 2, 2019

Allie Clouse jumps in front of the Sunsphere at the World's Fair

May 21, 2019