Aren’t we all glad that February 2025 only had 28 days? The old weather lore is “if it comes in like a lion, it will go out like a lamb,” or visa-versa. March, we are glad you are here!
Spring will finally be here on Thursday, March 20. Just as the new month is starting, Daylight Savings Time begins (if the politicians do not change it), on Sunday, March 9, at 2a.m. So, set your clocks AHEAD an hour before you go to bed, or you will be late for church.
Have you been to Monterey’s Meadow Creek Park, 19195 Clarkrange Hwy, lately? Imagine a long, long time ago when Indigeous people passed through the area hunting deer, elk, turkeys, and even wooly mammoths. They would use the bluffs along its outskirts as shelter before they continued their journey. The Avery Trace, also once called the Emory Road among other things, was built in the 1780s, just a few hundred yards north of present-day Clarkrange Hwy., opening the floodgates to the Promised Land for new European settlers headed west.
In the 1940s-early 1960s, instead of bluff lines being used as shelter, Andy Buckner and others used them and the freshwater creek to make moonshine whiskey, being a good place to hide from those annoying revenooers. Can’t a man make a dishonest living?
In the early 1960s, as coal was discovered in the area and coal mines were being moved here from Crawford and Wilder, Harry Talkington took a chance at sinking a hole into the ground to discover his own vein of coal. He hit “pay dirt!” Clear Creek Coal Co. was born and provides tons of coal to fire TVA power plants as well as warm homes all over the region. The mines closed in 1979, as the new EPA said coal had too high sulfur content.
In 1983, the Town of Monterey acquired the land once it had been reclaimed and built a 100-acre lake as a secondary water source. It was not until 2016, through the vision of then mayor Bill Wiggins, who saw its potential as a new city park.
While still yet primitive (by design), the 100-acre lake is full of all sorts of fish from brim to catfish. A very cool volunteer group has been working on a hike/bike trail around the lake. Nine miles have been completed. Just last year, Meadow Creek Park received a $100,000 Sate Tourism grant and installed brand new kayak ramp.
The town has partnered with Outdoor Experience, in Cookeville to operate “The Outpost at Meadow Creek,” which will begin its third year sometime in May 2025. They rent everything from kayaks to fishing and bike equipment and even do classes on how you enhance your adventure. Just because they will not officially start until May does not mean you have to wait. Keep watching their Facebook page, or better yet their webpage at http;//www.theoutpostatmeadowcreekpark.com. They may have a surprise Rhododendron Run, or something else to explore.