When it was time to write the opening section of Born on a Mountaintop, I was sure I had the perfect place to begin. I planned to introduce readers to my Davy Crockett road trip -- and to the layered complexities of Davy's story -- by taking them inside a little-known Crockett site I truly love. It's a tiny replica cabin just off the town square in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, that I wandered into one spring morning without the faintest idea of what to expect. Instantly, I had the sense that I was walking around in a Crockett time capsule.
On the wall hung an old hunting rifle, wooden canteen, cloth shirt and pair of leggings, the kind that a poor but ambitious pioneer might have worn. A binder filled with newspaper clippings lay open on a table; one article, headlined "David Crockett as ... a Businessman?" highlighted the fact that Crockett not only began his political career in Lawrenceburg, but built a mill and distillery complex there as well. (It promptly washed away in a flood.) Glass cases protected, among other treasures, a program from a locally-produced outdoor musical drama about Crockett -- I later tracked down its author; more on that another time -- and a exuberant celebratory poem by Linwood Polk Comer. The poem opens with a reference to the life-sized bronze Crockett statue that Lawrenceburg erected in 1922:
David Crockett stands right there;
Right up -- on the City Square!
Arm stretched out and Gun in hand;
To welcome each and every man!
The cabin's displays emphasize Crockett's time in Lawrenceburg, which is as it should be -- but the death that made him immortal is memorialized, too, along with the deaths of the other Tennessee volunteers who fought at the Alamo. The hand-lettered texts behind the sign lay out Crockett's story in full.
On the wall hung an old hunting rifle, wooden canteen, cloth shirt and pair of leggings, the kind that a poor but ambitious pioneer might have worn. A binder filled with newspaper clippings lay open on a table; one article, headlined "David Crockett as ... a Businessman?" highlighted the fact that Crockett not only began his political career in Lawrenceburg, but built a mill and distillery complex there as well. (It promptly washed away in a flood.) Glass cases protected, among other treasures, a program from a locally-produced outdoor musical drama about Crockett -- I later tracked down its author; more on that another time -- and a exuberant celebratory poem by Linwood Polk Comer. The poem opens with a reference to the life-sized bronze Crockett statue that Lawrenceburg erected in 1922:
David Crockett stands right there;
Right up -- on the City Square!
Arm stretched out and Gun in hand;
To welcome each and every man!
The cabin's displays emphasize Crockett's time in Lawrenceburg, which is as it should be -- but the death that made him immortal is memorialized, too, along with the deaths of the other Tennessee volunteers who fought at the Alamo. The hand-lettered texts behind the sign lay out Crockett's story in full.
I was confused, at first, about what the cabin was intended to replicate. A historic marker on Military Street talks about "David Crockett's Home," which is misleading, and there was no one inside to ask. But eventually I found the answer in a framed sketch of the original structure (see below) entitled "David Crockett's Office." A hand-written note explains that it was "drawn from memory by Lillie Belle McLean Appleton April 29, 1969 at almost 82 years of age." Apparently the budding politician -- who served as a justice of the peace and a state legislator while he and his family lived in Lawrenceburg -- needed a place to work, and perhaps sometimes sleep, when he was downtown.
As it happened, I didn't end up beginning Born on a Mountaintop with David Crockett's office. After a few false starts, I realized that I had reacted to it as someone already immersed in Crockett's remarkable story -- and that readers new to that story wouldn't feel the same. I ended up putting the office on page 80, but I still love it. And if you ever get to Lawrenceburg, I urge you to drop in and do some time traveling yourself.
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