What's the portrait of the silver-haired man with the clerical collar doing on the wall of the Crockett Cabin Museum in Rutherford, Tennessee -- the last town the King of the Wild Frontier called home? It's a great story, which I learned from Rutherford's leading Crockettologist, Joe Bone. You can find it beginning on page 253 of Born on a Mountaintop, or you can read a condensed version below. But if you're anywhere near Rutherford the second week of October, the best thing would be to check out the town's annual Davy Crockett Days celebration -- which features a street dance, a play called "Davy Crockett: Titan of Tennessee," a grand parade, and bluegrass on the porch of the Crockett Cabin -- and ask Joe to tell you the tale himself.
Crockett lived in or around Rutherford from 1822 until the fall of 1835, including the three terms he served as a congressman. It was from there that he rode off to explore a new frontier and ended up fighting in the Texas Revolution. Joe Bone showed me his likely route out of town and the gravestone of one of his companions, L.K. Tinkle, who'd headed home before the Alamo happened. He also showed me the site of the long-neglected grave where Crockett's mother, Rebecca Hawkins Crockett, was originally buried.
Crockett lived in or around Rutherford from 1822 until the fall of 1835, including the three terms he served as a congressman. It was from there that he rode off to explore a new frontier and ended up fighting in the Texas Revolution. Joe Bone showed me his likely route out of town and the gravestone of one of his companions, L.K. Tinkle, who'd headed home before the Alamo happened. He also showed me the site of the long-neglected grave where Crockett's mother, Rebecca Hawkins Crockett, was originally buried.
And he explained how -- thanks to Walt Disney, Fess Parker and the 1950s Crockett Craze -- her remains came to be moved to the yard of the newly constructed Crockett Cabin Museum.
It seems that a historically minded local woman named Mrs. Grover Reid had found herself on Queen for a Day, the old radio and TV show on which women vied with each other to tell the most pathetic tales of woe. Whoever got the loudest applause became queen and got a wish she had stated in advance, which could be anything from medical care to a new washing machine. Mrs. Reid's request was a bit unusual: She asked for "a tombstone for Davy Crockett's mother's grave." She didn't win. But a priest from Fall River, Massachusetts had tuned in that day, and he was moved to telephone the show.
"You tell that nice lady that I will provide the money for Mrs. Crockett," Father John J. Casey said, and he did -- which is why his portrait hangs next to the bearskin on the cabin wall today.
One more cabin photo to end with. It's of Joe showing off a painting of the cabin by a local art teacher. If you look really hard, you can see a smiling Davy hidden in the trees.
It seems that a historically minded local woman named Mrs. Grover Reid had found herself on Queen for a Day, the old radio and TV show on which women vied with each other to tell the most pathetic tales of woe. Whoever got the loudest applause became queen and got a wish she had stated in advance, which could be anything from medical care to a new washing machine. Mrs. Reid's request was a bit unusual: She asked for "a tombstone for Davy Crockett's mother's grave." She didn't win. But a priest from Fall River, Massachusetts had tuned in that day, and he was moved to telephone the show.
"You tell that nice lady that I will provide the money for Mrs. Crockett," Father John J. Casey said, and he did -- which is why his portrait hangs next to the bearskin on the cabin wall today.
One more cabin photo to end with. It's of Joe showing off a painting of the cabin by a local art teacher. If you look really hard, you can see a smiling Davy hidden in the trees.
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