By Dorothy Foster
Correspondent
RELIANCE, Tenn. – When Thurman Parish was growing up in Reliance in the 1940s, it was a remote, mountainous area in the far reaches of Polk County.
Unlike today, when tourists flock to the scenic area to enjoy the natural beauty or to fish or float on the Hiwassee River, the Reliance of Parish’s childhood was isolated.
Many of the early residents had settled in the mountains because they were too poor to buy farmland, so they eked out a living with hillside crops. Children were shy because they had never seen many strangers. People from the neighboring towns of Benton and Etowah were considered outsiders until well into the 1950s.
In his book “Mountain Memories,” Parish recounts anecdotes from Reliance and surrounding areas.
Baptisms in the river were a frequent occurrence, as was the weekly visit from the “rolling store,” a truck equipped with grocery products whose driver took chickens or other livestock in exchange for staples. Women swept their yards down to bare dirt as a precaution against snakes and also because no one could afford a mower.
For more information or order books:Thurman ParishPO Box 317Benton, TN 37307E-mail: parish400@bellsouth.net
And backwoods moonshiners were common. Parish recounts a tale of one whiskey man who operated for 30 years before revenuers caught him.
The man was horribly embarrassed when the judge let him off with probation for a first offense. He didn’t want people to think he was a rank amateur.
When Polk County High School beat Bradley County in the 1930s, it was a big event.
But it turned out many of Polk’s football players were in their mid-20s or older.
It seems they would start school each year just to play football. When the season ended they would quit until the next year and do it all over again. Many players never graduated from high school, but they did spend many autumns on the football field, Parish says.
Parish says that working for the USDA Forest Service in the 1960s was the catalyst for him to begin recording the history of his birthplace.
As he traveled the mountains marking timber, he saw old chimneys and foundations on the few level spots around. Eventually he became a cultural resource technician who worked with Forest Service archaeologists to help find, preserve, and protect sites.
Along the way he began seeking the old mountain people out and recording their stories as a way to help them and their culture be remembered. By preserving their heritage in this way, he has given others a chance to understand a period of now gone history.
Parish’s first book, “The Old Home Place,” delves into the history of other parts of Polk County including the Caney Creek Settlement, which had no cars and could only be reached by boat, and the Old Dutch Settlement, which tried to produce mountain vineyards.
Contact Dorothy Foster at derth1@hotmail.com.