I always say "Pell Mell" and that would be Sgt. Alvin York as it's most famous resident.

Sgt. York would have been my guess as well. Watch the movie sometime (Gary Cooper played York, complte with 'hillbilly' accent). It's a good one.

Fascinating reading.

Alvin York

We talked quite a bit about Alvin York in my Western Civ. class at MC, especially the way US politicians paraded him around after WWI to drum up votes. We discussed similar issues with regard to democracy and war in Britain, France and Australia, and war propaganda in the Kaiser's Germany. York is particularly instructive because he was a sincere religious pacifist before enlisting.

My grandpa had a farm over in the next "holler". He knew Alvin C. York, and I'm told they used to go hunting together. My other grandpa lived right down the road from the Cordell Hull birthplace.

It's interesting to hear it said, Pell Mell, by the locals versus read it on the sign. Pall Mall doesn't sound right any more.

Watch the movie sometime

I've probably watched the move 5 or more times. It never gets old.

Isn't it actually pronounced "Pal Mal?"

Did you know the Virgil Anderson family?

No, my folks moved away from there when I was six months old, so I don't know anybody over there except family (they're in Pickett Co.). My folks might, I'll ask.

I've been to the rock lookout where York allegedly gazed upon his home place while making the decision to join the military.
Nice view except for the logging.

"Pal Mal" but I've heard older folks call it "pell mell" I figured the people that lived there were kind of fast paced, hence the older folks in my family's pronunciation being "Pell Mell" as in "them folks are living Pell Mell."

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"You can't fix stupid..." ~ Ron White"
"I never said I wasn't a brat..." ~ Talidapali

It's good that their claim to fame is York. Otherwise they'd be stuck with Lincoln Davis. I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

"The mind is like a parachute, it only works when it's open."

Daddy always called them Pail Mails -- the cigarettes.

As long as we're playing "How Fentress County are you":

What is Morgan County cabbage and Morgan County corn?

Now don't laugh at my ignorance but, since a lot of Germans (my ancestors included) settled in Morgan County, when I think of cabbage and Morgan County I naturally think of sauerkraut.

Lord what I would give for some of my mother's homemade sauerkraut right now.

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... so I had to think on it for a minute. Brain kept coming up with Audie Murphy, and I knew that wasn't right, but I also knew it had some common associations.

Liberty and justice for all.

My new home

Well, maybe it was just my grandfather. He grew up outside Monterey, and loved to insult Morgan County. He always called brussels sprouts "Morgan County cabbages" and those little mini corn on the cobs you get in Chinese food "Morgan County corn", since the soil's so thin there they won't grow any bigger.

My grandmother came from Bavaria to Morgan County in 1891. Her father had settled there earlier and sent for the rest of his family. She told me once that he had written glowing letters about the richness of the land and the tremendous crops that could be grown there.

She often told us of her first reaction upon seeing Morgan County. She declared it "the most God-forsaken place she had ever seen" but, in time, she grew to love it.

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