Rugby, Tennessee

One of the places I was really looking forward to exploring when I was researching the Knoxville area is a little town called Rugby. Rugby was founded by Thomas Hughes (author of Tom Brown's School Days) with the idea that he would create a Utopian community for the second-born sons of British gentry, so they could make a living for themselves in America without the shame of being screwed over by not inheriting tons of money like their older brothers.

An older woman with a long, grey ponytail braid greeted me at the visitor's center and ushered me into a small theater, where a 20-minute movie about the town was in progress.

The tour consisted of myself and an older Texan couple. We all chatted as we walked around the old buildings. Both the couple and the tour guide commented on how unusual it was for a young person to be interested in history, so I mentioned being an English teacher. The Texans immediately perked up because they were both retired teachers, and the husband was an English teacher! He started quoting Chaucer and my eyes glazed over as I nodded politely.

This Old House.

yup. filled with old stuff. 

Lichen-Covered Bench

This is the town church, which is still in use. Our tour guide informed us that she and her husband (who is the town carpenter and beekeeper) attend every Sunday

According to the tour guide, the town library is the oldest preserved library in the United States. It contains 7,000 volumes, all of which were donated by benefactors and publishers.

Shhhhhh!

After the tour, I went to pay my seven dollars and the guide told the cashier to give me the senior discount. "Because you're a schoolteacher!" she exclaimed as she bustled off somewhere. I put the dollar I had "saved" into the donation bin as the tour guide came back over with a gift - a bottle of honey that her husband had made. So now I have something sweet to remember Rugby by. 

Oh, and I also traveled in and out of the Central Time Zone. One woman I spoke with told me that her house is right on the line so her cell phone will continually change time back and forth, so she has a clock in every room set to one time.