Last week, my wife and I took our two kids down to the Sevierville/Pigeon Forge area for a few days. It was our last little family getaway before back-to-school season really goes into full gear, and I am happy to say that, overall, everyone enjoyed the trip.
One of the main reasons we decided to go to Pigeon Forge was to take the kids to Dollywood. Neither one had been before, so we figured now would be a good time since they are both big enough to go on rides and enjoy most of the offerings there. We all did a rollercoaster together, and while I think it was the smallest “real” coaster in the park, I still screamed in absolute terror the entire time that the ride was in progress. Needless to say, I don’t do rides too well.
Other highlights of our visit to the land of Dolly included a pleasant tour around the premises on an authentic steam engine, and just generally taking in the sights and sounds on a day that was mostly perfect weather-wise.
The highlight of the entire trip, for me, was probably when we decided to stop and check out the Museum of Appalachia in Clinton, Tennessee while on our way back home. Despite seeing and hearing about it for years, I had never visited, and while I was pretty certain that my wife and I would find it interesting, I wasn’t too sure about the kids, who are ages five and ten.
As it turns out, we all thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the museum. It was well worth the price of admission, featuring a ton of interesting artifacts and several structures to walk through. There were old cabins, furnished with items that would have been commonly used during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as well as an old log church, a one-room school house, and barns, among many other exhibits.
While making our way through the museum’s Appalachian Hall of Fame section, one exhibit in particular caught my eye. It was dedicated to a Dr. O.E. Ballou, who lived between 1907-1973, and, as you might have already guessed by the last name, had ties to our local area here in Whitley County.
A summary of Dr. Ballou’s life accompanied the exhibit, which also included photos and a Holy Bible that once belonged to him. The summary, written by Dr. Ballou’s daughter, Nancy, said, “Despite his inauspicious birth on June 11, 1907, in an obscure and impoverished mining camp in eastern Kentucky, O.E. Ballou later became a prominent and revered physician and community leader.”
According to the re-telling, Ballou and his family eventually moved from Bell County to Williamsburg, where he and his brothers worked their way through college. After attending Cumberland College, the future doctor would earn his B.S. degree from Lincoln Memorial University in 1928, and then his Masters from the University of Tennessee in Memphis in 1932.
Ballou began a private practice in Clinton, where he lived and worked for fourteen years. His daughter recounted house calls all over the area where her father would commonly accept payment for services rendered in the form of chickens, corn, potatoes or firearms.
“During World War II, with the influx of people coming to build Oak Ridge and men needing physical exams for the draft, he was declared essential to the war effort,” Nancy wrote of her father, saying he was given citations by the president, and was able to remain a civilian.
Eventually, Ballou left his general practice due to some issues relating to his physical health, opting to move to Memphis to do a residency in eye, ear, nose and throat medicine.
I read that Dr. Ballou was an “avid golfer and sportsman,” and that he was also a supporter of the University of Tennessee, holding memberships in the U.T. Century and Faculty Clubs.
Dr. O.E. Ballou suffered a fatal heart attack while dove hunting in early September, 1973. If any of our readers have additional information about Ballou that you’d like to share, I’d love to hear it. Please, feel free to contact me via e-mail at [email protected].
For more information on what all the Museum of Appalachia has to offer, visit them online at www.museumofappalachia.org. If able, you should definitely take the time to visit. You won’t be disappointed!
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