Sources |
- [S78] Atchley Funeral Home Records, Volume I, 1930-1954, Larry D. Fox, (Smoky Mountain Historical Society), 26 May 1961.
Leonard Huskey obituary
- [S74] Atchley Funeral Home Records, Volume IV, 1987-1999, Larry D. Fox, (Smoky Mountain Historical Society), 28 Jul 1995.
Edna Ezalee Huskey obituary
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 14 Nov 2011.
Upland Chronicles: Postlewaite developed Homespun Valley attraction
by JO HARRIS
Mountain music was a big part of Homespun Valley’s success. Front Dan Gray, Banjo; Herman Johnson, Guitar; Bill Benson, Guitar. Back: Gerald McCarter, Guitar; Joda (Ella) Huskey Murphy, Bass; Jake Reagan, Fiddle.
The Homespun Valley country store.
One-room schoolhouse at Homespun Valley.
In 1946, William (Bill) Postlewaite, a poor but resolute entrepreneur, left Hammond, Ind., bound for Gatlinburg in an Army surplus ambulance.
Instead of a wounded GI, this ambulance carried a hand-operated printing press. Mr. Postlewaite rented a garage from Hattie Ogle, the owner of Bearskin Crafts and Cottages, where he started the Gatlinburg Press as a one-man operation, even distributing the newspapers himself.
Mr. Postlewaite was involved in the Gatlinburg Press, as well as Sevier County News Record, the Pigeon Forge Anvil — which was geared toward tourists — and finally, The Mountain Press.
This innovative businessman is also known as one of the first, if not the first, to open a tourist attraction in Gatlinburg that was not directly related to the handicraft industry.
In 1951, Postlewaite opened Homespun Valley Mountaineer Village. Situated on three acres on Airport Road, Homespun Valley portrayed pioneer life in a variety of attractions and exhibits in its 11 buildings. It was a virtual three-acre museum designed to give tourists a lighthearted glimpse of what life was like for mountain folk before Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Homespun Valley brochures declared, “Bring Your Camera!” and “this is one thing in Gatlinburg you don’t want to miss!” Homespun Valley’s main goal was to entertain and was billed as fun for the entire family.
The first indication of the fun came in the form of a hole in the fence near the admission gate. A sign over the hole read, “Small Boys and Hound Dogs Enter Here.”
One could visit Homespun Valley’s many exhibits including a blacksmith shop, a one-room school, a sorghum mill and a grist mill. As a young boy, Marc Postlewaite, Bill’s son, bagged the cornmeal that was ground at the mill. It was then sold in the on-site country store for 50 cents a bag.
The country store also carried locally made items. A sign in the store said, “No Goods Sold on Credit and Mighty Little for Cash,” and Mr. Postlewaite, the consummate businessman, had posted a sign that said, “Keep in Touch, Subscribe to the Gatlinburg Press — $3.00 a year.”
A popular destination in the village was the Pink Huskey cabin that had once stood in the Smokies. The cabin was dismantled and rebuilt at Homespun Valley. Visitors stepped onto the front porch, and once inside could see the exposed chinked log walls and the sparse furnishings.
Postlewaite made sure the attraction had an authentic moonshine still. Homespun Valley capitalized on the mountaineers’ illegal, but lucrative, activity for marketing purposes by placing a picture of the moonshine still on advertising brochures. And, “protecting” that moonshine still from pesky revenuers was Early Grooms, a fixture around Homespun Valley.
Mr. Grooms, who lived in the Glades community, served as “host” of the attraction and was usually seen wearing a floppy hat and gun belt strapped around his waist — complete with pistol.
Another aspect of mountain life on display was the two-seater outhouse, and it seemed everyone who passed by had to take a peek inside. When the door squeaked open there sat a mountain man “dummy” who said, “Hold your horses, I’ll be out in a minute!” or “Hand me that Sears, Roebuck catalog over there!”
The words of the popular song “On Top of Old Smoky” were carved into a wooden sign near the grist mill and hinted at the musical entertainment that was a significant part of Homespun Valley’s success. A rustic stage was set up before rows of backless wooden benches where local musicians entertained nightly. Dolly Parton was the most famous person to perform on Homespun Valley’s stage.
A few local entertainers performed like Osie Ownby, Bill Proffit, Paul Patterson, Bill Holt, Jim Ball, Bill Benson, Smoky White, Dan Gray, Herman Johnson, and Jack, Orville and Paul Reagan. Joda Huskey Murphy worked at Homespun Valley during the 1954-1956 seasons. She remembers being a guest in the audience one night when someone on stage called her up to “sing one for them.”
Joda recalls Mr. Postlewaite, in his crisp white shirt and tie, coming to her afterward and saying, “How’d you like a job, young lady?” Joda eagerly accepted the job, singing six nights a week for $25 a week.
Marc says his father always wore a stiff-necked collar and necktie, and didn’t take them off until bedtime. When he once asked his father why he wore a tie at home, his father had responded succinctly, “Because you never know when someone might come to the door!”
For several seasons in the late 1960s four young men dressed in business suits, known as the Town Criers, performed tunes like “Delia’s Gone” and “Goodnight Irene.” They started a tradition in Gatlinburg; in the early evenings before the show, Marc Postlewaite would drive the Town Criers around town, dropping them off at various restaurants. They’d go into the dining rooms, sing and play an abbreviated version of a popular song for the diners, then invite them out to Homespun Valley.
Soon, other local groups would follow suit with this same “personal” and low-cost, pre-show form of advertising.
Progress in the way of sprawling commercialism would mean the end for Homespun Valley and by the mid 1970s it was just a memory.
Homespun Valley Mountaineer Village was extremely popular and had a good 20-year run. In its place today is a concrete parking lot at the Gatlinburg civic auditorium.
Many of the artifacts and exhibits on display at Homespun Valley had been on loan to Mr. Postlewaite. When the attraction closed many of these went back to their rightful owners. Other exhibits and memorabilia remain in the possession of Marc Postlewaite, who is a local entrepreneur in his own right.
Bill and his wife, Gretchen, had two more children: Ann and Fred.— Jo Harris is a local free-lance writer residing in Kodak. The Upland Chronicles series celebrates the heritage and past of Sevier County. If you suggestions for future topics, would like to submit a column or have comments, please contact Carroll McMahan at 453-6411 or email to cmcmahan@scoc.org; or Ron Rader at 604-9161 or email to ron@ronraderproperties.com.
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