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- [S106] The Mountain Press, 17 Mar 2002.
Caton's Chapel residents face changes
By: ANNA GARBER, Staff Writer March 17, 2002
Freeman Maples remembers the time when Birds Creek Road didn't have any bridges.
But times have changed. He has helped build a bridge on the road. He's given up small pieces of his farmland as the road has been improved. Now he and his family are trying to come to grips with the latest plans for Birds Creek Road.
Maples, 87; his wife, Kate, and other members of their family to whom they have given parts of their land will lose about 8.5 acres when the state straightens a tight hairpin curve toward the bottom of a hill near Caton's Chapel.
They were among a couple of dozen folks who showed up to look over the Tennessee Department of Transportation's plans to improve the road.
In all, local landowners will lose about 16 acres. The Maples family takes by far the biggest hit; Christus Gardens loses about 2.5 acres and Sevier County Board of Education, around 1.7 acres, said project director Bob Bowers of Wilbur Smith Associates.
Most other landowners' losses are measured in square feet, not acres.
"I understand; I know they have to take it," Freeman Maples said. He has a 110-acre home farm with more than 70 head of cattle and 19 more acres across the creek for hay, he said.
He remembers the first bridge being built in 1922. Now he will see two more new bridges span the creek.
"I'm not complaining too bad," he said. Complaining doesn't do any good anyway, he added.
His family worries that his daily walk to the mail box will be lengthier now. But they realize how much traffic has grown on Birds Creek Road, and how dangerous the hairpin bend is.
"There is a tremendous amount of traffic on the road," said Maples's former son-in-law, Don Hensley. Several accidents have taken place there.
"We average about two a month," said Kate Maples. She isn't sure what the changes will mean to her. "I don't know what to think," she said. "I can't vision things."
Her granddaughter, Veronica Hardin, will lose a site she had planned for a house. It has a great view and mature trees, she said. She plans to find somewhere else on her land as a homesite now.
Hensley said when the road was changed 30 years ago, everyone realized that eventually it would affect the farm.
Sections at both the Glades Road and Caton's Chapel ends of Birds Creek Road will be widened but will remain two-lane; the middle section was improved and straightened a few years ago and will be unchanged.
The only three-lane section will be a center turn lane approaching the Upper Middle Creek Road intersection.
"Most comments have been very favorable" about the proposed changes, Bowers said. But there was at least one exception. One resident filled in a comment form that was anything but positive. "Don't want this damn road and don't need it," the comment read.
- [S112] Census, 1930.
Name: William F Maples
Event Type: Census
Event Date: 1930
Event Place: District 04, Sevier, Tennessee
Gender: Male
Age: 15
Marital Status: Single
Race: White
Birthplace: Tennessee
Birth Year (Estimated): 1915
Immigration Year:
Relationship to Head of Household: Son
Father's Birthplace: Tennessee
Mother's Birthplace: Tennessee
District: 0004
Household ID: 95
Sheet Number and Letter: 5B
Line Number: 88
Affiliate Publication Number: T626, roll 2271
GS Film number: 2342005
Digital Folder Number: 4547919
Image Number: 00645
Household Gender Age Birthplace
Head Arlie W Maples M 38 Tennessee
Wife Ethel L Maples F 41 Tennessee
Son William F Maples M 15 Tennessee
Daughter Minnie C Maples F 12 Tennessee
Son Olive K Maples M 9 Tennessee
Son Paul W Maples M 7 Tennessee
Daughter Nellie L Maples F 4 Tennessee
- [S80] Rawlings Funeral Home, (http://www.rawlingsfuneralhome.com/), 17 Nov 2005.
Freeman Maples age 91 of Sevierville, TN. passed away on November 17, 2005 at Ft. Sanders Sevier Nursing Home in Sevierville.
Freeman was a Veteran of the U.S. Army during World War 11 and a member of Sevier County Retired Teachers Association.
Freeman is preceded in death by his daughter, Rita Hensley and son-in-law Don Hensley; Great Grandson, Keegan Hardin; Parents, Arlie and Ethel Maples; Brothers, Paul Maples, Oliver Maples, and Victor Maples; Sister, Minnie Maples Watson; Sisters-in-law, Martha Maples Brother-in-law, Mynatt Spence.
Survivors Include his wife, Kate Shields Maples of Sevierville; Grandchildren, Scott and Pam Hensley, Tim and Veronica Hardin of Sevierville; Great grandchildren, Reegan , Riana, Halle and Holt Hensley, Burke, Branton and Bella Hardin of Sevierville; Sister, Nell Spence and Sister-in-law, Beulah Maples both of Sevierville.
Funeral services will be held 2:00 P.M. Sunday, November 20, 2005 at Rawlings Funeral Home with the Rev. Melvin Carr officiating. Interment will follow service in Middle Creek Cemetery.
The family will receive friends 6-8 P.M. Saturday, November 19, 2005 at Rawlings Funeral Home in Sevierville.
In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made to Caton’s Chapel Elementary School, Attention: Doris Wilson 3135 Caton’s Chapel Rd. Sevierville, TN. 37876.
You may share your thoughts and memories with the family on our website.
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