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- [S27] The Daily Times, http://www.thedailytimes.com/, (Blount County, Tennessee), 1 Mar 2010.
Myers horses brought out of Cades Cove for final time
After 150 years of running horses and farming the same land in Cades Cove, the last roundup of the Myers family horses was conducted Saturday morning.
Myers family horses run with manes flying in wind during the last roundup of these horses in Cades Cove Saturday.
The Myers family land ran from the large overlook parking lot on the Loop Road all the way across the Cove, north to south, in the cleared open fields along Hyatt Lane and Tater Branch.
Starting at noon Saturday, 50 horses were loaded and trailered out for use at Cades Cove Riding Stable in Townsend. Stable owner/operator Rick Myers plans to open the riding stable to customers the first weekend in March.
Amid the backdrop of mountains in Cades Cove, Rick Myers drives a trailer with family horses from the cove for last time.
Saturday was a bittersweet day for Rick, who now owns and operates Cades Cove Riding Stable in Townsed.
Rick Myers herds two of the 50 Myers family horses into a trailer for the move from Cades Cove to Townsend.
As the Myers family and employees rounded up the horses, the family patriarch and matriarch, Hugh Myers in a wheelchair with Verna Myers standing by his side, watched in the shadow of a snow-covered Gregory Bald as the Myers' horses were trailered out of Cades Cove for the last time.
Family members were stewards of the land since 1860.
John “Baldy” Myers bought the property all the way across Cades Cove in 1860, Rick said.
The family farmed the land until the National Park Service took the land 75 years ago, he said.
In front of a snow-covered Gregory Bald, Hugh Myers, in wheelchair, and wife, Verna, watch last roundup of Myers horses in Cades Cove. Also watching is son, Rick (left) and their great-grandchild Savannah Warnell.
“Even when the Park Service obtained the property by eminent domain, my grandfather, Charlie Myers, stayed there and leased his own property back and a little more,” he added.
“At the end of 2010, the property (hay lease) goes back to the federal government, ending an era of 150 years of continual use of the same land by the descendants of Baldy Myers and Dan Myers (two brothers),” said Verna Myers, mother of Rick.
In 1967, Hugh Myers bought the Cades Cove Riding Stable, and he and the family operated it until last year, when the Park Service granted the stable franchise to another operator who underbid Rick Myers.
Rick then moved his Cades Cove Riding Stable to 50 acres he leased in Townsend off Tenn. 73 near the intersection of East Lamar Alexander Parkway and Wears Valley Road in March 2009.
Once Rick and family cut the hay on the land this summer and fall, that will physically end their ties to the family land.
This spring, Rick plans to finish the barn he has started, do landscaping, ditching and add more parking to the Townsend stables to make them more attractive and functional.
While spring 2009 was slow at the stable, people have come to known where he is now located, and Rick said business picked up last year. He expects it to continue this year.
He expects to need 50 horses for the stable operation this year.
- [S58] Marriage Certificate.
name: Hugh Lee Myers
titles & terms:
event: Marriage
event date: 17 Dec 1949
event place: Blount, Tennessee, United States
age:
estimated birth year:
father:
father's titles & terms:
mother:
mother's titles & terms:
spouse: Verna Lee Birchfield
spouse's titles & terms:
spouse's age:
spouse's estimated birth year:
spouse's father:
spouse's father's titles & terms:
spouse's mother:
spouse's mother's titles & terms:
reference number: see next entry
film number: 2073868
digital folder number: 004646470
image number: 02926
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