Sources |
- [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, 22 Nov 2015.
Upland Chronicles: Hard work dominant theme in Huskey’s oral history
JO HARRIS
When Pigeon Forge historian Veta King interviewed 78-year-old Don Huskey as part of the Pigeon Forge Public Library’s Oral History Series, she learned about a childhood when the whole of Pigeon Forge was Don’s playground, how his wholesome but hardscrabble life inspired a good work ethic, and how his employment in local restaurants not only put food on the table but led to his now 55-year marriage.
Born in 1937 at the foot of Pine Mountain, two miles from Pigeon Forge, Don Huskey was the third of Leonard and Edna England Huskey’s 12 children. Boyhood chores included chopping firewood, hoeing and harvesting crops, picking berries, and carrying water from the cold mountain spring – tasks typically performed by children in the Great Smoky Mountains region.
Times were hard, but Don always found time for childhood games, swimming at the jaybird hole near the Old Mill, and tramping through LaFollette’s melon patch on the “island” to fish in the Little Pigeon River.
When Don was a youngster, it wasn’t uncommon for him to walk alone, six or seven miles, to visit his cousins who lived at Clear Fork, an area known today as Shagbark. The pennies jingling in his pocket were earned by redeeming empty drink bottles he found along the road: “I didn’t find many long-neck beer bottles, but when I did, I got excited. I sold those at Vic Marshall’s tavern – located where Hill-Billy Village is today – for a nickel each!”
Don’s closest neighbor, Osie Ownby, paid him 33 cents an hour to work in his tobacco and hay fields. But Don’s first “big” money came from one of the town’s earliest tourist attractions, Fort Weare Game Park, where he affixed bumper stickers while people visited the zoo.
Don said the Miller brothers, who owned the attraction, “didn’t want a single car to leave the lot without a bumper sticker!” Before driving away, some tourists would flip Don a quarter, but the outcome wasn’t always so rewarding when the advertisement was pasted to the bumper of a new Cadillac.
With the $14 cash he was paid every Saturday, he could afford lunch at the snack bar, clothes, shoes, a bicycle, and movie tickets for the Pines and Park theaters in Sevierville. Even if Don had 15 cents for bus fare from Pigeon Forge to Sevierville, he often hitchhiked, then spent the money on popcorn and candy.
Don spent over a decade working in restaurants before enjoying long careers with Kern’s Bakery in Knoxville and the Old Mill in Pigeon Forge. His first restaurant job, when he was barely in his teens, was at the Green Pigeon, which became Green Valley when Ralph and Ella Reagan purchased it.
In 1953, at age 16, Don hitchhiked to Gatlinburg to check on a job at Greystone Hotel restaurant. He was hired on the spot as a dishwasher earning $75 per month plus room and board; he lived in a cottage near the hotel.
“After my first year, someone must have thought I could cook. My salary doubled and I still got room and board,” Don said. “We ate the same food as served to the guests, and man did we have some good food! At home, I was eating beans, ’taters,’ and cornbread, but at Greystone I had prime rib!”
In 1955 Don left that 13-hour, seven-days-a-week job at Greystone for Ogle’s Café, the predecessor of Gatlinburg’s popular eatery Ogle’s Buffet, owned by Luther “Coot” Ogle. Don recalled that Coot sometimes drove his fancy Lincoln to the farmers market in Knoxville and loaded up with produce.
“We cut a lot of corn off the cob!” Don said. “If a farmer came by selling country ham, someone would stick a knife in it and sniff. If it passed the smell test, it would end up on the menu.”
Don was working at Ogle’s in 1957 when a pretty waitress came in. “I liked what I saw! I’d never met her before because she worked another shift, but before long she’d switched to my shift.”
The waitress was Jane Proffitt of the Jones Cove community. A recent graduate of Carson-Newman College, Jane had signed a three-year contract to teach in Michigan. When she fulfilled her contract in 1960 and moved back to Sevier County – where she taught many years – they were married at Bradley’s Chapel in Jones Cove.
Fifteen dollars a week was a lot of money back then, so Don left Ogle’s for a bigger paycheck. Coot told him later, “I should have paid you more to keep you.” Don worked at Parkway Restaurant, owned by the McKay family, and transferred to McKay’s Restaurant when it opened. He recalled the lunch special at McKay’s included fried chicken, two vegetables, salad, bread and cobbler for $1.25.
Don said that when he worked at Howard’s Restaurant, “We served as many as 500 steaks some nights! The steaks were shipped in dry ice from Chicago and picked up at the Trailways bus station in Gatlinburg.”
Prominent features of Howard’s were patio dining and a sign that read, “Famous for Steaks” and featured an imposing Hereford. A vintage postcard touted those steaks: “shipped to us by Pfaelzer Brothers, world famous steak purveyors.”
A five-day work week lured Don from the restaurant business. He worked for Pepsi three years, followed by 18 years at Kerns Bakery. In 1986 he became a miller and tour guide at the Old Mill, and except for a short break, Don has continued to work there in various capacities. These days he can often be found on the Old Mill’s porch frying cornbread for tourists.
Don is active in his church, Sevierville’s Victory Baptist, and enjoys hiking, fishing, golfing, and singing at events like Wilderness Wildlife Week. He and Jane are parents of Marcia Nelson, director of Pigeon Forge Public Library, and Mark, the pastor of Eastside Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, when he died in 2007.
Pigeon Forge Library’s Oral History Series is an ongoing project. Don’s story, like many others, is being preserved for future generations.
Jo Harris is a freelance writer residing in Jonesborough, Tennessee.
The Upland Chronicles series celebrates the past of Sevier County. If you have suggestions for future topics or would like to submit a column contact Carroll McMahan at 453-6411 or cmcmahan@scoc.org; or Ron Rader at 604-9161 or ron@ronraderproperties.com.
- [S112] Census, 1940.
Name: Don Huskey
Titles and Terms:
Event Type: Census
Event Date: 1940
Event Place: Civil District 5, Sevier, Tennessee, United States
Gender: Male
Age: 3
Marital Status: Single
Race (Original): White
Race: White
Relationship to Head of Household (Original): Son
Relationship to Head of Household: Son
Birthplace: Tennessee
Birth Year (Estimated): 1937
Last Place of Residence:
District: 78-9
Family Number: 173
Sheet Number and Letter: 10A
Line Number: 11
Affiliate Publication Number: T627
Affiliate Film Number: 3933
Digital Folder Number: 005461375
Image Number: 00261
Household Gender Age Birthplace
Head Leonard Huskey M 23 Tennessee
Wife Edna Huskey F 21 Tennessee
Son Frank Huskey M 6 Tennessee
Daughter Billy Ruth Huskey F 4 Tennessee
Son Don Huskey M 3 Tennessee
Daughter Stella Huskey F 1 Tennessee
Daughter Ella Huskey F 1 Tennessee
Father Leander Huskey M 55 Tennessee
Mother Myrtle Huskey F 50 North Carolina
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