Willard Brock
RELATIVES IN NEW HOPE
Well, its primary reason is that I have relatives buried in the New Hope Cemetery, specifically my great grandfather, great grandmother, and some great uncles, great, great uncles probably. Also, and that not too distant from New Hope Cemetery is a Gammel graveyard and my grandmother was a Gammel from the Gammel Valley area, so we visited the relatives and that's about it, I guess.
GREAT-GRANDPARENTS HEADSTONES
Well, for years we had known where my great grandfather was buried, but we didn't know exactly where his wife was buried. There had been a space left for her but we couldn't, no one had actual experience on, you know her funereal. It's too much time had elapsed, so we finally came up with her certificate of death which indicated that her son had been in charge of her funeral arrangements, and I guess it was more or less assuming that her son would have buried her by the side of his father and that's you know how we arrived at that conclusion. I have relatives in the State of Washington, Oregon, California and other states, and I kind of coordinated the establishment of this marker. It aroused their interest I suppose and there were some questions came up. If I am back in Clinton, Tennessee, how do I get to the cemetery to see this marker, see my great grandfather’s grave, etc.? That was basically how the question came up.
DESCRIPTION OF OLD OAK RIDGE
Well, lets start out at the underpass at Elza. That’s the old entrance into this area. Immediately coming on your right, coming from Clinton and Oak Ridge, the first thing you would have seen was a saw mill. I believe that was owned by Odie Kidwell. Then probably the next thing you would have seen would be Glen Copeland Store on the right. On the left would have been stone house owned by Owen Hackworth. And by the way Owen’s house was similar to a stone house that was built by Mr. Copeland. The next building as I recall would have been about the intersection of—I believe it's Athens Road, is the first road to the right if you come into Oak Ridge and it intersects with East Drive. Mr. Joe Hope and his wife lived there. One reason I am familiar with this area is I had a paper route and I would come on West, double back, go over in the field to their house and Ms. Hope would have breakfast ready for me on Sunday mornings. So this is one reason I would remember that so vividly. Then there was probably, let’s see, family by the name of Weiss lived on the right, and then there was a church about the; I guess its Arkansas Avenue in Oak Ridge Turnpike, and then coming on down about crossing where the old Chevrolet place was, there was a family with the name of Gamble, and coming on west right about where the Oakridger is at present there was a family Jim Dunlap and a little farther on west was his brother Lawrence right where the new Benton Chevrolet place is now and then somewhere in that area the Hightowers lived. Mr. Hightower was a minister. He had lost both of his hands in an explosive accident. He had a daughter that taught school in Anderson County School system. Then of course on farther west was a Nash Copeland Store and that's about where the road turned south going to New Hope.
SCARBORO ROAD
We primarily came there for Decoration Day or some dinner on the ground so to speak. The best I recall if you proceeded on north, you went through the Scarboro area and then on across Solway Bridge toward Knoxville.
LOCATION OF GEORGE ANDERSON’S HOUSE
Based on present day surroundings, it was just a little west of the present intersection of Bear Creek Road and Scarborough Road.
DESCRIPTION OF WHERE FAMILIES LIVED
There was a family, Brummitts, maybe two families of Brummitts lived in that area. There was family of Diggs lived on over in I guess Bethel Valley next ridge over. A lot of my relatives lived in Gammel Valley and in an area that was known to me then as the Pinhook Community.
GETTING TO KNOW THE PEOPLE FROM NEW HOPE
Well, they were family a lot of them, relatives and also at that time, for instance at harvest time, molasses making time, and etc., people would come out of this area and down in the New Hope, Robertsville area and peddling their, whatever they had to sell, going towards Clinton I guess until they sold out one thing and then two they had. There was considerable community activities, pie suppers, reunions, whatnot, and people traveled from one community to the other in connection with these activities.
FORCED REMOVAL
Well, one thing and this probably goes back to late 1941 or 1942 when the people were forced to evacuate, yet I was down in that area some, particularly the pig farm and so on, and you know those people had to move out and leave their crops. They weren’t given enough time to take their possessions with them. It was a very, wasn't a real good time at that time for those people. And all of them where, all of the people that I met were saying, again I had the paper out down through here, they always paid the paperboy on time, and they were nice people. They all got along well. They looked there for each other and it was a different type of community to what we have now a days.
THE POST-WAR PERIOD
When I came back from service in March of 1946, one thing I remember is we lived three miles out of Clinton, three miles out of Oak Ridge and you could probably walk to either place quicker than you could get your car out into the road in the traffic. There was, of course, before I went in service the rationing was in effect. Rationing for the most part was still in effect. It was just, and there was more people here in ‘46 than it was in ‘43 when I left, although several thousands of people had come in by June of ‘46, but on my first opportunity to come back into Oak Ridge, West of the Elza Gate underpass, you couldn't recognize much of it. It had been Bulldozed and turned over. The only things that were still intact when I came back that I can recall is, number 1: The Glen Copeland building was still intact. The military was using it for personnel at Elza Gate. Number 2: The Owen Hackworth house was still standing and is still standing today. The church, and again I believe this was Arkansas Avenue, was still standing. Mr. Jim Dunlap’s house was still standing. The cross house at Grove Center was still standing. In fact, I believe at that time, it was—let’s see, what was in that building—it was still standing for several years. In fact, I believe union hall was in that one time, K-25, and there was a large swimming pool behind it. Now that swimming pool was just about as large before Oak Ridge came in here's it is now. It was a large swimming pool and those were the only areas that I could recognize from pre 1942 days.
