If you are like me, you will find the fact that Bill Landry of WBIR‘s “Heartland Series,” has written a book based on “Heartland” stories is very good news indeed. Titled, “Appalachian Tales and Heartland Adventures,” it contains, Landry said, “100 stories and 300 pages.” It is due out in September — in plenty of time for Christmas sales.
Landry was guest of honor at a dinner last weekend at a vacation retreat in the Top of the World Community in Tallassee, Tennessee. Fifty guests attended the dinner, which was part of the Knoxville Symphony League‘s “Elegant Dining” series. Landry said there were 1,900 different episodes of Heartland “and every one has a story.” The series started in 1984 when Landry himself was 36 years old. Unlike today’s light, portable video equipment, the technology at that time required Landry and his photographer to carry an 18-pound camera, cable that weighed another 18 pounds, and a tripod that weighed 12 pounds. “My back hurts just thinking about it,” Landry said. “The Heartland Series” ended two years ago.
Landry said “Heartland” was conceived by WBIR’s then general manager Jim Hart who said, “Let’s take a video camera on location and take pictures of the most beautiful place on Earth and tell people’s stories.”
Sometimes they got a little carried away, Landry said. Like the time they decided to go to Mount LeConte Lodge in the middle of winter. When the temperature dropped well below zero, the camera froze. And so did the people. Landry’s cameraman had sweated inside his clothes on the hike up and, when he removed them to go to bed, he was covered in a layer of ice.
One story eluded them. A man named Charley Garland was said to be “the strongest guy in Cades Cove.” Talk had it that Garland had once carried a 217-pound stove 17 miles without stopping. Although the “Heartland” folks wanted to do an re-enactment of the story, they couldn’t. “We couldn’t find anybody who could carry a stove far enough for us to film it,” Landry said.
Today Landry lives in a house on two acres of property that abuts the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, about three miles from the home on Flats Road where our dinner was held. He said he last saw a bear about 10 days ago. He was alerted to the bear’s presence by his dog. “That’s why you have to have a dog” he said. “He tells you what’s around.”
The home we visited has been in Angela Pugh’s family for four generations. She said about 200 family members share use of it. The relatives even have an association that handles matters involving the house.
Click here for another story about “The Heartland Series.”
Photo credit: The first two photos on this blog post were taken by my husband, Alan Carmichael. Thanks, hon.
I echo that the food was delicious especially those pumpkin squares. We took the Montvale Road approach to the mountaintop and got a good taste of what the Dragon is like. We decided to return by the Foothills Parkway into Townsend, and the view of the mountains at twilight on one side and the city lights below on the other was special. Combined with the Mark Twain-like humor in Bill’s presentation, a great evening all around.