Blue Ridge Country January/February 2021 - 33
MOUNTAIN CURiOS
STONEWALL LAKE & RESORT
The promise of pearls was strong on the
Clinch River for about 40 years, until the
advent of hydroelectric dams and plastic
buttons brought it to an end.
layering the culture with a distinctly cosmopolitan atmosphere.
By the turn of the 20th Century, these
little beauties of varying sizes, shapes and
colors took their place on the world stage.
Resting quietly amongst the displays of
newfangled talking pictures, flying machines, a 5000-light Palace of Electricity
and the golden-yellow Eiffel Tower at the
Paris Exposition of 1900 (attended by 50
million visitors) were brooches and rings
made from the Clinch River freshwater
pearls of east Tennessee.
Contemporaneous stories, like this excerpt from the 1908 book, " The Book of
the Pearl: The history, art, science, and
industry of the Queen of Gems, " paint a
picture of life during the river's heyday:
Vivid and picturesque accounts published in local papers reported hundreds
of persons as camping at various points
along the stream, some in tents and some
in rough shanties, and others going from
shoal to shoal in newly-built house-boats.
They were described as easy-going, pleasure-loving people, the men, women, and
children working hard all day, subsisting
largely on fish caught in the same stream,
and dancing at night to the music of a
banjo around the camp-fire.
Through the years, every part of the
freshwater pearl harvest was utilized. The
mussels were eaten and also fed to livestock. And, tons of shells with their iridescent interiors were crafted into Mother
of Pearl buttons. The final chapter was
written for this pearling industry when
hydroelectric dams cooled the water temperatures (making the river habitat largely
unsuitable for the mussels) and plastic became the material of choice for buttons.
The freshwater pearl, crafted by nature's ancient mysteries and revered for
its variations of beauty for thousands of
years, was a star on the world stage during
this bookended period from 1895 to 1936
on the Clinch River.
A Present
of the Past
LAMBERT'S WINERY
A P PA L AC H I A N G L A S S
TRANS-ALLEGHENY
LUNATIC ASYLUM
CREATE LEGENDARY
ADVENTURES AT
S T O N E W A L L C O U N T R Y. C O M
LOCOMOTION, WEST VIRGINIA STYLE
MOUNTAINRAIL.COM
History in Pen & I nk by Tom Nichols
Freehand Pen and Ink Drawings of
Historic Structures that will leave you
with a taste of the Pioneer LifeStyle.
historyinpenandink.com
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021
33
http://www.STONEWALLCOUNTRY.COM
http://www.STONEWALLCOUNTRY.COM
http://www.MOUNTAINRAIL.COM
http://www.historyinpenandink.com
http://www.historyinpenandink.com
Blue Ridge Country January/February 2021
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Blue Ridge Country January/February 2021
Blue Ridge Country January/February 2021 - Cover1
Blue Ridge Country January/February 2021 - Cover2
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Blue Ridge Country January/February 2021 - Cover3
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