These rolling hills of Tennessee, hills of sweet and bitter memories, that I call home are dear to each of us. In the Center Hill community we grew up, laughing, playing and working as one big happy family. We all shared the joys of living, yet, we all shared the sorrows of living. I can remember we would meet at a neighbors house have a play party half the night, then work from sun up to sun set next day in the field. That is happy memories. I can also remember the old church bell ringing when was a summons that someone had died. My dad (Roy Petty) would leave whatever he was doing to go help dig the grave. My mother (Lena Petty) would go along to help make or make the burial clothes. Sometimes they would also make the caskets with the help of others of the community. In this day and age its hard to imagine this and in these modern times with paved highways, eighteen wheelers, American made cars, the little foreign made cars and trucks, its hard to believe that a train of covered wagons made it way across these hills for people to settle to make Tennessee home.

In the year of 1825 the family of Jimmy Little (great grandfather of Lena Petty) brought his family from North Carolina to settle on the hill that is behind Lena Petty's house she now lives in on the Jimmy Little old farm. After settling there they raised their family - one of the girls being Lena's grandmother. Also in this same house Lena's father Jim Mack Thomas was born. Even I can remember the old corner stones and some of the logs of this house.

In the same wagon train, Rev. Stephen Thomas and his family also from North Carolina, settled in what we now know as Pine Lake. Their home place is now covered by the waters of the lake. Burial for the Thomas family is at Mt. Zion on a hill above the lake. To my knowledge they are among the first to be buried there. Richard Taylor Thomas, son of Stephen Thomas and Susan Ellen Little, daughter of Jimmy Little were married having one son Jim Mack Thomas, father of Lena Petty. Mart Thomas, Stephens' son, gave the land for the Thomas school house. School was held there until Henderson County began consolidating schools. Then the Holiness Church from Stegall purchased the school and used it for a church for years. They moved from there to the present beautiful brick church they now occupy.

In 1918 Roy Petty, son of Tom Frank Petty and Margaret Isabelle Grissom, and Lena Thomas, daughter of Jim Mack Thomas and Mary Louisa Christopher was married on a snowy Jan. 9th. A foot of snow was on the ground and another foot came that night. They moved into a log house about 200 ft north of Phillip and Velma McBride's home. The 22 highway is built over the place the house stood. Raymond their oldest son, was born there and we occasionally tease him about being borned in the middle of the 22 highway.

Phillip and Velma now own the old farm of Tom Frank Petty. Grandpa as we all called him, was a lovable character, always having time for all our wants. He wasn't perfect but when a child didn't have a grandpa like mine, it was my idea that child had missed a great deal in life. Grandpa and his family lived in a log house on the hill behind Phillip where a red building now stands. The house was standing before the civil war. During that war the house was used for a hospital. As long as it stood there were square holes in the logs that had been put there so the ......... shot gun in and blast away at the enemy. This is the house Ohlen, Victoria Chandler and J.S. Petty were brought up in and Ohlen and his family lived for sometime. SO often as a child I have looked at the old house we had such good times in wondering how we would feel if we knew some of the stories it could have told us. At that time, however, life wasn't complicated, our biggest problem was seeing how fast we could roll down the hill on a truck wagon J.S. had put together for us. The shortest and fastest route was under the barbed wire pasture fence. That all ended one day when J.S. didn't quite get under.

Shortly after Raymond was born Roy and Lena bought her mother and stepfathers farm, Mr.and Mrs. Thomas Waddle. The house is less than 1/2 mile north of the house Lena now lives in this being the house Mama and Dad built in 1934. This was one hundred and nine years after Jimmy Little and family had settled this land. The two front rooms of the Petty house is built of logs that were cut on Cousin Jim Smiths farm. The area they were cut is around >>>> a broad axe. When the logs were hauled to the place for the house to be built, the neighbors of the community gathered to help. The women cooked dinner, the men built the house and this was commonly called a "Working". So many of the neighbors were involved and thought it was small or every young. I can remember Antney Neisler, Will Petty, Daddy, Raymond, Elsworth and Grandpa working until the two rooms were finished. We lived in the two rooms years before anything else was done. However, my memories of those two rooms is a lot of laughter, a lot of company, my Dad playing the fiddle as we call it. Dad was a cotton farmer as most of the neighbors and in one of his fields that is almost in Sycamore Lake is an Indian Grave. It always caught our attention, probably our imagination also. The Trail of Tears came down across the edge of Mom and Dads farm on the west side of Sycamore Lake. The Trail of Tears is the moving of the Indians from the Northern States to Indian reservations. Part went across to Okla and some came down through Tenn. Daddy had a grandmother that attended the funeral of the Indian. ....... his horse, his dog, cooking utensils and his gold watch were buried with him. Sad to say, even though I know the area, none can find the grave.

With my ramblings, Mama is telling me stories. In the year 1900 Grandad Jim Mack Thomas was at Center Hill cemetery putting up tombstones. At midday the sun went into eclipse. It grew so dark he had to quit and go home. In this same year he was showing (being a Blacksmith) a horse, the horse kicked him resulting in his death. It was told the horse kicked him 22 feet. Call it strange or unusual, 38 years later a mule kicked my grandpa Petty which resulted in his death. Grandpa was a cotton farmer living on the farm Phillip McBride owns. He was fastening the traces of his mules when one kicked him. A couple of days later he died in a Memphis hospital. That was June 1938.

The other day I was at Neal and Louise Clenneys home. Memories were hitting me from every side. In front of the house is the old meeting house patch, a part of Elzworth and Katie Petty's farm formerly Bill Dick Petty's farm, great uncle of Elzworth. I am told it was an old dwelling house used for church in the 1800. We farmed this field also the field the Clenney house sits on. While there I looked along the edge of the woods and saw beautiful honeysuckle bushes. That brought back sweet memories. Daddy and I would be walking to J. Grissoms store, hub of the Center Hill Community at the time these bushes would be blooming. Daddy would start filling our arms with the sweetest smelling blossoms of these bushes. We would go on to the cemetery to place them on our loved ones graves. I can still see the tender expression on his face as he divided the flowers trying to have enough for each grave. Then on the way back home he would get another armful to take home to mamma.

Back to the meeting house (see how I ramble) the people went together and built a church on the big road which was about half way between Katies' and Mr. Frank McBride's ole home place. The Methodist, Baptist and possibly others used the same building. My great granddad, Dick Thomas, was a Methodist preacher. While at this church he was called on unexpectedly to preach and not having on his dress coat he was trying to apologize. He got in the stand telling the people he was sorry but would have to preach in his shirt tail. In those days people were not so liberal with their thoughts or speech. So the people were having a hard time trying not to laugh. My Grandpa and Grandmother Petty were not married at the time. One went out one door and the other went out the other door. When they had laughed to their hearts content they came back in and listened to that ole time Methodist preacher.

When Louise and Rebecca ask me to write this guess as they didn't know how bad I scribble or how I like to reminisce. Hope it isn't to long. I love to talk of the Center Hill Community and fondly call it the "garden spot of the world" its not quite up to being called Eden - almost. Euther Vitetoe Jr. summed it all up in just a few words when he said "Lou Belle, everyone in this community love each other". To which I said a solemn "Amen". for Jesus Himself said "These things I command you, that ye love one another".