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| The whole gang on the front steps of Turner Cottage. |
After his parents' deaths, Jack was left with boxes and boxes of photos and momentos that his family accumulated over the years, and when he recently began scanning everything, he became curious about the people in these ancient images.
The history and details of his Anderson family tree have been fairly well-established, as his ancestry has historical significance in the pre-Civil War Sequatchie Valley, but his Brown family roots were more mysterious.
Based on names scrawled on the backs of photographs and in various old documents he inherited, he was able to establish both connection and communication on facebook with distant cousins who helped fill in some of the blanks and are still researching geneology to hopefully find accurate fill-ins for others.
In the process of sharing photos and information, we ended up with an invitation to attend the annual get-together of the extended family, and no offense to my own family, I have never been to a more enjoyable reunion.
The whole weekend is a leisurely assortment of enjoy-at-will options, culminating in a relaxed covered-dish feast with the whole clan on Sunday afternoon.
Jack and I went for the Sunday lunch, and OH, what a Sunday lunch it was!!
As a child I was labeled a "picky eater", because I didn't like my food to touch -
My, things have changed. This is a picture of my plate with its strategically placed small spoonfuls of everything. When I was done, the only thing left was a corncob.
The Turner Cottage, where the luncheon is held, is beautiful and spacious with beautiful porches that are perfect for enjoying the mountain breeze.
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| Jack with "new" cousin, Sylvia Brown Flowers, and McMinnville cousin, Ann Brown. |
Even though the only people we knew were some of Jack's McMinnville relatives, also "newbies" to the Brown reunion, we were welcomed with open arms and quickly felt completely at home with the crowd.
Dog-friendly gatherings are always good... I can't remember the name of the old yellow dog, but the little guy in the lower picture is Ziggy. There was also a sweet beagle, but she was camera-shy.
A truly lovely day with a sweet bunch of people...
