The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 62

Friday DECEMBER 16. 1988 THE TENNESSEAN 21'A HI Museum offers past Christmases Appalachian yuletides were poor, earthy and low-key AT BUSH JEWELERS SPECIAL DIAMOND INVENTORY AT varsm PRICES Diamond purchases from banks, heirs, and executors of estates allows us NORRIS, Term. (AP) In a season marked by glitzy, shopper-clogged malls and jazzed-up carols piped through public address systems, an East Tennessee museum offers a glimpse of Appalachian Christmases of the past. Popcorn strings, apples, greenery and pine cones decorate two cabins at the Museum of Appalachia, 1 5 miles north of Knoxville, and many of the toys tucked under cedar and sassafras trees have the laborious look of handicraft "So many people think about Christmas as a lot of decorations and presents, like something from a Norman Rockwell painting," said John Rice Irwin, the museum's founder and operator. "But the truth was, people were so poor and had so little." One sparse, dirt-floor cabin at the museum represents Appalachian pioneer-style life around the turn of the century.

A sassafras tree dotted with apples and strands of popcorn stands before the fireplace. The toys are a couple of wooden dolls and some animals whittled from wood. "People had heard there were Christmas trees but hadn't heard they were supposed to be an evergreen," Irwinsaid. Another cabin Illustrates Christmas in the 1 920s and '30s, when tinsel was introduced and when scooters and metal, brightly colored spinning tops were popular. "You had handmade toys and area store-bought toys, such as the tops you put on the floor and pump, and painted bugles," he said.

Besides the tinsel, construction-paper rings and pop-v com lace the big cedar in that room, and evergreen boughs and Christmas stockings decorate the fireplace mantel. An aluminum foil star graces the treetop. "One of the earliest and most universal decorations is the star. People collected their tinfoil and cut out a cardboard star and covered it with the foil," said Irwin. While Christmas in Appalachia certainly was poor and earthy, people should remember that America has not always decorated lavishly for the season, he said.

"People don't realize that Christmas decorations are such a recent thing," he said. Appalachia's Christmases have been low-key because of the area's isolation and poverty. to sell these diamonds of various sizes, cuts and qualities to your advantage at 40 less than the appraised value! SHOWN IS A PARTIAL LISTING OF SPECIAL DIAMOND INVENTORY IN MANY QUALITIES. Use our 5-Month Budget Plan No Interest No Carrying Charges. 5 Equal Payments.

1-24 east over Monteagle likely open next summer Brilliant Round Brilliant Round Marquise Shape 1.00 Carat Weight 2.01 Carat Weight 2.00 Carat Weight OUR PRICE $1,575 OUR PRICE $4,613 OUR PRICE $5,490 APPRAISED VALUE $2,625 APPRAISED VALUE $7.689 APPRAISED VALUE $9,15,0 Brilliant Round 0 Brilliant Round Oval Shape "ggz 1.14 Carat Weight 2.31 Carat Weight 1.01 Carat Weight OUR PRICE $2,052 OUR PRICE $3,118 OUR PRICE $2,454 APPRAISED VALUE $3,420 APPRAISED VALUE $5,198 APPRAISED VALUE $4,091 Brilliant Round Brilliant Round Oval Shape 1.25 Carat Weight 3.02 Carat Weight 2.16 Carat Weight WIT OUR PRICE $2,025 OUR PRICE $9,784 OUR PRICE $8,748 APPRAISED VALUE $3,375 APPRAISED VALUE $16,308 APPRAISED VALUE $14,580 Brilliant Round Marquise Shape 'A' Pear Shape Cp 1.39 Carat Weight 1.03 Carat Weight 1.18 Carat Weight OUR PRICE $2,502 OUR PRICE $2,039 OUR PRICE $2,814 APPRAISED VALUE $4,170 APPRAISED VALUE $3,399 APPRAISED VALUE $4,691 Brilliant Round ft Marquise Shape A Emerald Cut Or 1.48 Carat Weight 1.17 Carat Weight .95 Pt. Carat Weight OUR PRICE $2,930 OUR PRICE $2,843 OUR PRICE $2,009: APPRAISED VALUE $4,884 APPRAISED VALUE $4,739 APPRAISED VALUE Brilliant Round Marquise Shape 'fa Emerald Cut fj 1.77 Carat Weight 1.39 Carat Weight 1.08 Carat Weight OUR PRICE $3,186 OUR PRICE $3,127 OUR PRICE $2,332 APPRAISED VALUE $5,310 APPRAISED VALUE $5,213 APPRAISED VALUE $3,888 TVA defends $28,000 logo as worthwhile CHATTANOOGA (AP) TVA Is drawing criticism for spending $28,000 on a new logo, but the agency's chief operating of ficer says the move will be worthwhile if it bolsters employee support for TVA's missioa TVA, which is in the middle of a reorganization aimed at regaining its competitiveness with private utilities, now has 25 different logos representing its various departments. Last week, the federal agency disclosed it had hired a New York design firm to develop a single corporate logo in an effort to create a more uniform image. "We're making a small investment in something that is going to be very important to the entire agency to grab hold of a consistent image everywhere we are," Bill Willis, TVA's executive vice president, said. Deplano Design Inc.

of New York was selected to create the logo by Conn Wolfe, an Atlanta public relations firm that TVA is paying $400,000 this year to help manage public and employee relations during the reorganization. Cost-cutting measures, including a reduction of staff by 7,800 employees, helped TVA reduce its fiscal 1989 budget by about $290 million, but the agency must slash another $154 million next year to offset decreased payments from the Department of Energy. According to the Tennessee Department of Safety, 18-wheelers were involved in 10 of the 1 i fatalities and in 76 of the injury accidents on the Monteagle portion of 1-24 from 1981 through 1984. More than 19,000 vehicles travel the mountain highway every day, and in April 1985 the Tennes-' see Department of Transportation decided to do something about the problem, beginning work to straighten the curves and reduce the 6 grade of the old U.S. 41 route.

I-24's three westbound lanes, which follow a more gradual slope along the north side of the mountain, were reconfigured to accommodate two lanes of traffic in each direction. The project, originally targeted for completion in December 1987 at a cost of about 17 million, is now expected to be finished in May. The current estimated cost, according to the Tennessee Public Service Commission, is $29 million. But the new eastbound highway will boast several feature; not included in the original estimate, such as truck escape lanes and a truck inspection site atop the mountain, said Eddie Taylor, DOT regional inspector in Chattanooga. PAN GEORGE Associated Press CHATTANOOGA -It Will probably be summer before the new eastbound lanes of Interstate 24 over Monteagle Mountain are finally reopened to traffic But the four-year construction project to improve the once-deadly highway, along with some state-enacted safety programs, is already paying off in fewer fatal accidents.

In 1 984, seven people died in wrecks along the five-mile stretch of 1-24 that snakes down the south side of Monteagle about 45 miles northwest of Chattanooga. At least three people were killed the next year, when east-bound traffic was rerouted for the renovation. But since March 1986, there has been only one death. The construction project has been a big reason. Four years ago, despite its designation as an interstate highway, eastbound 1-24 was a three-lane corkscrew that followed the path of ancient U.S.

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Dec. 16. y.t'st&ik 'jV frit up. 1:30 main OPEN SUNDAY 12 noon to 7pm.