Coal Creek Health Day
and the Big Dig
26 October 2007
Read story in Knoxville News Sentinel
Link to story on Knoxville News Sentinel
View video story on WVLT-TV Knoxville
The 7th annual Coal Creek Health Day had it all… bug hunts, fish surveys, fly tying, casting lessons, an archaeological dig, and beautiful weather. After lunch, 4th and 5th grade students participated in the reintroduction of native rainbow darters to Coal Creek by UT graduate students under the leadership of Dr. Joyce Coombs (see accompanying web page). To view results of previous Health Days visit http://www.coalcreekaml.com/HealthDayLinkPage.htm.
With
so many activities taking place at once, we worried about having enough volunteers.
As always, the Clinch River Chapter of Trout Unlimited
stepped up to the
plate, along with our friends from TVA, UT, and TDEC.It was "camouflage" day at the school, so lots of the kids were wearing their favorite camouflage clothing.
How cool to have a creek running right beside your school. It's a living laboratory!! Tables were set up at the creek to display fish and critters collected by the students. The lessons taught the kids how the health of the creek is assessed by studying what lives in it.
Thanks so much to Briceville School Principal Ron Spencer for allowing us the pleasure of spending the day with his students, and thanks to the teachers and Stephanie Kirk for coordinating their classes and having such well mannered students. And, don't forget the cafeteria ladies who fed us lunch and Bobby and Kippie who kept us straight.
For the first time this year, Dr. Elizabeth Kellar DeCorse and other archaeologists from UT supervised Briceville students in a dig to find artifacts of the Briceville Opera House that reportedly had been built on the site of Briceville School in the early 1890s and was destroyed by fire around 1918. It boasted a seating capacity of 300 and was home to fraternal and sororal organizations, literary and musical competitions, and related community events. They previously led our archaeological dig at Coal Creek's Militia Hill.
The artifacts collected by the students will be cataloged and placed on display at Briceville School. Artifacts collected during future digs will be added to the collection for use by students and teachers.
Click on image to enlarge
Odd Fellow Opera House
Briceville, Tennessee
See list of the great volunteers who made the day so educational and fun!
We were joined by reporters, journalists, and photojournalists from the Knoxville News Sentinel, Clinton Courier News, WVLT-TV, and WBIR-TV. Links to their articles and reports are included above. The Briceville students must be special to have so many nice folks from the press come to see them!
