Blog

Always the Same but Always Changing

At the time of my first visit to Buckhorn in 1947, my mother was the secretary at the Knoxville Tourist Bureau and had gotten to know Mrs. Audrey Bebb (mistress of Buckhorn at that time). We were comparative newcomers, fresh from the cornfields of Iowa. We had fallen in love with the Tennessee mountains, lakes and people (I married a girl from Jefferson County in 1951 and we have been coming to Buckhorn Inn ever since, just recently to celebrate our 62 wedding anniversary).

At the time of that first visit, I was visiting my folks from Iowa State College and going up to the mountains for the Buckhorn Lunch (yes, they served lunch in those days) was a special treat for me. We sat outside with Mrs. Bebb after lunch and talked—mostly about the mountains. At one point, Mrs. Bebb said that she always enjoyed just sitting and watching the mountains, “always the same but always changing.” That comment has remained in my mind all these years because I received a letter from mother several months later with the news that Mrs. Bebb had died from brain cancer. She had gradually lost her sight beginning several months before our visit. Bob Holsaple, Knoxville TN