Bear in the Woods

I don't remember if I posted this video so at the risk of repeating myself, I'll post it again.  Bill and took a trip down South this past spring.  One of our stops was at Cades Cove in the Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee.  Cades Cove was originally purchased by one of my ancestors, William "Fighting Billy" Tipton back in the early 1800's.  "Fighting Billy" was a contemporary of President Andrew Jackson (yes, I am bragging.)  Although my ancestor never lived in Cades Cove, he did sell off a lot of the land to his relatives.  The existence of many Tipton graves in Cades Cove is what started me on my genealogy research of my Tipton roots.

Cades Cove was inhabited by many Tipton families as well as other families until the Federal government brought them all out (for pennies on the dollar I might add, Tiptons seem to always be on the short end of any monetary deal, must be in the genes) and established the Cades Cove National Park.

Cades Cove possesses a glorious natural beauty that is rare in this county in these days.  Visitors to the park travel a loop through the park.  If they are lucky they will see some of the present inhabitants of the park like we did on this spring day.

What we saw was a black bear snacking on some wild berries by a clear, cold, stream on this brisk spring day.  Take notice how many cars stop to observe the black bear in it's natural habitat.  Also note towards the end of the film when the bear seems to be approaching we tourists and how we head towards our cars!

We're going down again this spring.  It's an annual event for us now.  Enjoy!