The Cumberland Plateau

by Mary K. Baxley

  Darcy’s room was to the left at the top of the stairs. A queen-sized, four-poster bed covered in a handmade quilt with hand-carved pinecones on each post was centered in the room. An antique dresser, chest of drawers, and a Thomas Jefferson style writing desk equipped with writing essentials were all neatly arranged around the room. It was a spacious room with a large walk-in closet and simple furnishings. After unpacking, he met Elizabeth downstairs in the kitchen for some freshly baked bread with homemade butter and strawberry jam served with tea.

  “Elizabeth, this is scrumptious. Did your aunt make all of this herself?”

  “Yes, she and Grace do this all the time, just like my mother used to. We keep a milk cow and chickens, so everything is fresh and very good. Tonight for supper—they call it supper, not dinner—they’re going to fix the doves that Charles and my uncles killed on the first day of dove season. I’m sure Uncle Henry has added more since then,” she said. “I believe the menu calls for mashed potatoes with gravy, fried okra, squash casserole, field peas, homemade bread and peach cobbler. All of it comes from the farm. We keep a garden and have an orchard and berry patches.”

  “It sounds delicious. I believe I could become very accustomed to Southern cuisine,” he said as he rubbed his stomach and smiled.

  “Well, it’s just as well you do, if you plan to hang around me very much,” she replied with a teasing grin.

  After eating, she led him on a tour of the house, showing him the library, the den, the formal living room, the dining room, the breakfast room, the downstairs bathroom, and the parlor where the piano was kept. Elizabeth pointed out that the four bedrooms on either end of the kitchen had been servants’ quarters long ago. Darcy followed her upstairs to see all of the bedrooms, where the bathroom was, and the upstairs study. Her parents’ bedroom was the largest and most elegantly decorated of all the bedrooms, having French doors that opened onto the balcony he had seen when they first arrived. He thought the house made a cozy home for a growing family.

  After touring the inside, they left the house through the kitchen. Stepping out onto the veranda, he noticed the large porch ran along the entire back. It could be accessed from either the kitchen or the den and was furnished with wicker furniture. A round tea table with chairs and a small sofa were at one end and a porch swing with several benches and two rocking chairs were at the other.

  Strolling along the back of the house, he observed several gardens. One was a rose garden and the other contained herbs, and also there was one very large garden that must be lovely in spring and summer, he thought. It had flowering shrubs, crape myrtles, mimosas and wisteria trees that climbed an archway leading into an orchard. And there were beds of perennials and annuals that he recognized. In the center of the garden sat a gazebo with benches placed along the sides under the roof, and a table with chairs were placed in the center where one might read the morning paper while taking coffee as they enjoyed the garden.

  Walking toward the fence surrounding the barn, he heard the sound of cackling hens and a rooster crowing in the vicinity of a hen house, and he assumed, the milk-cow, mooing. A flock of geese mingled with ducks squawked near the creek. He chuckled at the sight of two barn cats fighting over a captured rat while pigs grunted and rooted in the hog pen. But it was the sight of a flock of strange birds ambling about, calling to one another, which caught his attention.

  “Elizabeth, what are those odd-looking fowl over there?” he asked, pointing in the direction of the birds.

  “Those?” Elizabeth asked as she unlatched the gate leading into the barnyard. “Those are Pearl Guineas. We keep them to control insects. They eat ticks, spiders, garden insects, and just about anything that crawls or flies. They keep the orchard picked clean of yellow jackets, too. Daddy bought them when we were kids because Daniel was highly allergic to insect stings, and the fact that they keep the potato beetles and other highly irritating insects at bay is an added bonus. But we do have to keep them away from the beehives. They are not selective as to what insects they will eat.” She laughed as he shook his head.

  “You certainly have a wide variety of farm animals. It must be amusing to watch them in the spring.”

  “Umm, yes it is. I’ve always enjoyed spring and summer, watching the new life come forth. I can’t think of anything more satisfying than living on a farm. It’s always fresh and new, and it’s not just the animals either, but the gardens and flowers, too. There’s nothing like the smell of the countryside in the summertime—the orchards, the honeysuckles, and Momma’s gardens—all of it.”

  As they stepped past the gate, Elizabeth put her arm around his waist, giving him a warm hug. “Umm…and that’s another smell I like. Can you smell that? There’s nothing like the sweet smell of a barnyard, is there, William?” Elizabeth asked as she raised her nose to sniff the scent of cow manure mixed with straw and fresh feed.

  He gently laughed, looking down at the woman beside him. “Only you would think so, Liz, but I must admit it does have its own unique smell.”

  “Oh come on, William, you know it smells good. No true farmer could think otherwise.” They both laughed as she latched the gate.

  Walking towards the barn, one of the hounds noticed them. The dog rose from his bed and wobbled in their direction, wagging his tail as he came. Darcy reached down to pat the Redbone’s lazy head. The other dogs soon followed, delighted to find someone interested in giving them a little attention. Darcy played with them for a little while, rubbing behind their long floppy ears, until the horses noticed them. All six came snorting and tossing their heads, nuzzling Darcy and Elizabeth in search of treats. Elizabeth didn’t disappoint them as she pulled some sugar cubes from her pocket.

  Darcy was immediately drawn to the large black stallion that approached him, eagerly looking for a delicacy, which Darcy just happened to have. “Elizabeth, this is a magnificent animal. He’s strong, with great conformation and intelligence. I can’t wait to ride him,” Darcy said, examining Black with a look of intense concentration.

  “Let’s just see if you can.” She gazed at him, clearly amused.

  “Oh, don’t worry. I’ll ride him. He likes me. I can tell.”

  “Well, for now, let’s go back to the house and see if lunch is ready.”

  “Elizabeth, we just ate.”

  “Yes, but we’ve been out here for over an hour. I’m hungry. Come on,” she said, motioning for him to follow.

  Darcy only smiled. As they walked back towards the house, he bent down, picked a large cream-colored chrysanthemum and wove it into the top of Elizabeth’s braid.

  “There now, you look beautifully natural for this autumn morning.” He smiled, pleased with his handiwork.

  ~*~

  After lunch, Elizabeth and Darcy returned to the barn and saddled the horses. She took the white Lipizzan, and he took Black. At first, Black would have none of it, and although he didn’t try to throw Darcy, he was not willing to be controlled. Battling in a war of the wills, Darcy held him firmly while he talked to the horse in hushed tones, gently stroking him until finally, after about a quarter-hour, Black calmed and allowed Darcy to guide him. Ready for a run, Darcy let him go and over the first fence they went.

  Elizabeth quickly turned her horse, realizing she was being left behind. She gently kicked her mount and took off after them at a full gallop, clearing the fence and catching up with them in a fast run.

  “Let them run and burn off some energy. It doesn’t matter where. We have five thousand acres at our disposal,” she yelled as her horse pulled up beside Darcy and Black. They ran for twenty minutes before slowing the pace, ending in the east pasture where Elizabeth started her tour.

  “This is where we keep the cows in the summer. I think the current number is about nine hundred. We let this pasture rest during the winter. See up over that hill?” She pointed in a northeasterly direction. “That’s where they are now. We baled that pasture back in August, so they should have enough hay for the winter. Of course, th
ey’ll also get grain from the silo. They have plenty to eat without us having to buy anything. In fact, we make so much silage that we sell most of it. Come with me, and I will show you the different fields of corn, wheat, and barley.”

  They rode fifteen minutes in a southeasterly direction before she finally stopped. “That was the cornfield we cut in late August. It’s also where Charles and my uncles shot doves during the first day of dove season. The doves come to glean the field, making themselves readily available for hunting season. In some respects, I hate dove season, although I do love the meat, but doves mate for life. It seems a sin to kill them.”

  Darcy turned to gaze at her in surprise. He’d never considered shooting from that aspect. He smiled at her sentimental ways as she carried on with her tour.

  “Look over to your right and you’ll see the summer wheat, and over to the right of that is the barley field,” she said as she turned her horse to the north. “Now, let’s go northwest. I have a special place to show you.”

  Approaching a densely wooded area, she paused. “Here it is, William. This is the cove. Behind it are about 250 acres of deep woods. I have never explored all of it. Some of it is too dense to make it in on horseback, and I’m not about to walk it. Over there is the first home John Thomas Bennet built upon coming here in 1803,” she said, pointing in the direction of a rustic cabin sitting on a slight hill surrounded by large oak and hickory trees. “It’s fairly large for a log cabin since it has two rooms with a kitchen through the breezeway. We’ll go in and have a look later on, but for now, let’s give the horses a drink while we sit and rest,” she said, pointing to a large smooth rock in a clearing just above a natural pool.

  After the horses drank their fill, Darcy tied them to a low branch under one of the large oaks. Elizabeth took a seat and beckoned him to join her.

  Looking around, Darcy observed that the cove was surrounded on two sides by a mountain covered in dense forest with underbrush in places. In the center, a stream tumbled down from the mountain in a cascading waterfall, hiding what looked like a cave behind it. The falls spilled into a small pool of water that flowed into the creek that cut across the fields, and the entire area was surrounded by large oak, walnut, maple, elm, and hickory trees, towering high above the area and covering it in shade. It was a scene that one might see in Tolkien’s world of Middle Earth where the elves of Beleriand or Doriath might have lived, the cave being a hidden passageway to Gondolin…Beautiful.

  Elizabeth leaned back on her hands and breathed in deeply the sweet scents of autumn. “This is where we came in the summer to play and relax when we were children. We swam in that pool, and then we would sun dry here on this rock. Of all the places on the farm, this is my favorite, and I would often come here to be alone and read. In the summer, we have wild blackberries and gooseberries that grow in the mountain near the edge of the woods. The smell of honeysuckle fills the air, and there is a particular bird I love that nests nearby. It’s called the mountain bluebird, otherwise known as the Indigo Bunting. It’s the prettiest shade of blue I have ever seen.” She gave a wide gesture with her hand as she pointed it all out to him.

  “Also, down by the creek bank, mountain mint and watercress grow along the edge of the water. The mint makes the best iced tea you will ever taste. It’s steeped in the sun, along with the tea, and the watercress is excellent in a salad.”

  He caught her genuine smile while receiving all that she told him with pleasure.

  “In the summertime, when we were girls, Jane, Celia—one of our friends—and I used to come here and spend the night in the cabin. We would let our hair down, pretending we were elves and dance on this rock in the moonlight, especially on midsummer’s eve. That was one of our favorite times.” She sighed. “Sometimes there would be a faerie ring by the water’s edge, and we would dance in it. We would even skinny dip in the pool until one day Joseph and some of his friends happened upon us. They stole our clothes and hid them in the brush, and that put an end to that.” She giggled.

  As he listened, he thought back to his own boyhood when he, David, his Winthrop cousin Richard, and William and Benson, his Darcy cousins, had done much the same thing in the cove at Pemberley. They would skinny dip, too, and pretend to be on some quest for the Queen or the elvish lords of Middle Earth.

  This place, like the one at Pemberley, was magical, causing his thoughts to turn to how he would like to someday dance in a faerie ring naked or skinny dip in the pool alone with Elizabeth. With that thought, the desire to make love to her returned even stronger. He stifled a moan. …That, Darcy, is a long way into the future, if at all. You have to win her love first. She is not the kind of woman to be taken. She’s to be loved and cherished.

  He realized he was falling deeply in love with her. And he was more certain than ever that Elizabeth was the one—the one he’d been searching for, and it amazed him that he was to find her here, of all places, in a sleepy mountain plateau in Tennessee—what some people would consider the middle of nowhere. Darcy shook his head to clear his mind.

  “It’s very beautiful and peaceful here. I can see why you would love it. This place reminds me of…”

  “Middle Earth?” she interrupted with a smile.

  “Yes, exactly,” he whispered …and Pemberley. “We have a similar place at my home where David and I would go in the summer to swim. I have fond memories of those days. I used to go there and read, too, just like you. It was like stepping into another world. I’ll take you there someday.”

  “Perhaps you will.” She smiled. “Now let me tell you our history.”

  He listened intently as she began by telling him how they were descended from the sixth Earl of Fairington in Hampshire, England. “The Earl of Fairington was born in 1622 and had two sons. My family came from the second son who inherited an estate called Longbourn, in Hertfordshire, England. That son had a son who in turn had a son, Thomas Bennet. It was Thomas Bennet’s son, and my ancestor, who had been the problem. He was the oldest with one younger brother and several sisters. He was John Thomas Bennet and the younger son, his brother, was Edward Thomas Bennet. John was to inherit Longbourn, but he fell into a scandal when he married against his father’s will.”

  Darcy wrinkled his brow. “What type of scandal?”

  Elizabeth tilted her head and breathed deeply. “It began when a gentleman’s daughter became homeless after the death of her parents, leaving no relations to take care of her. She was taken in by another family, but for some reason, fell out with them and was cast off. Then she was taken in by a madam of a famous brothel in London. There John met her and soon fell in love. He bought her, as they say, so that no other man could have her, keeping her for his own private use,” Elizabeth stated. “She became pregnant, and when she was several months along, he married her. This was such a shock and disgrace that his father disowned him, and the estate fell to his younger brother, Edward.

  “John’s father grieved for his son. He didn’t want to disinherit him, but he felt he had little choice. So in order to save his unmarried daughters from the disgrace of their older brother, he gave John five thousand pounds in gold and sent them to America in 1789.”

  “Elizabeth, that’s very sad. What happened next?” Darcy wrinkled his brow and beckoned her to continue, keenly interested in her story. It vaguely reminded him of another Bennet.

  “Well, John and Rebecca Jane, his wife, settled in Virginia, but then later John followed the mountain men on several adventures. When he came through the Cumberland Gap, he fell in love with the land. So when it was opened up for settlement in 1800, he came along with many Scotch-Irish families, to stake a claim on the land, which he named Longbourn, after the estate he should’ve had in England. After they cleared the land and built a settlement, John and Rebecca Jane began a new life together. It was very hard in the beginning, and had it not been for the Cherokee Indians, they very well might not have made it. The Indians taught them what was good to eat and what was not. ”


  Elizabeth went on to tell of the building of the plantation, the crops, slavery, and eventually the Civil War and Reconstruction. She explained the horrors of the war and that which followed—the death, the starvation, and the destruction of not only the land, but of a way of life. The war and Reconstruction had been hard on everyone, but especially those who had not kept their money in gold. Her family had been fortunate in that they’d seen what was coming and had kept their gold, investing it in a bank in England, thus saving the family fortune and the plantation.

  “That’s basically how we came to be here. There is more, but I’ll leave that for another time. Let’s just say that we survived. Now, it’s your turn to tell me about your family’s history.”

  He smiled and began. “My ancestors came over with William the Conqueror in 1066 and fought for the Duke of Normandy at the Battle of Hastings, securing England for the Normans.” Darcy picked up a pebble and tossed it into the stream. “After William became the king, he granted us several thousand acres of land for our service. We went on to serve in the various courts of the Norman kings and later fought with the nobles against King John, eventually forcing him to agree to the Articles of the Barons and sign the Magna Carter in 1215. Then we fought in The Hundred Years’ War against France.”

  “So your family is of Norman decent and was loyal to the king it appears.”

  “Yes,” he said with a smile. “But loyalties were divided in the 15th century with The Wars of the Roses.”

  “Tell me about it. That’s a period in history that I find fascinating.” Elizabeth said, tilting her head and catching his gaze.

  “Well, since you’re interested, I’ll give you a brief overview.” Darcy drew his knees up and wrapped his arms around them. “The hostilities, as you probably know, spanned a length of one hundred years, but the actual fighting only lasted for thirty-two. The first open fighting broke out in 1455. And as a side note, the name, Wars of the Roses, which was not used during that time, came from the family badges—a red rose for Lancaster and a white one for York.”