A plus to the Indian Rock Campground was that it was next to a bike path. Before we headed out the next day, we rode several miles to Howard’s Tunnel. The 300 ft tunnel was dug in 1838 using hand drills and black powder. Union troops manned a cannon on top of it during the civil war to protect it.
Our first stop at Dill’s Tavern was a disappointment. When I first read it I saw “tavern” and though we would be stopping for a drink at a revolutionary era bar. Sadly its tavern days ended centuries ago. The house had seen additions and conversions to be used as a residence and now a historical site. A site that is only open Sundays – it was Tuesday when we stopped there. The sign there did promise that they were planning on making whiskey there as it was made centuries ago. Maybe it will be worth swinging by again.
We journeyed on to Boiling Springs and the Village Artisans Gallery. The shop is in an old, small church and had a number of interesting wood items including a purse (Why would anyone want a wood purse? Mrs. Ram assured me there would be women who would love it).
Backtracking to a sign that said Boiling Springs Tavern, we were glad to find that it was an actual working tavern. We had a PBJ by the small river first and then went in for a beer. The bartender let us now that the “boiling” was actually 50F water surging from the ground into a small pond behind the tavern. We will need to wait till we are out west for real hot spring,
Just across the street from where we had parked was the Appalachian trail and a small office of the AT Conservancy. As I stepped in to the office I could smell the thru hikers before I saw them. I suspect they could smell me as well. I was one of the clean people.