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 The Scopes Monkey Trial Dayton, Tennessee was only a few miles away, so I drove into town late that afternoon and got a room at a place called the Kelly Motel. Whoever Kelly is, I'm sure he's a nice guy but his motel was a bit of a dump and, worst of all, there weren't any non-smoking rooms. That night, while breathing in the equivalent of two packs of Marlboros, I made a vow to never again stay in a smoking room – or in a dingy motel. I thought seriously about sleeping in my truck out in the parking lot, but I'd already paid my $32 and, dammit, I was going to sleep in that room even if it killed me (which it nearly did).
After gladly saying goodbye to the Kelly Motel on Sunday morning, I headed into downtown Dayton to visit the Rhea County Courthouse. This was the site of the Scopes "Monkey Trial" in 1925, where a high school teacher, John Scopes, was put on trial for – horrors! – teaching the theory of evolution. I'd wanted to visit Dayton ever since I read about the Monkey Trial in my high school English class, about the only worthwhile thing I did in that class.
I was surprised, though, that no one else was there poking around the courthouse grounds, but I suppose rural Dayton is pretty far off the beaten tourist path. Nevertheless, it was interesting to walk around the courthouse and imagine Clarence Darrow battling William Jennings Bryan – and just about everyone else in the very religious state of Tennessee. Darrow and Scopes lost, not surprisingly, though the ruling was later overturned on a technicality. Interestingly, a few days after John Scopes was convicted, the prosecutor (and three-time Democratic presidential candidate), William Jennings Bryan, died here in Dayton – and on a Sunday, no less.
Around noon, as the thermometer topped 100 degrees, I left Dayton and drove east towards the Smoky Mountains and Appalachia. The eastern Tennessee countryside is beautiful with lots of green, rolling hills and small truck farms (where they grow small trucks, what else?) This being my first trip to eastern Tennessee and southern Appalachia, I was half-expecting to see hillbillies sitting on their front porches playing the banjo and sipping moonshine, but actually this area is fairly modern (though, obviously to me, quite poor).
It was also very muggy and I couldn't figure out why anyone would willingly live here, at least during the summer. Southerners are perhaps the nicest folks in America, but – and no offense here – they're apparently not too smart for living in this kind of swampy weather. Of course, I'm sure they think anyone who lives in Oregon, where it rains every day for six months through the winter (like me for example), is also stupid. So I guess we're even.
Above left: Downtown Dayton, Tennessee was a busy place in July 1925 during the Scopes "Monkey Trial." It's a lot quieter these days. Above right: After traveling through the steamy South for a few weeks, it was a treat to climb the Great Smoky Mountains and cool off. Here's my truck at 4,400 feet. My elation was short-lived, though, because I soon headed down into the steamy lowlands of North Carolina.
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