BOOGERTOWN GAP
OLD-TIME STRING MUSIC
Boogertown Gap - The Place
Boogertown Gap
– In case you're not from around these parts, Sevier County, TN, or if you are and haven't heard of it, YES, Boogertown Gap is a real place. It’s
a gap, or low spot, on a high ridge that separates the rural communities of Boogertown and King Branch. Keith used to pass
over that gap many times as a kid riding in his parents car, and later
as a bigger kid in his own car. But he never knew it had a name, he
just knew that was where his cousin Alana Watson fell out of the back of her dad’s moving Model T pickup truck and tumbled through the
briars. She’s well and thriving. Later in life, as education crept into
his years, Keith saw on a United States Geological Survey map this gap
was given the name Boogertown Gap. We wonder why those mapmakers, or
whoever picks map place names didn’t call it King Branch Gap or why
the other four gaps you have to cross to get into Boogertown didn’t
have the clout to capture the mapmakers attention. In fact none of the
other gaps have map names, but I’ll bet you the locals have one, or
many for each. Boogertown Gap was a place my father as a child spent
many summer nights with his dad and brothers around a campfire
listening to the hounds on a fox chase, telling stories, and maybe
eating a June Apple. Boogertown is real too, and like so many other places, it too, has another name, much more
palatable
to the upstanding citizenry, but not as affectionate or evoking as
Boogertown. It’s other name is Oldham or Oldham’s Creek, named for
James Oldham who moved there between 1790 and 1795, having moved from South Carolina where he and his sons served in the Revolutionary War. James had a brother who traveled with Daniel Boone and all of his brothers fought at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. James later migrated to eastern Indiana leaving behind his legacy that would become Boogertown. Origins of the name Boogertown are many, so here for
your
continued reading pleasure are two of the most prominent stories of how
Boogertown got its name. During the Civil War, an "unknown" soldier,
perhaps and outlier or deserter, saw some eyes in the bush which
frightened him. It turned out to be a cow, but for that his "booger" in
the bush became the namesake for Boogertown. Another is that a man
wanted to move his family out to this area to raise a bunch of
"boogers" (kids), and for that the area received its name. Whatever the
true origin of the name be, in some areas Boogertown is still timeless
from my early years and full of local tradition and lore. The house
pictured above is the house where Keith's father was born back in 1928
and where Keith spent many summers with the Watson family. Imagine
a couple of miles distant through the background of this photo, is
Boogertown Gap. At right Keith (1972) is pickin his Uncle Boyd's Regal
f-hole arch top guitar on which he heard Boyd pick Wildwood Flower many
times. You guessed it, the barn is in Boogertown and the house in the
background is where Keith's dad was born. At left is Boyd (on the
right) in his playing days with Benny Sims, according to Boyd's
daughter. View Visit Boogertown (Oldham Creek) TN in a larger map
