Tennessee Mountain Village’s Holiday Filled With Tradition

Here in the foothills of the Cumberland Mountains, in a town of 361 people, one stop light and a single block of stores, Christmas is observed with small-town traditions.

Town folk don’t have to go too far to get a tree; the woods next to Lynchburg are full of good pine trees.

Decorating the trees at the town’s churches is a community project, with parish members bringing ornaments from home and sharing a potluck dinner when the work is done.

While Christmas dinner usually is reserved “just for kinfolk,” on just about every other day during the holiday season there’s an informal party with friends sharing homemade cake.