Understanding Apples Book

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Anyone that knows the city of Kingsport, the Model City, our "Little Apple", knows about Church Circle and the area adjacent to it: Five Points. For a moment let's examine this fine town û the way it is now and the way it used to be.

It used to be that Kingsport, Tennessee wasn't King's Port at all. It was part of a Cherokee nation û so vast û and so rich in agriculture and history, oral history, that the area was actually a sacred ground to these Native Americans. What is called Long Island here in Kingsport, Tennessee was once a hallowed stretch û a four and a half mile island that was nestled between the Holston River and the Sluice, revered by the tribesman for its energy and spiritual presence. It was said that no man could be killed on Long Island. But in 1777 the chiefs gathered and signed a treaty with the white man, giving up not only hundreds of thousands of their acreage, but millions û including the sacred ground known as Long Island. Because the chieftains' decision was not unanimous among the elders or their sons û a powerful curse was placed upon the hallowed ground: No white man would ever find peace there.

A mere window of events is shared within the pages of this book that offer only a glimpse of what life was like thereafter.