“The late 1930s, and on into the much more properous 1940s, especially the World War II years, saw Middlesborough as more or less a ‘wide open’ town. the town had the reputation, deserved or not, of being ‘pretty wild’ and alcoholic beverages were plentiful. Bars were numerous all up and down 19th Street and Lothbury Avenue especially and some were known as somewhat notorious places. According to an eyewitness account of the times (this eyewitness shall remain nameless): ‘Drunks could be seen coming out of the saloons all hours of the day and night. Fights were frequent and gunplay and knife brawls were nearly an every night affair in at least one or two. In addition to legal whiskey and beer a locally concocted moonshine could also be purchased in some of them which might have raised spirits but certainly did nothing to calm the.'” – from Middlesborough – the First Century (Third Edition update) by Lou DeRosett and Pat Clower DeRosett.

Chained Rock Overlooking City of Pineville

“…In 1931, a bunch of ‘the boys,’ including some from the Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs, salvaged a giant chain from a dredge on the Tennessee River. It was hauled by mule-team up the mountain, where it was ‘spiked’ into a boulder that looked as though it might come tumbling down in the Narrows. The other end of the chain was anchored into the rock of the mountainside. That chain would no more have held that enormous rock than would a cotton thread. ‘Chained Rock’…was nothing more than a joke, something to draw tourists. Which is precisely what local folks had in mind….” – from Quests by David M. Burns.