Curtis N. Coulter announces the release of The Creeker Magazine, a collection of four historical documentaries about iconic Sale Creek events and eras. This 80-page publication features 43 photographs, including aerial views of two of the subject areas. It is available at coulterpublications.com and at Small-Town Antique Mall in Sale Creek, Daniel Farm Supply and The Gathering Place in Dalton, starting this Thursday. The cost is $25.
Pre-orders can be placed immediately on coulterpublications.com, and will be mailed as soon as the shipment is received.
This publication contains the following articles:
- Camp Sale Creek and the German POW Camp of 1945 - The U.
S. Army-administered German prisoner of war camp situated in the middle of the community during World War II was a story that the author followed for 36 years before completing. Until 2023, no written records of the camp could be found; however, interviews with residents who remembered the camp were compiled in 1990 and recorded in Down Country Roads by this author. In 2023, a Chattanooga Times article about the camp and a book by Dr. Antonio Thompson, a history professor at Austin Peay State University, yielded written documentation about the local camp, which was known to the U.S. Army as Camp Sale Creek. The article combines the oral testimony of past residents with written documentation to create an engaging narrative for readers.
- What Happened to the Sale Creek Coal Mines - This is a documentary that provides an overview of the history of the Sale Creek coal mines, which operated from 1868 until 1913. It includes details about the United States Soil Conservation Service’s efforts to close the open mine entrances and air shafts in 1994. The challenges faced by the USSCS in these efforts are also discussed, such as environmental impacts and limitations caused by insufficient funding due to the numerous entrances and shafts encountered. The narrative also features photos and accounts from a 2024 visit to the mines.
- The Burton Hollow Specter – Beyond the Pitty Pat Hollow Tales. This unusual story took 21 years to document thoroughly. It involves strange and unexplained activities that happened to two deer hunters and a camper in the portion of Burton Hollow between Coulterville and Sale Creek Mountain in 2004 and 2009. A lost business card, found after 20 years, led to an interview with one of the men involved in the 2004 event and helped uncover this incredible story. It quickly expanded to include nearly 20 others who had similar strange experiences in the area. An aerial view of the area shows the locations where the unusual events occurred.
- The Mail Train Era in Sale Creek - One of the more personal stories, it recounts the history of the period when mail trains delivered and picked up mail from the small post offices in the Tennessee Valley from 1880 to 1967. As the son of Sale Creek's postmaster during the final days of the mail trains and having witnessed the wonder of those trains, the author shares some of his insights and memories of that time, from steam locomotives to modern diesels pulling the Railway Post Office (RPO) cars. As an 18-year-old mail clerk in 1967, the author vividly remembers packing mail pouches and placing them on the mail crane for the trains to pick up.
Other works by Curtis Coulter available on coulterpublications.com include:
1. Sale Creek, Tennessee – 1885-1955, Remembrances of a Gentler Time (1989) – available only in ebook format, $5.
2. A Sentimental Journey Down Country Roads (1990) - available only in ebook format, $5.
3. When Peaches Were King – The Story of the Peach Business at Sale Creek, Tennessee (1992) – available only in ebook format, $5.
4. Purple Hearts and Battle Stars – Stories of World War II (1993) – available only in ebook format, $5.
5. An Excursion to the Past – A History of Sale Creek and Coulterville, Tennessee (2021), 273 pages, paperback, $25.
6. This Is The Way I Heard It – Folklore, Stories, and Tall Tales from Sale Creek, Tennessee (2022), 178 pages, paperback, $22.
7. The Flight of the Dove – A Story Wanting to be Told (2025), 135 pages, paperback, $20.
8. The 2025 Sale Creek Historical Calendar (2025), $10.
9. Historical and Geographical Sites in Sale Creek, Tennessee (Map) (2020), $12.50.
"The purpose of these publications is to educate readers about the importance of these eras and events in our town's history and to foster pride in our Sale Creek heritage," Mr. Coulter said. "I hope you enjoy these articles, and I encourage you to purchase this magazine and my other books, which can further enlighten readers about our town's history."