Get the Lowdown
The Lowdown
Experience Johnson City like you never have before! Come on board for 90 minutes of history, culture and FUN.
- Jake Legg's Lost State Tours begins at the Millennium Centre (just behind the Carnegie Hotel - 2001 Millennium Pl).
- You'll get some good old fashioned, mostly true, historical like fact and you'll have some not so old fashioned FUN!
- Feel free to bring a small cooler on board with your favorite beverage (prohibition was lifted in 1933). So long as you don't share any with the driver, you're welcome to imbibe (though - please - not to excess).
Who is Jake Legg?
Jake’s not a who, jake’s a what. “A funny walking, drunken sort of what, that’s what.”
Jake legs, Jake foot, Jake walk or Jakalysis made a person lift his legs high, point his toes down, and flop his feet on the pavement toes first.
Toe-heel. Toe-heel. Tap-click. Tap-click.
People laughed as a man and his Jake legs flopped down the street for another bottle of cheap Jamaican Ginger Extract, or Jake.
Jamaican Ginger Extract was commonly used as a remedy to any number of ailments. But it gained the height of it’s popularity during Prohibition as an alternative to expensive bootlegged liquors.
There were three good things about Jake: at 80 proof it was strong enough to keep a man drunk all day. And— better still, during the dry times of Prohibition— it was legal. And most importantly, because it was legal, it was also CHEAPER than moonshine.
These facts alone made approximately 50,000 people, mostly poor men in southern states, drink enough Jake during the 1930’s to suffer terrible medical consequences. Unknown to those who used it, a large amount of Jake contained a neurotoxin that helped make it palatable and passable to the U.S. Treasury Department’s Prohibition laws.
Although the contaminated Jake was recalled, many of its users suffered paralysis, shaky legs, blindness, and other medical conditions for the rest of their lives. Those afflicted with Jake Legs mostly slipped under the radar of national popular consciousness, but they did make it into a few blues songs.
Check out a snippet from one of our favorites:
The Jake Walk Blues The Allen Brothers (Recorded May 5, 1930 in Memphis, Tennessee)
I can't eat, I can't talk ~ Been drinkin' mean jake, Lord, now can't walk ~ Ain't got nothin' now to lose ~ Cause I'm a jake walkin' papa with the jake walk blues.
Song taken from: http://www.ibiblio.org/moonshine/drink/allenbrothers.html
LOST STATE
“How do you lose a state?” you may ask.
It’s not as hard as it sounds. In fact, Franklin has been referred to as the, “State that Never Was” and the “Stillborn State.”
In the 18th century, not long after the Revolutionary War, The State of Franklin was an autonomous, secessionist United States territory created from territory that later was ceded by North Carolina to the federal government. Franklin's territory later became part of the state of Tennessee. Franklin was never officially admitted into the Union of the United States and existed for only four years. For more information about The Lost State – come take a ride with Jake Legg and his gang on one of our regularly scheduled tours.
The Lost State of Franklin is fondly remembered at Lost State Tours and by many other people in East Tennessee. Not only is there a savings bank based in Johnson City, Tennessee called "State of Franklin Savings Bank, but also, one of the main thoroughfares in Johnson City is named State of Franklin Road, which runs alongside East Tennessee State University. There are also a number of clubs and athletic organizations bearing the name, State of Franklin. While we may officially be Tennesseans, many of us will remain Franklinites at heart.
To read more go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Franklin
Contact Information -
Phone: 423.557.4248
Email: info@loststatetours.com