This page contains information on the Tennessee Germanna Families Reunion, held annually at the Philadelphia Cumberland Presbyterian Church, in Washington Co., TN, on the second FULL weekend in September.  This Reunion is held in conjunction with the annual SIMEON BROYLES Descendants Reunion.  Below the information, you will find maps of the area and directions for driving to the Reunion from Johnson City or Greeneville.  You will also find maps of Greeneville and Johnson City, showing available lodging, including addresses and phone numbers.

The 2002 Reunion will be held on 14 & 15 September.

(Click here to read about the 2001 Reunion.)

A LITTLE BACKGROUND:  The Philadelphia Cumberland Presbyterian Church has been holding an annual SIMEON BROYLES Reunion and Family Dinner on the second weekend in September for many years.  Saturday was devoted to a hamburger and hotdog cookout, sponsored and put on by the youth of the Church, some old-fashioned country singing, and just a nice get-together of all the "cousins" in the area.  Sunday was for attending Church services, and participation in a "pot-luck" dinner on the grounds, with various religious singers performing for everyone.

Gradually, over the years, cousins from other areas and states started visiting also.  Then, some of those who attended started talking about all the other "cousins", those who descended from Simeon's brothers and sisters, from Simeon's grandfather's brothers and sisters, and on back through the generations.  It soon became apparent that just about everyone in lower Washington County and upper Greene County was related, not only through the Broyles clan, but through most of the other Germanna families that had settled in the area at the same time the Broyles did.

Then, after several Tennessee Germanna descendants really became genealogy addicts, and started communicating with cousins from all over the country, it was found that many, many Tennessee Germanna descendants were extremely interested in the area from which their ancestors had come.  This included not only Broyles descendants, but descendants from virtually all other Tennessee Germanna families.  It is a rare East Tennessee descendant who does not have an ancestor from one of the families in the table, at the top of this page, in his/her family tree.  In fact, most have several of these families in their ancestry.

Anyway, ALL Tennessee Germanna descendants are invited to this yearly Reunion - you are all "cousins", too.  It's not a big to-do like the official Germanna Reunion that The Germanna Foundation hosts annually at Germanna in Virginia.  But, it IS a serious affair, and we hope to see as many of you as can possibly make it.  In 2000, the first time that out-of-state cousins had been specifically invited, we had 34 adult visitors.  In 2001, we had about the same number of out-of-state visitors, and were extremely fortunate to have as guest speakers, John Blankenbaker, our unofficial Germanna "guru", and writer of the now famous "Germanna Notes"; and Thom Faircloth the new President and CEO of "The Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies of Virginia", otherwise known as "The Germanna Foundation".

GENERAL SCHEDULE FOR THE REUNION:

Saturday:

• (Pre-12:00 - Meeting and mingling of early arrivals.  This usually includes guest speakers, out-of-the-area visitors who arrive early, and those who are managing the Reunion.)

• 12:00 - Meeting at the Church and getting acquainted.  Meeting our distinguished visitors and invited speakers. (We plan to specifically invite "Famous Tennessee Germanna Folks" every year.)  This is just an informal "meet people as they arrive and shake hands" get-together.

• About 2:00 - Driving around the area in Washington and Greene Counties, to several graveyards where Germanna family members are buried.  A visit to "Broylesville", the first settlement in the area.  The Broylesville community was started with the Broyles Inn, a stage-coach stop-over on the main road from Washington, D.C., to Atlanta, GA.  The Broyles Inn was built by Adam Broyles, Sr., a son of Conrad BRILES, who settled across the mountains in what is now NC.  Also, there will be visits (they will vary each year) to other areas of the two counties that have historical significance for the many Germanna families that settled in the area, including communities established by other Germanna families.  We will be posting information here on these other communities and the specific families that founded them.

• About 5:00 - FOOD - After tours are over, the Church Youth Group will have food for you.  There will be hamburgers, hot dogs, etc., available on a "donation only" basis.

• Around 6:00 - Assembly in the Church for talks by our distinguished guests.  (We hope that every year we will be blessed by the appearance of John Blankenbaker and Thom Faircloth.)  [I'll be introducing our distinguished guests and speakers.  GWD - SgtGeorge.]

• After the talks by our distinguished guests, there will be an opportunity for everyone to ask questions of the speakers, and to discuss his/her ancestor's line, ask for help on research, swap information/data, exchange databases (bring your info on disks, or, better yet, bring your laptop computer with the data), break through any "brick walls", etc.  In general, this will be a "free for all" get-together, where we can all forge family ties; it doesn't matter if you have a dozen links to Germanna families, or just one umpteenth-great-grandmother who was a Germanna descendant -- we're all cousins, and each should be as dear as a brother or sister.

• 10:30 - Church Services.  This will include choir singing, devotional services, and, usually, gospel singing by local area singers.  Whatever is scheduled, it will be a moving experience.

• About 12:00 - We'll have a free table-breaking-dinner after Church services, with everyone bringing a favorite dish.  For those of you who are coming from out-of-the-area, no one will mind if you can't bring your favorite dish with you.  There will be more than enough food to go around; however, if you do wish to contribute, you can always pick up something at KFC or the "take out" section of a local supermarket.  Be prepared to eat a lot, and be prepared to be accosted by "cousins" wanting to know how YOU are related.  Bring paper and pencil to write down names, addresses, and email addresses of these "cousins".  If you're really computer-oriented, bring floppy disks with your Tennessee Germanna connections so you can swap data with others.

• Be prepared for a shock!  On Sunday, there will be hundreds and hundreds of local residents (by local, I mean from all of Tennessee).  Since you are a descendant of one or more of the Tennessee Germanna Families, all these hundreds of people will be your cousins!

If you plan to attend the 2002 Reunion, PLEASE RSVP !!!!!    Since we really need to know how many cousins to cook for on Saturday, and how many chairs & tables are needed both days, we ask you to reply as soon as possible if you plan to attend.  I'm keeping a list of all out-of-the-area visitors, and would appreciate the following information:

Name
Address
Germanna Connections
Number in Party
Any other information you would like to send

(To send me your RSVP, click here.)

(If you can possibly make it, we WANT to see you at the Reunion.  Start planning NOW !!!!!    SgtGeorge, George W. Durman)

MAPS OF THE AREA:   The maps are below, with an explanation of each.

Below the maps are driving directions from Greeneville and Johnson City, as formulated by MapQuest (with a little editing from me).

(NOTE:  The first 3 maps on this page are Thumbnails of the actual maps.  They were created to make this page load quicker.  To view one of the actual maps, just left-click on its image.  If you wish to save the map files to your computer, DON'T do so from the Thumbnails!  You must click the Thumbnail to load the full-sized map, THEN save it.)

Map Nr. 1 is large-scale and shows the Church in relation to Johnson City and Greeneville, TN.  The Church is depicted by a gray star, outlined in red, approximately in the center of the map.
(File size:  600 x 600,  140,884 Kbytes)

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Map Nr. 2 is a smaller scale map and shows the Church in relation to State Highway 107 out of Greeneville.  Again, the location is shown by a gray star, outlined in red.  This map will aid those arriving via Greeneville.
(File size:  600 x 600,  110,531 Kbytes)

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Map Nr. 3 is a smaller-scale map and shows the Church in relation to Limestone, just off US Highway 11E from Johnson City.  (This map is quite large in height.  You won't be able to see all of it in one screen and it will be necessary to scroll down.  I tried to outline the route from Highway 11E to the Church in the color pink.  Not a very good job, but it serves the purpose.  This map will also help those coming from Greeneville via Highway 107, the Erwin Highway.  If anyone wants to print this map, using 8� x 14 paper produces a copy suitable for navigation.  If you use 8� x 11 paper, it will be much smaller and some of the geographical names may not be legible.)
(File size:  600 x 894,  142,894 Kbytes)

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DRIVING DIRECTIONS

From Greeneville, TN, via TN-107:

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From Johnson City, TN, via TN-67 and TN-107:

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AREA LODGING

Greeneville, TN:

(To see detailed street map for each motel or hotel, click on its name.)

1. Days Inn, 935 E. Andrew Johnson Hwy., 423-639-2156
2. Holiday Inn, 1790 E. Andrew Johnson Hwy., 423-639-4185
3. Andrew Johnson Inn, 2145 E. Andrew Johnson Hwy., 423-638-8124
4. Greene Villa Motel, 2370 E. Andrew Johnson Hwy., 423-639-1112
5. Charray Inn, 121 Serral Dr., 423-638-1331
6. General Morgan Inn, 111 N. Main St., 423-787-1000

• (The Andrew Johnson Hwy. is the same as Hwy. 11.)
• (If you look between Nrs. 4 and 5, you will see a road that turns off from Hwy. 11 [dark gray], and goes through College View and Tusculum.  That is Hwy. 107, and is the road to take to the Reunion.)

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Johnson City, TN:

(To see detailed street map for each motel or hotel, click on its name.)

1. Sleep Inn, 925 Woodland Ave., 423-915-0081
2. Best Southern Broadway, 2606 N. Roan St., 423-282-4011
3. Ramada Inn, 2406 N. Roan St., 423-282-2161
4. Days Inn, 2313 Browns Mill Rd., 423-282-2211
5. Fairfield Inn, 207 E. Mountcastle Dr., 423-282-3335
6. Garden Plaza Hotel, 211 Mockingbird Ln., 423-929-2000
7. Super 8 Motel, 108 Wesley St., 423-282-8818
8. 11-E Motel, 3500 W. Market St., 423-928-2131
9. Fox Motel, 3406 W. Market St., 423-928-0267
10. Capri Motel, 3008 W. Market St., 423-926-2952
11. Johnson Inn, 2700 W. Market St., 423-926-8145
12. Hampton Inn, 508 N. State of Franklin Rd., 423-929-8000
13. Jam N Jelly Inn, 1310 Indian Ridge Rd., 423-929-0039
14. Wingate Inn, 1304 W. State of Franklin Rd., 423-929-8900
15. Comfort Inn, 1900 S. Roan St., 423-928-9600
16. Family Inns of America, 100 Country Club Dr., 423-743-9181

Go Back To Reunion Page.

Go Back To Germanna Colonies Family History Home Page.

Go To Top of Page.

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