I think oftentimes we walk through life trying to make it from crisis to crisis. When we get through with one, we wipe our brow, sigh with a huge exhale, and then wait anxiously knowing that the next one is about to drop on us like an axe chopping wood — cutting away at our spirit, at our fervor for life.

Sometimes this type of approach to life is passed from generation to generation and we simply move through our existence in a form of shell shock — a daze that leaves a blank look on our face and little hope in our heart.

I remember seeing that look on my Grandma Kitty’s face, especially as she faced the uncertainty of her future as she left the farm she and Granddad Bill worked throughout their lives in the valley below the Gravelly Spur Mountain.

For better than 50 years, as far as the eye could see in any direction was theirs to scrape out a living and raise their kids; and now in her 70s and her husband’s shell resting near the shadow of an old Cedar tree, she looked out into the future with doubt, concern and uncertainty.

The strong-willed woman who had stood up to renegades, shot trespassers, cooked, cleaned, healed with mountain remedies, raised children and helped every neighbor that needed it, had faded into the shadow of doubt as 170 years of family blood, sweat and tears went on the auction block.

As a small boy, I held to her dress and hugged her tightly as the events of that day unfolded. That frontier paradise hosted boyhood adventures of playing Daniel Boone or Davey Crockett and the click of a gavel turned a page in my family history. That history began when a man in a real coonskin cap, Adam Sherrill — a Revolutionary War soldier and brother to the First Lady of Tennessee — found the site that he wanted to call home in the 1790s, built his cabin, and then brought his family to begin a legacy of love for the land passed for generations.

Friends, those of you who have read my columns in my last six years of writing know I have shared many stories that are set in the valley below the Gravelly Spur Mountain. Many have asked me the location of this idyllic place. In a way I always desired to leave it to the imagination of you the readers because I feel the real blessing of those stories lie within the hearts and the minds of those that yearn to find that place once again.

My reason for writing this today is to share with you a request for your support through a letter writing campaign. A small portion of what was once my grandparent’s farm is now for sale at the head of the Sequatchie Valley. That is where the Gravelly Spur is and from which all the stories have emanated. I had a chance for the first time since I was a boy to return to the farm in January and stood once again where my grandmother stood at my side and I held her tightly. I thought the views of adulthood might wipe away the dream like memories of what the place was, but it did not. It became even more than I ever knew as a child.

With 40 experts in various fields, from geology to archaeology, the site was toured and excitement shared that the pristine place held by members of our family for 170 years and since passed to two owners, could be the most important site in the state of Tennessee. It is considered so important that the Tennessee Parks and Greenway Foundation, Inc. is seeking both state and federal monument status for this 400 acres of the original homestead. Personally, someday I hope, if plans succeed, that the mountain and rest of the acreage that once was the Adam Sherrill homestead and later the Bill and Kitty Bruce farm, will join it in permanent preservation status.

According to the Tennessee Parks and Greenways Foundation, Devil Step Hollow Cave (Kay Cave) and the Head of the Sequatchie are natural and historic Tennessee treasures with national significance. This land is important for its unique geology, archeology, history, ecology, and scenery. Located on one 400-acre tract in Cumberland County, 12 miles from Crossville, it is for sale — for $2.75 million dollars. The non-profit is asking for any assistance whether financial or simply just writing a letter of support.

Inside the cave — per a study funded by the National Geographic Society — twenty-two cave “drawings” or pictographs dating back more than a thousand years were discovered. These include evidence of some ancient underground ceremony. Images of an eagle being with a weeping eye, which is holding a mace and two drawings of woodpeckers are incised into the walls.

The fountainhead that forms Tennessee’s Sequatchie Valley springs forth on this good land. This valley is a geologic wonder, visible from space.

The land was also the setting for a scene in “Jubal Sackett” by famous American novelist Louis L’Amour.

Letters of support are needed encouraging its preservation as a state monument to accompany a grant request. Please address them to Governor Phil Bredesen at State Capitol, First Floor, Nashville, Tenn., 37243-0001 and send a copy to the Tennessee Parks and Greenways Foundation, 1205A Linden Avenue, Nashville, 37212. For more information, contact Kathleen Williams at the Tennessee Parks and Greenways Foundation at (615) 386-3171.

Randall Franks is an award-winning musician, singer and actor. He is best known for his role as “Officer Randy Goode” on TV’s “In the Heat of the Night,” now on Turner South. His latest CD release, “God’s Children,” is by etrecordshop.com. He is a member of the Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame. He is a columnist and staff writer for The Catoosa County News and can be reached at rfranks@catoosanews.com.

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