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Every Community Should Seek A Heritage Collector

by Rosemary Lee Potter

Special to Tropical Breeze

He says he’s not a collector. He says he’s not an archivist or preservationist.

He’s all three. Mike Proffitt, a native of Newport, TN, turns out to be one of those rare folks who help the rest of us remember. Proffitt, a high school teacher and former coach, has a gift of remembering fine details about his Cocke County’s places, people, and especially businesses, which he shares in a lively way as he preserves local heritage.

Just watching Proffitt leaf through a massive scrapbook of early local postcards and vintage, sometimes yellowing letters with remarkable business letterheads, describing items as he goes along, is a wonderful experience. His accurate historical tales are as long or as short as you have time for and always punctuated with Proffitt’s smiling remark, “Let me show you.” He darts away and shortly returns with a relevant old photo or item of special interest.

When I mentioned my alma mater, Maryville College, off Proffitt went and back he soon came with our college annual, THE CHILHOWEAN — the 1919 Centennial Edition — and in great shape! It had belonged to a faculty member then and Proffitt obtained it from an estate sale. The yearbook, he said, just interested him.

Tropical Breeze photo by Rosemary Potter Mike Proffitt, left, shares his vintage postcard collection with Rev. Ken Miller of Crossville, TN. Individuals with such detailed knowledge of their community and its history are rare and valuable resources for any community.

 Listening to Proffitt and reviewing postcards and letters is one thing. Taking a local tour with him is quite another. One beautiful afternoon Proffitt RV’d us around showing my husband and me a beautiful private view of the mountains. Talk about scenic. It was awesome, but I was happily distracted from the scenery by Proffitt’s rustic Americana collection of things he just liked, bought, was given or found — objects he decorates/and displays as very fitting décor in and on five mountain outbuildings.

	Tropical Breeze photos by Rosemary Potter Above, Mike Proffitt’s vintage tools are displayed on a log outbuilding at his Cocke County, Tennessee home. He has decorated five mountain outbuildings with historic objects. His Appalachian heritage collection includes tools of every kind from those used in logging and brewing to kitchen and dental cutlery, cleaning, ironing, washing and building.

Where to begin. Proffitt showed us tools of every kind from those used in logging and brewing to kitchen and dental cutlery, cleaning, ironing, washing, building! Wow! There were also many signs, photos, posters, and sports memorabilia particularly from local and regional teams. Then there were trunks and boxes of music and brochures, and many kinds of manuals. We could/should have spent days, not hours, up there gawking at the fascinating objects — all the while Proffitt accompanying our viewing with a running, connecting commentary emphasizing local heritage.

Proffitt retrieved this hog scalding vat from a hillside where it was partially buried. With the owner’s permission, Proffitt dug it out and added it to his collection.

When out in the yard on a break I spotted what looked like a huge washtub. Proffitt explained it was a hog scalding vat for boiling the hair off pigskin and that he had found it just sticking out of a hillside. When the owner asked him if he wanted it, you know the answer. Although the heavy vessel was hard to dig out, much less trundle away up to Proffitt’s woodsy collectibles’ roost, he did it. There he could tell us and others about it. Just like Proffitt, eager to share with anyone sincerely interested in listening and learning.

Now while Proffitt is a long-time community member in Cocke County, TN, every community needs one or , hopefully, more folks like him. Appalachian heritage, west coast Florida heritage, Safety Harbor and Pinellas County heritage, upstate New York heritage. Whereever, no matter. Lucky are the citizens who have a Proffitt. Proffitt generously says he has learned much from many others and at least four other long-time, heritage-minded residents living there, all of whom also have wonderful and important history stories they often tell. Fortunate for his Tennessee county.

As for Proffitt, I hope that someone starts recording his knowledgeable historical telling — so that future folks can enjoy and learn from it all. It just needs to be done.

Have you found your own community’s Mike Proffitt? Look in your family for him or her — or around town. Do it and soon for more than just a taste of the heritage you cherish. You may be surprised at what you find out!

 © 2006 Rosemary Lee Potter. All Rights Reserved.

Rosemary Lee Potter is a confirmed victim of the collecting bug and can be reached by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or write to her in care of Tropical Breeze, P.O. Box 585, Safety Harbor, FL 34695.