Carter County egg combatants get crackin’
ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. — Europe had the Hundred Years’ War, but rivals have been fighting for nearly two centuries in Carter County and there is no end in sight for the annual battle held every Easter in Peters Hollow.
Legend has it that it all began back in 1823, when a dispute began between the farmers of Peters Hollow and the farmers of Rome Hollow about whose hens laid the hardest eggs. In the scientific spirit of the time, the farmers decided to prove their argument by tapping hard-boiled eggs together until one cracked.
This year’s egg fight will get underway in the backyard of Norman Peters, 347 Peters Hollow Road. The fight has migrated up and down the hollow for the past 194 years, since it first was fought at Pinhook.
It has been fought in Peters’ backyard since his mother, Bets, died in 2001. She lived next door to Peters, and the egg fight was held in her front yard for several years.
Before that, the fight was held for nearly 50 years just down the road at the home of Ray and Lottie Lowe. That is where some the fight’s greatest stories took place, including the Lowes’ little red hen that laid very hard eggs until the hen accidentally hung herself in the fork of a tree. It was also the site of the famous “blue blocker” egg that defeated 800 other eggs to come out victorious.
Peters says there will be four separate fights this year. Things will get started at 1:30 p.m., with children from newborns to 3 years old. They will be equipped with one dozen eggs.
The second fight is for children between 4 and 7. They also will fight with one dozen eggs.
The third contest is for children ages 8 to 12. They will carry two dozen eggs into combat.
After the children’s contests are completed, the adults, from 13 on up, will begin. Adults get to fight with six dozen eggs.
The fighting takes place in a circle, with competitors sitting in lawn chairs and tapping the ends of their neighbor’s eggs. It is done under the watchful