Word of the Day: Stranger Room or Elijah Room

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Word of the Day: Stranger Room or Elijah Room

Thursday, November 6th, 2008 | Word of the Day |

My Cades Cove pictures included the shot above from the Elijah Oliver place. I found several references to the small room on the porch (left side of photo) as a a stranger room.

Cades Cove people were well known for their hospitality and neighborly kindness. Visiting was the order on Saturday and Sunday nights and folks would sit around sharing tall tales, jokes, puzzles, and proverbs.

Cove residents also made room for strangers. They framed in their porches to create little rooms for overnight guests traveling through. Elijah Oliver enclosed his front porch to serve as a “stranger room” or an “Elijah room” (named after the biblical prophet, not Oliver).

Reading the Wikipedia entry for Elijah, I can guess at a couple of reasons for the name. Elijah had to flee his homeland and needed hospitality. There’s also an Elijah chair set out in Jewish ceremonies and Passover to welcome the returning prophet.

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2 Comments to Word of the Day: Stranger Room or Elijah Room

Word of the Day: Cabotage | Les Jones
November 12, 2008

[...] Word of the Day - Stranger Room or Elijah Room [...]

lan67
November 17, 2008

That’s too funny. I was just thinking that we now go to Wikipedia for the biographies on Jewish prophets rather than the Bible.
What would John Calvin have done?

Here’s his wiki! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Calvin