That's Chimaphila maculata. One of the common names is Pipsissewa, and another is Spotted Wintergreen.

I'm jealous of your new mountain property. It sounds lovely. Where in TN is it located?

Marty

Thanks, Marty, wintergreen doesn't grow around here.
My property - I guess I shouldn't call it my property just yet, since I haven't closed - is in Sequatchie County on Cagle Mountain, which is just outside of Dunlap, TN. It's actually a subdivision, but each tract of land is at least 5 acres, so it shouldn't ever get too crowded. If my little 5 acre tract passes the soil test to assure that it can have a septic system installed, then we'll be buying it.
I'm certainly looking forward to growing some different plants in TN from what I grow down here. I've been an avid gardener for years, and I'm really into butterflies. I raise caterpillars myself and release the adult butterflies. I'm sure I'll do the same thing in TN, I'll just be raising different ones. I've already got some butterfly host plants in mind to add to the property to plant even before we build there.
When I'm down here lugging logs, picking up sticks, burning them or taking them up to the main road to be picked up, or being aggravated by unreliable hired help (with chainsaws), now at least I'll know that I won't have to do this again!
Sherry

Sherry: Thank you so much for posting this question and this picture. I have been wondering what this plant was for years and never have taken a digital picture of it to post on here in case someone knew what it was! I also never ran into anyone that knew what it was when it was around to show someone. I don't know what it is about this plant, but I really like it. Everytime I go hiking, I try to spot it.

Marty: Thanks for knowing what it was and letting us know! How did you know (if you don't mind me being nosey)?

Has anyone grown this stuff in the garden/flowerbed. I have never brought any home and tried it, but I have thought about trying to grow some. I never see very much of it in one place; usually just one or two sprigs per hike. It seems like it might be hard to grow successfully.

MsSherry,
Do I sometimes see you on the Rose Forums?
Jody, who also posts there, is also a landowner on Cagle Mountain.
We escaped up here from NOLA, it was no place to grow older. Now we have excellent neighbors; interesting soils; four seasons; no fireants, no buckmoth caterpillers, no palmetto bugs,no no-see-'ums,or no love bugs; shade in the summer that's noticably cooler than in the sun, cooler summer nights.
I hope you'll stop by the next time you're up this way,
Ann

Thanks Marty for the correct latin name.
I've always known that plant as "Wintergreen". It will also bloom with a pretty little white flower in the spring. I wonder if you found this growing at the base of a Beech tree? That's where I've always seen these plants growing in native forests. It's a pretty common plant here. I've never tried to transplant it since there was always plenty growing in the woods.
Enjoy it up on the Mountain there. You will have plenty of new areas to explore, from Gruetli-Laager (they have a cool Swiss bakery) to Beersheba and the Methodist Campgrounds.

Chimaphila likes humusy acid soil in deciduous shade. I've got some growing in my front yard (which is actually better described as the large area between the house and the country road out front -- "yard" makes it sound much more tamed and tended than it is) under a high canopy of oaks and a lower layer of dogwood. Like some other wildlings, pipsissewa can be puzzlingly difficult to grow on purpose. I suspect that it requires, in addition to the soil described above, the right mycorrhizae in the soil (beneficial fungi that most plants benefit from and some plants absolutely require to uptake nutrition from the soil). If you want to try it in your yard, be sure to get a bunch of dirt from the plant's location in the wild and dig it in to the location in your garden where you site the plant. You'll be inoculating the area with the right mycorrhizae by doing this. And I probably don't need to say this, but, if anyone is contemplating doing so, please be extremely careful and thoughtful about collecting wild plants. Many types of woodland plants are becoming scarce due to collection. This is particularly true on the Cumberland Plateau and in E TN.

Sherry, that's beautiful country around there. When I win the Powerball I wanna buy a big chunk of land in that neck of the woods.

Brandon, I can't recollect when I learned about pipsissewa. My aunt and uncle had 70 acres of woods in VA when I was a kid, and I remember it there, along with Mitchella (partridgeberry) and Lycopodium (ground cedar or prince's/princess pine). I've always had an overwhelming need to know what the names of things were, so I expect I looked it up back then or asked my aunt, who was a nature lover. These days I'm the propagator at a native plant nursery, which has made me familiar with the latin names of scads of plants.

Marty

Ann, yes, I do drop in on the Antique Roses Forum from time to time. Down here, I grow mostly old teas, with a few noisettes and chinas. My husband doesn't want to move up there unless we have another hurricane, because he doesn't want the hassle of moving, but I'd really love to move there right away. I sure won't miss the love bugs and the intense heat and humidity I've lived in all my life!
Does that mean I should hope for another hurricane? I hope not!
ShadyGrove, none of the trees except the pines had their leaves still on, so I can't tell for sure, but, judging from the bark, I don't think there were any beech trees there. There were plenty of oaks though, apparently mostly chestnut oaks from the looks of the dropped leaves. The leaves were REAL thick on the ground, like they are down here on the bluffs above creeks, where beech, magnolia, southern white oak and swamp chestnut oak trees grow - these are the only places where you'll find mountain laurel growing down here, the southwesternmost part of the natural mountain laurel range. It grows all over Cagle Mountain.
Marty, I hope you get to move to that part of Tennessee, but all of eastern Tennessee looks beautiful to me. Mountains give such gorgeous views!
Here are some pictures I took of the property - first, the little stream that runs through the back of it -
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And the mountain laurel that grows near the stream -
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MissSherry

HEY THERE SOON TO BE NEIGHBOR!!!. WE LIVE ON TOP OF SUCK CREEK MOUNTAIN. ABOUT 10 MILES AS THE CROW FLIES. PRETTY UP HERE TOO. BUT GET YA SOME CHAINS FOR OLD BETSY BEFORE WINTER SET IN.

Hi there TennesseeDan!
I'm working on my husband, slowly but surely - hopefully, we'll be building our new home up there by next year!
I know that the winter weather will be colder up there than down here, but you need chains on your car? I don't have a clue about what kind or how to put chains on a car! :)
Sherry