Nashville, TN

We arrived in Nashville Wednesday, June 24th. Actually we are staying in a little town called Goodlettsville at the Grand Ole RV park.  We are only 20 minutes from downtown Nashville.

Thursday we drove into Nashville to checkout timing as we had reservations for a Segway Tour on Friday.  While in Nashville...

Dunn Bros Coffee House

I looked up Coffee Shops and read about the Dunn Bros Coffee.  It sounded interesting so off we went.  They roast their coffee right in the shop so it smelled so.....ooo good when we entered.  As you can see it is quite a busy place and yet in the back they have a quiet cozy area where T and I could sit, enjoy our coffee and people watch.

Dunn Bros Coffee House- eclectic seating

Ryman Auditorium (first built 1895)

We then headed out to wonder around a bit.  Saw Ryman Auditorium. We walked through Centennial Park where the Nashville Parthenon was located

 The Parthenon in Athens, Greece was built in the 5th Century, B.C. to house the 42 foot statue of Athena, Goddess of Wisdom and benevolent protector of Athens.  The Parthenon in Nashville is a full-scale replica.  It was built in 1897 as part of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition. 

The best part of Centennial Park for T was the NC&StL Locomotive 576.  He just can't get enough of trains.

On Friday, we were up and at 'em early to go on our Segway Tour.  So...o much fun!  I can't remember when we've had so much fun.  Our tour consisted of riding around Nashville taking in some of the historical sites and touring Ryman Auditorium, Musicians Hall of Fame and Johnny Cash Museum.  

T & Glo Segway Tour in front of Ryman Auditorium

 

T soaking up history in Ryman Auditorium

Stay tuned for more adventures of Nashville.  We will be here until July 1st.

Tannehill Iron Works Historical State Park - McCalla AL

We left Bassfield, Monday, June 22, headed toward Nashville, TN.  As is our usual way when traveling, we stopped mid-afternoon to kick back and relax and take in the sites.

The Iron & Steel Museum of Alabama is a southeastern regional interpretive center on 19th century iron making technology featuring both belt driven machines of the 1800s and tools and products of the times. It focuses on the Roupes Valley Ironworks at Tannehill which operated nearby, first as a bloomery beginning in 1830 and later as an important battery of charcoal blast furnaces during the Civil War. The ironworks gave birth to the Birmingham Iron & Steel District. 

Alabama Iron Works Museum

While at the museum I learned about the Confederate States Cemetery Marker.  Though I've seen them many times I never really knew the history.  

The markers were originally sold by the United Daughters of the Confederacy to the families of Confederate veterans in the late 1880s and 1890s before marble markers were provided by the United States Government through the Veterans Administration.

Hundreds of these Crosses of Honor were sold to mark the graves of departed loved ones for $12 a piece.  The opposite side reads, Deo Vindici, 1861-1865 (which is Latin for God is our vindicator). 

Cast Iron C.S. Cemetery Marker

John Wesley Grist mill in operation 1867 - 1931

Tannehill Furnaces are Among the Nation's Best Preserved Civil War LandmarksThe old Tannehill Furnaces in Roupes Valley, ... constitute one of the oldest industrial sites in the Birmingham Iron and Steel District. Founded in 1830 as a small plant for smelting iron, Tannehill expanded during the Civil War into a large battery of three blast furnaces capable of producing 22 tons of pig iron daily for Confederate military needs. The ironworks, along with a dozen other such facilities in Alabama, were badly damaged in the closing months of the Civil War.

Furnaces @ Tannehill

Hiking path

Mississippi - Natchez and Natchez Trace Parkway

We left Pensacola on the 9th and headed over to the metropolis of Bassfield, MS.  We are visiting friends, Chuck and Anita.  It’s a little, and when I say little I mean little, town.  The town area is 1.1 square mile and has a population of 315.  We pass through here every couple of years and I’m always amazed at how remote it is.  Nevertheless, while here I’ve managed to get in some new sites.

Anita and I took a day and set out to drive part of the Natchez Trace Parkway.  

The Natchez Trace Parkway is a 444-mile drive through exceptional scenery and 10,000 years of North American history.  Used by American Indians, "Kaintucks," settlers, and future presidents, the Old Trace played an important role in American history.

First we visited the town of Natchez.  It was like stepping back in time.  The main street is much like it was in the early 1900's.  Natchez was the capital of Mississippi until 1822 when Jackson became the capital.

St. Mary's Basilica (1842)

Of course I had to visit the cemetery while there.  Natchez City Cemetery, 1822.

Confederate Cemetery within  the 10 acre Natchez City Cemetery (1822) 

The cemetery overlooks the mighty Mississippi River.

Mississippi River

We stopped to have a cup of coffee at Slick Ricks Foods, Organic Spices & Gourmet Foods.  The sign would lead you to believe that they serve the kinds of foods I eat, “weeds and seeds” as T would say.  NOT THE CASE!  They serve typical southern fare.  I had to snap a shot of the “balanced diet sign”.  If only it were true.

We then headed out to drive the parkway.  Along the way we stopped to take in a few historic sites. We drove the portion from Natchez to Jackson.

Anita at entrance to Parkway

The Emerald Mound Site (22 AD 504),... located on the Natchez Trace Parkway near Stanton, Mississippi, United States. The site dates from the period between 1200 and 1730 CE

Anita 

Glo on the mound

Windsor Ruins are in Claiborne County in the U.S. state of Mississippi, about 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Port Gibson near Alcorn State University. The ruins consist of 23 standing Corinthian columns of the largest antebellum Greek Revival mansion ever built in the state.^[4] The mansion stood from 1861 to 1890, when it was destroyed by fire. The 2.1-acre (0.85 ha) site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and was designated a Mississippi Landmark in 1985.^[3]

Other things in and around Bassfield, MS

Anita @ Thomas McGee Cemetery founded 1851

Thomas MaGee 1795 - 1851

Prentiss Court House (1907)

Pensacola, FL - Blue Angels & Joe Patti

We left Perry and headed west to Pensacola on Tuesday, June 2nd.  When we pulled into the Blue Angels Recreation Area, and were told about the Naval Aviation Museum and that we might get to see the Blue Angels. We settled in, met some new friends and relaxed.

On Wednesday we headed over to The National Naval Aviation Museum is the world’s largest Naval Aviation museum and one of the most-visited museums in the state of Florida.  The museum has over 150 restored aircraft representing Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard Aviation. We spent 5 hours there and didn't see it all.

As luck would have it the Blue Angels performed and we got to see them.   I got some amazing photos, if I do say so myself.

Glo at Naval Aviation Museum

Captain Katie Higgins, 1st woman Blue Angels pilot in history!

After so many hours on our feet, we went to Joe Patti's Seafood Company, an amazing seafood market, restaurant and grocery store,  reminiscent of Pike's Place Fish Market in Seattle Washington.  I was expecting a little smelly place where I could get some fresh shrimp.  Boy was I shocked.   Joe Patti's has been a Pensacola institution since it was opened by Joe & Anna Patti in 1930.  It is now run by their oldest son, Frank.

We ordered shrimp and had them steam them for us.  Amazing!!!

T getting lost in Joe Patti's

Tallahassee, FL

We took a day trip over to Tallahassee to visit my cousin Margie and her family on May 31th.  We drove by a cemetery and I of course had to stop.  It was the Old City Cemetery, the oldest public cemetery in Tallahassee,established in 1829.

Confederate Cemetery within the Old City Cemetery

"The marker for Samuel Allen Sheppard (d. 1897) is made of zinc or "white bronze." White bronze was popular at the turn of the century, primary for statuary and garden furniture. The Monumental Bronze Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut (with six foundries, including one in New Orleans), was the only firm that made gravemarkers. Exposure to air gives the marker a distinctive gray color."

Of course we Lebanese clansmen always want to go to a Lebanese restaurant.  Unfortunately it was closed, so we did the next best thing, we went to Mayuri Indian Restaurant.  Wonderful!  As is my custom,  I had a picture taken there.  We spent the afternoon talking about family, genealogy and Lebanese food.

Mike, Tess, Margie & Hunter 

Margie,Billy,Matthew,Glo & T
@ Mayuri' Restaurant