I met the lovely Jill Cyr and her father, Ed Gillander, on Alex's second '05 tour. Amy and I and Jill and Ed,
along with Stephanie and Curtis Wooley, made up three father-daughter pairs on that tour. Jill recently
treated Ed to a week in Music City, Nashville. Along with Alex and Linda, I spent the weekend doing the tourist thing. We started with a tour the Opryland Hotel on Friday, where we had lunch. If you ever have the
opportunity to stay at the Opryland, it is a unique facility. Their Christmas la-te-da is something to see. You
can generally get some good discounts from about Thanksgiving to New Year.
We then visited Carter House, a site of the Civil War Battle of Franklin, where we received a most educational tour and lecture. From Carter House, we visited the Cemetery at the Carnton Plantation. The Carnton cemetery is the largest private Confederate cemetery in the country. We had dinner at a local Irish Pub and were entertained by Nosey Flynn, a local duo that performed traditional Irish tunes with the occasional Scottish selection.
We then visited Carter House, a site of the Civil War Battle of Franklin, where we received a most educational tour and lecture. From Carter House, we visited the Cemetery at the Carnton Plantation. The Carnton cemetery is the largest private Confederate cemetery in the country. We had dinner at a local Irish Pub and were entertained by Nosey Flynn, a local duo that performed traditional Irish tunes with the occasional Scottish selection.
We spent half a day Saturday at the Franklin, TN, Heritage Festival street fair where I purchased a new
Australian hat. We had lunch at Puckett's Grocery in the quaint little town of Leaper's Fork where the
unanimous choice was pork barbeque. (If you watch the Food Network, you would be led to believe that all
southern pork barbeque is what they call "pulled pork". In fact, barbeque is, often as not, served chopped
(my preference). However, this was pulled.) After lunch, we visited the Carnton Plantation, a fine example of
an antebellum home. We finished our day with a drive along a stretch of the Natchez Trace Parkway. The Parkway is a 444 mile scenic drive that extends from Natchez, Mississippi, to just west of Nashville. First used
by Native Americans, it was later used by flat boat crews who, upon selling their goods and boat at Natchez,
trekked back to Middle Tennessee along the trace. In 1809, Meriwether Lewis mysteriously died Grinders Stand along the
trace in Middle Tennessee.
On Sunday we drove to Lynchburg for a tour of the Jack Daniel's Distillery. For those that insist on referring to my beloved Tennessee sipping whiskey as "bourbon", be it known that the unique process of charcoal mellowing employed results in a final product that is oh-ficially recognized by the US Gov'ment as Tennessee Sour Mash whiskey. Having worked up an appetite aided by the constant waft of mash, we had lunch at the Bell Buckle (yes, Bell not Belt) Cafe in Bell Buckle, TN. (For me it was smothered pork chops, turnip greens, fried okra and white beans and cornbread.) We returned to Nashville where we tried to tour the Parthenon (the Tennessee Centennial replica of the Greek temple that gives Nashville it's nickname as "Athens of the South"), but it was closed in order to hold high school proms. I think we held ours at the high school gym. Times have certainly changed.
On Sunday we drove to Lynchburg for a tour of the Jack Daniel's Distillery. For those that insist on referring to my beloved Tennessee sipping whiskey as "bourbon", be it known that the unique process of charcoal mellowing employed results in a final product that is oh-ficially recognized by the US Gov'ment as Tennessee Sour Mash whiskey. Having worked up an appetite aided by the constant waft of mash, we had lunch at the Bell Buckle (yes, Bell not Belt) Cafe in Bell Buckle, TN. (For me it was smothered pork chops, turnip greens, fried okra and white beans and cornbread.) We returned to Nashville where we tried to tour the Parthenon (the Tennessee Centennial replica of the Greek temple that gives Nashville it's nickname as "Athens of the South"), but it was closed in order to hold high school proms. I think we held ours at the high school gym. Times have certainly changed.