Five Nights in Nashville

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Our next stop after Decatur AL will be Nashville TN. We have a reservation at a Corps of Engineers campground on the east side of town called Seven Points. The drive is a rather easy 135 miles or so pretty much up I-65 then east on I-40. The drive off the expressway back to the campground is on somewhat narrow roads but we don’t run into any real issues. We decide to dump our holding tanks on the way in and this is where we find the dump station really isn’t designed for rigs our size but we manage to handle it. Just don’t try to do it with your car attached. The site we had has a nice view of the lake but there was a bit of a slope. I’m glad we didn’t reserve a spot right on the lake because some of those sites had rather long driveways to get back to the utilities. I watched on guy in a 40 foot rig have a heck of a time getting in one.

I suppose many visitors to Nashville will do the typical touristy things like the Grand Ole Opry or the Country Music Hall of Fame, but country music really isn’t our thing so we skip the popular and check out things that appeal to us. The next morning we drive to the south side of town to get a few things at REI then head to Deerwood Arboretum. This is a nice park that is set in a very upscale area called Brentwood. The park has a nice walking path with lots of trees labeled to help with identification. The added benefit for us were the geocaches hidden there. After eating our lunch, we head over to the Tennessee Agricultural Museum. The museum is only open until 4 while the grounds and trails are open later. So we check out the museum first. 

Old Tractor

Buggy

Loom

The building is fairly large with two levels. They don’t offer guided tours but visitors are free to walk about and check out the hundreds of displays from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Many of the items are in great shape but as you might expect, the signs are there to remind us to not touch or climb on the displays. Most of the displays are self explanatory or have some sort of description next to them. One item we had never seen before was a “ball hog oiler”. The heavy metal ball was a bit larger than a basketball and resting in a cradle so the ball could spin. We needed to consult google for help on this one. Oil would be placed in the cradle and a hog looking for skin relief would rub against the ball causing it to rotate and spread oil on its skin. So I guess greased pigs aren’t just for county fairs.

Ball Hog Oiler

Wagon

Broom Maker Shop

U.S. Mail Vehicle

We spent nearly an hour wandering around the building. There is an active beehive right in the museum! The hive itself is in a large wooden frame with glass windows on both sides. Simply pull back the cloth curtain to see hundreds of bees at work. They get in and out of the hive by a clear plastic tube that leads to the outside. When I look out the window of the building, there is a large swarm of bees looking to come in. I think they need a second entrance to limit the wait time. We enjoyed the museum and headed over to the stables for the Nashville police horse patrol. There are about 8 horses and they seem to be interested in us as we wander by. We stayed outside the stable area since it wasn’t clear the general public is permitted inside.

Bee Hive

Bee Tunnel

Rooster Keeping Horses Company

"Bear" and "Buck" Pose

There are several walking paths around the Ellington Agricultural Center as well as few old cabins that visitors can at least peak their heads in to see what life was like back in the day. We enjoyed the afternoon of exploring here.

We're Farmers

Small Cabin

Cabin Interior

The following day we headed to Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage. This is the plantation and mansion that Jackson lived over the years before and after his presidency. They offer several levels of tours but we opted for the self guided $20 per person tour. The introductory video gives a lot of facts and history about Jackson and the property. I suspect that I learned some of these things way back when, but admittedly didn’t remember much if any of it. The self guided tour provides you with a small audio device that can be used to get information about the various locations around the property. There are many dozens of signs with 3 digit numbers around the grounds. Simply enter the number on the keypad and listen to the story for that location. It did seem odd to see practically everybody walking around with the thing pressed up to their ear. But it was an effective way to get to pick and choose what to learn about. They even have a “kids” program for many of the stops. I listened to a few of these and while juvenile, I did find some interesting perspectives that the adult versions don’t provide.

Front of Mansion from Distance

Gardens

Graveyard

Horse Drawn Tour

There were several school bus loads of kids at the Hermitage so we did have to wait a bit to get into the mansion for the tour. All the volunteers dress in period clothes which did not look particularly comfortable. Unfortunately no photography is permitted inside the mansion. The original mansion was destroyed by fire in 1834 and rebuilt in the Greek Revival style. Definitely not an appealing style to us, but nice to see nonetheless. There are numerous walking trails around the property as well as many of the old outbuildings where workers and slaves lived. I’m not big on this type of “cultural” stuff but I survived and enjoyed the photo opportunities provided around the grounds.

Next Tour Group Learning About Mansion

Tunnel of Flowers

Mansion Side

Mansion Rear

Colorful Flower

Spring House

Old Cabin

After eating our lunch on the Hermitage grounds next to some horses grazing in a field, we headed to the Shutes Branch Recreation area for some mountain biking. This place was pretty interesting. It appears to have been the location of a former campground. There are concrete picnic tables and metal fire pit grills still in the location they were when the campground was open. But now, probably 15 or 20 years later, there are all sorts of trees and other vegetation surrounding them all. Three mountain biking trails have been put in place and they tend to meander around the former campsites. Supposedly there is an easy, intermediate and advanced trail. We picked the 2 mile long easy trail. It was a challenging ride even for me. Chris was forced to do more walking of her bike than she cares to do. This trail tended to have lots of switch backs not so much to handle elevation change but to get additional mileage. After the excellent trails we did in Florida, this was a bit of a let down.

Flowering Tree

Lunch Companions

After finishing this section, we headed up to a geocache that is near a NOAA National Weather Service facility. I found it interesting that besides the no trespassing sign at the gate into the facility, there was a no Geocaching sign more than double in size. Apparently some people have had trouble finding the cache and have wandered onto the facility. After finding this one, Chris headed back to the car and I set off to attempt the intermediate level trail. I doubt that I made it more than a quarter mile before realizing that the rocky trail was a bit more challenging than I was up for so instead I biked on some of the old abandoned campground roads doing a few more geocaches before heading back to the car as well.

"No Geocaching" Sign

The following day we headed into Nashville proper. It appears that parking in the heart of the city can be challenging, expensive or both. Chris had discovered a parking lot very near the Titan’s football stadium that was only $5 for the day. Better yet, it was only blocks from one of the favorite geocaches in town. And the walk across the pedestrian bridge over the Cumberland River made for a convenient starting point to explore the city. Our first real destination was the Tennessee State Capitol building. We had hustled there in the heat for a specific tour time only to find out they weren’t giving formal tours but we could either do it on our own or join a group of school kids or senior citizens that were scheduled for tours. After hearing the noise from the kids and not seeing any old people milling about, we decided to do the tour on our own.

Looking Across Cumberland River at Nashville

Sculpture

Tall Building

Fountain in Nashville

It’s a nice building but definitely not the fanciest one we have seen. We got into many of the rooms not in use. One of them has a very fancy spiral staircase but it was roped off preventing us from trying it out. One of the branches of government was in session and there was a mob of people outside the meeting room. I asked the guard what was going on since I was thinking these people were the press. They weren’t the press but were lobbyists waiting for the session to end so they could get access to the lawmakers. There were steps up to an observation balcony and nobody was there to stop us, so we went up and entered the room. There were a couple dozen people standing at the railing overlooking the proceedings taking place below. All of them were holding signs while a bill was being addressed and voted on. After the vote was over, it wasn’t at all clear what the vote was for and whether these people were happy or upset with the outcome.

Empty State Senate Room

Fancy Spiral Staircase

State House of Reps in Session

Main Hall

Outside of State Capitol with Jackson Statue

We were hungry by then so we headed north to the farmers market. Along the walk, we found some of the old stone parts from the original capitol building. Apparently the type of limestone used when it was first built weathered quickly and much of it needed to be reconstructed. Rather than getting rid of the old stone, they have placed them around the ground and called it art. The farmers market has a huge inside area with dozens of permanent food vendors. We walked the whole place over before settling on a choice.

Original Capitol Stonework

Cool Rotating Globe Suspended on Water

After lunch we continued to explore some of the grounds in the area. At the north end of the Capitol Mall Park are 50 towers that are built around a large circular plaza. There are a total of 95 bells in the towers creating a large carillon. We were there for one of the songs played on the hour. It was pretty impressive and nearly impossible to isolate which bell was being rung at any given point. We did a little bit more exploring as we slowly worked our way back to the car. We did a handful of geocaches and found some interesting statues along the way. By the time we got to the honky tonk section of town with all the bars and bands playing in each one, we were pretty tired so we didn’t even go in for a beer and listen to music. 

Some of the Bell Towers

WWI Monument

Dude Needs Pants!

Great Mural

Nashville Symphony Building

Tennessee Titan's Stadium

Pedestrian Bridge Over Cumberland River

On the last full day in the area, we wanted to get a bit of a hike in so we headed to Radnor Lake State Park south of town back near Brentwood. The main trail is a 2.4 mile walk around the lake. Most of the trail is nicely maintained back in the woods although a portion of the trail follows Otter Creek Road. There were quite a few cars in the parking lot when we arrived although the majority of these people seem to be walking along the old road. We had gotten most of the hike in when we heard the sound of thunder and saw a darkening of skies. We hustled back along the road towards the car. It became clear why Otter Creek Road is no longer open to vehicles. There are many stretches of the roadway that Mother Nature appears to be reclaiming. Other than 30 seconds of light sprinkles, we made it back to the car without getting wet. This would be a fun park to explore a few of the other trails we didn’t get a chance to check out. Obviously 5 nights was barely enough time to even scrape the surface of all the things to see in Nashville but we are mainly on a repositioning trip from Florida to the Dakotas, so this will have to suffice for now. 

Tulip Poplar in Full Bloom

Spillway at Radnor Lake

Colorful Fungi

Otter Creek Road Crumbles