Patsy Cline Plane Crash Site

On March 5, 1963, the plane carrying Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas, Hawkshaw Hawkins and Randy Hughes on their way back to Nashville ran into bad weather, crashing into a secluded area. There were no survivors.

Decades later, if you now travel US641 through Camden, TN, a large green sign has been put up pointing the way. To get there, you have to follow Mt. Carmel Rd. West out of Camden, as you pass a residential neighborhood, an industrial area, and then finally make it into the rural woods. After a couple of miles down this drive, another sign points the way; it's a turn down a short gravel drive.

From there, it's pretty simple - a small wooden entrance marks the start of a gravel trail down to the bottom of the small ravine. About half of the way there is a small booth with photocopies of the newspaper stories recounting the tragic event. As the gravel path goes a bit further, there are two more things to see at the end of the walk.



I don't know how long this area has been open to the public, but there's a large stone etched simply with the date, the names, the event and a few music notes, as if to remind us that this was another day the music died. This stone was placed in June of 1996.

While the gravel stops at the stone, something else is hiding behind the trees. While you can see it in my picture, it might be different on the day you chhose to go. A group of rocks have been formed into a pile to serve as a cairn for Mrs. Cline. Different momentos have been left by the adoring fans as the complete their journey, and when you go, there's likely to be different items that what can be seen on this day. Haning from a cross (which I didn't see in older pictures) are some prayer beads, a bandana and a belt and all of it's covered in flowers.

Cookeville, TN Train Depot

This depot was built in 1909 by Tennessee Central to replace an earlier depot in the middle of the Cream City district. TC only built three depots out of brick, and this was their "Jewel" with its notable pagoda style roof. Passenger service lasted until 1955 and TC used the building until they went out of business in 1968.

Like most unused depots, it started to fall into disrepair until the Friends of the Depot and the City of Cookeville purchased it in 1975. In 1985, the depot was added to the National Register of Historic Places and also opened as a museum.

First Methodist Church Steeple - Chattanooga

This is a congregation that dates back to 1881. In 1967, they merged with Centenary Methodist Church. At some point, the rest of the church building was torn down, so now all that remains is the tall steeple and part of the wall. The plaque below is embedded in that wall.

Fort Donelson - Dover, TN

During the Civil War, the Confederacy was vulnerable to warships coming down the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers. Kentucky declared neutrality during the war, so the Confederates looked for a place near the the border where they could defend the river. About a mile north of Dover and about 10 miles downstream along the Cumberland River from the Kentucky Border was the site of this fort. At this location, the river has a lengthy strait path before a bend and the bluffs above the river provided a great location for a battery to shoot down any Union boat that would try to come through. In Feb. 1862, Union General Ulysses S. Grant led troops to capture this fort so that the Union could send ships through here.

When I was in 6th grade, my class visited this spot on the way to an overnight stay at Land Between the Lakes and it's something that has stuck in my mind over two decades later.

Today with a dam upstream, the Cumberland River is also Lake Barkley, but the width of the waterway is about the same as it was during the war. Fort Donelson is under the oversight of the National Park Service and is designated a National Battlefield and on the National Register of Historic Places. The lower batteries have been rebuilt and preserved here. The Upper batteries are also preserved and is located around the bend. The cannon shown here has a date of 1846 etched in the side.

Hickman Springs Waterfall

Here's an easily accessible waterfall that I drove near 3 or 4 times without getting right up to it. You can see it from the street, Hickman Springs Rd.

The waterfall comes from a nearly flat area at the top, and then tumbles 20 feet to the base, where the water continues to trickle down the terrain.

Driving here is easy. Parking isn't. All the area at top is private property. There's a little space to pull over if you're driving back down the street.

Meerkat fascinated by the sky - Nashville Zoo

Maybe there was an airplane flying overhead. Meerkats seem to be fascinated by airplanes. I like the meerkats at the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere. There's several of them, and they stand still enough to pose for pictures.

Post Card Tuesday: Hiawasee Loop

When L&N decided to build a line from Marietta, Ga to Etowah, TN, they experienced some geographical challenges on what became known as the Hook and Eye Line. The route from Farmer to Copperhill was particularly hilly and it resulted in what is depicted in this post card, the Hiawasee Loop, or "The Eye." Railroads can not have more than about a 1.5% grade, and to make it north of Farmer, the engineers determined the best way about it was a trestle leading to Bald Mountain, then a counter-clockwise loop around the mountain almost twice until it reached a low enough altitude to travel alongside the Hiawasee River southwest to Copperhill.

L&N eventually became part of CSX and they continued to use this loop until 2001 when they abandoned the track. The area is inaccessible by car or pretty much any means other than train. The good news is the Tennessee valley Railway has an excursion train that goes through the loop on occasion. Farmer and the loop are both in Polk County, which is the Southeastern-most county in the state. The loop is literally 500 feet from the North Carolina border.

Happy Presidents Day

Presidents Day was set to be celebrated on the third Monday of February as it falls close to President George Washington's birthday. Thinking of our nation's first president reminded me of this cake which showed up four years ago (the last year we had a presidential election) at the Tennessee State Fair. We will all probably see a lot of donkeys and elephants this year, albeit not in cake form.

This is one of my all-time most viewed photos, as it was linked to by the immensely popular blog Cake Wrecks. It wasn't actually shown on the blog, as it's not fully a wreck, but since it got honorable mention in a political cake discussion, they linked to the photo and over 10,000 people took the time to click on the link.

Ellis Gray Gristmill - Cannonsburgh Village

This is the Ellis Gray Mill and Grain Co. mill which was built circa 1830. It has been moved and preserved at Cannonsburgh Village in Murfreesboro, TN. The village was started in the late 70's and the mill was probably relocated here then. The Ellis Gray company stayed in business until at least the late 50s.

Howard H. Baker Jr. Federal Courthouse and Plaza Tower - Knoxville

This building started out planned to be the corporate headquarters for Whittle Communications in downtown Knoxville. This company was best known for 40 magazines and Channel One for schools. The two block wide building was worked on for four years and about $55 million, when the company fell apart.

Soon after the building became vacant, the federal government began looking for a location for a new federal courthouse. Acquiring this building was convenient for their needs. They were able to acquire the almost completed building for $22 million. Plus, it was conveniently located to the historic Knox County Courthouse across the street and the newer city-county building. All they had to do was retrofit some courtrooms into the building and by 1998, the Baker Courthouse was ready.