Collierville, TN Town Courthouse at Night

The Wigwam Motel neon sign

Why sleep in a motel named the Wigwam Motel (in Cherokee, NC) when you could sleep in an actual wigwam?

Free Hills Rosenwald School

Free Hill is a community in Clay County, TN. It is an African American community established before the Civil War. The original inhabitants were the freed slaves of Virginia Hill, the daughter of a wealthy North Carolina planter. After purchasing 2,000 acres of isolated hilly land, Hill freed her slaves and turned the property over to them.

Julius Rosenwald was the owner and president of Sears, Roebuck & Co. and established the philanthropic Rosenwald Fund. This fund was used to build schools in underserved African-American communities in the south. From 1917 and into the 30's, the fund helped build 354 schools. Very few of these schools still remain. For more info on these schools: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosenwald_School

The Free Hills Rosenwald School was used from approximately 1925 to 1949. The structure, which is believed to be one of only about 30 Rosenwald schools still standing, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. The school is also stop #56 on the TN Trails and Byways Ring of Fire trail

Dyer County Confederate Monument

Located on the grounds of the Dyer County Courthouse. The monument was dedicated on April 6, 1905 to coincide with the anniversary of West Tennessee's most prominent Civil War Battle, the Battle of Shiloh. The dedication drew 5,000 people to town.

Notice how the widest part of the base is a different color from the rest of the monument? At some point, the monument started to lean, so it was placed on a concrete pedistal to fix that problem

L&N 136 at Red Caboose Park - Bellevue, TN

The most popular park in Bellevue, TN (a suburb of Nashville) is Red Caboose Park where this L&N caboose is the central attraction. (However, I have been to this park so my nephews could play on the playground as well as listen to concerts at the bandshell. Back then, I don't think I even noticed the caboose.)

Hatch Show Print neon sign at dusk

Neon sign at dusk. Located in Downtown Nashville on Broadway.

Hatch Show Print purchased this sign in 1948. Roy Acuff was the Republican Governor Candidate that year and he ordered so many posters from them that they had the money to purchase this sign.
The longtime Nashville business moved to this location on Broadway in 1992. At the time, a city ordinance prohibited neon signs on Broadway, but having the classic sign put up was able to convince the local officials to change that policy and now there are many neon signs on Broadway

Boone Trail Highway Marker - Wytheville, VA

This dates back to the days of Auto Trails where the highways had names and not the numbering system we have today. Unlike most other auto trails, the Boone Trail wasn't a creation of a new route, but these markers were placed along existing routes.

The Boone Trail was the brainchild of J. Hampton Rich of North Carolina who was looking for a way to keep the memory of Boone alive. He contacted communities to raise funds to place an arrowhead shaped marker in their town. From 1913 to 1938 he was able to place 358 of these from coast to coast. He started a group called the Boone Trail Highway Association and for about a decade had a publication discussing the installation of new markers called the Boone Trail Herald.

Today, most of the 358 are gone. As highways are decommissioned or widened, the marker is often removed, often without thought about what is being taken away.How many of the markers are still out there? There is a group out there called the Boone Trail Highway & Memorial Re-Association dedicated to finding out, and they've located about 60.

The marker in Wytheville was originally placed in 1928 and rebuilt in 2005 according to the modern marker next to it. This marker was located along The Lee Highway, which became US11 in Wytheville.

Snowy Owl Male - Nashville Zoo

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowy_Owl

If you like zoo animals, or are a fan of the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere, I invite you to check out my Nashville Zoo website gallery:
seemidtn.com/gallery/index.php?album=nashville%2Fnashvill...

Alex Haley's Home - Henning, TN

Alex Haley was best known for his Pulitzer prize-winning novel Roots which was subsequently turned into one of the most watched television miniseries of all time. The bungalow home was built in 1919 and Haley lived here as a young boy with his grandparents. It was on the front porch that a young Haley would hear the oral accounts of his family's history, such as Kunta Kinte. After his death in 1992, he was buried to the side of that front porch.

Today, the home which is owned by the state operates as a museum and in 2010 the Interpretive Center was built behind the home. The home was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, and was listed as the W. E. Palmer House, which was Haley's grandfather and a prominent local businessman. Haley's headstone also lists his other works: Malcolm X, Palmer Town, Madam Walker, A different Kind of Christmas, Queen, Henning and Fred Montgomery.

Carroll County Courthouse - Huntingdon, TN

The 1844 courthouse in Huntingdon was used until 1931 when it burned down. This courthouse, which was began that same year was modeled after (or influenced by) the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. The architects were Hart, Freeland and Roberts of Nashville and the cost was $100,000. With a Neo-Classical design, it features a pedimented portico at each main entrance and engaged pedimented poritcos at the two sides. Extensive renovations were completed in 1981.

Wetumpka Falls - near Ledford Mill

Recently, I posted some photos of Ledford Mill and the waterfalls on their property. If you ever visit them, make sure to also see Wetumpka Falls which is only 1/4 mile away. The city of Tullahoma is only three miles away but technically this is in Moore County and Lynchburg.

Along Shipman Creek Road is a small paved pull-off which can hold 3 or 4 cars and you can see the waterfall from the creek.

There are two parts to the falls, the smaller upper part is a five foot tall tiered section and the main waterfall is a 15 foot plunge into a tiny slot canyon. I've been told that there used to be a moonshine still by the upper part several decades ago, so you might see someone call this Moonshine Falls.

Getting to the top is done via a short but steep and muddy trail up the right side of the stream. getting up close to the main plunge is easy as you can get as close as you want as long as your willing to walk up the stream.

I enjoyed this waterfall but it was not without its costs. I brought with me two cameras, my Canon EOS 50D for these still photographs and a Canon Powershot SX40 for HD video. As I was setting up for one of these photos, the SX40 fell out of my pocket into the stream and it was completely soaked, but only for a few seconds. I didn't get home for several hours, but I had that camera dry in a bag of rice for a couple of days but it still wouldn't power on. :( If you'd like to see the final video I ever made with that camera, which is of this waterfall, look here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=roV9EWrplSY

Jackson, TN Rock-a-Billy Stage

Since Jackson is home to the International Rock-a-Billy Hall of Fame, this small park has a stage and the Rock-a-Billy Mural. The backdrop of the stage includes an oversized Sun Records 45 and the message "Happy Birthday Carl (Perkins)! Also there's a note: "Help support the construction of Jackson's Largest Outdoor dance floor."

Beale Street Police Substation Flag Mural - Memphis

One of the newer inhabitants of one of the older storefronts along Beale Street is the Memphis Police Department. The really nice flag mural was added in 2013, but I can't read the name of the artist's signature in the lower left corner.

Would you like to see more photos from Beale street? Check out the Beale Street gallery

Chattanooga Choo Choo sign in the day

This is the sign atop the Chattanooga Choo Choo, the hotel and tourist stop inside Chattanooga's Terminal Station

Christ Church Episcopal - Rugby, TN

Rugby is a small community along the Cumberland Plateau in Morgan County, founded by British Immigrants in 1880. The Rugby Colony was designed to be a utopian community, but the design failed in less than a decade. Still a few townspeople and their descendants lived in the area over the next several decades. In the 1960s, residents, friends and descendants of Rugby began restoring the original design and layout of the community, preserving surviving structures and reconstructing others.

The Christ Church Episcopal was established on October 5, 1880, and initially used the original Rugby schoolhouse for services. The current building was built in the Carpenter Gothic style in 1887 by Cornelius Onderdonk, who constructed many of the original buildings in Rugby, and consecrated by Episcopal bishop Charles Quintard in 1888. The church's alms basin was designed by English carpenter Henry Fry, who had previously done work for various churches in the London area. The church's reed organ, built in 1849, is one of the oldest in the United States. The Christ Church congregation has met here regularly since 1887.

1805 Masonic Lodge - Rogersville, TN

The Overton Lodge facing the county courthouse is the oldest continually operating Masonic Lodge in Tennessee. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Rogersville Historic District. It is along Main St. which used to be US11W and TN1

For the full story: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_Lodge

TN State Fair - Misfit Vegetables

Thinking back to the classic Christmastime special, Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys, There is a place at the State Fair for Misfit Vegetables. It's called the Most Unique Shape contest. As you can see, the blue ribbon winner was these three irregular potatoes.

Jack Daniels Cave Spring etching

Located inside the Jack Daniels Visitor Center...

In this wooden carving in the center shows the original Jack Daniels statue in front of the cave spring that the distillery gets its water from, and on the right is Daniel's original business office.

Welcome to Paris, TN Catfish sign

Paris, TN is known for two things that outsiders want to some to visit and see. First, is the replica Eiffel Tower. Second, and has been around longer, is the sign welcoming visitors to town.

Located at the intersection of US79 and US641, all visitors from the south will pass by here. Paris claims to be home every year to the world's largest fish fry. This premier event started in 1953 and 12,500 pounds of catfish get eaten during the weeklong festivities.

McMinnville Main St. at night

Of interest in this photo are the First Methodist Church and the Magness Community House & Library.

Dating from 1886, the First Methodist Church was built from bricks fired to construct the Great Falls Cotton Mill at Rock Island. Stained glass windows and original oak pews have been retained even though several additions to the rear of the church have been made over the years.

W. H. Magness, Jr. (1865-1936) was a co-founder and the first president of the National Bank of McMinnville in 1874, which became First National Bank in 1905. He was the city's foremost philanthropist, and donated the land and construction cost for this classic and dignified cut-stone building. It was built in 1931 at a cost of $40,000, and is named in honor of the father and brother of Mr. Magness.

Lebanon Antique Mall

Ice Cold Coca-Cola Sold Here

This mall is a block or two from the Lebanon town square along US231.

1946 Ford Truck at Falls Mill

This 1946 Ford 2-ton grain truck was used for over 40 years by Adrian Gonsolin to haul grain for the Little Red Mill in Winchester and here at Falls Mill. Today it is on display parked inside the log corn crib

The Doctor Bowers House - Elizabethton, TN

From the brochure entitled the Elizabethton Walking Tour, this home is listed as stop #4:
The house known as the Doctor Bowers House was built around 1906 by Dr. E.E. Hunter and his wife, Mollie Jobe Hunter, daughter of Dr. Abraham Jobe, after a fire destroyed their previous home. One of Elizabethton's most beloved physicians, Dr. Hunter, also operated a drug store in the city, served for a short time as Postmaster, and oversaw the construction of the Covered Bridge. The house is primarily Greek Revival Style with various other architectural style influences, particularly Classical Revival. The north bay of the interior stair landing features beautiful stained glass windows.

How to contemptably disrespect a racist organization

In the small Middle Tennessee town of Pulaski, there's a building that's not going to show up on any tour guide or brochure.

In 1865, a group of disgruntled confederates met at this law office to form the KKK. While there has been some historical debate over whether the original mission of the Klan was racist in nature, there's no doubt that the organization became the country's best known White Supremacist organization. In the early 1920's, a marker was placed on the building by the Daughters of the Confederacy which read "Ku Klux Klan organized in this, the law office of Judge Thomas M. Jones, Dec. 24, 1865".

Fast forward to 1990 when the building had a new owner, one who didn't want this office convenient to the courthouse to be known for its unfortunate past. According to law, people aren't allowed to remove historical markers, even from their own property. Now, you might think if the owner removed this plaque, would any authority want to go on record for arresting the owner who removed the memory of the town's forgettable past? Well, one thing is for certain, he didn't want his office to give Klan supporters a potential lightning rod for demonstrations.

He did the next best thing, which is to take the sign and reverse it. Now the words face into the brick and the smooth side is showing. By the way, this is not against the law. Known now as "The Trial Lawyers Building" it dates back to ca. 1860. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Pulaski Courthouse Square Historic District.