Fayetteville Town Square south side

Fayetteville, TN town square - across from the Lincoln County Courthouse

TVRM Railfest 2013: Southern Steam Locomotive #630 Departs

Railfest is the annual celebration at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga, TN. This year as part of the celebration, they offered Southern Railway 2-8-0 #630 as an excursion round trip to Cleveland, TN. This photo was taken as the train departed the station.

I took a ton of photos, and as of this writing, I haven't picked my flickr-worthy favorites yet, but you can see quite a thorough collection of photos of #630, the Missionary Ridge Local with Southern FP7 #6133, and other rolling stock on the grounds. This gallery is on my website here:
seemidtn.com/gallery/index.php?album=chattanooga%2Frailfe...

Also, I took video and put it on youtube:
Just the steam train departure seen here: youtu.be/QVBCATNnTQI
That, and more footage of the steam train: youtu.be/85iljPK1TfY
All the steam footage, plus the Missionary Ridge local: youtu.be/AhCCpvO41iM

Wonder Bread / Hostess Cake noen sign - Memphis

Waverly 1978 Disaster Site Memorial Museum

On February 24, 1978 at 2:55 PM, two days after 24 cars of a Louisville & Nashville train wrecked on this site (The tracks are behind me across a street and behind a fence), workmen were cleaning up when 22,000 pounds of liquid propane fuel from a derailed tanker car ignited and caused a massive explosion. The blast and resulting fire destroyed a great part of Waverly's old town section that included homes and businesses. Sixteen people were killed in the disaster, including Waverly's police and fire chiefs. More than 200 people suffered injury, and damage was in the millions of dollars.

Today at this nearby site is an L&N Caboose, which also functions as a museum. Even though I stopped by on a Saturday in January and nobody was around, the door was unlocked. If you happen to arrive when the door is locked, there is a sign in the window for who you can call to have the door unlocked.

Vintage Wall Ads for Pepsi-Cola and Uneeda Biscuit - Roanoke, VA

On the Left:

Virginia Carriage Factory inc.
Manufacturers of
Carriages, Buggies, Etc.

and then...

Fountains also in Bottles
Drink Pepsi-Cola 5 Cents
Delicious - Delightful



On the right:

The King of Wheat Foods
Uneeda Biscuit
Sold only in packages
5 cents
National Biscuit Company

Then, the signpainters...
The O. J.Gude Co. Va.Inc
Dixie Sign & Painting Co.



This is on the side of a building in downtown Roanoke, Va.

See Rock City barn in Amish Country

Ethridge, a small town in the northern part of Lawrence County, is the central location for Tennesse's Amish population. The city is also located along US43 between Columbia and Lawrenceburg. Several Amish merchants opened up shops long this main road. This was soon followed by other merchants who capitalized on the fact that people came to this area to shop, and other trading posts, antique malls, gift shops and shopping centers opened on the main road. A minor tourist spot was born, and often when you find a tourist spot in the south, a barn telling you to see Rock City isn't too far away.

This photo is from 2012 and I last photographed this barn three years prior in 2009. Since then, the barns owner has added all of the metal signs you see here: Coca-Cola, Greyhound, Pet, Purina Chow. I also waited until the Amish man in his buggy had rounded the corner. (Generally speaking, the Amish don't like to have their picture taken where they can be identifiable.) This is one of 86 different Rock City barns I have posted to flickr in my Rock City Barns set.

Merry Christmas: Nutcracker decoration at the Wildhorse Saloon

2011 Tennessee State Christmas Tree closeup

On Monday, Nov. 28, 2011 Governor Haslam continued the Tennessee tradition of lighting the state tree along the Charlotte side of the state capitol. That year, the tree was a 35 foot tall Norweigan Spruce tree. If you look closely, prominent among the decorations on the tree are Tennessee State Flags.

The Great American Peanut Tour

So I saw this giant peanut along the side of the road. (It was along US231 south of Dothan, AL which has a bit of peanut popularity.) It looks vaguely like the Nascar simulator that came to town a few months ago. Perhaps if was a simulator and you rode inside of it, it would simulate the life of a boiled peanut.

The trailer lists the National Peanut Board website, so I thought I'd go there and copy and paste some peanut fun facts.

Astronaut Allen B. Sheppard brought a peanut with him to the moon.

In August 1976, Tom Miller, a University of Colorado student, pushed a peanut to the top of Pike’s Peak with his nose(14,100 feet!). It took him 4 days, 23 hours,47 minutes and 3 seconds.

Archibutyrophobia (pronounced A’-ra-kid-bu-ti-ro-pho-bi-a) is the fear of getting peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth.

My dog is named Peanut! (not actually listed on their website, but true nonetheless.)

A Lynchburg Christmas

I love what they do at the Moore County Courthouse for Christmas, with the lights along the top, electric candlelights in the windows and the wreaths at the doors.

I have a total of 10 photos in the "A Lynchburg Christmas" subset. You can see them all here:
www.flickr.com/photos/brent_nashville/tags/alynchburgchri...

A Camel sighting in Tennessee

Usually this time of year, if I see a camel, it is part of a nativity scene. Instead, this camel was seen at the petting zoo at the Tennessee State Fair.

US62 Cumberland River Bridge

Built in 1952, this bridge carries US62 and US641 across the Cumberland River just upstream from the Land Between the Lakes area. It is a Cantilevered Warren through and deck truss that is 1466 ft. long. You can see video of the drive over it here: youtu.be/DsUjtvvqyNs?t=5m19s

Franklin Theater at Christmas

The Franklin Theater was seemingly on the verge of being torn down or repurposed for many years. Now that it has been saved, it's in great shape. Plus there's a new marquee that was unveiled not too long ago.

Wetumpka Falls - near Ledford Mill

Last year, 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

Budget Motel neon sign

This colorful hotel sign is on Cummings Highway on the west-of-Lookout-Mountain side of Chattanooga (This highway is where US11, 41, 64 and 72 all get together) Credit cards now accepted!

Elvis's Blue Christmas Tree - 2009

In 2009, the Dig-N-Dream Garden Club of Manchester, TN presented Trees of Christmas 2009: Music of Christmas. Each of the 24 trees was decorated to represent a different Christmas song.

Coffee County Courthouse at Christmas - Manchester, TN

Have you ever seen one of those youtube videos where some guy has decorated his house and had the lights blink and pulsate and dance with a popular Christmas Song? Well, the fine folks in Manchester decided to do that with the Coffee County Courthouse - except they did it with about a dozen songs. The whole "show" takes about 30 minutes.

I recorded some video of this and posted it here:
seemidtn.blogspot.com/2010/12/christmas-lights-at-coffee-...

Allardt Presbyterian Church

Located on TN52 - Allardt, TN in Fentress County. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places. At Christmas time, they had a couple of wreaths on the main entrance

Tennessee State Capitol Christmas at Night (side view)

The Tennessee State Capitol sits upon Capitol Hill in downtown Nashville. It was designed in a Greek Revival style by prominent architect William Strickland and completed in 1859.

For Christmas, all of the lights along the base of the capitol have added a red tinting which colors most of the building. Only the lights for the cupola have not changed to red, however the lights inside the cupola window are green if you look closely.

Nickajack Dam

Nickajack Dam is a TVA hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River just upstream from Chattanooga.

Before the completion of Hales Bar Dam in 1913, the Tennessee River Gorge was one of the major impediments— along with Muscle Shoals and the Elk River shoals— to year-round navigation on the Tennessee River. Along with unpredictable water levels, the gorge was filled with numerous water hazards, some of which had been given nicknames such as "The Suck", "The Skillet", and "The Pan." In the early 1900s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers realized that a dam near the southwestern end of the gorge would flood the water hazards and eliminate the gorge's rapid downstream current. Chattanooga engineer Josephus Conn Guild offered to raise funds to build this dam in exchange for rights to the dam's electrical output. After receiving authorization from Congress in 1904, he organized the Chattanooga and Tennessee River Power Company (later TEPCO) in 1905, and the company began building Hales Bar Dam in October of that year. Hales Bar's weak limestone foundation — which hadn't been considered in the selection of the dam site— presented numerous obstacles from the outset, but the dam was finally completed in 1913.

In 1939, after a contentious court battle, TEPCO was forced to sell its assets— including Hales Bar Dam— to the Tennessee Valley Authority. The dam had been leaking since its construction, and TVA immediately initiated a series of foundation improvements that by 1943 had succeeded in halting the leaks. In 1960, however, the leaks had returned, spilling at an alarming 2,000 cubic feet per second. Around the same time, TVA began expanding locks on its dams to at least 600 feet to accommodate the increase in traffic the river had experienced since World War II, and it was determined that expanding the Hales Bar lock would be "prohibitively" expensive. Rather than spend the necessary expenses to upgrade Hales Bar, a decision was made in 1963 to build a new dam altogether on a more solid bedrock a few miles downstream.

The Nickajack Dam project was authorized January 9, 1964, and construction began April 1, 1964. Funding set aside for repair work on Hales Bar was transferred to the Nickajack project. The reservoir's construction— which basically involved extending the Hales Bar Reservoir 6 miles downstream to Nickajack— required the purchase of 8,300 acres, 500 acres of which had to be cleared. 82 families and 8 miles of roads had to be relocated. Two generators and several switchyard parts were moved from Hales Bar Dam to the new dam. Construction was completed on December 14, 1967, at a cost of $73 million. Operations at Hales Bar Dam were halted the following day, and by September 1968, Hales Bar Dam had been dismantled and its reservoir merged with Nickajack Lake.

Capri Theater Sign- Shelbyville, TN

The Capri Theater is in Shelbyville, TN about 1 block away from the Bedford County Courthouse. This theater is still in Operation, but was not open on the day I was there. Their neon sign lights up, but not this day.

Abandoned House with Christmas Wreath

..at least I assume the house is abandoned. Despite the wreath on the front door, the picture was taken in September. I do not know if the house has any significance other than being old.

Barn advertising Fuston's Discount Variety Store

"Enough Said"
Manchester Highway
Woodbury, Tennessee

This barn is located on Highway TN145, which is the quiet country road in Cannon County that runs from Woodbury to Auburntown. This painted advertisement barn, with chickens running around is located somewhere between the unincorporated towns of Brysonville and Hardscrabble. It's not far from a pretty neat goat farm.

I'm not sure, but I think I saw another barn for these people on US70 near Dowelltown.

Clinchfield Depot - Johnson City, TN

It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the "Carolina, Clinchfield & Ohio Railroad Station and Depot." The brick building was built in 1930.