First Presbyterian Church - Memphis, TN

The congregation is the second oldest in Memphis, dating back to 1828. They've been meeting at this location since 1832. This building dates back to 1884 when the previous building burned down. Today, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This photo was taken early in the morning when there was still some fog downtown.

The Apple Barn - Sevierville, TN

The Apple Barn had become a "Must Stop" location for my wife and I every time we go to the Pigeon Forge / Gatlinburg area.

Back when this was a rural area, this was an actual farm and barn, which was built in 1910. The area was purchased to become a more touristy/retail location in the 70s. After several years of restoration, in the early 80's, the barn became the central store at the complex.

Capitol Cinemas - Princeton, KY

Located along Main St. in Princeton along US62.

Macon County Courthouse and Fountain at Dusk - Lafayette, TN

Located in Lafayette's town square, this is Macon County's 4th courthouse. The brick building was designed by E. Tate & Son, completed in 1933 at a cost of $16,000 and renovated in the 1970s.

Spin-a-pin Lanes neon sign - Springfield, TN

Seen along US41/431

Simpson Co. Courthouse - Mendenhall, MS

A few summers ago, my wife and I took an abbreviated weekend trip to the Biloxi, MS area to attend a wedding. We had one day to drive there from Tennessee, the day of, and a final day to drive back. On that drive back home day, we left our hotel in Pascagoula, drove north to Jackson to spend some time at the zoo, and then another five hours home - all before going to work the next day. We weren't planning on making any side excursions on that day. However, when I saw the sign along US49 for the "Home of Mississippi's Most Beautiful Courthouse" I knew I had to stop. The 1908 courthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Happy Memorial Day 2015

On this Memorial Day, I thought I would share some memorials from around the area.



Weakley County War memorial - Dresden, TN
Located on the grounds of the Weakley County Courthouse in the town square of Dresden



Henderson County War Memorial - Lexington, TN
Located on the grounds of the Henderson County Courthouse on the town square in Lexington.



White County War Memorial - Sparta, TN
In honor of those who gave the supreme sacrifice from White County. This memorial is located on the grounds of the White County Courthouse in Sparta.



Dyer County WWII Memorial - Dyersburg, TN
Located in front of the county courthouse.



WWI Memorial Fountain - Jackson, TN
located on the grounds of the Madison County Courthouse in Jackson's town square.

Oak Grove Cumberland Presbyterian Church

The hand painted sign out front mentions the congregation was founded in 1888. This church building is located along highway TN27 in Marion County, TN.

Bourbon Street Blues and Boogie Bar

Printer's Alley - Downtown Nashville, TN

Brown-Pusey House - Elizabethtown, KY

This Georgian mansion was built in 1825 by John Y. Hill. It is known as "Hill House" and as "Aunt Beck Hill's Boarding House." The Swedish Nightengale, Jenny Lind sang on the front steps here in 1851 in front of a large crowd. General George Armstrong Custer and his wife Elizabeth boarded here from 1871-73 while he was tasked to combat the Ku Klux Klan and illegal distilleries.

Doctors William Allen and Robert Brown Pusey gave the house to Elizabethtown in 1923 for a Community House and library. Today, the house is on the National register of Historic Places.

For more info:
www.touretown.com/Visitors/See/Brown-Pusey-House.aspx

Bucksnort exit along Interstate 40

One of the many reasons why northerners make fun of Tennessee.

Center Point Pit Barbecue - Hendersonville, TN

Motto: Home of the three little pigs

Hendersonville, TN on US 31E

This excerpt was taken from the TN Trails and Byways Ring of Fire Trail, stop #100:
"This local landmark often welcomed Johnny Cash for a plate of BBQ and over the years numerous country artists and musicians have feasted at this unassuming spot. Taste for yourself, and spot your favorite star in the autographed pictures that decorate the walls."
tntrailsandbyways.com/trail/11/ring-of-fire/?p=5

Upper DeSoto Falls & Dam

Located atop Lookout Mountain near Mentone, AL is the easily accessible DeSoto Falls.

Downstream from here is the main DeSoto Falls which plunges 104 feet. The upper falls is just a few feet upstream. Beyond that at the top of the photo is the 1920s hydroelectric A.A. Miller Dam.

Seattle Wheel - Franklin, TN

The Williamson County Fair, one of the earliest in the state, is just about two months away.

This is the "Seattle Wheel" Ferris wheel at the 2006 Williamson County Fair. It is owned and Operated by Drew Operations, but was built for the 1960's Seattle World's Fair. If you've ever seen video from that world's fair, you've like seen this before.

St. John's Lutheran Church - Knoxville, TN

From Wikipedia:

St. John's Lutheran Church is a historic Lutheran church located at 544 Broadway NW (Emory Place) in Knoxville, Tennessee. The church building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, both individually and as a contributing property in the Emory Place Historic District.

The St. John's congregation was formed in 1888. It was the first English-language Lutheran congregation in Knoxville. The founding members were Lutherans of German heritage who preferred English over German, which was then used in other local Lutheran churches. Initially, they met for worship in the First German Evangelical Lutheran Church in downtown Knoxville. In 1889, the group leased the former the Broad Street Methodist Episcopal Church building, on the corner of Broadway and Fifth Avenue, for worship use. In 1890, the congregation incorporated, affiliated with the United Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the South, and purchased the former Broad Street Methodist property.

Development of the current church building began in 1910 after church member Martha Henson donated land one block north of the church building. After adjoining land was acquired, construction of the new church building began in August 1911. The new church was completed and dedicated in 1913. R. F. Graf was the architect of the Gothic Revival style building. Martha Henson contributed almost $90,000 toward the $100,000 cost of the project as a memorial to her husband, James A. Henson. Gothic elements in the building include arches at windows and doorways, exterior buttresses, and tracery. The church's interior utilizes quarter sawn oak. Hammerbeam trusses vault the sanctuary, rising to almost 40 feet. The sanctuary is surrounded by 61 stained glass windows, including a series of nine pictorial windows that depict scenes from the Bible in chronological sequence. The windows were designed by Von Gerichten Art Glass of Cincinnati and assembled onsite during building construction.

See Beautiful Rock City

See Beautiful Rock City
Near Chattanooga, Tenn.

Here is a tough to get to Rock City Barn that is not recommended, but there's no other real way to go see it. This barn is located off of Interstate 40 at exit 356. Specifically, for the people in Roane County travelling northbound on TN326 / TN58, this barn is located just off of the eastbound on-ramp to I-40. When I first learned of this barn several years ago, I took that on-ramp only to find that you can just barely see the barn through the trees.

On this particular day near the end of fall after the leaves have fallen off, it's a little bit easier to see, but not really. I parked on the shoulder of the on-ramp to try to get a closer look on foot. As it turns out, there was a well-established path through the overgrowth to get a closer look. (I had no idea there were so many of us wanting to photograph this barn!) At the time, the entire property looked desolate with no signs of anyone living there and a for sale sign in front of the house. If I thought someone actively lived here, I wouldn't have tried it and would have sat in the car pouting like my previous occasion where I tried to see it through the trees.

This barn has a bonus challenge for anyone reading this who might be extra daring. The other side is also painted with the message "See Rock City Today." I wasn't particularly keen on weed-whacking to get to the other side, but maybe you'd like to try it. To me, the weird thing is I'm not sure how many people have ever seen the other side. The line of trees makes it virtually impossible today. With the angle of the barn, it would have been awfully difficult to see from the westbound traffic on I-40 or the on-ramp with your head turned around.

See it on a google map here: goo.gl/maps/dYx17

This is now one of 83 different Rock City Barns I have photographed and uploaded to Flickr in my Rock City Barns set. People often ask me how I've found so many of them. I have drawn from many resources such as books and web sites and sometimes luck, but there's not really one "go to" place to find them all. Well, now on my website, I have tried to create a one stop source for the locations of all of the barns I've been to. On my Map of Rock City Barns page, I have plotted each barn on a Google Map.

Fall Morning on the Cumberland River

On this morning, there is still a little bit of fog left on this October Autumn morning. This scene is in Rome, TN in Smith County at the site of a historic ferry crossing.

Bar-B-Cutie sign - Nashville

A Nolensville Rd. (US31A/41A) longtime establishment. Their motto is "Get Your Booty to Bar-B-Cutie"
Although I'm sure the sign has been replaced a few times over the years, the design hasn't changed much since 1950, when they opened their doors.

Burial Site of TN Governor William G. Brownlow

Learn more about Governor and Senator Brownlow here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Gannaway_Brownlow

He is buried at Old Grey Cemetery located off of US441 in Knoxville.

Carter Mansion - Elizabethton, TN

From the historic Marker:
"The Mansion" was built before 1780 by John Carter and his son Landon. John Carter was chairman of the Watauga Association, a court of five men elected by settlers of the Watauga County in May 1772. "to govern and direct for the common good of all the people." Carter County is named for Landon Carter and Elizabethon is named for his wife Elizabeth Maclin. The family cemetery is located to the east of the house.

Also of note: This is the oldest frame house in Tennessee. Little is known about John Carter as many records have since been destroyed by fire. Landon Carter is also the great-grandfather of brothers Alf & Robert Taylor who ran against each other for Governor. The property is also on the National Register of Historic Places.

For more info about this house:
www.oldhouseonline.com/carter-mansion-tenneesees-oldest-f...

Hello to anyone who found this photo here:
www.onlyinyourstate.com/tennessee/historic-houses-tn/
Everyone In Tennessee Should Visit These 20 Houses For Their Incredible Past

Cornelius Vanderbilt State, Vanderbilt University

Happy Mother's Day 2015

This is uploaded in honor of everyone who has lost their mother. As of Mother's Day 2015, I am fortunate that my mother is still alive, although I nearly lost her last year.

This gravestone was found at a small church cemetery in rural Williamson County, TN. This mother died in 1945. I like how the ribbon of sunshine was just hitting "mother" on the tombstone on this winter's day.

Historic Jim Bales Cabin

Historic Jim Bales Cabin

located in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park along the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail.

Green River Power Station Locomotive

This is seen at the Bluegrass Railway Museum in Versailles, KY as part of their rolling stock. This is what their website has to say about it:
Kentucky Utilities #001
Builder: General Electric
Class: 45 Ton Center Cab
Status: OPERATIONAL
Once the switcher at the Tyrone Power Station, #001 was donated to the museum by Green River Power Station of Kentucky Utilities. The museum hopes to paint her back to her original red scheme used at the Tyrone plant.

The Scholl Foot Eazer mural - Beale St., Memphis

No More Foot Trouble! The Scholl Footeazer eases the feet. worn inside the boot. Instantly relieves tired aching feet and limbs. The Scholl "Foot Eazer" is better. Springy-Self-Adjusting to all feet. Ladies and Gents. Dr. Scholls Sponsor - Memphis Walk of Fame - Vintage 1907 sign. (Restored in 1988 by Dingle Art Works)

This restored vintage mural is seen along Beale St. in Memphis. Would you like to see more photos from Beale street? Check out the Beale Street gallery

Dickson Co. Courthouse - Charlotte, TN

The Dickson County Courthouse in Charlotte, TN is the oldest courthouse in the state still in use, built in 1830. (The Hawkins Co. Courthouse in Rogersville also makes this claim citing how this courthouse has been changed and expanded while theirs hasn't, albeit not quite as old.)

This mural depicts the way the courthouse looked back then, with some noticeable changes from today. Wings were added on both sides in 1931. The chimneys were removed and the roof, and shutters and dome on the tower are now white instead of red.

If you can see the gutter downspouts in the photo, that's about how wide the original part of the courthouse is. (It's actually the area where the bricks are a bit more pronounced, if you can see it.) When the additions are added, they couldn't find brick that matched the color of the original, so they added a layer of brick over the original layer.

The city of Dickson is much larger than Charlotte, and there's been attempts over the years to get the county seat moved to the bigger city, yet it has remained here all those years. (There is a Gov't Office building on Main St. in Dickson. There's also a second courthouse building across the street from this one.

Unknown Performer, Smithville Fiddler's Jamboree 2009

The Smithville Jamboree takes place every year near July 4th on Smithville's town square.

In the news: Primo C. Bartolini House in Nashville is Threatened

This is the historic Primo C. Bartolini House. It has been owned by that family since it was constructed in 1931. The house was built on the foundation of the antebellum home of Captain William Driver. Historic Nashville Inc. has reported this house as threatened as developers want to replace this SoBro house with a new development. For more info, see Historic Nashville's facebook post:
www.facebook.com/historicnashvilleinc/posts/1015327345972...

Kennedy & Bowden Machine Co. neon sign

This well preserved vintage neon sign used to advertise their business in downtown Nashville about where the batbuilding is today. The company relocated to the business park area of LaVergne, TN and took their sign with them.

Embry Chapel AME Church - Elizabethtown, KY

Built in 1865 as the Embry Chapel AME Church. Apparently, the congregation decided to relocate to a new building. As of 2006, this is now "The Mulberry" wedding chapel. (It's on Mulberry St.) The Building is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Tennessee Pride Statue - Madison, TN

Odom's Tennessee Pride Sausage dates back to 1943 in the Madison neighborhood of Nashville. To celebrate the local company, today this statue of their hillbilly boy mascot is in front of the recently restored Amqui train station.

Riverside Motor Lodge - Gatlinburg, TN

Now with RCA Color TV!

I suppose "mountainside" would have been an apt name also.