Obsolete US Highway 25E sign - Cumberland Gap, TN

Here is a vintage U.S. Highway sign which still stands in downtown Cumberland Gap, TN near the post office. Almost all of the paint is gone from the sign, but we can still read what is says.

US25E traffic was no longer routed through the middle of town in 1996 once the Cumberland Gap Tunnel was built. Before then, this sign pointed people to turn right. Traffic then turns left over by the city hall and goes north into Vigirina. From there, the old route began its dangerous descent through the Gap. If you can see the rock bluff in the background, that is where this route would eventually take motorists.

This sign is still much older than 1996. It's rare to see a remaining U.S. Highway Shield sign with the "TENN" at the top, and the E smaller than the 25. The city is proud of their old sign as they tied a fall corn display to the sign.

Post Offices of Tennessee - A new website Gallery

I've been everywhere, Man!

As I have traveled around the state of Tennessee over the years, I have looked for the post office of every city I have visited. Now that I have visited every county in Tennessee, it is time to create a slideshow of over 230 of these post offices.

You can view the individual photos of this post office gallery at the link below on the SeeMidTN website:
seemidtn.com/gallery/index.php?album=Tennessee+Statewide%...

Or, here is a YouTube slideshow of 200 Post Offices:

Capt. Jeff Kuss USMC Memorial - Smyrna, TN

Description of the memorial:
www.captjeffkussusmcmemorial.com/
On June 2, 2016, at the age of 32, Kuss tragically lost his life when his jet crashed a day before the Great Tennessee Air Show in Smyrna. A Blue Angel F/A-18C Hornet similar to the jet flown by Captain Kuss and on loan from the National Aviation Museum in Pensacola, FL.

Although I wasn't home at the time, I live less than a mile from where Capt. Kuss crashed in Smyrna. This memorial is also nearby, located on TN266 Sam Ridley Pkwy and across from the Smyrna MQY airport. Parking is available at Lee Victory Park.

Hancock County Courthouse - Hawesville, KY

From Wikipedia:
The Hancock County Courthouse in Hawesville, Kentucky is an 1859-built courthouse which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

It is a two-and-a-half-story building, designed by a Robert Boyd of Boston, Massachusetts. It has an octagonal cupola.

Normally, I focus on Tennessee Courthouses. See my Tennessee Courthouses Collection. Each Courthouse is available as an individual post card, or you can buy a poster of all Middle Tennessee Courthouses.

Hank Snow's Rainbow Ranch - Nashville, TN

This is the long-time estate of Country Music star Hank Snow. He lived in this house in the Madison neighborhood for 44 years until his death in 1999.

While the house is called Rainbow Ranch, there is also a barn in the back yard which was used as a recording studio and has the words Rainbow Ranch painted on it. I took the picture at this angle, which is the only way it can barely be seen from the street, along with a tour bus. You might need to view the picture at full size to see it on the right.

This home is now available as a vacation rental: hanksnowsranch.com/index.html

The Rainbow Ranch was also added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2018.

See Beautiful Rock City

I've been trying to organize my notes on which Rock City barns I have seen, and I found this barn which I never uploaded. I took this photo 13 years ago, but never uploaded it because the lighting was awful.

According to google maps, it's still around today.
www.google.com/maps/@37.0968886,-86.0091815,3a,60y,267.36...
It's on highway US 31W visible to southbound traffic in Barren County between Cave City and Park City.

This is now one of 91 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 Map.

Skateland - Memphis, TN

In my endeavor to photograph everything that catches my interest around the great state of Tennessee, I maintain a list of over a thousand points of interest I would like to photograph. I have spent several years cultivating this list and visit many every year, while adding just as many.

Every so often I find something fantastic that wasn't on my list. This massive neon sign is one of them.

I was passing through Memphis on my way to something else when I was getting hungry. I considered eating at the Panchos here - just as my family used to do quite often as we would pass through town. But I was in a hurry and looking for something quicker.

My GPS told me to take White Station Rd. to get to my next destination. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a massive neon sign, but didn't get a good look at it. All I really saw were two red wings, so my first thought was it was a large neon Pegasus like the one which my dad told me lit up the Dallas skyline when he was a kid.

You're probably more interested in the story of the sign than the story of me finding it, so this makes for a great read:
www.memphisflyer.com/AskVanceBlog/archives/2009/07/19/ska...

Ravenswood Mansion - Brentwood, TN

Ravenswood is the 1825 mansion of James and Emeline Wilson featuring Greek Revival and Federal Architecture. The home gets it's name from 'The Raven' Sam Houston who was the Best Man at Wilson's wedding. It was the manor house of the third largest plantation in Williamson County as it was over 1,000 acres. The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

In 2010, the city of Brentwood purchased the mansion and outbuildings with 325 acres. Today, the area is open to the public as Marcella Vivrette Smith Park, named after the 1960's property owner. Preserved features of the park include the spring house, cistern and root cellar, tree-lined driveway, and spring-fed pond. The entrance to the park is along highway TN252 (aka Wilson Pike or Harpeth Turnpike) and includes a new bridge over the 1914 train tracks.

For more history:
www.ravenswoodmansion.com/history
www.brentwoodtn.gov/departments/parks-recreation/parks-tr...

Nashville National Cemetery

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nashville_National_Cemetery

Douglas-Wyatt House - Fayetteville, TN

Located in Fayetteville, this house was built for Hugh Bright Douglas circa 1893. The house was designed by Rickman & Bills in a Steamboat Gothic architecture style with Queen Anne & Victorian elements. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 as the Hugh Bright Douglas House.

"Big Bob" Gibson Bar-B-Q - Decatur, AL

This neon sign with a pig is located in Decatur, AL along highway US31.

Weiss Liquors Neon Sign - Damaged by Tornado

This sign appeard to have been severely damaged by the Mar. 3, 2020 tornado, as seen in this WTVF photo: ewscripps.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/96d9f75/2147483...

Main St. East Nashville (old U.S. 31E)

I loved how the sky looked on the day I took this photo. There were dark stormclouds in the sky, with the sun peaking through the clouds behind me to illuminate the sign. If you didn't notice it, there is a neon drop coming out of the jug. The second drip is on the R and then a splat.