207 Main St. (Queen Anne Cottage) - Wartrace, TN

Comes with a matching hydrant! As of 2021, this home is a solid Dark Blue, trimmed in white.

This home is on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Wartrace Historic District. Here is the description.

ca. 1880. Queen Anne Cottage. 1 1/2 story, frame, weatherboard, L-plan, gable composition roof, pedimented entry with cut-outs, Palladian serliana, decorative wooden vergeboards, porch supported by Doric columns, spindle balustrade, cornice with deptil, two interior brick chimneys.

Walking Horse Railroad #345

Walking Horse Railroad is a short line railroad which connects a CSX Branch from Wartrace to Shelbyville, TN. The short line is named in honor of the Tennessee Walking Horse which is prominent in the area.

The line was abandoned by Seaboard in 1985. The Bedford (County) Railroad Authority then created the Walking Horse & Eastern (WHOE) line. In 2019, it was purchase by Ironhorse which operates other short lines such as the nearby Caney Fork & Western. The line was renamed to Walking Horse Railroad (WHRR).

Raus School House

This school house in Raus was built in 1888. Now it serves as a community center. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Raus is located along Smith Chapel road about 500 ft. from highway TN130. It is in Bedford County about a mile from Moore County.

Neon Auctioneer Sign - Shelbyville, TN

Here's a sign I've driven by many times before I realized this was a gem of an old neon sign. I suppose it was so rusty I never noticed the upper sign. I'd love to have seen it when it was working.

The sign would be animated as the auctioneer would appear to be banging a gavel against a table. He also has a neon speech balloon with the word "SOLD!"

The sign is located in Shelbyville, along US231 (Cannon Blvd.) near Lane Pkwy.

May a Horse be With You

A lot of people are thinking about the brand new Star Wars movie which is coming out. However, the people in Shelbyville, TN are also thinking about Tennessee Walking Horses. Shelbyville is the home of the national celebration. This mural is signed 2018 Matt Reasor. This mural faces Lane Pkwy just west of Main St. in the same parking lot as Goodwill.

Normandy Dam

Normandy Dam is a dam built by the TVA on the Duck River It straddles the border between Bedford and Coffee counties. It is the TVA's largest dam that does not produce any electricity. It was built in the 1970s for flood control, water supply and recreational uses.

Southern Olympics: Watermelon Seed Spitting Contest

As the real Olympics are going on in Rio right now, I want to take a look at some of the Olympics you can find in Middle Tennessee:



I suppose this contest makes for not too interesting photos. This is the best I had. It's one of those contests where a bunch of kids and a few adults enter, and the big tall guys win, just like the moon pie toss.

Southern Olympics: Moon Pie Toss

Right now, the 2016 Rio Olympics are going on. Let's take a look at an Olympic sport you can find in Middle Tennessee:





At the RC Cola and Moon Pie Festival in Bell Buckle, TN, each year they have a series of contests, or Olympic Games. The first contest is the Moon Pie Toss. The gentlemen pictured above was one such participant in the fine sport of a Confection Distance Thrust.



These are the 1st, second and third place winners from the contest

The Blue Ribbon 1st place winner in the cutoff shorts said he came all the way from St. Louis. That's real dedication to participate in a fine sport of confection distance thrust. I'm thinking he undergoes a highly regimented cross-training program for this sort of all year long. I think his throw went about 200 feet and would have gone further if it hadn't have hit a tree branch.

The Red Ribbon 2nd place winner appears like he's trying to look like he's too cool for this.

I asked my wife to describe the expression of the daughter of the third place yellow ribbon winner. She said "Been in the sun too long"

Welcom to Bell Buckle sign

This was the sign in Bell Buckle as of 2010. The next one is the previous sign that was replaced

Colorful Bed and Breakfast House in Wartrace, TN

This colorful house is around the corner from the middle of town along highway TN269.

Crumbling Rock City barn near Rover, TN

I used to revisit this barn about once a year to see how much it had fallen in. This picture was taken in 2008, but by 2012 it was completely collapsed. It used to be one of the most maginificent Rock City Barns and appeared on the cover of the book "See Rock City Barns: A Tennessee Traditions" Located along highway US41A in Rover, TN, which is north of Shelbyville in Bedford County.

When I drove past this barn again on 1/31/2012, it was now gone as only a few miscellaneous boards remain. It's a shame I never saw it in its full glory, but at least I got this glimpse of it.

Tip Thompson's Menswear - Shelbyville, TN

When I took this photo in 2007, The store looked like it had been there on the Shelbyville town square for a long time. Since then, they have gone out of business and this sign is now gone.

Pope's Cafe - Air Conditioned - Shelbyville, TN

I hear that they have the best food in the area. Unfortunately they were not open the day I was there in 2007, nor did they have their sign on. The sign does work, based on what I have seen from other flickr users.

The restaurant and sign are located on Shelbyville's town square across the street from the Bedford County Courthouse. Based on their interior, this cafe must have had some affiliation with Vandyland (a similar classic diner near the Vanderbilt campus which closed in 2006).

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.

Shelbyville's Veterans Memorial statue - Happy Veterans Day!

Located at the Bedford County Courthouse in Shelbyville, TN. This statue was dedicated on Mar. 11, 2006 and was sculpted by Russ Faxon of Bell Buckle, TN. There are 1,111 bricks honoring donors of the project. There are 4 benches, one at each corner, to represent the 4 continents that the Veterans have fought in.

Blue Ribbon Inn - Shelbyville, TN

Shelbyville is the home of the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration. (also is the home of lots of power lines, apparently)

Bedford Co. Courthouse at dusk - Shelbyville, TN

Located in Shelbyville, TN.
Built in 1935 after mob violence destroyed the previous courthouse, and the design was made to look similar to the previous one. Listed on the National Register of historic places.

Shelbyville, TN Depot

in a way, it looks to nice and well maintained to be an old train depot. Today, it is used as an adult education center. The tracks are long gone, but if you look closely, you can see the Shelbyville sign on the front of the depot. It is located on Depot St. (TN64)

Postcard Tuesday: Bedford County Courthouse

Bedford County Courthouse - Shelbyville, Tennessee

This is what the courthouse looks like today:



The county's fifth and current courthouse was built in 1935 after lynch mob violence destroyed the previous courthouse. That previous courthouse was built in 1873 and had a very similar design to the one here. The most noticeable difference between the two is the previous courthouse had a fancier clock tower and the lower lever windows had a rounded top just like the upper windows. That makes this post card an image of the current courthouse and although the card isn't dated, it would be newer than 1935.

Wartace Caboose

I was in Wartrace looking at the L&N Caboose in the center of town when a real train, CSX 567 decided to come through.