Burial Site of Gov. Ray Blanton

A friend of mine recently found a map of the United States where for every state had a description about the worst thing about that state. (For instance, where he lived was the nerdiest state.) Tennessee to my amazement was listed as the most corrupt political state. My first reaction was to think that a place like Louisiana or Illinois should have that distinction. However, the more I thought about it, stories like the Tennessee Waltz scandal a few years ago to Boss Crump early in the last century came to mind. But perhaps the top of the list in my mind is Governor Blanton.

Ray Blanton was Tennessee's 44th Governor serving from 1975-79. Despite anything he may have done in that role, he is best remembered for the selling of pardons. While he was never formally charged for this scandal, the FBI did prosecute him for the illegal selling of liquor licenses. The story of the pardon scandal was turned into a book that was named after the lady who was the head of the TN Board of Pardons and paroles. "Marie" was eventually turned into a movie with attorney Fred Thompson portraying himself and launching his movie career.

Blanton died in 1996 and is buried at the cemetery at the Shiloh Church near his hometown of Adamsvile. The Shiloh church is a small area of private property surrounded by the Shiloh National Civil War Battlefield. While the Obelisk is not mentioned as a point of interest along the driving tour, the church is as the congregation predates the war.

Shoal Creek Bridge - Florence, AL

The old Shoal Creek Bridge was opened in 1925 to cross Shoal Creek on the East Side of Florence, AL.

If you were to look at the stripes painted on the deck of the bridge, it wouldn't look like it's wide enough to carry two lanes of traffic, but back in the 20's, it did, although it was a tight squeeze. When that was no longer sufficient, a second two-lane bridge was opened (In the 1960's, I think) to parallel this one. These days, there's too much traffic along US43 & US72, so in 2007 a six lane bridge was built. When the newest bridge was completed, the second bridge was removed and this one was gated up but kept for posterity, I suppose. The Camelback through truss design has a total of five similar length spans with each reaching about 160 ft. for a total span of about 800 ft.

Don't Look, Ethyl!

...But it's too late, she'd already been incensed.

Two Meerkats seen at the Birmingham Zoo.

(For those of you not familiar with the reference at the title of this post, It's a comedy song by Ray Stevens from the 70s. The video, which was released several years later was filmed in Nashville, and some of it at Belmont University.)

Desert Horned Lizard - Nashville Zoo

Seen at the Nashville Zoo in the Unseen World building.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_horned_lizard

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...

Lynnville, TN Depot Museum & Steam Locomotive

Lynnville is a small town in Giles County where L&N operated a Passenger depot. That depot was torn down when passenger service stopped in town. However, a few decades later, a new replica was built to be operated as a museum.

The highlighted locomotive at the museum is a 1927 Prairie type 2-6-2 Baldwin Steam Locomotive. It hauled freight for the St. Louis & O'Fallon railroad at first and was retired after 37 years in use. in 1997, the museum acquired it.

Other trains cars at the museum include a 1923 Pullman Passenger Coach (which inside has a sub-museum honoring nearby Milky Way Farms), a 1950 wood deck flat car, and a 1971 caboose. To see all of the Lynnville Depot Museum pictures, Click here.

Roy Acuff & Minnie Pearl share a Ryman Auditorium Bench

This statue is inside the lobby of Ryman Auditorium, downtown Nashville.

St. John's Episcopal Church

Here is a famous example of a plantation church, and perhaps the last one built in Tennessee. This church was the dream of Leonidas Polk who was a farmer, Episcopal bishop, second cousin of the President, and Confederate General. Polk gave of his land, oversaw the construction and financed it for the three years it was being built. It was completed in 1842 with the bell placed in the tower in 1849.

Polk wrote, "This church is of chaste and simple Gothic architecture...capable of seating...about five hundred people." The building is 41 feet wide, 65 feet long, the walls are sixteen inches thick and there are four buttresses on each side with a tall stained glass window between them.

Today, there is no congregation that meets here anymore since 1915. However, once a year there is a service on Whitsunday, which is seven weeks after Easter. It is located on old Highway US43 (today TN243) in an area that used to be known as Ashwood but today is just between Columbia and Mt. Pleasant in Maury County. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. See the Historical Marker here.

Old Stone Fort Bridge - Manchester, TN

This Pratt through truss bridge crosses the Duck River at Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park in Manchester, TN and is used to connect the campground to the main road. The one land bridge with a wooden driving surface was built in 1906 and crossed the Elk River at Dabbs Ford (Which as far as I can tell was about 20 miles away to the southeast). The bridge was relocated here to cross the Duck River in 1971 and was then rehabilitated in 2009. My favorite feature is the etched pattern at the top, as you don't see that too often around here.

The Advertising Barn at Sequoyah Caverns

This advertising barn is located at the Ellis Homestead at Sequoyah Caverns. Clark Byars, who was the famous Rock City barn painter, later in life was hired to commercially operate the caverns. He painted ads for both tourist destinations on this barn.

I was last here in 2006. Since then, this barn has suffered some wind damage. I don't know this for certain, but I would imagine the storms that devastated parts of Alabama on April 27, 2011 did this damage. That storm was best known for the large Tornado that ripped through Tuscaloosa. It progressed later on Sand Mountain (past the house of one of my wife's relatives, about five miles from here) and kept going to Trenton, GA. There is more obvious damage on the other side, but still the strip of the metal roof with the S in Sequoyah was deposited about 100 feet away.

Happy Presidents Day: Abraham Lincoln Statue - Hodgenville, KY

One of the more famous Lincoln statues around, this was sculpted by Adolph Alexander Weinman and placed in the Hodgenville, KY town square center in 1909. Lincoln was born just down the road in 1809, and the statue was unveiled for the 100th anniversary of his birth, with his son, Robert Todd Lincoln, in attendance. The 6 foot tall bronze statue depicts Lincoln sitting in an Empire-style chair. Today, the statue is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.