2012 Monday, October 8, Traveling North on Natchez Trace to Nashville, Tennessee
Monday, October 8, 2012
We left the house about 10:30 A.M. it had rained the night before, so everything was still damp and gloomy.
We traveled north on highway 43 through Lawrenceburg, stopping at CVS for restroom break; diet drinks and twenty dollars in folding money.
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| Driving on the Natchez Trace |
We took highway 64 west to the Natchez Trace Parkway where we travel all the way to Nashville.
We stopped at Meriwether Lewis National Park to use the restroom.
We did not stop again until after we passed the detour, where they were repairing the overpass bridge.
The fall leaves were just beginning to turn, around every corner was a new color.
We stopped to see the waterfall at Fall Hollow.
There was still a chill in the air and my new pink vest felt great.
It was a short, and slippery walk across two bridges to the overlook.
It turned out to be a gorgeous day with lots of puffy clouds in the sky. (Cumulus clouds.)
We stopped in Hampshire Tennessee along the trace to visit a barn full of drying tobacco.
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| Drying tobacco |
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| Drying tobacco |
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| Inside the Tobacco Barn |
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| Tobacco Barn |
Marker described the Tobacco process.
On this model farm, Burley tobacco is grown and air-cured. It is a hard crop to rise; acre requires about 250 hours of labor. (Wheat is only three hours!) William Coleman has been growing tobacco her for over 40 years.
Listen as he describes how it is done.
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| Marker described the Tobacco process |
Tobacco Farm - Old Trace Marker
This barn was built for Mr. Leland Greenfield in 1959 from timber grown on this farm. Mr. Greenfield first grew tobacco here in 1932.
The Greenfield family had owned the land for over 100 years before the state of Tennessee purchased and deeded it to the Natchez Trace Parkway in 1977.
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| Tobacco Farm |
Inside the barn was a marker about The Tennessee Tobacco Barn, which said:
Burleys Tobacco must be air-cured for four to six weeks in the barn before it is ready for the marker. Listen. Burley is a light brown, aromatic tobacco used chiefly in cigarettes. A small percentage is used for pipe and chewing tobacco. Fall is the tobacco-curing season. However, a little tobacco is left in this barn all year for you to see.
Just a few miles away there was a marker telling about the family farm?
Working in Harmony with the Environment
As we looked past, the marker to the land below we could a farmer harvesting hay for the winter.
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| Working in Harmony with the Environment |
Around every curve was a new site of orange, yellow, red, and green leaves.
We stopped at Natchez Trace’s Scenic Trail Highland Rim Section and as we looked below we could see fields of trees with multicolor leaves, farmhouses, a pond, barns and many other pictorial sites.
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| Traveling on the Natchez Trace |
In Williamsport was stopped to visit the Home of the Gordon Family.
The house is still standing:
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| Home of the Gordon Family |
The marker read:
One of the few remaining buildings associated with the Old Natchez Trace is the house of ferry operator John Gordon. Built in 1817-18, the Gordon House was one of the first brick homes in this area. In the early 1800s, Gordon settled here as ferry operator, trader, farmer, and Indian fighter. Because military expeditions kept him away from home, his wife Dorothea supervised the building of the house. Gordon died shortly after it was completed, but Mrs. Gordon lived here until her death 1859. In 1978, the National Park Service restored the house to its original appearance. A ten-minute walk beginning here leads to a section of the original Natchez Trace and the Duck River ferry site. The 450-mile (725 km) Natchez Trace Parkway roughly follows the route of the old frontier road.
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| Old Natchez Trace is the house of ferry operator John Gordon |
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| Tennessee Valley Divide |
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| marker honoring the soldiers of the War of 1812 |
Our next stop was at the Tennessee Valley Divide it was near James TN.
The marker read:
The high ground you are on is part of a long ridge that divides central Tennessee. Streams south of the divide flow to the Duck and Tennessee Rivers, while streams to the North empty into the Cumberland River. Travelers in the early days of the Natchez Trace were more conscious of the divide. Moving on foot or on horseback, they noticed changes in elevation and stream direction. Going north toward Nashville, Tennessee, the Valley Divide marked the edge of the frontier — the end of Chickasaw Indian Country.
Just a few feet away there was a marker honoring the soldiers of the War of 1812 that were buried along the Old Natchez Trace.
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| Nashville Tn |
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| Eating at Joe's Crab Shack |
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| Eating at Joe's Crab Shack |
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| Joe's Crab Shack |
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| Joe Knows Nashville Music City the USA |
We finally arrived at Joe’s Crab Shack where we enjoyed a bucket of Dungeness Crabs.
(The Bucket of Dungeness Crabs was 1 1/4 lbs)
The crabs are mild, tender, and easy to eat.
All crab is served with new potatoes and a fresh ear of corn.
Today is Hubby's birthday and Joe’s Crab Shack had sent Hubby a birthday gift for an appetizer.
We ordered Crab Stuffed Mushrooms as the appetizer.
We snapped a few pictures inside and outside Joe’s Crab Shack.
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| Tennessee Titans Football Stadium |
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| Hard Rock Cafe |
After leaving Joe’s we rode to Opry Mills to see if any of the stores had opened since the flood.
Opry Mills had been closed because the Cumberland River had flooded all the stores and the mall was shut down.
The mall had reopened we walked inside.
At the Ghost Armor booth, I had purple Ghost armor wrapped around my iPhone.
We walked over to the Opryland Gaylord Hotel and strolled through the gardens.
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| Opry Mills |
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| Opryland Hotel |
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| Rainforest Cafe |
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| Rainforest Cafe |
For supper, we stopped at Taco Bell in Springhill Tennessee
We arrived home about 10:00 P.M.
We had a wonderful day!
Tobacco!
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