2016 October 22, Saturday, Memosa Cemetery Stroll Lawrenceburg, Tn

The Lawrence County Public Library sponsored a Cemetery Stroll at the Mimosa Cemetery.

Many people gathered to hear the stories of those buried here and those who should have been buried here.
Our speaker was wearing wireless headphones with a transmitter and receiver (so everyone could hear him), and he was carrying a Sealtest Crate to stand on (so everyone could see him).

Before we began our stroll, the speaker told the story of Mimosa's founding.
The speaker said Mimosa was formed because no one knew who was buried in the city cemetery.
The city needed a cemetery.

Everyone followed the speaker into the cemetery.
Our first stop was at Mayor James D. Vaughn, 1864-194,1, founder of Southern Gospel Music.

James D. Vaughn 1864-1941

Annie Green K, 1832-1910- her husband fought in the Civil War and was killed by Union soldiers after the war.

The gravesite of Annie Kirk. Her husband was killed by Union Soldiers

Senator Fred Thompson 1942-2015- Senator, Actor, born in Colbert County, Ala, at Keller Hospital, and lived and is buried in Lawrenceburg. TN.

The group gathered near Fred Thompson's grave. He has no marker yet!

Nettie Stewart 1874-1922

 Nettie's family was all dead when she was found in a Nashville Hotel.
Nettie was a dreamer who foretold her own death.
She was found lying on the floor of her apartment, clothesless. In her room was a trunk full of her dream journals. She was brought back to Lawrenceburg and buried with her family in Mimosa Cemetery.

Nettie Stewar, the dreamer

Captain William J. Gilbreth -Served in the Spanish-American War
1864-1934. He lost a daughter while he was in the war and never got over the loss. He became a nonbeliever.

William Gilbr, a nonbeliever, ever after the loss of a child

Mayor James W. Garrett won the election by one vote.
1859-1929. There were tornado warnings during the election.

Private Elliott Crews  1894-1918 About a young man's life cut short in World War I.

Half logs mean life is cut short. Crews KIA

John B. Kennedy 1841-1913- A Civil War Soldier and Col. Man.

John B. Kennedy is a college graduate. 

James H. Stribling 1863-1951- Mr. Stribling lost a daughter, who was age 5.
Mr. Stribling was comforted by a Christian man, David Lipscomb, and, because of him, became a Christian.
Mr. Stribling built a school for the children of Lawrenceburg with his own money, with one stipulation, that it have a bible class.

Stribling Family  Stribling's five-year-old daughter is the middle tombstone.

Everyone has a story, whether dead or alive. Whether great or small.
I encourage everyone to visit a cemetery and learn more about the people who are buried there.
You might find someone you know or a relative.
I have many journals and hope someday someone will read my stories.

🚂🚂🚂2016 October 15, Saturday, Train Ride! Monterey Fall Foliage Excursion Nashville, TN Tennessee Central Railway Museum

The sun was peeking through the clouds as we rode through Columbia, Tennessee.
We ate breakfast at Burger King in Columbia, Tennessee. My Hubby ordered an egg, cheese, and sausage croissant, while I ordered two pieces of sausage and three French breadsticks with syrup, along with water.
We arrived around 7:00 A.M. at the Central Railway Museum, 220 Willow St, Nashville, TN.
Several people had arrived, and they were parking wherever they could find an open spot. We were the last ones to park in a gated area.
We walked to the museum, and there were people already standing in line.

We walked into the train museum, and there were several rows of people sitting. We walked to the back of the museum, where we saw a miniature running train display,

At 7:30 A.M., we heard the train whistle, signaling its arrival and that it was time to begin loading.
The train holds 500 people, and the excursion was sold out.
An older couple had just sat down on a nearby bench.
The woman said the train does not leave until 8:00 A.M., and it will take a while for all these people to board, so we decided to sit down next to them and wait.

The couple had seats in the dome car of the train.
We were sitting in seats 25 and 26 on TCRX 4719, First Class.
The conductor/ticket collector had a list of all the passengers, and he checked them off as people boarded.

The train's horn blew at 8:00 A.M. as we were leaving the train station.

Selfie as we began our train excursion 

At times, the train would accelerate to 55 MPR and then drop to 35, 25, or 15 MPR.

The restrooms were not available until the train began moving. Our conductor/ticket collector had to unlock them.
That was my first stop.
The windows on the train were made of thick, rigid plastic, not glass, which made it hard to get a good picture.

Riding the train up the mountain, we saw lots of dried-up creeks and empty fields where the crops had been gathered.
We saw cows, bulls, and other animals grazing in the hill country.
We rode through the towns of Lebanon, Watertown, Brush Creek, Gordonville, Caney Fork, Lancaster, Buffalo Valley, Silver Point, Baxter, Watertown, & Cookeville.

I-40 

The train crossed over I-40 several times.
I walked to the dining car for snacks (which was several cars back). I bought two Diet Cokes and two packages of peanut butter crackers, which cost me $6.00

The Standing Stone Festival was taking place in Monterey, "Where the hilltops kiss the sky."
At 9 A.M., they had a parade, a Cruise-In after the parade, and at 10 A.M., a Ceremony at Standing Stone.
Near noon, they were expecting the Excursion train coming from Nashville.
When we arrived in Monterey, the train blew its whistle, signaling to the people that we had arrived.
Before we left the train, we were told to be ready to board at 1:50 P.M., and that it would depart the station at 2:00 P.M.

The crowd is leaving the train.

The people of Monterey were prepared for visitors.
The VFW had grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, and a group of women had cooked pinto beans and cornbread.
The Blue Cup and Saucer were filling up with people from the train.

The Cup & Saucer Restaurant 

We walked down the street looking at the vendor's wares.
We stopped at a booth where several young girls were selling cookies.
We bought a package of peanut butter cookies and a package of oatmeal raisins.
We had a diet cook left over from the train ride.
We ate our snacks as we walked through downtown, which was a couple of blocks away.
We stopped to look at the cars from the cruise-in, which numbered about 10.

I stopped to take a picture of the Civil War Historic Marker.

Stokes' Atrocity
Four miles north of this site, the atrocity occurred during the war between the States. On March 12, 1864, Federal Col. William B. Stokes and approximately 200 soldiers of the 5th Tenn. Volunteer Cavalry (Union) surrounded the homes of a Southern sympathizer and shot six unarmed Confederate soldiers. These soldiers, led by 2nd Lt. Robert S. Davis, included members from Terry's 8th Texas Cavalry Regiment and one Alabama cavalryman. They had separated from their original outfit and had recently joined Captain Champ Ferguson's independent cavalry company.
Continued

Stokes' Atrocity
Days earlier, the Confederates had routed Col. Stoke's command in the skirmish at Dug Hill on the Calfkiller River. Shortly after the shooting at the house, Lt. Davis — the only Confederate wounded and not killed outright — was taken into the yard, tied to a cedar gatepost, and his body riddled with bullets. His last words were "You ought not to do this; I have never done anything but my sworn duty.

Old Fire Truck in front of Train Depot Museum 

Stone Standing Monument 

Standing Stone Monument
The Standing Stone was a 13-foot (4.0 m) tall rock that once stood upright on a sandstone ledge in the area. It was the legendary boundary between Cherokee and Shawnee territory, marking the Cherokee Tallonteeskee Trail. The 8-foot (2.4 m) remnant of this stone is preserved in Monterey, where a Standing Stone Celebration of Native American Heritage is held each October.

We wanted to see the Standing Stone everyone was talking about, which was several blocks from the festival.
There was a concrete path that twisted and turned near the train tracks, which led to Standing Stone.
Standing Stone was in front of the public library.
After taking a few pictures, we visited the library. I needed to charge my cell phone and use the restroom.
In the library, I noticed an article that was near the information desk.

The article said that Thomas Jefferson Whittaker. 
Dec 18, 1818-Nov 30, 1900 "Murdered by Grandson just 150 ft Yards from here."
This piqued my interest, so I read the article. 
One of the earliest pioneers of Standing Stone, now known as Monterey, T.J. Whittaker, stood 6 feet 2 inches in his stockings. The son of Capt.  John Whitaker was a War of 1812 Veteran who fought in Gen. Andrew Jackson's Army. Whittaker was born about two miles from the present town. 
He married Nancy Dillard Clark in 1841 and raised a large family. In 1853, he bought the old homestead from his father. The home is situated on what is now the corner of N. Elmore Street and Old Walton Road. 
An Avid hunter, Whittaker killed deer, bears, wildcats, wolves, panthers, and more. 
Whittaker Park was donated to the town by him.
On his last day on earth, Whittaker arose early. About noon, he took his mules along with some horseshoes to the blacksmith. Returning home about 4:30 P.M. on that Friday afternoon, he came across his grandson, Jackie Whittaker, and a Cooper man arguing in front of the Standing Stone monument. He tried to get his grandson to go home, but it seemed to make the situation worse, so he pulled the mule and headed home.
After traveling about 150 yards, Whittaker's grandson came up behind him and demanded his mule, taking it away. Whittaker picked up a stick to defend himself, but his grandson stuck a knife into his grandfather's neck, killing him. 
Jackie Whittaker ran home and got his pistol, daring any of the womenfolk who had gone to help TJ Whittaker. Police Chief Alec Weeks (Later Putman Sheriff) came to the scene. The young Whittaker fired at him, but missed. Weeks returned fire, hitting him twice. The grandson recovered to spend time in prison. Thomas Jefferson Whittaker is buried in the Whittaker Cemetery, just north of here on Elmore St., not far from where he lived and not far from where he died. 

The Story Teller 

We walked to the Train Depot Museum, where there were many people from the train Excursion inside.
We walked through the museum, viewing the many items on display, and heard locals share stories about Monterey.
When he finished talking, I said we have stories about our town that are similar, especially those related to the war.
I told him a story about an ex-Civil War Soldier named Tom Clark and his gang of bushwhackers, how they came into our town and ravaged it.
He and his gang were captured and hanged. Tom Clark said (so they say) that no one would ever ride over him. He was buried in the middle of Tennessee Street and is rode over every day.
The man laughed!
He said, My last name is Clark, and I have a distant relative named Tom Clark. How ironic is that?

1909 Imperial Hotel 

We walked back to the vendors to buy some meat skins and water.
We bought the water from the group of women selling beans and cornbread.
One of the women asked how much it cost to ride the train.
We walked past the 1909 Imperial Hotel, stopping to take a couple of pictures.

We heard the train whistle.
People shouted THE TRAIN IS COMING!
People were taking pictures and videos as the train approached.

When the train came to a complete stop, the conductor called OUT ALL ABOARD!

While we were visiting the town, the train had arrived at the switchyard.
Switching the Engines from the front of the train to the back of the train.
Now the gift shop, dining cars, and women's restrooms were in front of us.
The conductor had turned our seats in that direction.
After everyone had boarded the train, the conductor checked his list to ensure he had not left anyone behind. He had told us earlier that the train would leave at 2:00 P.M. and anyone left behind would have to take a taxi home.

As we descended the mountain, the train moved slowly, stopping periodically to prevent it from becoming a runaway train.
Sitting in front of us was a man from Connecticut who was telling the conductor a funny story.
I told the story of my daughter's plane experience. A doctor or nurse was needed, and she and a dentist were the only two medical professionals on the plane.
A woman was in the restroom, sweating profusely; she had taken two Ex-Lax Laxatives before boarding the plane.
When my daughter bent down to take the woman's blood pressure, her pants caught on the edge of something and made an enormous rip down the back of her pants.

My daughter lived in Newington, Connecticut, Boston, Massachusetts, and Providence, Rhode Island.
I told the man from Connecticut about all the places that we visited when I came to see her.

The sun was setting, and I wanted to get a picture, so I walked to where the train cars connected.
I stuck my head out the window and started taking pictures. I even got one of the full moons.

We arrived at the Tennessee Central Railway Museum depot in Nashville at 7:57 P.M.

Full Moon 

Panda Express

Cream  Cheese Rangoon

Honey Walnut Shrimp 

We stopped at Panda Express in Spring Hill, TN, at 7:50 P.M.
My Hubby ordered a plate with chow mein, orange chicken, broccoli, beef, and one chicken egg roll.
I ordered a small plate of Honey Walnut Shrimp and three Cream Cheese rangoons.
We were home by 10:00 P.M., Hubby's bedtime.

🏛2016 Wednesday, Oct 5 & Thursday Oct 6, Ark Encounter and Creation Museum

Laura picked me up around 5 A.M. along with Becky, Stella, and Diana.

Laura drove her car to Janet's house in Athens.

We loaded into Janet's van and started our journey to Kentucky.

We traveled north on I-65, stopping at 7:12 A.M. in Columbia, TN, for gas and breakfast. 

At Burger King, several people ordered a croissant with egg and sausage.  

I don't want the bread, so I just got a piece of sausage and a large cup of iced water. 

We loaded back into the van and began our journey to Kentucky. We hit the early morning traffic of Nashville and rode in the HOV "High Occupancy Vehicle" lane, so we moved along pretty fast. 
We traveled through Bowling Green and Lexington, KY.  

We gained an hour when we crossed into Eastern Daylight Saving Time. 

We arrived at the Creation Museum around 1:22 P.M. Eastern Time (we lost an hour).

Janet parked the van near the entrance, and we walked inside(we did not have to stand in line) to purchase our tickets. 

Entrance to the Creation Museum 
2800 Bullittsburg, Chruch Rd, Petersburg, Ky 41080

Everyone bought combo tickets, which let us visit the Creation Museum for 2 days and The Ark Creation for 1 day.  

We did not watch any of the movies, so one day was more than enough to view the Creation Museum. 

Everyone split up and walked through the museum at their own pace. 

We glimpsed what it was like for Adam and Eve to live in the Garden of Eden.

We saw the beginning of Noah building the Ark before the flood. 
We saw sculpted dinosaurs and a full-size Allosaurus skeleton named Ebenezer. We saw the legends of dragons. 
We walked through the history of the Bible, the natural selection, the Museum of the Bible, and the flood. 

When I finished viewing the museum, I walked to Noah's Cafe, where I bought a salad and three chicken fingers for $7.50 plus a diet soda for $2.49.

While I was eating, Becky and Stella appeared; they were both ready for lunch.

They brought chicken fingers and a salad and joined me. 

At Noah's Cafe, I found a charging port for my cell phone, as it was getting low after taking several pictures. 

When Becky & Stella finished, they went back inside the museum. They wanted to get a piece of the fudge they had smelled downstairs.

I walked across the floating bridge to the Botanical Gardens

Most of the flowers had quit blooming, and most of the path throughout the garden was shaded from the hot sun. 

The Zoo 

I walked across a Suspension Bridge.

💐 🌷One of the Bridges in the Botanical Gardens 

Walking across the Bridge 

There were at least five bridges, & several paths leading to little nooks full of displays. 

I walked across a suspension bridge, passed the mining sluice, and went to the petting zoo, where I saw a camel, alpacas, zorse, zonkey, donkeys, wallabies & goats.

I saw Laura and Janet on a lower path; they had already been to the zoo and were walking back to the museum. 

I met Diana as I was leaving the zoo, so we walked back to the museum, stopping to take pictures of the waterfalls, the pond full of lily pads, and the shadow of clouds and trees falling into the pond. 

Diana was getting hungry, so we went to Noah's Cafe, where she bought a pizza and salad. 
While Diana was ordering her food, I looked for a table with a wall outlet for my cell phone. 
So while Diana ate, I charged my cell phone and uploaded pictures. 

Diane met an old friend from Vermont, her friend, and her friend's husband came over to talk to us while Diana finished eating. 
By the time Diane finished eating, everyone was ready to leave, and they were waiting in the van for us. 

Welcome to Chili's Florence, Y'all 

Laura and I are at Chili's 
Chili's 500 Houston Road, Florence, KY.

We stopped at Chili's at 500 Houston Road, Florence, KY, for dinner. Everyone had eaten lunch at Noah's Cafe except Laura and Janet.

Stella, Becky, and I ordered water, and we split an appetizer of White Spinach Queso, topped with shredded Monterey Jack cheese, house-made pico de gallo, fresh guacamole, queso fresco & chopped cilantro. 
Served with warm tostada chips & fresh salsa.

Janet ordered a bowl of loaded baked potato soup topped with applewood-smoked bacon, fresh-chopped green onions & 3 cheese blends, and she also ordered a Triple Berry Crumble Cake.

The cake had warm blackberries & blueberries baked with rich butter cake, topped with streusel, and finished with vanilla ice cream, strawberry sauce & cinnamon sugar.
I ate several bites. YUM !!!

Diane ordered a Molten Chocolate Cake.
It was a moist chocolate cake with a melted chocolate center, vanilla ice cream & a thin chocolate shell, all topped with whipped cream.

Laura ordered a salad.

Our next stop was the Comfort Inn. 

Janet parked the van just outside the front door of Comfort Inn in Dry Ridge, KY, where Stella had booked three rooms.
Three people paid for the rooms, and each was reimbursed by the one sharing the room.
We paid for the rooms at 6:36 P.M. 
We unloaded the van, and Janet parked it in the designated parking area.  

Becky and I had room 319 with Laura and Janet in the adjoining room 317. Stella and Diana's room was just down the hall. 

I met two couples outside the hotel, sitting on a bench in front of the Inn, when we were getting our luggage out of the van. 

They were resting from their day's adventure at the Ark Encounter.

One man said we had fun at the Ark, and we did a lot of walking. 

Everyone went to their rooms, took a shower, and dressed for bed. 

When I looked out the window of our roo,m I saw this beautiful sunset. 

Sunset 
Comfort Inn in Dry Ridge, KY

Trees were blocking my view, so I grabbed my camera, took the elevator downstairs, and walked outside. 

I walked past a restaurant, a bank, and the Hampton Inn to the nearby highway. 

It was an orange-red sunset just going down.   

I walked back to Comfort Inn, and there was a sign hanging on the door that said, "No Vacancy." I took the elevator to the third level back to my room, where I took a shower and climbed into bed. 

Becky was already in bed; she had not slept much the night before. 

I woke up in the middle of the night, thirsty, and took the elevator to the first floor to buy a bottle of water. 
Crawled back into bed and slept until 7:30 A.M. the next morning. 
Becky and I took the elevator downstairs for breakfast. 

We met Stella, Janet, Diane & Laura on the way back to their rooms; they had already eaten breakfast. 

I ate a banana, strawberry-banana yogurt, two pieces of sausage, and a glass of orange juice for breakfast.

Becky got an apple and some water. 

At 8:30 A.M., everyone was ready to go to the Ark. Encounter. We were about six miles from the Ark Encounter. 

The Ark is located on 800 acres of land right off I-75 at exit 154, the second busiest north/south interstate in the US. 

Janet parked the van near the ticket counter. Everyone got out of the truck and lined up at the ticket counter.  

Our tickets were live tickets and had to be verified.
We were given our tickets back along with a green armband. 

Diane had misplaced her ticket and had to go back to the van to find it. 

We had to wait at the counter until she returned. 

Her ticket was in her wallet at all times. 

We walked to the bus, which took us to the Ark Encounter.

We could see the Ark from the 4,000-acre parking lot. The closer we got to the Ark, the bigger it got. It was ENORMOUS!  

View of the Ark from the Parking Lot 
1 Ark Encounter Drive, Williamstown, Ky 41097

The Ark was 510 feet long, 85 feet wide, and 51 feet high. The Ark Encounter was the brainchild of Answers in Genesis, led by President Ken Ham. The park will bring much-needed revenue to the area. 

Everyone got off the bus and started taking pictures. It was still quite a walk up to the Ark.

Janet and I both stopped at the restroom near the bus stop.  

The rest of our group walked to the Ark, which had to be entered from the backside, and it was a long walk. 
It was like a theme park with bars, roped off for lines of people. Everyone was already walking up the wooden ramp; we did not have to go through the long roped-off lines. 
We walked up a wooden incline ramp to each level, with a guide at each entrance to point us in the right direction. 
A fourth level is due to be completed before Christmas of this year. 
As we entered the first level, we could hear the sounds of many different animals.
We saw cage after cage, where the animals would have lived during the flood. 

We saw stacks and stacks of feed for the animals, rows and rows of jugs for water. 
We saw several different species of animals inside cages, including dinosaurs. 
The second level was signs and posters.
Seven posters, The beginning God created and it were very good. God created a perfect world, a perfect marriage, a perfect authority, and an ideal humanity. 
The fall and man's rebellion corrupt creation, and God revives man's hope. First murder, Cain murders Abel.

We saw Noah and his family; we saw how they lived on the Ark, how they performed their daily chores. They had no time for folly.
Just walking the length of the Ark would be a daily chore for Noah and his family.

There was a section with bible scrolls, and pictures depicting how life might have been during Bible times, descent into darkness, senseless slaughter, abuse of creation, Excessive hedonism, living for pleasure, Boundless brutality, the devastation of war, and the flood. 
The third level showed how Noah and his family lived, their food, their living quarters, their cooking area, and Noah sending out a dove.
We saw the Giants of the Ice Age, the origin of Languages, God's command to be fruitful and multiply, the table of nations, and the line of Shem, Ham, and Japhet. God's judgment, so the Lord scattered the people. We observed superficial biological differences between people in different groups. Towers from around the world, Aliens and the pyramids, an Ancient man, brilliant or a brute? Developing technology, Technology Intelligence, and Technological explosion, from horse & buggy to a man on the moon in only 70 years. The Great Pyramids, the Enigmatic Stonehenge, Time and Navigation, Noah and his family, along with all the animals, went into the Ark. 
Noahic Covenant 
And Noah built an altar to the Lord, and he took from all the clean animals and clean birds and sacrificed them as a burnt offering on the altar. God smelled the pleasing aroma and said, "I will never again...destroy all of the life which I have made. As long as the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not cease." Genesis 8:20-22.

Permission to eat meat, Dietary changes, and Capital punishment. The last display featured different types of Bibles, the Torah Scroll, and books written by John Eliot.

After viewing the last display, we descended the long wooden ramp into a gift shop. 
We could have taken an elevator down. 

Becky, Stella, Laura, & Diane went to Estrelas Restaurant for lunch. 
Estrela will hold about 500 people and is a building near the Ark. 
I was not hungry, so I walked to the zoo.

By the time I arrived at the Ararat Ridge petting zoo, it had gotten hot. 

I saw a worker sitting in a chair, holding a baby goat. She was petting it, and he was enjoying it.

I saw Kangaroos, Emus, 3 female ostriches, several donkeys, a Tibetan yak bull, and a camel. 
Near the Ostrich cages, I met an older man who worked with the animals. 

He said, I love working with the Emu; they are fun, and they are mild-mannered, but the ostriches are a lot pickier, especially the male ostriches. 
He was telling me that the Ark Encounter was just the beginning, that there were several phases yet to come. 
Additional future phases at Ark Encounter include a pre-flood walled city, the Tower of Babel, a first-century village, a journey into history from Abraham to the parting of the Red Sea,  a walk-through aviary, an expanded petting zoo, and other attractions that uphold the truth of God's Word. 

Side view of the Ark 

Diane, Janet, Laura, Stella, and Rebecca in front of the Ark 

We left the park around 11:30 A.M., loaded onto the bus, and were taken back to the parking area. We loaded into the van and stopped at a gas station just before getting onto I-75. 
We stopped somewhere along I-75 to use the restrooms. 
We rode past the Castle Winery in Versailles, Ky, at 12:47 P.M. We stopped at a service station in Munfordville, KY, at 2:41 P.M. to use the restrooms and to buy some snacks.
We were traveling through Nashville at 4:02 P.M., somewhere in Kentucky, when we changed back to Central Standard Time. 
We stopped at Janet's in Athens, where everyone got out of the van and loaded into Laura's car.
We stopped at Arby's in Athens, where I bought one beef cheddar,  one large Roast Beef, and two Apple crisps to take home for dinner. 
I was home around 6:30 P.M.