🚗 2015 ~ Aug 25, Tuesday, Murfreesboro, Tennessee

We rode to St. Joseph, Tennessee, to buy lottery tickets. It was getting close to lunchtime, so we stopped at Ponderosa in Lawrenceburg.

At 11:23 A.M., I ordered a medium-well sirloin steak, a baked potato, and a salad with iced tea.

My husband ordered a New York strip, a baked potato, and a salad bar with iced tea.

Filled up with gas at Murphy Gas at 12:19 P.M. in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee.

We left Lawrenceburg and headed to Murfreesboro for a day of adventure.

We arrived at Stones River National Battlefield Museum in Murfreesboro around 2 P.M. We were given a brochure about the Stones River National Battlefield and the Trail of Tears.

We watched a five-minute video about one of the worst battles fought during the Civil War. 

Home Sweet Home was probably the last song many of the soldiers heard. Many men on both sides perished the next day.

Stones River National Battlefield Cemetery

Stones River National Battlefield Museum

Stones River National Battlefield Cemetery

After the video, we walked through the museum, stopping to read and take pictures. In the gift shop, we bought four postcards.

1. Battle of Stones River, Murfreesboro, Tennessee-More than 81,000 soldiers fought at Stones River, and 23,000 were killed, wounded, or captured. After this ferocious battle, fought from December 31, 1862, to January 2, 1863, the Union Army controlled middle Tennessee and prepared to advance to Chattanooga. The Chicago firm of Kurz and Allison published this print of the Battle of Stones River in 1891. Print Library of Congress
2. Courthouse of Murfreesboro, printed by J. J.Thompson
3. Stones River NB, Murfreesboro, TN, Hazen Brigade Monument. In the months following the Battle of Stones River, members of the Ninth Indiana Infantry built a monument to mark the place where their brigade held their ground against four Confederate attacks on December 31, 1862. The Hazen Brigade Monument is the oldest intact Civil War monument in the nation. Print Library of Congress
4. Stones River National Battlefield, Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The last Confederate attack on January 2, 1863, drove the Union soldiers across the Stones River. The pursuing Confederates ran into a storm of iron from fifty-seven cannons and fell back. Union forces then surged back across the river, bringing the battle to a bloody close. Print Library of Congress

We rode over to the National Cemetery to take a few pictures. We rode the trail but did not stop to listen at each site because we arrived late. 

Our next stop was the Oaklands Historic Home Museum.
The tour had ended at 3 P.M. We arrived at about 3:10, which was okay because the curator said we could walk around outside and take pictures.

The once 274-acre Oakland Plantation was now a park and museum.
I took pictures of the markers telling about the Oakland Mansion, the Manley Family, Agriculture and Gardening, Oakland Mansion Watching from the window, official Symbols of Tennessee, History Tree, Tennessee Trail of Trees, Slavery, Plantation Life, Maney spring, Wetland Ecosystem, Wetland Plants and Animals, The Civil War, NB Forrest's Raid on Murfreesboro, the Occupied City.

At the museum, I purchased a card by artist Phil Ponder featuring a picture of the mansion, and on the back was its history.

Oaklands Historic Home Museum

Oaklands Historic Home Museum Card

The Oaklands Historical House Museum

The Oaklands plantation began as a 274-acre land grant awarded for military service in the American Revolutionary War. The owner, Colonel Hardy Murfree, died in 1809, leaving Oaklands to his daughter, Sally. She and her husband, Dr. James Maney, and their family lived in the one-and-one-half-story, two-and-one-half-room brick house with wood-plank floors. After Sally died in 1857, the plantation was passed to her son, Lewis, and his wife, Rachel. Just before the War Between the States, Oakland encompassed 1,500 acres and a beautiful, almost 10,000-square-foot home.

On July 13, 1862, Confederate forces under the command of General Nathan Bedford Forrest prevailed against the Union Army on Oakland property. The area remained in Confederate control until the Union Army won the Battle of Stones River in January.

Due to the ravages of the war and its aftermath, the Maney family was forced to sell the plantation and eventually fell into great despair. In the 1950s, ten women formed the Oaklands Association and bought the property from the City of Murfreesboro with the commitment to open the home as a museum. They did … in just one year!

The artist 

Phil Ponder, a resident of Middle Tennessee, has been producing original pen-and-ink watercolors and limited-edition prints of historic homes and important buildings in the area for nearly 35 years.

Our next stop was the Cannonsburg Village, a Bicentennial Community 1776-1976.

Where I took pictures and we visited the tollgate, Uncle Dave Macon's marker, a memorial to Jessee Medick, 1900s Telephone building, University House, Ash Hopper, Williamson Chapel, Loom House (one-room Log Cabin), Rio Mill marker, Word's Largest Cedar Bucket, Doctor's Office, County Store, The McKnight House 1860, Village Loom House, Rawlins Tractor Shed, Leeman House, Haynes Museum, L&N Caboose, F.L. Westbrooks, Murfreesboro and the occupied & Stones River Region Car Club, AACA

Mill
In 1855, W.S. Huggins and Company built a four-story brick mill building on this site. It was powered by two twenty-five-horsepower engines with a capacity of 200 barrels of flour per day. In 1860, William Spence bought the mill. Both the Confederate and the United States armies used the building. After the war, it was converted to a cotton gin by Farmer's Gin Company. Later owned by C.N. Haynes, it was demolished in 1990.

Gordon's School House
 The one-room schoolhouse shows the determination of 19th-century settlers to provide their children with a basic education. After a community had a building for classes, its citizens would hire a teacher with money raised by public subscription. Students were grouped by grade, with girls on one side and boys on the other. All grades studied spelling and the three Rs. Classes lasted only 15 minutes each, with 2 or 3 recesses per day. Since it was not possible to find an existing period schoolhouse, this one was built from logs from a large corncrib in Southern Rutherford County.

Williamson Chapel
The Williams Chapel, relocated from the Northern part of Rutherford County and adapted from an early schoolhouse, is representative of a small country church in the South. Its current appearance provides insight into the building's evolution. The original simple frame structure was updated by the more ornate Victorian interior and the stained glass windows, while the steeple represents the latest effort to modernize the structure. Churches of this sort likely served as a focal point for the circuit-riding minister. He probably preached here twice a month and went out among the smaller churches on the other Sundays. The extended length of service hours compensated for their infrequency. Inside, the center aisle divides the church and its congregation; the women and men sit on opposite sides. Today, this chapel is used for weddings.
 

The Leeman House
The Leeman House is a two-story log structure from Eastern Rutherford County. The circa 1820s front section was made from cedar trunks, skillfully fitted together by notching. The second-story rear was a circa 1870s addition. The house layout is typical of Tennessee log cabins with a dogtrot between the living and kitchen areas. The front upstairs was used as a girls' sleeping quarters and was not connected to the rear upstairs, where the boys slept. Among the furnishings are an ornate mantel clock, hand-made doilies, newspapers used as insulation and wallpaper, and a print of Custer's Last Stand, together with the General's mess set donated to Cannonsburg by the George Custer family. The modern kitchen facilities are used for receptions when weddings are held at the Williamson Chapel.

University House 
1800s residence with dogtrot. The dogtrot, also called the possum or dog run, reached its peak in the South from 1780 to 1830. Since connecting log structures is difficult, a family in need of more space would often build a second room a few feet away. Both log rooms and their connecting 'dog trot' would be covered by a continuous roof. The chimneys, either stone or brick, were placed on the exterior to avoid overheating the house from cooking during the warmer months. During the hot summer months, cooking and other family activities were done outside in the dogtrot. This house, which formerly stood on the present site of the MTSU campus, dates to the mid-1800s.

Stones River Garage

Before we left Murfreesboro, we stopped at the Wat Lao Buddhist Temple. I had seen a picture of the Temple online and wanted to take one.

Phrame Thoranee:

The earth goddess, Buddha's protector

A beautiful lady with long hair releases vast amounts of 

water to protect lord Buddha from evil invasion, right

before his enlightenment, and symbolizing land fertility.

Buddha

Wat Lao Buddhist Temple

We stopped at a Buddhist Temple in Murfreesboro. Hubby sat in the car while I took pictures. I met a couple who were members of the Temple. The man told me the Temple was a community temple; his wife painted all the sculptures on the site.

I was free to walk around and take pictures. The Buddha statue had a face on all four sides. I do not know much about Buddhism. I was told that in April and May, everyone dresses in elaborate dresses and puts on some sort of celebration. The woman said I was welcome to come and join in the celebration. There was a monk doing lawn work. Everyone in the community contributes to maintaining the Temple and grounds. The Temple was not very large, but it was awe-inspiring. Who would have thought a Buddhist Temple in Murfreesboro, Tennessee

We also stopped at a winery where we purchased two bottles of wine.

We stopped in Spring Hill, Tennessee, at Cracker Barrel for dinner. 

I ordered pinto beans, turnip greens, onion, cornbread, and iced tea.

My husband ordered the seafood platter with iced tea. YUM!

The ride home was into the sun, and as the sun went down, so did my sun Visor.

I had to raise my position, rather thanplower my seat, whichher than lower it so my feet would touch the floor.

We were home by 8 P.M.