2023 July 7, Day trip to Savannah and Shiloh, Tennessee

 We started our day at the Tennessee River Museum in Savannah. 

A true air-breathing MOSASAUR

The City of Florence, a St. Louis and Tennessee River Packet Company boat, was named to honor the fast-growing city at the foot of Muscle Shoals. Upbound near Coffee Landing on February 8, 1913, she got out of control and was lying cross-stream when the towboat Tomahawk, down-bound and loaded with crossties, rammed and sank her. One member of the crew and a young passenger lost their lives in the accident.

The picture below shows a ship with two girls.

12-year-old Ruth Tarbet (left) was one of two casualties of the sinking ship. The daughter of a prominent Saltillo merchant, Ruth, and her daughter had boarded the doomed steamer for the short trip to visit relatives in Savannah.

We saw this picture in the Tennessee River Museum in Savannah.

US GRANT HDGS

We stopped to take pictures of the cannons and cannonballs before crossing the Tennessee River and heading to Shiloh. 

HAGY'S CATFISH HOTEL 

We ate fried catfish, coleslaw, hush puppies, and grilled veggies. Ava ate fried chicken fingers and fries. She said those were the best chicken fingers she had ever eaten, andld our waitress she rate d the food 100. She ate every bite. We took several pictures at the restaurant and near the Tennessee River. 

Garfield's Cabin 

The History of Garfield 
Garfield's Cabin 
If the cabin walls could talk, they would reveal the intriguing story of Garfield Luster, an extraordinary yet excellent resident for many years.
The story begins on a hot summer day around 1920 when Mr. Narvin Hagy, a local traveling salesman, gives Garfield a ride.
During this time, Garfield worked for a family that had mistreated him for many years. He fled this harsh environment and met Mr. Norvin Hagy on an old gravel road. 
Mr. Hagy lived on a large farm, bonding with the Shiloh National Military. His parents were Frank and Mary Hagy. Frank, who had grown up on the farm, was 13 when the "Battle of Shiloh" took place around their home in April 1862.
Garfield eventually established a close bond with the Hagy family and settled in with them.
During the many decades he lived with the Hagy family, he helped care for four generations.

He not only cooked but also did laundry and performed other basic household chores, and he helped raise the youngsters—a duty he enjoyed the most. He nurtured the young family of Norvin and Dorothy Hagy, showering them with devotion and care as if they were his own children. 
But Garfield did more than comfort, console, and, when necessary, scold the children; he could also entertain them. 

Many years before the fables of Uncle Remus were popularized by Hollywood, Garfield charmed the young Hagys with his folktales of Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox. Another of his talents was acting. He could dress up as a comical character called "Aunt Emiley" and play her so convincingly that the children would momentarily forget they were watching Garfield in disguise.


One of Garfield's favorite stories was about how he got his name. He always chuckled when he recounted how it was bestowed upon him following the assassination of President Garfield.

Like his namesake, Garfield experienced hard times. He refused to dwthought thehad enough occasion to recall his unhappy childhood. Garfield was born and raised in the small rural community of Red Bay, North Alabama, likely the son of a former slave.
Garfield was deprived of a formal education, although he was brilliant and could have excelled in school if given the opportunity.

Even though he was not articulate, his speech was folksy Southern colloquialismsuthern colmolasses,oor naillue blazes, sharp as a tack, strong as an ox, to quote a few.

King Kong 911 1h
Garfield lived a long and happy life in Shiloh with the Hagy family.
However, he suffered much bereavement at the death of Norvin Hagy in 1960, never fully recovering from the loss of a man who had provided a sanctuary for the more significant part of his life. 

Shortly after Mr. Hagy died in 1961, Garfield was diagnosed with prostate cancer. During the last weeks of his life, Norvin Hagy Jr and his wife, Teke, took Garfield home for a final visit with his relatives, who, at the time, were living in Mississippi.
After his funeral at his church, Saint Rest in Guys, Tennessee, attended by the Hagy Family, Garfield was laid to rest in a small grove of trees. 
The Hagys will always remember Garfield with great love and gratitude as a person who enriched their lives.

By: the Hagy Family
Dr Don Hagy/Dean Hagy

Next, we stopped at Shiloh Battlefield. The museum was closed for repairs, but you could watch a film there. We did not stay to watch the movie. We heard gunfire and went to investigate.  

Young Park Ranger giving a demonstration. 

A young man (Park Ranger) was doing a reenactment and was finishing up when we arrived. But he did show Ave the bullet and let her feel the weight of the gun ( I think he said it weighed 10 lbs). When we stopped at the Tennessee River Museum, there was a gun ball behind glass that you could put your hand through to see if you could pick it up with one hand, weighing 7 lbs. So, she compared the two. 

Park Ranger talking to Ava about being a nurse in the Civil War

We stopped at the Book Museum, where we bought her a book about not being a Nurse in the Civil War. We walked to the National Cemetery, where a young woman was giving a talk about the battles between the North and South at Pittsburg Landing.

Ava had read several pages about the Civil War in her book and was asking several questions about the War.

The Park Ranger finished her talk, but Ava kept asking her questions. It began to sprinkle, so we hurried back to the car. We rode around the park, stopping for a few pictures. 

Shiloh Log Church 

We stopped at the old log cabin church to take a few pictures.

We started for home, and the sky got darker and darker, and it began to rain. The closer we got to Alabama, the harder it rained.

Our last stop was at Wendy's for a Strawberry Frosty. That's what Ava wanted, and I had never tried one. We all ordered a Strawberry Frosty, and it was good. Ava and I played a game all the way home in our Imaginary worlds.

2016 March 4, Friday, Touring the Rippavilla Plantation

I had wanted to visit the Rippavilla Plantation for some time, and I had tried to get Hubby to stop as we were always traveling somewhere else at the time.
He said someday we will stop.
I had asked my granddaughter to go, but she was always too busy.
It was a beautiful day, a bit chilly, but a nice day for an hour-and-a-half drive.
I took my time, not rushing, just enjoying the blooming daffodils and tulip trees.
I parked in the Rippavilla lot and was approached by one of the curators. He said Can I help you? I replied, "Yes, I would like to tour the home."
He said you might want to use the restroom, which was located outside the home.
I took my camera and went into the museum.
The old carriage house now houses the museum, and it has many books about the Civil War.
I was told I could take as many pictures as I wanted on the outside of the plantation.
The curator said the tour would not start for another thirty minutes.
I walked outside and all around the home, taking pictures.
There were several trees because they were well over 100 years old.

Trees and a fountain

Rippavilla Plantation front view

A side view of the sunroom was added by my new owner many years later.

Back view of Rippavilla 

The Greek Revival Rippavilla was built for Nathaniel and Susan Cheairs and finished in 1855.
I was given a guided tour of the home's interior.
The minute we walked through the front doors, the smell of cinnamon rolls baking in the oven filled the air.
The curator said that the kitchen was used for baking, and many weddings were held at the plantation.
The aroma filled every room, making me hungry,
Two of the cooks were eating their lunch in the sunroom, which the previous owner added.
The doorways widened, and the spiral staircase was replaced by an open stairwell, among the changes to the historic home.
Many of the rooms were filled with period furniture, and some of it was from the original Chaires family.
Upstairs in one of the former bedrooms was Civil War memorabilia and information about how the Cheairs' family lived there.
It these walls could talk, what stories could they tell, both union and confederates soldiers walked through the doors of this home.
Susan and Nathaniel's wooden four-poster canopy bed, the mattress covered with a white lace spread, stood as if it were waiting for their arrival.

I walked into the room where General Hood ate his breakfast the morning before the Battle of Franklin on November 30, 1864.
I thanked the curator, and we walked back to the museum, where I purchased three postcards.
Before I left the plantation, I walked back behind the home to the log cabin.
Freedman's Bureau School was built in 1870 and served as a school for the freed slaves.

Freedman's Bureau School

On my way home, I rode through the town of Mount Pleasant.
I drove home, stopping at Long John Silver's in Lawrenceburg for two pieces of fried cod.
I did not eat my lunch/dinner until I arrived at home.
I had learned over the years that I can go it alone.
Time goes on, time doesn't wait, so make the best of what time you have today!