I'd never visited Belmont Mansion in downtown Nashville before. The house is in a very different style from most old houses in the area, since it was designed to look more Victorian on the inside. Not surprisingly the tour has tried to shy away from the fact that Adelicia Acklen inherited her money from her first husband who made it in the slave trade. And he was a notorious slave dealer even among slave dealers. Also not shockingly Adelicia immediately changed her name to her second husband's and that is the one she's known by. It seems even she was aware of her first husband's reputation. The house has also made much more of a tie to the Victorian era since Adelicia lived to 70 rather than the Civil War era which so many other houses are tied to. The house did serve as Union headquarters during the Civil War, but much of the furniture and items in the house was saved because it was put to auction and able to be tracked down. Tours are self guided and the place is popular for Nashville tourists because of the convenience to touring downtown.
0 Comments
The Bethlehem Marketplace is one of the most unique Christmas experiences in Murfreesboro. Southeast Baptist Church has produced a full scale market for 35 years with Roman soldiers, live animals, a bustling bazaar, all ending with the manger scene at the end. There are also musical performances going on in the church if you would like to listen to those before you go through.
Having gone to the Cannonsburgh lights every year since they've started, it's been fun to see how they've grown. They've added more lights every year and the crowds driving through have grown. It's still a very nice free thing to do in Murfreesboro that the city provides and Cannonsburgh is very proud of their light show.
Seemingly in the middle of nowhere in Chapel Hill, the Hoover Lights are one of the best seasonal light shows around. Synced with a radio station, the decorations perform a 20 minute light show that is as good as any professional level drive through lights. The house runs a website to keep people updated on the hours and events around the site. If you go to one house to see the lights this season, this is the one to go to. Make sure you pull off the side of the road to not block traffic.
While this looks like it may be more in line for Halloween judging from the pictures, Carnton actually only opens their doors for an event on November 30, the anniversary of the Battle of Franklin. Carnton, unlike the Hermitage and the Lotz House, has leaned hard away from any sensationalism surrounding the historical site. Halloween or ghost tours of any kind are non-existent for the mansion and the anniversary is the only special event offered during the year. Tours are free and given every ten minutes from 5-7 for one night only. The tours themselves are the quick and gritty about what happened, being only 15 minutes long. If you want the full daytime experience you'll have to pay the normal fee, but the nighttime entry is a unique experience, especially walking through the graveyard. It was very busy, so it is a popular event to attend with the highlight always being the amount of blood still on the floor at Carnton. It's worth a stop both for the free history and the unusual time the tours are.
There are lots of trails to hike in the Smokies, but one that gets used because of its location yet rarely stuck with to the actual highlight of the trail is Meigs Creek Trail. Located at the Sinks, a popular area near Metcalf Bottoms, the moderate waterfall on the trail is not advertised and you have to know it's there on the 4 mile hike beforehand. The start of the hike is fairly strenuous as you climb almost 2000 feet in a mile, but after that everything else doesn't seem as bad. You need to go early to get parking at the Sinks. We arrived before 9 and had the parking lot to ourselves, but by the time we were coming out near lunch the parking lot was chaos with people not being able to turn around properly in the small lot. The hike is worth it and the waterfall is nice, but watch out for wild parking and go early.
|
AuthorA librarian doing the travel. Archives
May 2024
Categories |