We started our time in Nashville at Fort Negley. This is a view of the city from there.
This fort was built by the union after it took possession of Nashville, the first state capitol they seized. There was fighting all around Nashville, but never in the actual city. The fort was built mostly be free slaves, black soldiers and contrabands (run away slaves). There were over 2,800 men, 600-800 died and in the end, only 310 of the remaining men were paid. This fort actually made an impact. In the Battle of Nashville some of the guns actually helped stop Lieutenant General Hood's attempt to take Nashville in December 1864. Though the fort itself was never in battle. Nashville was second only to Washington DC in it's fortifications.
The kids can't see life sized chess and checkers and NOT play. It was our evening activity and was repeated throughout our stay.
Wednesday was the first day of Daddy's conference so the kids and I were on our own. We started out by visiting Radnor State Park. It's a huge naturalist area where there are several ongoing ecological studies. We hiked along the lake about a mile (each direction), making our way to the Barbara J. Mapp aviary for raptors. They have big plans of expanding to include some flighted bald eagles, but for now it's home to injured raptors only.
Here's Dillon with "Yurtle the turtle" he named the turtle as soon as he saw it.
Each bird had it's own aviary.
The kids' favorite was a juvenile bald eagle.
On the way back we saw this log. Eight turtles!!!
Once that adventure was over we wanted to go to the Tennessee Agricultural Museum, it sounded like it had some pretty neat displays. We got there and found out that the museum was closed for renovations. We walked the grounds, saw an old log, one room, school house and some log homes. We also got to see a whole bunch of police horses. They were just bringing them in from the field so we got to see them all.
Since the agricultural museum was a colossal failure, I convinced the kids to go to Traveler's Rest. I'm really glad I did. It's the home and property owned by Judge John Overton. He was a Confederate supporter so when Nashville was taken, without a single bullet, he retreated. When Lieutenant General Hood advanced to Nashville after the Battle of Franklin he actually stayed at Traveler's Rest. The Battle of Nashville happened within a mile of the house. The Confederate army camped on the grounds. They were unable to reclaim the city. Unfortunately, Peach Orchard Hill, where the bulk of the fighting was, is now a rail yard. Apparently Nashville was eager to move past the war and rebuild. Since no fighting actually happened in Nashville, labor wasn't needed to fix the city, so they were able to build new areas quickly. It wasn't until later, after the battlefields had all been developed, that they realized their importance.
This was originally the judge's law office but while Nashville was occupied the schools stopped. So it was converted to a school. Ov sister-in-law ran it for 25 children living at Traveler's Rest.
A textiles loom. We also got to see an old smokehouse.
The home of Judge John Overton and the HQ for the Confederate army during the Battle of Nashville.
On the way back we stopped by a local ice cream parlor. All the ice cream is made here. I was so proud when all three kids got something other than the usual! It was really good, just in case you were wondering. (Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams)
Since we were in Nashville we HAD to do the Country Music Hall of Fame. I only really like modern country so a lot of it was a new to me. There were a TON of stage costumes, most are very ugly up close, the golden records, hallh of fame, instruments, and a couple cars (including Elvis's). The kids would've been bored to tears if not for two things. The first was a scavenger hunt. The second was a touch screen interactive game, you had to find different stations and complete challenges to be "certified country".
One of the stations you had to record a song.
Daddy with the "Smokey and the Bandits" car.
There is a street downtown called the "Honky Tonks", all of the restaurants, saloons or bars are open to families until a certain time. Almost all of them have live music . The first restaurant we tried was okay but the second night was great! We went to Wild Horse Saloon. They have actually performances with concert lights and big screens and everything. The sound system was extensive and you could feel the vibrations through your whole body. The kids thought it was really neat, combine it with good food and it was a great time.
They also had line dancing lessons. Dillon loves to dance, then Kayda decided to try and next thing I knew I had all three out there. Carson gave up before actually putting it to music. Kayda and Dillon were just starting to get it by the time it was finished. I wish they would've done a second song, they would've had it for sure by then. Kayda will randomly decide to practice her line dancing and was pretty excited when I told her there were different dances.
This was our favorite restaurant this trip. Second was a little hole in the wall, mostly local eatery, Fifth Street Diner in Kentucky. We went there for breakfast, the portions were huge, cheap and delicious... best bacon ever.
The kids and I spent a lot of time wandering the city. They were very motivated because they got to play Pokemon go.
We went down to the river front park to see Fort Nashborough. It was a replica and even though it was supposed to be open everything was locked up tight. The area started with eight forts but there were so many Indian attacks they settlers all moved in to just two so they could defend them better.
Prior to the settlers the area was home to the mound builders and there have been multiple areas they've found evidence of the dwellings and artifacts.
I haven't much been in the mood for pictures. Daddy was giving me a hard time so I took one with the kids while he was at the conference.
State capital!
The main portion of the Tennessee State Museum was closed but the WWI and WWII memorial was open. We saw a lot of artifacts from the wars, weapons, uniforms, boat models... There was a lot of information but none of it was really specific to Tennessee so I'm not going to write about all of it.
We spent the remainder of our time swimming, wandering town (draining the phones with Pokemon go) and eating as needed. We all had a really good time, Daddy was bummed he had to miss some things though. He said he did get some good information from the conference. Out of 16 meals only two were restaurants available in our area (Subway and Sonic). Everything else was unique to the place. It was fun trying the new restaurants though it's incredibly frustrating trying to fish through them all and decide what to eat. Kayda was my most adventurous eater. So if you're ever in Nashville, Wild Horse Saloon and Demo's!
By Saturday we were definitely ready to be done and get away from the chaos of the city.
