Tennessee - Day 16 - Nashville sights

Cedars of Lebanon State Park
Saturday, 16 November 2019

The name of this park came from early settlers who were reminded by the forest of red cedar in this area of the Biblical cedar forests on Mount Lebanon.  There's still plenty of cedar here and the park smells wonderful.

today's route

I decided today to see a few of the sights of Nashville.  It may not look like I covered much ground on the map, but I still saw some of the city.

The first thing I saw as I drove in was an unusual skyline, dominated by an unusual building.  This turned out to the AT&T Building, and this is an internet photo.  Reminds me a little of Batman, but it's very imposing.

Witness Walls
I'd heard about these works of public art that are a stop on the Civil Rights Trail but, in the event, I never could find them.

I went to the courthouse where they're supposed to be, and where Google sent me (that should have been my first clue), but I found something quite different.  The real Witness Walls are shown in this very moving video link.   https://www.tnvacation.com/nashville-witness-walls

What I found were markers showing some local history and the sites where buildings had originally stood before the Public Square by the County Courthouse was redone.  I thought several were particularly interesting.

the markers are along both sides
of the square

a "colored" woman
pays her poll tax

popular Grimes store

illustration of life in the Depression

Methodist Church

political women

Marquis de Lefayette

As you can see - interesting, but not what I was looking for.

I'd parked the RV in a tiny space across the street, right next to a historical marker.

A few blocks down Union Street, I saw a historical marker about Nashville sit-ins.   I couldn't take a photo but found this link.  https://www.hmdb.org/Marker

My search for that link turned up another one about a different Nashville sit-ins historical marker - this one about the Woolworth's sit-in.   https://urbaanite.com/nashville-sit-in-marker  Woolworth's on 5th is another stop on the Civil Rights Trail and I'd intended to go there.  But when I looked it up I learned it's now a Woolworth's restaurant, serving decidedly non-Woolworth's-level food: a chicken salad sandwich is $9.79 and a tuna melt is $10.59.  Since it's changed so much, and I couldn't really afford it, I decided to give it a miss.

State Capitol
It still seems odd to me that Nashville is the state capital, given that its reputation is for lots of good-time music.  But it is certainly centrally located, which is a lot more than you can say for other state capitals.

my detail of the top

internet view

 The Tennessee State Capitol is one of 11 capitols that don't have a dome. 

This is still the original building built in 1859 - 11th oldest of state capitols still in use.

On a sort of creepy note, the architect died during construction and is buried under the north side of the building.  He'd said he considered this building his crowning achievement.  They just made that statement literally true.

Nashville Spicy Chicken
Apparently, one of Tennessee's contributions to the world of culinary arts is Nashville Spicy Chicken.  The original - Prince's Spicy Chicken Shack - was burned down a few years ago and there are complaints that its other outlets aren't as good as the original was.  But an online search picked up a place in a strip mall in a Nashville suburb as being among the best.  So off I went.

Hendersonville (next to Goodlettsville - they just love -villes in TN) is a thriving town just northeast of the city limits.  Moore's Fried Chicken is a one-man show and Mr. Moore himself is very personable.  He was a little surprised when I walked in because, he said, most of his orders come by phone for pick-up.

He offered various portions of chicken done in 6 different heat levels: mild, medium, hot, X hot, XX hot, and XXX hot.  When I asked what all that meant, he asked what I thought was hot.  I told him habañeros.  He said that's what his "hot" means, so I told him I wanted a medium leg quarter.  This is what I got.

As I understand it, all Nashville Spicy Chicken is served like this, with a slice of white bread under the chicken and some dill pickle slices alongside.  He charged me about $5.50 for this.

And it was wonderful.  He cooks food as it's ordered, nothing done ahead of time.  My chicken was juicy and seriously hot but very tasty.  I went through a lot of paper towels and Kleenex to deal with the heat and the crust, but I didn't find it a hardship at all.  People say the bread can be the best part because of all the flavor it soaks up.  I don't think it was the best part, but it had flavor almost as good as the chicken and helped temper the heat.

While I waited for my order, another woman came in to pick up her phone-in order.  She said her husband had decreed they were going to paint one of their rooms today and she needed some spicy chicken before tackling this chore.  It's that sort of dish - it makes you feel good.

But given the level of heat in the medium, I'd have to say people like my mom wouldn't have been able to eat even the mild level.  Too bad.  A serious treat.  If I lived in the area, I'd be eating there at least once a week.

Grand Ole Opry
I didn't go there, but my route took me right by there.  I was disappointed in how ordinary this building looks.  The hotel Opryland sits right next to it and is far far fancier. 

This building was opened in March 1974.  Pres. Richard Nixon was one of the honored guests, and he played the piano and sang for the audience.  Just over a month later, he resigned as president.  I'm sure there's no connection.

Errands
I found some public recycling bins behind a high school and, thank goodness, they accepted all the usual recyclable stuff.  Lots of local folks joined me there.

Not far down the street was a Publix so I picked up some necessities.

Other Nashville stuff
The Cumberland River winds around and around Nashville like a snake, across the whole eastern and southern parts of town.  There are bridges everywhere to deal with it.  Makes Nashville an attractive place, though.

I drove under an extremely long CSX freight train with probably 100 grain cars.

I've seen vape shops all over Tennessee, and they all loudly advertise CBD.  I know I've seen almost as much cigarette smoking in TN as I did in Kentucky, but you'd think folks haven't been following the news lately.  All those mysterious illnesses that seem to be directly linked to vaping in general and CBD products in particular - don't they care?  Do they not believe it?  I put almost all the blame for my current asthma problems on the 25 stupid years I smoked cigarettes, but it sounds like they might be safer than the currently completely unregulated vaping industry.  Anyway, I see vape shops everywhere.

I also see an awful lot of Texas license plates.  Almost as many as Ohio plates, which I also see a lot of here.

The highway department has programmed their high tech highway signs to read: Gobble Gobble Go Easy on the Throttle.  I didn't actually see that they make any difference, but it's clever.

I liked Nashville.  It seems to be a comfortable attractive city, though you can tell by looking at the route map above that I missed most of it.  Let's say what I did see I liked.