Nashville . . .

One of the many musical instruments
outside the Grand Ole Opry

What a gorgeous autumn day.  It wouldn't be right to be in Nashville without paying a visit to the Grand Ole Opry . . . however it was closed for tours, so we just poked around the grounds.  Would love to have been inside, but such is life .. I guess they didn't know we were coming.  Possibly we will go to the museum tomorrow.

Walking up to the estate

After some reading, we realized that the 7th President. Andrew Jackson, had come from this area and his family home was quite close to where we are staying.  I have to admit that I knew very little about this President, however, in view of the fact that this whole journey has been about history, we decided to pay the Hermitage a visit and to learn more about the man and his life.

He had the nickname of Old Hickory, fought in the Revolutionary War, slayed a man in a duel of honour, stood up to South Carolina during the Nullification crises (setting the stage for Abraham Lincoln to cite this as precedent when it came to secession), relocated thousands of Native Americans to make room for white settlers and was a slaveholder.  Quite a colourful character actually.

He always viewed himself as a farmer, not as a Plantation owner, even though he owned up to 150 slaves.  Historians acknowledge his protection of popular democracy and individual liberty for United States citizens, and sometimes criticize him for his support for slavery and for his role in Indian removal.  He is also viewed as the founder of the Democratic Party because of his views on the protection of democracy.

The Hermitage

 Later in the day we went to visit the State Capitol buildings and chatted with some lovely folks who told us about the Parthenon.  It is an exact replica of the one in Greece, but one third in scale.  This one was amazing, so I can't imagine what the original is like.  There was a gala event going on and some lighting effects happening so the photo opportunity wasn't that great.  We did, however, meet and chat with a lovely man, Nick from Pennsylvania.  What a pleasure it was to spend some time with him.  It is just so easy to talk with people when you share the same passion . . he has a Canon Mark 5D.

Walking up to the Parthenon, we came upon this spectacular burst of colour.

Tomorrow we will drive the back roads to Memphis . . . the countryside here is reputed to be spectacular.

Autumn Splendour

Nashville's Parthenon