Ten Days in Tennessee, 1965

good evening ladies and gentlemen this is Jack Douglas tonight's armchair vacation will move so fast covers so much ground offers so many things to see and do that there isn't time for a lengthy prologue during the next 30 minutes we will spend 10 days in Tennessee this reconstructed fort on the banks of the Cumberland River in Nashville is a replica of Old Fort Nashboro named in honor of Francis Nash a revolutionary war hero The Stockade settlement was founded in 1779 by James Robertson and John Donaldson later Fort Nashboro became known as Nashville the original Fort enclosed two acres and protected the settlers against Indian attack this 1930 reproduction is somewhat smaller than the original but is only a few blocks away from the sight of the old fort in Nashville the state capital by the way a city of roughly 200,000 population a most unique and unexpected tourist attraction is the Parthenon an almost identical copy of the temple to the goddess Athena on the Acropolis in Athens of Nashville's fine old homes and mansions BME is probably the best known and one of the best preserved and a Showplace of the South belme is the mansion was once a 5,000 acre Plantation and Thoroughbred nursery and stud Farm iroy a Bell meat thorough bread of the late 19th century was until 1954 the only American bread winner of the English Derby during the war between the states belme served as temporary headquarters for Confederate troops and these bullet and shell Nicks on the Portico columns attest to the fighting on the front lawn during the Battle of Nashville the state capital building at Nashville is impressive even from a distance and on the grounds of the capital is the final resting place of President James pul the North Carolinian who adopted Tennessee as his home state also at the capital is this tribute to President Andrew Jack now like Po Jackson was born in the Carolinas but started his political career in Tennessee and of course Jackson's Hermitage near Nashville is one of the half dozen best known homes in all America it reposes in the shadows of tall trees and from 1819 on it was the home and the pride of America's seventh president and his beloved wife Rachel the original Hermitage consisted of a a group of log cabins and here the Jacksons lived from 1804 to 1819 when the new main House was built the Hermitage is a registered national landmark and is managed by the ladies Hermitage Association much that is in the dining room is original table candelabra with so-called wind glasses decater silver vegetable serving dishes and Bohemian wine decanters the president office or library was for 30 years the political center of the United States really and truly this chair was gifted to the general by Chief Justice Tanny of the famed Dread Scott decision and old hickory's spectacles remain where he always left them on a small mahogany candle stand the master bedroom has been preserved as it was on the day the president passed away in 1845 at the age of 78 notice the steps the bed was really a high for poster on the opposite wall are portraits of Jackson's granddaughter Rachel the pet and companion of his declining Years also a portrait of Mrs Jackson and at the foot of the bed the familiar battered stovepipe hat the general selected his own tombs side at the East End Of The Hermitage in 1831 3 years earlier he had buried his wife in this garden and the family plot also includes the grave of Uncle Alfred the General's faithful servant who lived to the Golden Age of 98 years leaving the Hermitage on Rachel's Lane your last impression of the Hermitage is one of Serenity and Beauty The ancestral home of President pul is in Columbia Tennessee and we're told that this this is an excellent likeness of America's 11th president his wife Sarah is remembered as one of the nation's Best Loved first ladies and of her a contemporary wrote she is very handsome her eyes are black and beautiful she reminds one of a Spanish Dona this antique music box is of Swiss manufacturer and especially in those days it was a highly prized import this now is Greenville in East Tennessee and except in the obvious ways this Pleasant little community of 12,000 people hasn't changed much since 1826 when a young man of 17 a tailor by trade came here from North Carolina with well today his tailor shop is encased within an outer structure and inside the dingy shop the simple tools of his trade had been preserved for posterity for the tailor who owned this shop was destined to become president of the United States Andrew Johnson before his death he was reviled by many and almost impeached from office as we know yet beneath this monument in Greenville are the Mortal remains of a southerner and slave holder who in 1860 during the term of Lincoln stood before the Senate and proclaimed his faith in the union a very special man a very courageous man is remembered here by the banks of this delicate stream there was born yet another tremendous Tennessean the name Davey Crockett born and raised in Humble surroundings he became a living American Idol and died a hero's death at the Alamo the man who was to avenge the Alamo taught school in Tennessee yes this is the Sam Houston Schoolhouse in Blunt County Houston was then barely 19 years of age and had very little formal schooling but he was an Avid Reader and could recite much of Homer from memory his tuition rate by the way was $2 cash a few bushels of corn and some Calico cloth except for the modern homes in the distance this is what the Tennessee Valley near Maryville looked like in the days when the Cherokee Indians paddled their canoes on the little Tennessee River they would stop here and walk this time Worn Path up the hill to Fort Lowden built by the British in 1757 as the southwestern Outpost of colonial America only a few years later during the French and Indian Wars The Once friendly Cherokees turned hostile after a 5mon Siege the starving Garrison surrendered 30 of the settlers were massacred and the rest made prisoners of the Cherokees yes the youngsters will find much to capture their imagination at Fort Lowden and so will you Shelbyville is noted as the penil city of the world and the nearby town of warart Trace is the Cradle of the Tennessee Walking Horse now what on Earth is the Tennessee Walking Horse course all right the development of this breed started during the war between the states when the finest Cavalry horses of the South were bred with the best horses of the north especially the Vermont Morgan horse while the result of this long and careful breeding is a magnificent animal that is strong intelligent and has a pleasant disposition more important the horse has three distinctive and comfortable Gates the flatfoot the caner or rocking chair gate and the running walk and these Gates exhaust neither the horse nor the rider we photograph the three gates in slow motion as well as regular speed this is the colorful entrance to the Lookout Mountain Battlefield overlooking the city of Chattanooga and numerous Cannon and plaques attest to the Battle Above the Clouds that took place here when General Grant ordered General hooker to attack the Confederate forces on the mountain under General enal brag Lookout Mountain today is a very Scenic spot and despite the mountain Haze you see Chattanooga in the distance Memphis is a magical place and someday we'd like to return here and spend an entire vacation in this one City Memphis on the Mississippi and that's cotton you all and in Memphis cotton is king in fact bales of cotton they're called Snakes by the way are everywhere on Front Street the downtown street that is the Cotton row of Memphis beel street is another way of saying WC handy and at Handy Park the city has honored the trumpeter composer who achieved National prominence in Memphis at the turn of this Century Memphis gave handy the opportunity and the father of the Blues gave the world a new kind of music the be Street Blues the Memphis Blues the St Louis Blues song that were to be translated and sung in every language known to man this is a restaurant although its name is nowhere in sight and this exclusive restaurant doesn't even advertise it doesn't have to for this is Justin's not only one of the oldest and finest restaurants in the South but in all America the food is Rich it is superb it is elegantly served juses a high light at Twilight in Memphis and while you're in Memphis drive just a few miles from downtown to this Museum operated by Memphis State University once through the entrance you may be greeted as I was by Grady John one of the numerous Chaka Indian guides ja Douglas all the CH we want to welcome you at the Chalisa Indian village this is a real prehistoric Indian village and this is where in and live about a thousand years ago the museum site is Chalisa Indian Town a thousand years old and slowly but Faithfully being excavated and restored by the University founded around 900 ad the settlement prospered until the early 1600s when its inhabitants simply up and left hence the Indian name Chalisa meaning deserted house or town new discoveries are being made almost daily and from these many findings the archeologists have slowly pieced together a fantastic true story of temples and high priests and purification rights not in Aztec Mexico but in Tennessee America this is a torture frame that's where they people they probably kill their own people that they have to punish they throw a spear at him they whipped him that's the place where they punish this now is the entrance to the bual grounds but if you take the youngsters forewarn them of what they will see this is a barel exhibit some of these skeleton are very old carbon dated with radioactive about Thousand Years these people buried right behind a house buried about 16 shello grave they got up to 35 to 39 years old it was old people these original wall paintings this is the sun reveal the high cultural skill of the ancient Indian this is a spider and this ornate figure is that of a high priest Chalisa a place you'll talk about for years to come after you spend 10 days in Tennessee this was the home in Jack Tennessee of Casey Jones The Brave engineer who died at the throttle of engine 382 better known as Cannonball now if all these years you thought that John Luther Casey Jones was merely a legend well join a club I guess most of us have thought so his home in Jackson has been preserved as a museum by the city the famous Collision occurred in April of 1800 and not a single passenger was seriously injured only Casey lost his life staying at the throttle trying desperately to slow down engine 382 and Casey dearly loved this old gramophone with its scratchy recording of Yankee Doodle Dandy and paraphrased lyrics he ordered his fireman to jump but he stayed with a cannonball to the end of The Glory Road so if you're in or near Jackson do visit the Casey Jones home and Museum now we come to the Tennessee we've heard and read so much about the Tennessee of great Scenic Splendor and these are scenes in the Cherokee National Forest Drive East just a few miles perhaps 10 or 15 and you'll enter one of America's great national parks the Great Smoky Mountains and here at the Foothills the air is so clear you wonder why these are called the Smoky Mountains but look up at the high peaks and the Smoky Haze is quite noticeable Gatlinburg is the main nor north entrance to the half million acre Park and with some 5 million people visiting Great Smoky Mountains National Park each year Gatlinburg has become a year round vacation Mecca the skiing and season is very good but in the off season the ski lift is most unusual now you'll see why in just a moment and now watch as the lifts cross over the main streets and believe me they startle the Daylights out of the UN suspecting motorist but Gatlinburg has more to offer than the average Resort town or city it is the handicraft Center of Tennessee and quite possibly of the nation for example the candelier shop is devoted to handmade candles but what candles as you'll shortly see here the young lady dips the rough out forms into coloring bats and now samples of finished work in the gift shop and incidentally we found the prices fantastically reasonable and our camera crew came home loaded down with enough candles to light up the Marty Gro well perhaps we were influenced by this quotation there is not enough darkness in all the world to put out the light of one small candle the Pigeon Forge Pottery Shop 6 mil from Gatlinburg utilized local Clays and glazes from Smoky Mountain minerals to create not merely simple vases such as this one in progress but I catching work that's hard to resist when you're on a vacation and thinking of gifts for back home just take a look the wood whittlers of Gatlinburg but say they're not whittling they're making Furniture well true enough but some of the whittlers Whittle and what a setting he has just such there a spell and Whittle well I wish I could Whittle like this and incidentally no paints or stains are used those are the natural wood colors with only a lacquer or wax to give a permanent finish and they'll invite you to pull up a chair and Whittle away at the wood whittlers in Gatlinburg as we leave the city limits we'll visit one last craft shop and a unique one it is the sign says broom shop if out blow horn how's that again well anyway the cars Father and Son make a special broom with a rounded handle that looks like an oversized whisk broom but the size and the handle make it easy to use and the people in these parts claim it's the best broom in the whole world and tennesseans are not given to bragging and even though we speed it up the camera it takes an awful lot of work to make just one of these car brooms this now is a section of a small Valley in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park the valley is known as Cades Cove c a d s Cades Cove now white settlers first came here in the early 1800s and isolated from the outside world Kate's Cove is to this day without electricity when the Great Smoky Mountains became a national park a handful of families descended of the original settlers were allowed to remain at kad's Cove under special permits here they were born here they were baptized here they spent all the years of Their Lives Many without stepping foot outside the valley and you can't blame them why would they want to leave all this this is known as the Peter cable place the main cabin and the adjacent Smokehouse were built by the third settler in Cades Cove and that's going back almost a century and a half native honey is a primary source of income for at least several of the families in kades Cove the price is a dollar per jar and the honor System is local custom well there's more than honey to attract vacationers to Kate's Cove and you'd be surprised how many amateur painters come to this Valley they just pull up the car set up an easel and they're at peace with the world mystery Hill on the North edge of Gatlinburg is our last stop and if you've never seen water running uphill well now you have no there are no TR tricks for this house on mystery Hill is one of half a dozen spots in America that apparently defy the laws of nature our camera is not tilted the house is and yet you must walk like this or fall over and here's more proof that gravity seems to have gone klut at mystery Hill well now it's time to leave this lovely place called Tennessee I've said this about some of our other America visits I'll say it again I wish we had more time to show you the many other colorful people and places and landmarks that we saw and photographed but simply could not find room for in this half hour we saw much that is Unforgettable in this great Volunteer State but speaking for myself this is the one scene I'll never forget the mountain mist slowly enveloping a small Valley it's enough to bring anyone back to spend another 10 days in Tennessee this is Dayton Tennessee and the controversy started in this drugstore at this very table the controversy that led to the Scopes Evolution trial in 1925 John Scopes a high school teacher was placed on trial for teaching the darwinian theory of evolution in violation of a then recently passed law the world famous trial was conducted in this Old Courthouse the Judges Bench the table and chairs of the prosecution seat for a handful of Spectators that momentous trial in dayon now until next week Jack Douglas saying thank you so much and good night ladies and gentlemen boys and girls