Nashville - Stones River, Parthenon & the Capitol

Friday we toured the Stones River Civil War Battlefield. 24,000 men lost their lives here between 12/31/1862 and 1/2/1863. It was a turning point in the Civil War for Lincoln, it had been going badly for the North until this engagement. Bad intel and bad decisions allowed the North to funnel a large number of Southern troops into what was called the Slaughter Pen. There they were picked off by rifle fire and 40 cannons.


This is the Slaughter Pen. There are trenches between the rock formations where the North was able to hide and shoot the enemy.


Part of the National Cemetary for the North. The South is buried elsewhere.

Yesterday we shopped. It is the most frustrating experience, it just makes me crazy. Sizing on women's clothing is just nuts. One pair of Columbia smalls were so big, they'd come off while buttoned and zipped. Another pair of sixes were too small. I finally got golf shorts at the Nike factory store. I got two pairs so I don't have to do this again for awhile.

Today we visited the Parthenon. They had a tent up on the front from their silent auction for the Elgin Marbles. Kidding, just kidding.
The first version was built in 1897 for the Tennessee Centennial celebration of the state's entrance into the Union. It was originally built of plaster, wood and brick and housed art exhibits for the Centennial. The residents liked it so much they started agitating for a permanent version. They also wanted the park left intact as open space, and thus it became Nashville's first public park. The current structure was begun in 1920 and finished in 1937.


The Parthenon is an exact full scale replica of the one in Greece. The frieze around the top is an exact duplicate. Pretty cool, eh?

This is Jim wearing one of his new shirts from Bass Pro Shops. Jim had a very successful shopping experience there. I think they're his new Nordstrom.


Unfortunately the Parthenon was closed today. So we missed seeing this inside. Bummer.


This is a little pond in the park. It's full of geese who expect to be fed.


Awwww, isn't he cute? There are many acorns on the ground for them. They're happy campers.


We walked over to Vanderbilt University, a private school founded by Cornelius Vanderbilt. It's not a terribly large school, total enrollment is about 12,000 people. Architecturally it was not terribly interesting.

This is taken through the windshield driving over to look at the capitol. It used to be the railway station, now it's a grand hotel.

James Polk and his wife are buried here on the grounds of the capitol.

The capitol building.


Looking out with the capitol behind us. The long building on the right is a war memorial.

The war memorial.



This is the statue inside of the war museum. He was dedicated to WWI.


Nashville has not been terrible. I would not want to live here, but overall it was a pleasant place to hang out while waiting for it to be Monday (ear doctor appointment in Kentucky). Memphis can not have the same thing said for it. Apart from Graceland and the Civil Rights Museum, it really has nothing to recommend it. Tomorrow we're going up to Bowling Green. Tuesday we are out of here and heading west. We're doing two longish driving days to Oklahoma City. We'll be seeing an RV dealer there for part three of the never ending saga of the toilet which will not hold water.