Living Our Dream

Chattanooga, TN Part III: Chickamauga Battlefield

Hixson, TN - Events of Friday, October 13, 2012

The other main part of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park is located about 20 minutes south of Chattanooga just over the line in Georgia. It is here Union and Confederate forces clashed on September 19 and 20, 1863 prior to the Battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge that we reported on in our last post.

It was a good thing we went to Lookout Mountain on Thursday so we could enjoy the spectacular views because Friday morning was cloudy and rainy. Fortunately, the rain stopped before we got to Chickamauga Battlefield, but the clouds persisted.

Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center

Chickamauga Visitor Center has more extensive information about the battle including an excellent video. That and the fact the Battle of Chickamauga Creek took place before the Battle of Lookout Mountain are good reasons why it would have been better to see Chickamauga Battlefield first. However, we wanted to take advantage of the clear weather to see Lookout Mountain, so Chickamauga had to wait until Friday.

When we arrived, we had about 30 minutes until the next showing of the video, so we checked out the displays of battlefield artifacts in the small museum in the visitor center.

One of the displays of battlefield artifacts

The visitor center also houses the Fuller Collection of American Military Shoulder Arms, which is a collection of 346 long guns, many of which are rare or even one of a kind.

A portion of the Fuller Collection of American Military Shoulder Arms

An electronic map at the visitor center is very helpful in visualizing troop movements before, during and after the battle.

Electronic map showing troop movements

Following the Union capture of the city of Chattanooga on Sept. 9, 1863, the Confederate troops withdrew to Lafayette (pronounced la-FAY-ette), Georgia where they received reinforcements. The Confederates were determined to re-take Chattanooga, so they began to march northward on Sept. 17.

The Confederates encountered Union troops south of Chattanooga, and there were a few skirmishes on Sept. 18. Fighting began in earnest on Sept 19 near the banks of Chickamauga Creek. Both sides fought hard all day, and the Confederates eventually pushed the the main body of the Union forces back to Lafayette Road. The following day, fighting resumed, and the Confederates tried to maneuver themselves between the Union forces and Chattanooga to cut the Union off.

As the Confederates were trying to outflank the Union forces, a gap suddenly opened in the middle of the Union line due to a miscommunication on the Union side. The Confederates smashed through, and the rout had begun. Some of the Union forces withdrew to Chattanooga right away, and others retreated to Snodgrass Hill where they took a stand. The Union troops on Snodgrass Hill held their ground against repeated Confederate assaults during the day, but they also eventually withdrew to Chattanooga.

After we watched the video, we headed out on the 7-mile, self-guided driving tour around the battlefield. Most Civil War battles were fought in open fields, but this area is heavily wooded which made keeping track of troops and communicating very difficult. That may be what caused the the gap in the Union line that allowed the Confederates to break through.

The road shown below passes the main area of the Union lines. Most of the monuments in this area were for various divisions from Ohio and Indiana.

Monuments line the road that passes the Union lines.

We found a monument for a regiment from our old home state of Pennsylvania.

Over on the Confederate side, the Georgia had one of the largest monuments. That is only fitting since the battle took place in Georgia.

Georgia monument

The largest monument in the Park is on Snodgrass Hill and is dedicated to the Union soldiers under the command of General Thomas who became known as "the rock of Chickamauga" because of the heroic stand he and his men took there.

Monument on Snodgrass Hill

Following the defeat of the Union Army at Chickamauga, the Confederates failed to follow through and capitalize on that defeat and re-take Chattanooga. The Union forces in Chattanooga were reinforced by October, and as we described in our last post, they eventually ousted the Confederates from Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge and most of the entire area.

The failure of the Confederates to re-take Chattanooga sounded a death knell for the South. Sherman's Atlanta Campaign, a.k.a Sherman's March to the Sea, was launched from Chattanooga the following spring. That campaign totally demoralized the South. General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865.

On our way back to the motor home from Chickamauga Battlefield, we stopped at Qdoba in Chattanooga for a late lunch. Chattanooga isn't huge as cities go, but this is the first and only Qdoba we have ever seen in a downtown setting. They are usually in suburban strip malls.

Qdoba in downtown Chattanooga

With our bellies full, we headed back to the motor home for an evening of relaxation. We have one more report from Chattanooga. Stay tuned.

Chatanooga, TN Part II: The Battle of Lookout Mountain

Hixson, TN - Events of Thursday, October 11, 2012

As we said, the weather forecast was predicting clouds and/or rain for much of the remainder of our stay, so we did our outdoor sightseeing on Lookout Mountain on Thursday while it was still sunny. In addition to visiting Rock City, the other thing we did on Thursday was to stop at the part of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park that is located at the northern tip of Lookout Mountain.

The Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, which was the nation's first military park, was established in 1890 to preserve sites of both the Battle of Chickamauga and the Chattanooga Campaign that took place during the Civil War. Although there are several separate sites in the area relating to these battles, we visited the two main sites during our stay - the one on Lookout Mountain, and Chickamauga Battlefield, which is a little farther south right over the border in Georgia. We'll have more on Chickamauga Battlefield in our next post.

Chattanooga is located on the Tennessee River, and it grew rapidly in the early 1800s as a result of river commerce. The railroad arrived in Chattanooga in 1850, and Chattanooga subsequently became an important railroad hub.

With the river and railroads, Chattanooga was a location of strategic importance during the Civil War. Union forces began bombarding Chattanooga in early September, 1863, and they were able to occupy the city on Sept. 9. By controlling Chattanooga, the Union could not only cut off supplies to the Confederates farther south, but they could also use the railroads and river to supply their own troops and use Chattanooga as a base from which they could launch attacks into the Deep South.

After being ousted from Chattanooga, the Confederate forces withdrew a short distance to northern Georgia. They were determined to reoccupy Chattanooga and to keep the Union Army from advancing any farther south. After receiving reinforcements, the Confederates moved northward again and defeated the Union Army at Chickamauga Creek.

Following their defeat at Chickamauga, the Union forces withdrew back to the safety of Chattanooga, and the Confederates took up positions on several areas of high ground near the city - namely Lookout Mountain to the south and Missionary Ridge to the east.

Lookout Mountain is a ridge that starts at the south bank of the Tennessee River just below Chattanooga and runs about 85 miles south-southwest down into Georgia and Alabama. The northern end of ridge ends at a sharp point that sits 1,400 to 1,500 feet above the Tennessee River overlooking Chatanooga. This point is appropriately named Point Park, and it is part of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park.

There is a small visitor center at Point Park that has a few Civil War artifacts and a series of story boards showing the sequence of events during the battles that took place in the area from September through November, 1863. The Battle of Lookout Mountain was fought on November 24, 1863.

One of the main features of the visitor center is a 13' x 33' mural done in 1874 by James Walker depicting Union General Joseph Hooker as a hero on a white horse surrounded by his men below Lookout Mountain as they prepare to charge the Confederates. The Battle of Lookout Mountain was called the "Battle Above the Clouds" (which is also the title of the painting) because of all the clouds and mist that surrounded the mountain on the day of the battle.

Mural at the visitor center

Across from the visitor center is the entrance to Point Park. Admission to the park is $3 per person. America the Beautiful passes are honored for free admission. Point Park was built in 1903-1904 by the Army Corps of Engineers, and the entrance gate is in the shape of the castle symbol of the Corps.

Entrance gate to Point Park

Point Park features several plaques, a monument and panoramic vistas of the surrounding countryside like the one below looking toward Chattanooga. The spectacular views were the reason we wanted to be sure to visit Point Park on a clear day.

View of Chattanooga from Point Park

Although Confederate cannon fire from the mountain was ineffective against the Union troops that occupied Chattanooga because of the distance, the Confederates could easily see movement of troops and they could keep track of supply boats on the river.

Another view of Chattanooga

Panoramic view of Moccasin Bend of the Tennessee River with Chattanooga in the distance

Now on to the battle. On Nov. 24, 1863, Union General U. S. Grant authorized Major General Hooker to attack the Confederate forces on Lookout Mountain, but he did not authorize an all-out assault. As it turned out, however, Hooker more or less ignored the restrictions in Grant's orders, and the Union forces ended up successfully routing the Confederates from Lookout Mountain. The last Confederates escaped from the mountain after dark assisted by a total lunar eclipse.

On the following day, the Union Army defeated the Confederates on a lower ridge to the east of Chattanooga called Missionary Ridge. The Confederates withdrew the day after that farther south into Georgia again. These battles were the beginning of the end for the Confederacy.

In addition to the museum in the visitor center, there was also a small museum inside the park itself that had a display of numerous Civil War-era photos taken on Lookout Mountain. One prominent photo features a man standing on a pile of balanced rocks.

Old photo showing a man standing on balanced rocks

View of the same rocks today from a slightly different angle

Also in Point Park is the New York Peace Memorial that is topped by a Union soldier and a Confederate soldier shaking hands.

New York Peace Memorial

In our next post we'll tell you about our visit to Chickamauga Battlefield.

Parkers Crossroads, TN

Yuma, TN - Events of Friday, July 13 to Tuesday, July 17, 2012 

We only had a two-hour drive on Friday to our next destination in Parkers Crossroads, TN, so we took our time when we got up in the morning. Barbara and Dick stopped by, and we chatted a few minutes before saying our good-byes. We finished packing up and were on the road a little after 10:00.

When pulled into Parkers Crossroads RV Park (mailing address Yuma, TN) shortly after noon, we were escorted to our site.

Our site at Parkers Crossroads RV

We stayed at Parkers Crossroads RV for one night on our way south from our detour to Pittsburgh in May. Back then, we saw there were a couple of possibilities for sightseeing in the area, so we decided to stop for a week on our way back north.

Parkers Crossroads RV has all full-hookup sites, most of which are pull-throughs. We're not sure about the sites in other parts of the campground, but all the sites in the area we were in had 30/50-amp electric. There is also free cable and free Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi seemed a little slower than our Verizon 3G, but we were able to use the campground Wi-Fi most of the time.

Parkers Crossroads also has a nice swimming pool and a fishing lake.

The roads and most of the pads at Parkers Crossroads RV are gravel, but there are 6 extra-long pull-throughs in the back section of the campground where we were that have concrete pads.

Three of the paved sites have a good bit of space between them, and the other three don't. The sites are angled which helps create some privacy. However, the angle is so severe that the three sites that are close together have their neighbor's driveway passing right through their living space. When we stopped at Parkers Crossroads on our way south, we had one of the more closely-spaced sites with little grass, so we requested one of the wider, grassy sites when we made our reservations for our return stop. Freeway still likes to eat anything - stones, pine cones, twigs, bugs - so we prefer not to have to put him outside on gravel. We got the site on the end on the left in the photo below, which not only has grass and more space, but also has an unobstructed view of the fishing lake and the valley beyond.

View of several of the paved sites at Parkers Crossroads

The campground itself was quiet, but there was a fair amount of traffic noise from the 4-lane road that runs past the campground. Fortunately, the traffic diminishes at night. The cloudy weather that moved into the area before we left Memphis brought cooler temperatures, but not that much cooler and not for long. The cloudy weather also brought high humidity. We ended up running the air conditioner all day and all night the whole time we were at Parkers Crossroads, and that helped cover up any outside noise.

The price at Parkers Crossroads RV of $28 a night isn't bad for full hookups, free cable and free Wi-Fi, especially if you can get one of the wider, paved, pull-through sites.

On Saturday evening, the weather started to clear, so we walked down to the fishing lake where we were treated to the first of several beautiful sunsets we experienced while at Parkers Crossroads.

Sunset at the fishing lake

We drove to Jackson, TN on Monday for some sightseeing. We'll tell you about that in our next post; but first, we want to tell you a little more about what we learned about Parkers Crossroads when we went out to explore the local area on Tuesday.

When we first arrived, we couldn't help but notice the big sign for the Parkers Crossroads Visitor Center and Civil War Battlefield as we got off the interstate. The visitor center is only a couple of miles south of the campground, so that's where we headed when we went out exploring on Tuesday.

Parkers Crossroads Visitor Center

The visitor center has a nice video on the Civil War battle that took place at Parkers Crossroads on December 31, 1862. It wasn't a big, important battle, but it is an interesting piece of Civil War history, and it's Parkers Crossroads' main claim to fame.

Steps to preserve the battlefield began in 1994. The battle took place over a fairly large area, much of which has now been developed. In fact, I-40 runs right through the middle of where the main battle took place. We'll have more on that a little later. The Parkers Crossroads Battlefield Association has been able to preserve a number of small sites that are relevant to significant events that took place during the battle. Those sites have parking for a few cars and one or more informative plaques. There are also paved walking trails that traverse various parts of the battle area, and there are maps available at the visitor center for a well-marked driving tour.

The driving tour starts north of I-40 at the Parkers Crossroads City Park where you can see a row of trees that mark the edge of the original Lexington-Huntingdon Road that ran north and south through Parkers Crossroads. Lexington-Huntingdon Road has been replaced by State Route 22, which lies about 100 yards to the west (to the left of the photo).

Row of trees marking the edge of Lexington-Huntingdon Road

The city park is also the start of the paved walking trail (shown to the right in the photo above) that is on the north side of I-40 and the location of several informational plaques and a couple of monuments like the one shown below commemorating Freeman's Battery of the Confederate artillery.

Monument to Freeman's Battery of the Confederate artillery

Parkers Crossroads was named for Reverend John Parker, a Baptist minister and doctor, who settled in the area around 1830. Reverend Parker's house was located on the northeast corner of the intersection of Lexington-Huntingdon Road that ran north and south and Wildersville Road that ran east and west. There is a stop on the driving tour at the location of the old crossroads.

Location of the home of Reverend John Parker, for whom Parkers Crossroads was named

By the latter part of 1862, Union forces had captured much of western Tennessee. The Confederacy was desperate to stop the Union advance toward Vicksburg because Vicksburg was one of the South's last strongholds along the Mississippi River. Confederate Brigadier-General Nathan Forrest and his 1,800-man cavalry were sent to interrupt the Union lines of supply and communication in western Tennessee.

Confederate Brigadier-General Nathan Forrest

On December 15, 1862, Forrest and his men crossed the Tennessee River south of Parkers Crossroads at Cliffton and conducted numerous raids as they marched north. Those raids destroyed railroad tracks and bridges and enabled the Confederates to capture Union arms and ammunition. Forrest ranged briefly into Kentucky before turning south again and heading back to Cliffton.

The Union dispatched Colonel Cyrus Dunham and Colonel John Fuller to trap the Confederate raiders. Colonel Dunham found out the Confederates were camped near Parkers Crossroads, and he headed there with his brigade of 1,500 men to cut them off. Dunham reached Parkers Crossroads ahead of the Confederates, and he set up an artillery line at a field about a mile northwest of Parkers Crossroads.

When the Confederates arrived, their artillery started pounding the Union position. Dunham was forced to pull back to the south of the Parker House and seek shelter behind a split rail fence. There is another stop on the driving tour on the south side of I-40 where there is a reconstruction of the split rail fence shown in the next photo behind the cannon.

Union forces took refuge behind a split rail fance to the south of Reverend Parker's house

The photo below is taken from in front of the split rail fence looking north across the highway toward Parkers Crossroads. Reverend Parker's house was located at the base of the trees in the distance just about in the center of the photo. The median of I-40 marks the approximate location of the Union artillery line.

I-40 splits the Parkers Crossroads Battlefield

Reverend Parker, who was a Union sympathizer, was angered at the Union artillery being set up so close to his house because of the likelihood of return fire aimed in his direction by the Confederates. The refusal of the Union battery officer to move the cannons caused Reverend Parker to switch his allegiance to the Confederacy. Reverend Parker's death-bed wish in 1864 was to be buried with his head to the south and his feet to the north so when Gabriel sounded his trumpet on the last day, he could rise and kick the Yankees back north. At nearby Jones Cemetery, which is another stop on the driving tour, all the graves run east and west except those of Reverend Parker and his wife, Rebecca, which run south to north.

The graves of Reverend Parker and his wife, Rebecca run south to north.

The Confederates quickly flanked Colonel Dunham, and Brigadier-General Forrest sent a message to Dunham demanding unconditional surrender. Just as things seemed hopeless for Dunham, the Union brigade under the command of Colonel John Fuller arrived. Forrest, who was now caught between two Union brigades, charged both directions. His swift counter attack disrupted the Union attack enough to allow the Confederates to escape and head off to the Tennessee River ferry crossing at Cliffton.

The paved walking trail picks up again at the split rail fence on the south side of I-40 and passes by a dog trot cabin that was donated to the Parkers Crossroads Battlefield Association in 2006. The cabin was originally built by Robert and Parmelia McPeake near Rock Hill, TN in 1851 for their family of 13 children. The cabin was dismantled, moved to the battlefield and rebuilt.

1851 dog trot cabin

As we said, the battle at Parkers Crossroads wasn't a huge battle. It lasted less than a day, and there wasn't a decisive victory for either side. However, if you had to pick a winner, it would be the Confederates, because they were able escape after conducting two weeks of successful raids that seriously disrupted Union supplies and communications. Even though Parkers Crossroads wasn't a well-known Civil War Battle like Gettysburg, Antietam, Bull Run or Shiloh, it was interesting to learn a little local history.

As we mentioned earlier, we also visited Jackson, TN to do a little sightseeing, and we'll tell you all about it in our next post.

Still More Memphis: Beale Street

West Memphis, AR- Events of Sunday, July 8 to Monday, July 9, 2012

Our friends, Dick and Barbara, arrived early Sunday afternoon as planned. We walked down to their site to greet them, then we headed back to our rig to give them time to set up. A lot of RVers are grateful for uninterrupted time to set up or pack up. Most of us have our own routine, but interruptions can be the cause for missing important steps in the process...sometimes causing unneeded damage. Later, we got together again to share dinner and catch up on what we all had been up to since we last saw each other.

This was Dick and Barbara's first time in Memphis in 43 years, so the discussion turned to sightseeing possibilities. One thing they decided they wanted to see was the Peabody ducks. The Peabody Hotel in downtown Memphis has live ducks in the fountain in the lobby, and every morning at 11:00 AM, the Duckmaster marches the ducks from their "penthouse" on the hotel roof, down the elevator and across the lobby to the fountain.

Back in the 1930s, hunters were still permitted to use live ducks as decoys for duck hunting. The manager of the hotel put a couple of his live decoys in the hotel fountain after a hunting trip as a prank, and it was a huge hit with the guests. The Peabody Hotel has had ducks in the fountain ever since.

The other thing we planned to do while we were downtown was to walk down Beale Street. Beale Street is to Memphis as Bourbon Street is to New Orleans, except Beale Street doesn't have girlie shows. New Orleans is known for jazz, and Memphis is known for the blues. Beale Street is loaded with clubs and bars with performances by various blues artists.

Rather than try to park downtown, we decided to park at the visitor center and take the trolley. The trolley only costs $1 (50 cents for seniors).

The Memphis trolley began operation in 1993 with restored, vintage cars from all over the world plus a few, recently-built replicas. Cars came from places like Brazil, Portugal and Australia.

Memphis trolley #454 originally from Melbourne, Australia

Inside one of the restored trolley cars

We just made it to the Peabody Hotel in time for the duck march. All the good spots near the fountain were already taken, so we hustled to the mezzanine where we were able to see a little better.

The Mallard ducks (one drake and three hens) march to the fountain to the tune of John Phillip Sousa's King Cotton March. The ducks return the the penthouse at 5:00 PM.

Crowds of people watch the ducks climb up the steps and jump into the fountain.

After the event, most people began to dissipate, but some crowded around the fountain for a better look at the ducks and for photos. The entire space in the lobby was completely filled with people just a few minutes before the photo below was taken.

The crowd began to dissipate shortly after the ducks completed their march

As we walked through the hotel lobby on our way out, we came across something you don't see very often anymore - phone booths.

Phone booths in the lobby off the Peabody Hotel

From the Peabody, we walked a few blocks to Beale Street. In the 1840s, Beale Street was the main thoroughfare of South Memphis, which was then a separate town from Memphis. By the early 1900s, Beale Street was the location of many clubs, and it quickly became a haven for African-American musicians and the blues.

Although Cleveland claims to be the birthplace of the term "rock and roll" (the phrase is said to have been coined by Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed to describe the uptempo, blues music he began playing in the early 1950s), Memphis claims to be the birthplace of rock and roll music itself. The music, which began in the late 1940s and early 1950s, has its roots in African-American blues, country, jazz and gospel music.

Civil rights difficulties of the 1950s and 1960s and urban renewal in the 1960s took its toll on Beale Street, and it went into decline. In the 1980s, Beale Street underwent major redevelopment. Today, Beale Street boasts many new clubs and restaurants.

Beale Street

Brightly colored signs attract customers by day, and neon takes over at night.

A. Schwab is a dry goods store on Beale Street that was established in 1876. It is a tourist attraction that still sells assorted dry goods, souvenirs and novelties.

A. Schwab dry goods store

Paul could tell the store was going to be fun from the reproduction pedal cars in the front window.

1955 Chevy pedal car

The old, wooden floor creaks underfoot, and old tables and display cases line the aisles.

Inside A. Schwab's

Inside, they had a lot of fun merchandise.

Three of us try out moustaches

Margery models a shower cap with sparkles and red rose

Paul does his best impersonation of Stan Laurel

Margery tries on a Mary Kay cowboy hat

We walked down the street until most of the clubs and restaurants ran out, then we turned around and walked back up the other side. Along the way, there was a statue of W. C. Handy, who was a composer and musician. Handy is called "father of the blues." He began playing clubs along Beale Street in 1909, and he wrote much of his music while living in Memphis.

Statue of W. C. Handy

As we walked, we could hear the music blaring out of the bars and clubs. Hawkers on the sidewalk tried to entice us into their restaurant for lunch, but we had other plans. We were heading to a restaurant back over near the Peabody called Charles Vergos Rondevous that is well-known for ribs. Unfortunately, when we got there, we found out it was closed on Mondays. In fact, they don't even open until 4:30 PM during the week, so we would have been out of luck on any day but Friday or Saturday.

Since the Rondevous was closed, we went with Plan B. We hopped the trolley back to where we had parked and drove to the Bar B Q Shop where we had gone the day after we first arrived in Memphis.

Barbara, Dick and Margery at the Bar B Q Shop

Barbara had a chopped pork sandwich, and the rest of us had chopped pork plates. Everything was delish!

There was a 50 to 70% chance of rain for the remainder of our stay in Memphis. We wanted to do a little more sightseeing with Barbara and Dick, and we were hoping the weather would cooperate. Stay tuned.

Mansions of Memphis

West Memphis, AR - Events of Friday, July 6, 2012

On Friday, we drove into Memphis to check out some of the mansions of Memphis in the historic Victorian Village district. There are several remaining mansions on "Millionaires' Row" along Park Avenue, but the Woodruff-Fontaine House is currently the only one that is open to the public. We'll have a little more on a couple of the other mansions later.

Woodruff-Fontaine House

Amos Woodruff and his brother arrived in Memphis from New Jersey in 1845 to expand their carriage-making business. Although his brother returned home, Amos remained and became a very successful entrepreneur. In addition to his carriage-making business, Woodruff was involved in two banks, a railroad, an insurance company, a hotel, a cotton compress firm (cotton compressors reduced the volume of cotton so more could be packed into a bale for shipment) and a lumber company.

In 1870, Woodruff began construction of a French Victorian mansion on what was then the outskirts of Memphis. The neighborhood was known as Victorian Village because Victorian was the predominant architectural style.

Amos Woodruff, his wife and his children occupied the home from 1871 until 1893 when hard times in Memphis forced the sale of the house to Noland Fontaine, who was an agent at the Memphis Cotton Exchange. After the deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Fontaine, their heirs sold the house, and it was used as an art academy for many years.

The house sat vacant for a couple of years until 1961 when it was leased by the City of Memphis to the Memphis Chapter of the Association for the Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities which took on the management and restoration of the house. It was opened to the public in 1964.

Most of the furnishings and even some of the chandeliers and fireplaces are not original to the house, but they are of the proper period. For example, the fireplace and chandelier in the dining room are from other Memphis homes that were going to be torn down in the 1960s as a result of urban renewal. Fortunately, photography is permitted as long as you don't use a flash, so we are able to show several shots taken inside the Woodruff-Fontaine House.

Woodruff-Fontaine House dining room

Margery with several wedding dresses that were on display in the parlor

There are two beautiful stained glass windows in the house - one over the front door and another on the landing of the steps leading to the second floor.

Stained glass window over the front door

Stained Glass window on the steps to the second floor

On the second floor are the master bedroom and guest rooms.

Master bedroom

From the second floor, we went to the third floor where most of the children's bedrooms were located.

The ceiling at the top of the stairs was quite ornate. It could be seen from the first floor up through the center of the stairway. The ceiling is made from hammered tin, not plaster.

Ornate tin ceiling at the top of the stairs

There was also a sewing room on the third floor that usually isn't open to visitors, but we lucked out and got to see it. In it are stored numerous pieces of period clothing (like the wedding dresses in the parlor) that are displayed throughout the home at various times of the year.

Margery beside shelves containing boxes of period clothing

There was men's clothing on display in the third floor hallway that included a tuxedo with tails and a beaver hat.

Men's clothing on display in the third floor hallway

Once we finished the tour of the house, we went outside to see the playhouse that was built in 1890 and expanded in 1907 and again in 1927.

Playhouse in the back yard

We also checked out a couple of the neighboring houses. To the right is the James Lee House. The house, which is owned by the city, has been empty since 1959. It is for sale, and the sign outside says, "Contract Pending." The new owners are planning to turn it into the James Lee Bed & Breakfast. Can you say, "money pit?"

James Lee House

Two doors to the left of the Woodruff Fontaine House is the Mallory-Neely House. It was built around 1852 and was extensively renovated in the 1880s and 1890s. The house was occupied by a member of the Mallory family until 1969. The house was turned into a museum in 1973, and it retains many original furnishings and decorative elements.

Mallory-Neely House

Unfortunately, The Mallory-Neely House is currently closed to the public because it doesn't comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Since it's not practical to add elevators or ramps to a historic structure such as this, the plan for making the museum compliant with the ADA is to offer disabled visitors a video tour of the house. Budget shortages prevent the city from making the necessary modifications to the carriage house for the videos and for ADA-compliant rest rooms, so for the time being, no one gets to tour the house. 

It was interesting to learn a little about the history of Memphis through the homes of some of its prominent residents. Of course, Memphis was a transportation center because of its location on the Mississippi. Like Natchez, it is located on a bluff that prevented major flooding in the city itself. Also like Natchez, much of the wealth of Memphis came from cotton.

Our friends, Dick and Barbara, are heading to Memphis to join us for several days, so there is sure to be more sightseeing and more barbecue. We'll tell you what we did and where we ate in our next post.