Living Our Dream

Nashville Part II: Fontanel Mansion

Ashland City, TN - Events of Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Those who follow our blog know by now we like to visit mansions. That must be due to our desire to see how the upper crust lives. Most of the time, the mansions are old and have some historical significance; but not this time. Fontanel Mansion is the 27,000 square foot log home built in 1988 by Barbara Mandrell and her husband, Ken Dudney.

Fontanel is the largest log home in the world. It took 42 truck loads of logs and 5 truck loads of 2 X 6 tongue and groove lumber for the ceilings to complete the home. The logs were cut and assembled in Montana, then they were marked, disassembled and shipped to Nashville. The three-story house, which sits on 136 acres, has 13 bedrooms, 5 fireplaces, an indoor pool and an indoor shooting range.

After their three kids had grown up, Barbara and Ken decided to sell the home and downsize. The home was purchased in 2002 by two music executives who manage such recording artists as Alabama, Big and Rich, and Gretchen Wilson. They purchased the house to use as a location for parties and special events.

In 2010, the house was opened to the public for tours. The current owners hired Barbara Mandrell's daughter as Director of Hospitality to oversee the public tours. Since their daughter is managing the tours, Barbara and Ken also returned many pieces of original furniture, decorative items and personal effects to be displayed at the house.

Tickets for tours are available in the Silo Gift Shop, which was part of the small farm that was originally on the property.

The Silo Gift Shop

The Mandrel/Dudney family lived in the 100-year old farm house while the log home was being built.

Old farm house

Vans take visitors from the farm house almost a mile through the woods to the mansion. Across the driveway from the front door are three carved bears. The three bears represent Barbara and Ken's three children, and it is a theme that is also repeated inside the house.

Three little bears

This is the first time we have toured a mansion that allows unlimited photography inside (even with flash), but where we couldn't get a good picture of the outside. Usually, it's the other way around. The windows of the vans have advertising graphics partially covering them, so you can't get a good photo of the house from inside the van as it travels up the driveway. The vans stop by the main entrance to the house, which is on the middle floor. Unfortunately, the entrance is located where you can't get a very good perspective of the outside.

Main entrance to Fontanel Mansion

In the foyer, our tour guide Steve gave us an introduction to the house and told us a little about the construction.

Foyer of Fontanel Mansion

From the foyer, we went into the great room, which has 35-foot ceilings. The double-helix spiral staircase at the far end has no external support. The bookcases behind the stairs contained family photos, mementos and some of Barbara Mandrel's show business awards. 

Spiral staircase at one end of the great room

At the opposite end of the great room was a large fireplace. It is hard to see the painting over the mantel, but it depicts three bears.

Fireplace at the opposite end of the great room

The walls of the great room are lined with guitars signed by famous singers. Steve, who is an aspiring singer/song writer, used one of the guitars and sang a song he wrote himself. The song is being considered by the country group Lady Antebellum for an upcoming album. Steve is very good singer, and we liked his song, too.

Our tour guide singing one of his original songs

From the great room, we crossed back over the foyer and went into the dining room.

Dining room

From the dining room, we climbed the stairs to the third floor where the kids' bedrooms and the guest rooms were located. Also on the third floor was the soda fountain/game room. Behind the counter, there are custom-made neon signs with the name "Fountain Fontanel" and with various soda-fountain treats named after family members.

Soda fountain

One of the guest rooms at Fontanel

Margery on a third-floor balcony

Another third-floor balcony

In the media room, which was also on the third floor, Margery couldn't resist trying on Kenny Chesney's jacket. The partners who own Fontanel today helped discover Kenny Chesney.

Margery with Kenny Chesney jacket

Third-floor hallway lined with gold and platinum records

We returned to the second floor where we stopped to see the master bedroom. The bedroom has a vaulted ceiling, a canopied bed (with mirrors on the underside of the canopy), a wall of windows opposite the bed and an Italian marble fireplace along the wall adjacent to the bed.

Master bedroom

Master bathroom with his and her sinks and marble tub

In the kitchen, there is another carving of three bears. The bears and the pole are one piece of wood. The bears were not carved separately.

Pole with three bears carved from one piece of wood

The pool is on the bottom floor. The surface of the pool is covered with clear plexiglas, which is sometimes used as a dance floor. Lights in the pool below create a dramatic effect at night. Even though it is no longer used for swimming, the pool is kept filled with water to be used by the sprinkler system in the event of fire.

Indoor pool

Before the house was opened to the public, work was done to make it ADA compliant. There are ramps at various locations to make it easier for disabled visitors to get around. In the photo above, there is an elevator at the far end of the pool.

Also on the ground floor is the two-lane, 50-foot, indoor shooting range. Today, the bullet-scarred walls are lined with photos, and there is a quad that was used by Gretchen Wilson for a music video that was filmed on the property.

Paul tests out a quad used for a Gretchen Wilson music video

We exited the tour by a door off the pool, and we had to walk a short distance up the driveway to where the vans were parked. Paul hustled part way down the driveway in an attempt to catch a photo of the whole house, but the photo hardly does justice to the size of the place. The large, curved roof section in the photo below is the glass roof over the pool area.

Exterior of Fontanel Mansion

We really enjoyed our tour of Fontanel. It is beyond a doubt our favorite house tour of all time. We have never been on a home tour where we have not only been permitted to take all the photos we wanted, but where we could also sit on the furniture and pick up and handle almost anything that was on display. We felt more like guests of the family than paying customers. Our guide was excellent and provided lots of interesting stories about the family and about some of the stars that are represented by the owners.

After our tour, we made a couple of other stops. Look for our next post to see where that was.

Nashville Part I: Ryman Auditorium

Ashland City, TN - Events of friday, July 20 to Monday, July 23, 2012

The next stop on our summer travel schedule was near Nashville, TN at the Lock A Corps of Engineers Campground outside Ashland City. Last fall when we stopped at Nashville, we stayed on the eastern side of the city at Cedar Creek COE Campground in Mt. Juliet, TN. This time, we decided to try a COE campground that was located right on the Cumberland River on the northwestern side of Nashville. Lock A is a little more remotely located than Cedar Creek; but with our goal of a more relaxing year of travel, it seemed to be a good choice.

We took our time departing from Parkers Crossroads because our drive was only around two hours plus a few extra minutes for a fuel stop. We pulled into Lock A shortly after noon.

Lock A Campground has paved roads. About half the sites are gravel, and the other half of the sites are paved - not just the pad, but also the driveway leading to the pad as well as the generously-sized patio.

Our site at Lock A Campground

View looking down the road past our site

As with most COE campgrounds, Lock A has only water and electric (30/50 amp) hookups. Most of the sites are nice and wide, but a few are a little closer together. We were in a relatively small, quiet loop off by itself, but there wes also a larger loop where the sites along one side back up to the Cumberland River.

Lock A campground is a short distance upstream of Lock A on the Cumberland River. There were some pleasure boats, but there were also a few large tow boats and barges. We took a few walks, and we usually ended up down by the river.

Cumberland River looking upstream

Last fall, we didn't do much sightseeing because we had trouble with our satellite internet and ended up spending a lot of our time gathering information and making the decision to switch to Verizon Broadband. Therefore, even though we were in a bit of a remote location during this stay, we did end up doing a little more sightseeing than we had originally planned.

We made a Walmart run on Saturday, relaxed most of Sunday, then headed into Nashville on Monday to see Ryman Auditorium. Ryman Auditorium is a 2,300+ seat auditorium that used to house the Grand Ole Opry.

Ryman Auditorium

Downtown Nashville has numerous parking garages and parking lots, but they also have some on-street, metered parking. We found a space right across from the entrance of the auditorium. Metered parking is 25 cents for 10 minutes ($1.50 an hour), which isn't too bad.

Ryman Auditorium was originally built as the Union Gospel Tabernacle in 1892 by Thomas Ryman, who owned a fleet of riverboats and several bars in Nashville. Ryman reportedly was tired of hearing about well-known evangelist Samuel Porter Jones preaching against gambling and drinking - two of the very things that made money for Ryman on his riverboats and in his bars. Ryman and several friends attended a revival meeting held by Reverend Jones with the intention of heckling the preacher. However, Ryman ended up getting saved and built the Union Gospel Tabernacle so Reverend Jones, or any other preacher, would have a proper church building any time he came to town. After Ryman's death in 1904, Reverend Jones proposed the tabernacle be renamed Ryman Auditorium.

Statue of Thomas Ryman

In addition to being used for revival meetings, the Ryman Auditorium, or The Ryman as it is frequently called, was used as a venue for speaking engagements, political debates, concerts and various types of performances. Bob Hope, Katherine Hepburn, the Zigfield Follies, Helen Keller, President Teddy Roosevelt, Houdini, Will Rogers, Mae West and W. C. Fields have all performed or spoken at the Ryman Auditorium. Even with all those famous people, The Ryman is best known for serving as the home of the Grand Ole Opry from 1943 until 1974.

The Grand Ole Opry was a weekly radio program that featured live music and skits. It started in a 5th-floor radio studio in 1925 in downtown Nashville as the WSM Barn Dance. In addition to being broadcast on the radio, the show also drew audiences who wanted to see the show in person. As the popularity grew, the Opry moved to several larger venues until it ended up in The Ryman in 1943.

In 1974, a new 4,400-seat theater was built east of Nashville that also was part of the Opryland Hotel complex and a theme park. Ryman Auditorium sat mostly vacant until the 1990s when it was restored and reopened as a more intimate concert venue. They have 200 to 250 live shows a year, and they are not all country artists. The theater is also frequently rented out for taping music videos and for photo shoots. The Ryman even hosts the Opry in the winter.

New entrance to The Ryman that was part of the 1990s restoration

The Ryman has self-guided tours for $13 and you can add a behind the scenes tour of several dressing rooms for an extra $4. We opted to add the behind the scenes tour, and we're glad we did. The dressing rooms that are included in the tour have themes featuring well-known country stars like Johnny Cash, Hank Williams and Minnie Pearl. The behind the scenes tour includes many interesting facts and anecdotes about some of the past stars of the Grand Ole Opry.

Because The Ryman is an active performance theater, there are no behind the scenes tours on days when there is a performance scheduled because the dressing rooms are being readied for the performers who will use them later in the day. Unfortunately, photography isn't permitted in any of the dressing room areas, but we were allowed to step onto the stage near the end of the tour and take a photo.

We can say we appeared onstage at the Ryman Auditorium.

As you can see from the photo above, the seats in the auditorium are pews, which fits with the beginnings of The Ryman as a church. Also in connection with that heritage, The Ryman is known as "The Mother Church of Country Music."

After our behind the scenes tour, we continued on with the regular self-guided tour. We watched the video that gives the history of The Ryman, then we roamed around the facility to view the exhibits that include costumes and instruments of many country stars.

Dresss and suit belonging to June Carter Cash and the "Man in Black"

Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton's costumes

Minnie Pearl's hat complete with tradmark price tag

Minnie Pearl was the character played by Sarah Colley Cannon. Sarah began her career producing and directing plays and musicals for local organizations. She switched to a comedy act playing Cousin Minnie Pearl in 1939 and was signed to appear on the Grand Ole Opry in 1940. Minnie Pearl was a regular with the Opry until Sarah suffered a serious stroke in 1991. Sarah Cannon died of complications from a second stroke in 1996.

The story about the price tag on Minnie Pearl's hat was interesting. Sarah always put fresh flowers on the straw hat that was part of her costume. One day she was running late and didn't have time to stop for flowers, so she sent someone from the theater out to buy some artificial flowers. When the flowers arrived, she hurriedly wrapped them around the hat and stuffed the price tag in among the stems. While running around the stage during her comedy routine, the price tag slipped out and hung down. The audience thought the tag was funny, so from that day on, Minnie Pearl's hat had a price tag on it.

The balcony of the Ryman was added in 1897 in order to increase the seating capacity for a reunion of Confederate soldiers.

View of the stage from the balcony of The Ryman

There is an alley beside the Ryman. Across that alley are the back doors of the honky tonks on Broadway, which is the next street over. Performers at the Ryman used to slip over to one of the honky tonks for a quick drink before and/or after the show. Also in the alley is the stage entrance and the steps where two young brothers used to sit and play hoping someone would notice them. Chet Atkins eventually gave them an audition, and the Everly Brothers went on to become rock and roll stars.

Steps where the Everly Brothers were discovered

Before heading back to the car, we walked on down to Broadway to see the honky tonks. Broadway reminded us a lot of Beale Street in Memphis with all its bars and neon signs. We were particularly interested in seeing Tootsie's Orchid Lounge because it was a hang out for the likes of Willie Nelson, Patsy Cline, Mell Tillis, Roger Miller, Waylon Jennings, Hank Williams and many more back in the day when the bar used to be called Mom's. Mom was a no-nonsense woman, but she frequently lent a helping hand to many a struggling country singer.

Tootsie's Orchid Lounge

We listen to country music, but we don't know a lot about its early days. It was interesting to learn about some of the stars and how they got their start and to learn about the history of the Ryman Auditorium and the Grand Ole Opry. We have a little more sightseeing planned, so stay tuned.

Jackson, TN

Parkers Crossroads, TN - Events of Monday, July 16 to Wednesday, July 18, 2012

On Monday, we drove about half an hour back to the west to Jackson to Casey Jones Village to learn about the legendary railroad engineer, Casey Jones. Just before the Civil War, Jackson, TN developed into an important hub for several railroads. A lot of the tracks were destroyed during the war (many of them by Confederate Brigadier-General Nathan Forrest that we wrote about in our previous post); but after the war, the railroads were rebuilt.

Casey Jones Village has a museum dedicated to Casey Jones who was railroad engineer from Jackson, TN who lost his life in a train accident on April 30, 1900. We started our tour of the museum with a video that told the story of Casey Jones.

Casey Jones

Casey Jones was born John Luther Jones. Casey was a nickname he got because of the name of the town where he was born - Cayce, KY. As a boy, he spent time around the railroad yards near his home, and he eventually got a job with the Mobile and Ohio Railroad in Jackson, TN.

Casey was promoted to brakeman, then to fireman. In 1887, he switched to the Illinois Central Railroad and got a job as an engineer running freight trains where he developed a reputation for his trains always being on time. Casey was transferred to passenger trains in 1890 running one of the four legs of the Cannonball Express. The Cannonball Express provided an almost impossibly fast passenger schedule between Chicago and New Orleans.

One night after Casey had just finished his regular run from Canton, MS to Memphis, he was asked to work a double shift and take the train back to Canton because the engineer regularly assigned to make that run was sick. The train was late departing, and Casey was determined to make up time as he sped along at about 75 mph.

As the train approached Vaughan, MS, which is only about 15 miles from the destination of Canton, Casey had made up almost all the 90+ minutes he was behind schedule. Near Vaughan, two freight trains had pulled onto a siding to allow Casey's passenger train to pass. Unfortunately, the two trains were too long to both fit on the siding, and the caboose and three freight cars of one of the trains were sitting on the main line directly in Casey's path. As they prepared to move one of the trains to another siding, an air hose broke locking up the train's brakes making it impossible to move the overhanging cars.

By the time Casey's fireman saw the lights of the caboose sitting on the tracks directly ahead, Casey knew he would not be able to stop in time. Casey told his fireman to jump, but Casey stayed with the train and was able to slow it from 75 about 35 mph before his train slammed into the caboose of the parked freight train. Casey Jones was the only fatality of the wreck and was credited with saving the lives of his fireman and all the passengers on his train.

There were numerous train wrecks back in those days because they didn't have telephones, two-way radios, or sophisticated signal lights to warn of dangers. Most of the accidents were quickly forgotton, but the memory of Casey Jones lives on today thanks to an African-American engine wiper by the name of Wallace Saunders who worked at the Canton, MS railroad shop. Saunders, who looked up to Jones, wrote a ballad about the wreck that got passed on to Vaudville performers. Although the song wasn't very accurate, it became extremely popular and made a hero out of Casey Jones.

In addition to the video, the Casey Jones Museum has a lot railroad memorabelia and artifacts like conductors' uniforms, lanterns, tools, photos and scale models.

Margery viewing some of the railroad memorabilia

Mural in the museum showing the moment of impact

Replica of Casey Jones' engine outside the museum

Paul trying out the controls of the engine

Next to the museum is the house where Casey Jones and his family lived while he was in Jackson.

Casey Jones' home

Dining room

Bedroom with bedspread hand croched by Casey Jones' wife

The bathroom was grim by today's standards, but at least it was indoors.

Casey Jones Village is somewhat of a misnomer. With "village" in the name, we expected there would be other vintage houses, a general store and maybe a railroad depot. Instead, there is a row of commercial shops down one side of the parking lot and the Old Country Store and Restaurant across the parking lot from the museum.

Old Country Store and Restaurant

The Old Country Store is interesting. Antiques are displayed alongside new merchandise that is for sale. The concept of combining a country store with the restaurants at Cracker Barrel was based on the Old Contry Store and Restaurant at Casey Jones Village.

Antiques are displayed alongside new merchandise at the Old Country Store

By the time we finished up at the museum and at the Old Country Store, it was mid afternoon and we were hungry. Catfish Galley, which got good online reviews, wasn't very far from Casey Jones Village, so we headed there for a late lunch.

Catfish Galley

Catfish Galley serves hushpuppies while you're waiting for your meal, and they are the best hushpuppies we had ever had. They are very sweet, more like an extra-crunchy doughnut hole than a hushpuppy. We had two baskets.

As the name suggests, Catfish Galley specializes in catfish. We both got two-piece catfish lunch specials that included two sides for $7.50. A three-piece special is available for $8.50. Margery had slaw and onion rings for sides, and Paul had slaw and fries. The catfish was moist, light and flaky. The coating was nice and crunchy, but not so thick as to overpower the delicate flavor of the fish. The sides were also good.

Margery getting ready to enjoy her catfish lunch

On Wednesday, we chilled out around the motor home in the morning, then drove avout 20 minutes south of Parkers Crossroads to a barbecue joint in Lexington, TN called Scott's Bar-B-Que.

Scott's Bar-B-Que

There are a good many barbecue joints in the area, but this one caught our eye because they do whole-hog barbecue and have available a thin, vinegar-based sauce that sounded a lot like eastern Carolina barbecue. Unlike a lot of other barbecue restaurants we have seen that serve pork plus some combination of ribs, beef brisket, chicken, turkey and sausage, Scott's serves only pork.

We also saw an interview online that somebody did with Ricky Parker, the owner of Scott's Bar-B-Que, where he explained how they do their barbecue. Parker buys a special breed of locally-grown hogs. The hogs are fed a special diet and have about 3% fat. Hogs from other sources can have as much as 10% fat, or they can have almost no fat.

The hogs are cooked over a low, slow fire. If you lean through the order window a little, you can see the whole hog right there in the warmer behind the counter. Instead of removing all the meat from the carcas as soon as the hog is done cooking, Parker carves off chunks of meat as you order. Since the meat is cut to order, you can request meat from a specific part of the hog. Shoulder and belly meat have the most fat and is therefore the most tender. Most of the fat was removed as the meat was being carved, so we got nice, tender, juicy meat without excess fat.

Scotts only serves sandwiches and sandwich combos that come with two sides. They also sell pork by the pound and sides in bulk containers to go. We decided to get a pound of pork, a pint of cole slaw and a half pint of potato salad. We also requested a couple of plates so we could eat in.

Margery at Scott's Bar-B-Que

The pork barbecue we had at Scott's wasn't real smokey, but as we said, it was very moist and tender. We heard another customer request "brown stuff," which is meat that has picked up more dark color from the fire because it is located closer to the outside of the pig. Being located closer to the surface means it probably has more smoke flavor, but it also means it could not be as moist.

Scott's has two kinds of sauce. One is a thin, vinegar-based, hot sauce, and the other is a thicker, slightly sweeter sauce. We liked a combination of the two.

After our late lunch, we drove back to the motor home for some relaxation. The next day, we did some our pre-departure chores in preparation for heading out Friday morning to our next destination.

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 Clifton 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 Clifton.

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 Clifton.

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.

Even More Memphis: St. Jude Hospital

West Memphis, AR - Events of Wednesday, July 11 to Friday, July 13, 2012

Wednesday morning was quite dreary. The previous day, our friends, Barbara and Dick, did some sightseeing on their own, and they stopped at the Tennessee Welcome Center. While they were there, they picked up information on the Danny Thomas/ALSAC Pavilion at St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital. We decided that sounded like something good to do on a cloudy, dreary day with a 50 or 60% chance of rain. The Pavilion has memorabilia of entertainer Danny Thomas, founder of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and information on the history and operation of the hospital.

As a starving entertainer, Danny Thomas vowed that if he ever made it big, he would do something to give back. He chose to build a hospital that would treat catastrophic diseases in children and conduct research into new cures and treatment methods for those diseases.

St. Jude Hospital main entrance

The Danny Thomas/ALSAC Pavilion is located right across from the main entrance of the hospital. ALSAC is the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities. Danny Thomas, who was Lebanese, started ALSAC as the fund-raising arm of St. Jude Children's Hospital.

Danny Thomas/ALSAC Pavilion

Inside the entrance of the pavilion is a portrait of Danny Thomas.

Danny Thomas, founder of St. Jude Hospital

The pavilion has information about Danny Thomas, about the history of the hospital, about fundraising and about the future plans for research and expansion. There are alcoves around the central space under the dome.

Central dome of the pavilion

View of the underside of the dome

Although Danny Thomas was Catholic, the pavilion reflects his Lebanese heritage with design elements reminiscent of Muslim mosques. The hospital is named for St. Jude Thaddeus, patron saint of hopeless causes; but the hospital is not affiliated with the Catholic Church or any other religion.

We started with the history of the hospital. Danny Thomas began raising money to build a children's hospital in the 1950s. His dream came to fruition when the hospital opened in Memphis in 1962. The hospital has undergone many expansions and additions over the years, and there is a whole complex of buildings today. A $1 billion, 5-year expansion was completed in 2005.

Back in 1962, the hospital opened with a budget of $1 million a year. Today, the average cost to operate the hospital is $1.7 million - A DAY! The average treatment cost is $500,000 per child. In 1962, the survival rate for childhood leukemia was 4%. Today, that survival rate is 94%.

It was surprising to learn that the hospital only has 78 beds. The majority of treatments are done on an outpatient basis while the patient and family live in the Target, Grizzly or Ronald McDonald Houses depending on their length of stay.

The next section of the pavilion had biographical information about Danny Thomas' life and show business career. There were old family photos, a replica of his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, some of his show business awards and numerous photos with other show business personalities and with several presidents.

Danny Thomas was born Amos Muzyad Yakhoob Kairouz in 1912, the son of Lebanese immigrants. His family Americanized their name, so Danny Thomas was known as Amos Jacob as a child. When he started in show business, he wanted to be a radio actor. In 1940, the only gig Amos Jacob could get was at a nightclub, and he felt like a failure. He didn't want to embarrass his family, so he decided not to use his real name. Instead, he combined the names of his youngest brother (Danny) and his oldest brother (Thomas).

Danny Thomas finally did make it to radio later in the 1940s. He also made a couple of movies including a 1951 musical called The Jazz Singer. He is best known for his starring role in the TV sitcom, Make Room for Daddy where he played a successful comedian who struggled to find time to spend with his family. The show aired from 1953 to 1964. They had a video screen where you could select and watch various clips form the TV series and from The Jazz Singer.

Barbara, Margery and Dick watching clips from the TV show Make Room for Daddy

One of the clips was from an episode of Make Room for Daddy that featured Andy Griffith in the role of a small-town sheriff. That episode spawned The Andy Griffith Show, which was produced by Danny Thomas. Thomas also produced The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Mod Squad, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. and several TV specials.

Over the years, Danny Thomas won many humanitarian and show business awards. Only a small percentage of them like the three Emmys he won for Make Room for Daddy are on display. The rest of the awards are in storage.

Danny Thomas' won three Emmys for Make Room for Daddy

No one ever pays for treatment at St. Jude. St. Jude also pays for transportation, lodging and meals for the patient and an accompanying family member. As we said above, the daily expenditures average $1.7 million, so fund raising is very important to St. Jude. There was a section of the pavilion explaining fund raising at St. Jude. Eighty-one percent of all funds raised go directly for research and treatment; 13% goes back into fund raising, and 6% is for administration. St. Jude's receives no support from the government.

As we mentioned, the cure rate for childhood cancers has greatly improved. A great deal of that improvement was brought about by the research at St. Jude, which was explained in another section of the pavilion. The hospital shares its research with other hospitals around the world, and they also have several hospitals with which they have a direct affiliation.

Also extending from the central dome of the pavilion is a chapel.

Danny Thomas/ALSAC Pavilion Chapel

In the chapel is a large wood carving that is a replica of da Vinci's painting The Last Supper. Carved from Honduras mahogany, the bas relief sculpture is 6 feet high by 12 feet long and took 14 months to complete. The panels on each end represent the Old and the New Testament. The carving used to hang in the Thomas dining room. Danny's wife, Rose Marie, donated it to the chapel after Danny's death in 1991.

Hand-carved replica of the da Vinci painting The Last Supper

Behind the pavilion is a garden with a waterfall and the mausoleum where Danny Thomas and his wife, Rose Marie, are interred.

Garden and waterfall behind the pavilion

Mausoleum there Danny and Rose Marie Thomas are buried

It was interesting to learn about Danny Thomas and St. Jude Children's Research hospital. The hospital, which just celebrated its 50th anniversary, has made huge strides in the advancement of the treatment of serious childhood illnesses.

Barbara and Dick were originally scheduled to leave Memphis on Thursday, but they found so much they wanted to see they extended their stay by a couple of days. They went off on Thursday on their own to do more sightseeing while we made a Walmart run, began making preparations for our departure on Friday, and just relaxed a bit. Later Friday afternoon, we met them for lupper at Central BBQ. Memphis has so many barbecue joints, it was difficult deciding where to go; but Central BBQ got lots of good reviews, so that was our choice.

Central BBQ

Central BBQ has pork, chicken, turkey, brisket, sausage and ribs. They also have barbecued bologna sandwiches. Sandwiches range in price form $4 to $7 (without sides), and plates are $9 to $23 and include two sides.

Dick had a chopped pork sandwich that he said was good. Barbara, Margery and Paul had ribs ($15 half rack, $22 whole rack, $24 whole rack for two with four sides). The ribs were fall-off-the-bone tender and were excellent. Memphis-style ribs are prepared with dry rub and are served wet or dry. We all got ours dry and added our own sauce, which was also good. Margery had the excellent house-made potato chips. The potato salad was also good, but the slaw was just so-so (not much flavor).

Paul Dick and Barbara about to dig in

We headed back to our respective rigs after lupper. In the morning, we said our good-byes and headed off to our next destination. We'll tell you where that was in our next post.