Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Vaction Blog Contest Day 4--Plantations


Day four found us down the road and headed toward Nashville. But, we decided to take in some more history and visit a couple of plantations along the way. Our first stop was the historic Carnton Plantation, home of the New York bestseller, The Widow of the South, which is in my TBR pile! That was one of several reasons I wanted to visit Carnton. Again, like Shiloh, this place is steeped in history, and the magnitude of what happened here is unbelievable. In the intense heat and Tennessee humidity we learned that Carnton was used as a field hospital during the Battle of Franklin in late November 1864. Here, five hours of one of the bloodiest battles of the war was fought in complete darkness. Blood still stains the wooden floor boards on the second floor of the mansion from the 300 wounded and dying soldiers who occupied the house during and after the battle. We visited with a guy who used to live in the Franklin area and he said, one time he’d made a late night visit to the Confederate cemetery located on the property. He swore he saw the ghosts of many Confederates there! Oh, so many stories to write, so little time!

We then found our way to Belle Meade plantation just a few miles from the excitement of Nashville. This house is huge, and oh, so beautiful! And so is the carriage house. This plantation was known for its race horses and about 80% of all Thoroughbreds today are descended from the famous sires who once stood there---including two horses I own. Fortunately, Nashville and Belle Meade didn’t come under fire during the years of the Civil War, so they were spared the devastation.

A few years ago I visited Oak Alley plantation in Louisiana. All three of these historic sites are immaculately preserved and if you love history, a must-see! They are so beautiful that it is easy to imagine the ladies of the era strolling the large porches in their hoop skirts and flowing gowns.

Have you read The Widow of the South by chance? When I get home, it’s moving up in my TBR pile!

12 comments:

Unknown said...

That is a beautiful plantation! I love to look at all the old farms. They are just so rich with history. It looks as though you are packing in a lot of adventure in a short time.

Valerie Oakleaf said...

Oh, Sherry...I am SO jealous of Day 4. I read "Widow of the South" about 4 years ago and it is FANTASTIC! In fact, I may stop at the library this afternoon and check it out again.
Hope you took a ton of pics for me at Carnton & Belle Meade. I will be looking forward to seeing both upon your return.
Sounds like you are having fun. ~V~

Sherry James said...

Melissa--

We are packing a lot into one trip. But I've been wanting to do all of this for so long, I just couldn't resist. Besides, who knows when we'll have the chance again. Thanks for stopping back by.

Sherry James said...

Cool, Valerie! I'd be happy to show you all my pix. I think I even got an extra brochure or two I'd be happy to share. I picked up Widow of the South on the Waldenbooks bargain table a while back. I'm really anxious to read it.

robynl said...

'ladies of the era strolling the large porches in their hoop skirts and flowing gowns': what an image in one's mind. Wouldn't it be lovely to visit back then and see all the goings on.

Anonymous said...

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I don't mean this in a bad way, of course! Ethical concerns aside... I just hope that as technology further innovates, the possibility of downloading our brains onto a digital medium becomes a true reality. It's one of the things I really wish I could experience in my lifetime.


(Posted on Nintendo DS running [url=http://quizilla.teennick.com/stories/16129580/does-the-r4-or-r4i-work-with-the-new-ds]R4i SDHC[/url] DS SysBro)

Anonymous said...

I have a love-hate relationship with virtual memory because of the way prices are always,and I domean always dropping. I absolutely hate buying Micro SD Cards for my R4 / R4i at (what seems to be) a bargain price only to see it become 10% cheaper a couple of weeks later.

(Submitted by cPost scPost for R4i Nintendo DS.)

Anonymous said...

It's interesting to see just how pervasive virtual memory has become in our every day lives. It seems like everytime I turn my head, I see something with a card slot or USB jack . I guess it makes sense though, considering how inexpensive memory has become as of late...

Gahhhh, who am I to complain. I can't get by a single day without using my R4 / R4i!

(Posted from Nintendo DS running [url=http://quizilla.teennick.com/stories/16129580/does-the-r4-or-r4i-work-with-the-new-ds]R4i[/url] PostN3T)

Anonymous said...

Virtual memory,to me, is something that I seemingly will never have enough of. It's as if megabytes and gigabytes have become a permanent part of my day to day existence. Ever since I bought a Micro SD Card for my NDS flash card, I've been constantly vigilant for high memory at cheap prices. It's driving me crazy.

(Submitted from Nintendo DS running [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TA58lFC0gE]R4i SDHC[/url] ComP)

Anonymous said...

Purchasing memory cards is such a chore... You have to Google prices, filter through which ones are genuine, visit a bunch of shops,compare prices, finally buy your memory, and then hope that the price doesn't fall in the next two weeks or so.

I've been f'd over by crazy price changes in the past... especially this one time when I bought a Micro SD card for my DS flashcard at what was apparently a bargain price, only to later see that it fell by five bucks in a week's time.

(Posted by BB for R4i Nintendo DS.)

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