In the morning we were checking out of the RV park and glad
to see the back of it. It was right on two main roads and really noisy all
night. A quick restock of the fridge at Walmart and we headed for the nearest
Verizon centre to get our internet sorted. We have an AT&T phone that does
hotspotting, but it is hopelessly slow (hence the delay in getting the blog
posted). Verizon is in the Belle Meade area (the upper end of town) and we
passed huge houses, plastic surgeons, and upmarket high-end shops. Belle Meade
is named for a horse stud of years ago, and our next stop was the mansion.
Belle Meade was originally 5400 acres at its prime and
provided high quality horses to the thoroughbred racing industry. One of their stallions,
Bonnie Scotland, has an enduring bloodline that carries on in many of the great
racehorses of today.
Belle Meade was developed into a magnificent property, with
a Greek revival mansion and many outbuildings. It survived the Civil War
unscathed, but sadly the great panic of the late 1800s and some very poor decisions
by the third generation of owners, led to the sale of all the land, house, and livestock
by 1906.
The house passed through several owners and, at risk of
demolition, was purchased by the State of Tennessee in 1953 to be preserved.
We did the mansion tour with a very knowledgeable guide, and
the house was decked out for Easter. Following the house tour, there was wine
tasting and we were very pleasantly surprised to find the wine very palatable.
We have bought some bottles and they may make it home (if we don’t drink them
here).
We headed out of Nashville in the afternoon, headed for
David Crockett State Park for a couple of days. Tennessee is beautiful at this
time of year, all rolling green pastures, and trees with branches sweeping the
ground. At times it was like driving down a tunnel of foliage.
Coming into Lawrenceburg we passed a number of Amish buggies,
trotting along, horses heads bobbing in time with their hoofbeats. We even had
one do a u-turn ahead of us.
The Park is lovely. We have a spot by the stream, and the
rain has started falling on the roof. Very soothing.
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