Happy Friday everyone! Thanks for coming back around for one last Postcard from our trip to Nashville last week. I'll leave you with one more batch of photos that I captured, then wish you a great big ole fun weekend!!
Even though I loved the old TV show "Hee Haw", I'm not much of an old-timey country music fan. Watching the show, I did come to know some of country music's greats and I'm still able to recognize them by their face, name, and music. In doing my research for our Nashville trip, I read about the Ernest Tubb Record Shop and put it on my must-see list. Unlike the Country Music Hall of Fame, there's nothing shiny and glitzy here! You'll not find anything state-of-the-art at all! What you will find is every country and bluegrass artist's recordings imaginable. Before it moved to the Opryland location, the Midnight Jamboree radio show was broadcast from the back of the store. Founded by legendary country music artist Ernest Tubb, the country music shop has been providing country, gospel, and bluegrass products ever since. And the shop specializes in hard to find videos, cassettes, CDs, and books as well. It has the smell of an old department store...maybe because it's been there since 1947. It's also been the meeting place for country music fans, stars, and tourists like me ever since! I'll wrap this extra week of Nashville Postcards up tomorrow with one last set of photos and stories. As always, thanks for stopping by and "y'all come back now, ya hear?"
Every time I travel, it seems I run into a bit of serendipity. It happened again last week while Becky and I were on our Nashville trip. Yesterday I shared with you our visit to Antique Archaeology, the new store in Nashville recently opened by American Picker, Mike Wolfe. You might remember that last week, my Wednesday Postcard mentioned a visit to Leiper's Fork. So here's the interesting connection... The first shop we went into in Leiper's Fork was Serenite Maison. We were immediately drawn to the furniture, antiques, and unusual items. It had that comfortable, welcoming vibe that I find so appealing. We struck up a conversation with the owner, Alex Cirimelli. Her shop features furniture and accessories that she has picked on her junking trips to France. In the course of the conversation, I mentioned visiting Antique Archaeology and she said that she and Mike Wolfe were good friends. In fact, she is god mother to his daughter, Charlie. She went on to tell us that Mike has a home in Leiper's Fork, he was in town for two weeks, and was going to Nashville for the music festival. The show was on a break, but filming would resume in a couple weeks. Cool! This past Saturday, there was an American Pickers marathon on the History Channel and I was watching the episode where Mike and Frank go picking for William Shatner to get items for his study. Since the boys are not interior decorators, they called on a good friend to do that part of the job. The minute I saw who that was, I knew it was Alex Cirimelli, the owner of Serenite Maison! I immediately called Bec and she didn't even say hello. She yelled, "It's her!" We both laughed and realized that we had met someone from American Pickers and didn't even realize it...LOL. I found this online picture of the two of them... Don't ya just love a good serendipity story? Like I said, it usually happens every time I hit the road and I love the surprise! Have a good Wednesday y'all and I'll see ya tomorrow.
One of my favorite TV shows is American Pickers on the History Channel. Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz travel the country in their big white van with the red rooster logo, searching for rusty items, unique Americana items, and not-seen-in-ages items. Their principle store is in Le Claire, Iowa, but Mike recently opened a second store in Nashville, TN. One of the stops on the trolley tour that Becky and I took a week ago today was at Antique Archaeology! Danielle, who manages the store in Iowa, traveled to Nashville and found the present location for the boys...the 1914 Marathon Automobile building just outside of town. With lots of space to grow into, the building is the perfect spot for all the accumulated road rust from the honey holes they have picked. We could hardly contain ourselves as we entered the store. I just had to stand inside the door to take it all in. Stuff lining the walls...stuff hanging from the ceiling...cool stuff everywhere! To coincide with the History Channel's recent series on the Hatfields and McCoys, Mike and Frank had traveled to West Virginia and Kentucky in search of items related to that family feud. In a general store there, they had picked a ledger that contained the account and purchases of "Devil Anse" Hatfield. In the back corner of Antique Archaeology, sitting in a glass case, was that very ledger book! I'm sure that I missed a whole lot of things, but I walked round and round the store trying to take it all in. There was so much to photograph and the one thing that I didn't take a picture of that I should have, was a huge carnival banner hanging on the ceiling. Guess I'll just have to make a return trip! We both bought t-shirts and I was really tempted to get a coffee mug, but opted for a little sticker instead. Tomorrow I'll tell you about the serendipitous encounter we had in Leiper's Fork that revolves around Mike.
Thanks for stopping by on this rainy Tuesday in Newton to pick up another Nashville Postcard. See ya tomorrow! When Becky and I travel, I like to do a little research beforehand to check out places we shouldn't miss. This past trip to Nashville was no exception. High on my list was a shop on lower Broadway called Hatch Show Print. If you have followed music, art, or culture here in the South or have ever gone to concerts back in the 60's and 70's you have probably seen the posters created by Hatch Show Print. They are one of the oldest working letterpress print shops in America. Over the years their posters have adorned music venues, advertised products, and have graced many storefront windows. There is a special appeal to the posters and they are collected by many folks. I knew I would buy one...just didn't know which one. It should come as no surprise to you which one I got... Hatch Show Print is a wonderful combination of working letterpress, tourist attraction, museum, and shop. There are dozens of posters for sale and the collage of the prints on the wall is very cool. They also have postcards, coffee mugs, and t-shirts for the tourist. Their shelves and cabinets are lined with 10,000 basswood and maple wood blocks, thousands of photoplates, and lots of drawers with wood and metal type. There are fourteen historic printing presses with every machine being hand-operated and every poster being hand-made. There are a couple of big ole shop cats that lounge around in the window and lay right in the middle of the floor. They don't seem to mind one single bit that people are coming and going through the front door and snapping their picture while there. If you are into graphic arts, like the nostalgic look, and are intrigued with typeset posters, then you must visit Hatch Show Print the next time you are in Nashville!
Without a doubt, some of the coolest things I saw in Nashville were the signs. Signs for honky-tonks...signs for boots...signs for saloons...signs for tourist attractions...signs for all things FUN! Take a look... I'm absolutely sure that these signs would have been even cooler if I had seen them at night in all their neon glory!
Thanks for dropping by for your Friday Postcard...have a great weekend...I'll be chatting with you on Monday from back-in-the- Newton-routine. Today was a National Park day for us! We hit three of them and scored mega numbers of stamps for our Passports in the process. We spent a couple hours at Stones River National Battlefield this morning, taking the driving tour and seeing much more of the site than we did back in 2005 when we visited. In order to avoid snarls of traffic surrounding Bonnaroo in Manchester, we hit the back roads from Murfreesboro down to Chattanooga. We lost count of the number of nurseries we passed and concluded that the soil and climate in that area must be ideal to cultivate trees and bushes. When we saw a big billboard for the Lodge Factory Store, we took a little detour to South Pittsburgh, TN to check out the cast iron scene. The factory is located right behind the outlet store, but only does tours during the National Cornbread Festival the last weekend in April. Since we were so close to Russell Cave National Monument in Alabama, we made a repeat visit there. Our first visit was rainy and cold in 2005, so we took advantage of today's beautiful weather. Last stop, last park of the day was Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park high atop Lookout Mountain. It was actually our third visit there, but with this being the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, it makes repeat trips like today worthwhile. I was extra excited to go there because I was finally able to replace my National Park Senior Pass that was stolen a couple months ago. Tomorrow we head home and once I get unpacked and back into the groove of things, I want to go back and send you some detailed Postcards of some of the places we stopped this week.
So thanks a bunch for dropping by every day to pick up your Postcard...I really appreciate you taking time to travel along with me! I realize that a whole lot of people think that riding in a car for hours looking at the countryside and having no particular plan for the day doesn't sound very exciting. But I have to tell you that Becky and I love these kind of travel days! We were on the road very early this morning for our ride to Fort Donelson National Battlefield in Dover, TN. We avoided the interstates today and opted for the backroads instead. We went through little towns called Only and Spot, Grinder's Switch and Bear Spring. Fort Donelson was one of two Civil War battlefields in the National Park Service that we had not visited. So today we checked that one off our list and only Pea Ridge in Arkansas remains. We drove through Loretta Lynn and Minnie Pearl territory on our way down to catch a portion of The Natchez Trace Parkway. For about 30 miles, we cruised along the Parkway, spotting four deer and making numerous stops at overlooks and historic sites. Leiper's Fork is a sweet little historic town just off the Trace and we made a quick decision to check it out...and we were so glad we did! Cool shops, a Puckett Bros. Grocery, Joe's Natural Bakery, and art galleries line the one street leading through town. Heading east from Leiper's Fork, we stopped in Franklin to check out some antique stores. I saw another incredible yellow item and then met Ouida, an incredibly interesting store owner. I had so much fun chatting with her that I just had to snap her photo. By now, the day was almost over and it was time to find a place for the night. We decided to go to Murfreesboro since our plans are to visit Stones River National Battlefield tomorrow morning. Well...instead of the CMA Music Festival snitching all our motel rooms, Bonnaroo has taken them all.
Bonnaroo is a huge music festival on a farm out in the country near Manchester. Randy, our T@Bbin' buddy from Nashville, headed there today to camp along with 100,000 others and listen to the Beach Boys, Alice Cooper, Red Hot Chili Peppers and many more. It took us three stops to find a room and we got one of the last three available at Super 8. Whew!! I hope nothing is going on in Chattanooga tomorrow might! Thanks for driving along with us toady and I'll chat with you tomorrow evening from Chattanooga as we wrap up our week on the road. Today was our trolley day in Nashville. A couple weeks ago I ordered trolley tickets for us, figuring it was the best way to see the city, maximize our visit, and minimize our steps. Not knowing how bad the traffic would be going into Nashville, we left really early for the 15 mile drive down I-65. Rush hour traffic wasn't nearly as bad as we were afraid of, and we were parked and playing tourist by 9 o'clock. Our trolley ticket was for 10 a.m., so we had an hour to stroll around and get our bearings. At ten we hopped on and started our circuit around town. Dan, our driver, had a great sense of humor, played trivia games with us, and gave us a wonderful narration of Music City history, architecture, and music. The one hour tour made 7 stops and we were able to hop on and hop off all we wanted to! We didn't know until last evening while at supper with Randy, that this week is Country Music Association's Music Festival. It's the biggest celebration of the year and one where country music artists give concerts on stages all around lower Broadway for their fans. This morning at the Grand Ole Opry, Carrie Underwood gave a free concert and she'll be there again for two shows this evening with The Oak Ridge Boys and others. It seemed like everywhere we went today there were posters, banners, stages, and music. It made our day just a little more special if that was possible! The fact that I took almost 200 pictures today should tell you something about how our day went. I'll wait until I get back home on Friday to start telling you stories about some of these places like Antique Archaeology, Ernest Tubb Record Shop, our lunch at the Wildhorse Saloon, Hatch Show Print, the neon signs that were so colorful and cool, cowboy boots, and much, much more! Tomorrow we leave the Music City for the Civil War battlefield portion of our little trip. Join me tomorrow evening to hear about our Wednesday. Thanks for dropping by today to pick up your Nashville Postcard! My alarm went off at 5:20 a.m. Why so early? Becky was picking me up for our trip to Nashville at 6:00! We hopped on I-40 and headed west for our road trip this week. We had a good drive and made it in less than seven hours despite multiple stops for various reasons. I saw something on the road that I've never seen before! Check this out... Our first stop was at the home and plantation of Andrew Jackson, our 7th President...The Hermitage. We toured the Mansion, saw the tomb where Jackson and wife Rachel are buried, the gardens, and slave cabins. It was a very enjoyable two hours! After our Hermitage history lesson and tour, we drove over to the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center. We had no idea where we were going, but somehow ended up inside the hotel and got to see where all the rich tourists stay! Waterfalls and atriums...flowers and fish ponds...an indoor boat ride right beside restaurants...rooms with balconies looking down on it all. Oh my!! Near the resort is the Grand Ole Opry House and that was our next destination. With a bit of tourist-karma, we parked right at the entrance and arrived just in time for the 3:30 Backstage Tour. Now you talk about something fun!! We saw the performer's entrance and security station, the mailboxes for fan mail, and the wall containing the names of all the members of the Opry. From there we saw about a dozen dressing rooms before going onto the actual Opry stage. We stood on the wooden circle from the original floor and looked out into the audience. And on the way out, we paused to take one last photo of the stage from the audience's perspective. What fun!! Our backstage tour concluded at 4:30 and that gave us just enough time to meet T@Bbin' buddy Randy for supper. Randy lives here in Nashville and he took us to Cock of the Walk for some out-of-this-world catfish, fried pickles, pickled onions, and hushpuppies! We had a great visit with him. We found our little Motel 6 just north of the city. We'll call this home for the next couple of nights...it's not quite Opryland accommodations, but the price is right! Thanks for stopping by this evening to pick up your Nashville Postcard. I'll have more stories to tell tomorrow night...see ya then! |
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