I have made two trips to Tennessee, one to Memphis and one to Nashville, hence we have a tale of two cities. I have also driven through parts of Tennessee on a number of occasions when exploring the Smokey Mountains, as witnessed by the picture above, taken in 2021 at a rest area on Interstate 40. Both of the major trips were initially for business purposes, but it turned out that in both Nashville and Memphis a lot of my activity had to do with music. Before I speak of Nashville let me just say this about Gatlinburg, nestled in the beautiful Smokey Mountains. Don’t go there unless you are enamored of crowded streets with no parking, a zillion tourist haunts, and more people than you really want to see. It reminded me of Bar Harbor in the summer, surrounded by a truly beautiful national park, but filled with nothing I wanted to see during the beautiful April spring day when we drove into the town.
The Nashville trip was to Vanderbilt University, ostensibly for a weeklong medical malpractice seminar. I went with another woman judge from Maine who ultimately became the Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. Some may think that was the pinnacle of her career, but the true apex occurred years earlier in Nashville when she took me to some dive joint and taught me how to “boot stomp.” We did something I think is called line dancing? Her husband had bravely accompanied her on the trip (Harold chose to remain home with Megan) and he liked to pub crawl in the evenings because he spent his days with the other spouses on organized tours of the city. He, of course, was the only man on the tours and he grew weary of shopping and teas. We also took an evening trip to the Grand ol’ Opry which is an adventure everyone must endure. These were the days shortly after Minnie Pearl, the one with the price tags hanging off her brand new hat. I think today the Opry might be more sophisticated than it was then. Of course before 1971 the Opry took place in the Ryman Auditorium, which is still used for concerts. You can learn about the Ryman. the Mother of Country Music, at this website. https://americanroads.net/Music-Row-fall08.htm Before I head west to the Birthplace of Delta Blues there is one other Nashville sight that blew my socks off and which lingers in my memory to this day. I have never been to Greece, but I have been to the Parthenon. https://www.nashvilleparthenon.com/ The Nashville Parthenon, an exact full size replica of the Athenian version, including the statute of Athena, was built in 1897 in celebration of the centennial year of Tennessee statehood, 1896. Nashville was known as the “Athens of the South” which explains why the structure was originally built. It is an impressive structure housing a museum and galleries in the center of a lovely urban park.
My daughter once drove from Nashville to Memphis when she was down there to attend Eddie Vedder concerts. She found it tres jolie that all the rest areas along that route are named after country music singers. She didn’t drive there in 2009 when she joined Harold and me for a week in Memphis. My conference on that occasion was at the Peabody Hotel in the heart of Memphis. https://www.vacationsmadeeasy.com/MemphisTN/articles/ACloseLookattheHistoricPeabodyHotelinMemphisTN.cfm We loved the Peabody with its Parade of Ducks twice a day. It is quite an event. Since Megan was with us, a large portion of the Memphis time was spent at music related venues. Of course we took the obligatory pilgrimage to Graceland. We went on a Sunday morning, taking a city bus from downtown Memphis as we were not picking the rental car up until later in the week after the conference concluded. We also visited Sun City Records, the Gibson Guitar Factory and a couple of other venues on Megan’s list. We had what Harold and Megan regarded as the best barbecue they ever ate at the Rendezvous, a sketchy place in a dark alley near the Peabody Hotel. It is apparently a legendary spot, but we had to screw up our courage to walk down the stairs and into the basement establishment. We strolled along Beale Street, which impressed me no more than Bourbon Street does in New Orleans. A trip to Memphis would not be complete unless you spent some time down by the river, watching the mighty Mississippi flow. The barges and riverboat activity is pretty impressive. All in all I would describe Memphis as a good place to take a vacation.
Tennessee is known as “The Volunteer State” because during the War of 1812 so many of its citizens volunteered to take up arms against the British. According to Wikipedia the name became even more prominent during the Mexican War when Governor Aaron V. Brown issued a call for 2,800 men to battle Santa Ana and some 30,000 Tennesseans volunteered. By that time Davy Crockett identified as a Texan, but he could be viewed as one of those Tennessee volunteers. Just a little note of Tennessee history to close out this post.
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