Graving this past weekend

It was a very nice weekend and we finally had the chance to get out and see some things.

First we stopped at 5 cemeteries:

• Richards Cemetery, near Hickory Hollow Mall. It has been nicely fenced, grass added and a small historical marker added recently. It doesn't mention anything about the one person I was interested in here, Guy McFadden died 1835. Possible relative? I'm not sure yet.

• Johnson-Thompson Cemetery,(thanks for the info!) near where Starwood Amphitheater used to be. Unfortunately it is behind a warehouse-type building that is currently unoccupied and it appears nobody has been around to clean this one out inside the fence in quite awhile. Despite not having to worry about snakes and whatnot, the brush was simply too thick to even get close enough to the headstones to read the names on them.

• Eskridge Cemetery, off Hobson Pike near Percy Priest Lake. This one is an enigma. Rutherford County cemetery book states these graves were moved to other places for Percy Priest Lake, and was near to an old slave cemetery. First thoughts say this is the slave cemetery then. There are many depressions that show that clearly there are still burials here. And then there are the headstones. There are quite a few fieldstones(typical of slave cemeteries). But I also found the clearly marked headstone of WB and Addie Charlton Eskridge. They are mentioned as having been removed, not only by the Rutherford County book, but also on this page of the Davidson County Cemetery Survey(it says they were moved to Merritt Cemetery-which is not listed on their site!). However THIS listing, also on the Davidson Co site, simply lists an Eskridge Cemetery with them being buried there. There are also 2 other names listed-we did not find those headstones, but we DID find the headstone of someone not listed there-John J Leigh...SO...That leads me to look elsewhere. And lo and behold I find the LEIGH CEMETERY listed in the Rutherford County book, but NOT on the Davidson County site(it is in Davidson Co). And voila! listed here are John J Leigh 1856-1875 AND (drumroll please) WB and Addie Eskridge! And it says in the book that this cemetery was surveyed by Army Corps of Engineers but NOT moved. So we solve it. It is the Leigh Cemetery, the Eskridge Cemetery was somewhere else, WB and Addie were moved HERE. There *is* a Johnie Merritt buried here, but it is listed as 'Leigh Cemetery' and not 'Merritt'. AND Davidson County does NOT have John J Leigh or Johnie Merritt listed. Though they clearly still think this is the Eskridge Cemetery and have a photo from the road of the woods it is located in. The other 15 or so names listed for Eskridge Cemetery *may* be at Mt Juliet(or somewhere else), but I've never searched for Davidson County names at Mt Juliet-I may in the future now!

• HAYS CEMETERY - or Vivrett or Eatherly Cemetery, Old Mt Juliet Rd, Mt Juliet. I didn't spend much time here, just took a few photos. This is an old cemetery with many of the graves being marked by fieldstones. There is a section surrounded by large cement bricks(which appeared to me to have been placed a number of years after the headstones inside as the names on many of them are nearly up against the edge of the wall and as such are unreadable), the names inside primarily being Vivrett. The older markers that could be read had the surnames of Hays. I wasn't certain on many others. Mt Juliet official records list this as Hays Cemetery. A quick search for Vivretts has someone listing them as being buried in a 'Vivrett-Eatherly Cemetery'. I'll go with city records right now.


• Mt Juliet Cemetery -just came here to rephotograph 2 headstones for a relative who was searching for them. Showed up just in time to get a photo of the front of the Watertown Excursion Train as it zoomed by! We actually were IN Watertown later in the day and saw the same train, already turned around and ready to head back to Nashville!

After leaving Mt Juliet, we went downtown Nashville to visit Fort Nashborough. Then we took 1st Avenue back east, as it became Hwy 70 and followed that all the way to Crossville. There were went to Cumberland Mountain State Park. From there we drove back to Sparta and then headed south and went to Rock Island State Park to take some photos of the waterfalls there. It was a good day.

Photos to be added later.

No Smokies

Too cold last weekend. No Smokies trip. Truck is broke down, no going anywhere anytime soon, except for the grocery store every Saturday morning. Stinks.

Smokies this weekend

Not sure if I will get to visit any cemeteries. Could be snowy. Not sure what we will be able to visit.

New Year's Resolutions

I am hoping to visit more cemeteries this year. And work more on my website. We'll see.

It's Tuesday

and I have nothing to report. It is almost Christmas, it's been very busy here and very cold. Hopefully we will find some time to get out and about in the new year. Happy Holidays to anyone who might just read this. :)

Just a short jaunt around

Was Christmas shopping. Just a few last things. Not gonna mention-in case anyone who I bought for is reading this(I know, not likely, but hey...). And I head down to Old Time Pottery in Murfreesboro. And after I am done picking a few things up there, I decide to see what I had not seen yet, that the McCulloch house had indeed been torn down. And yes, they are building townhomes there. And to top it off, they are named "Generals Retreat". Seeing that made me want to slap someone. If you want to pay homage to the place-DONT TEAR IT DOWN! Naming it something to remind you of what they could have cared less about is just pathetic in my eyes. I am really hating the way historic places are generally treated in this area. >:(

I drove the back roads to get home, going by some other small cemeteries just to see if anything has changed. Nothing to report.

Back to your normally scheduled broadcast...

I will stop using this blog to rant. I got a new one for that. I wanted this one to be mainly to talk about and show photos from cemeteries/historical places I visit and it is going to be just that. Posts like the one below will be somewhere else(thought that posts real purpose is to explain why I have not been posting anything here, so it's ok).

Check the links to the right, near the top, for my different blogs: one for ranting, one for Warcraft stuff, and one for my photos. -------------------->

One month later....

And yes, I've been playing World of Warcraft, all day, every day. No visiting cemeteries, no visiting anything. I wonder if I can even remember how to use my camera. Oh sure, I'll get out at some point this month, have to go buy Christmas presents. Otherwise, I sit at this computer, all day, every day. Yeah, during the Summer it was too hot to go anywhere and do anything. Now it is too cold. Gas prices were too high-but they have come back down recently. No time. No motivation? Not really sure. I spend all day travelling the world in World of Warcraft, because it is the only travel I get anymore. I hate logging in and playing that game, but for some reason I just can't stop doing it. It's the "oh my goodness there is something that i should have and if i don't log in EVERY SINGLE DAY it will take me longer to get or i wont get it at all and THEN WHAT??"

So no, I have no updates on anything for this blog. Nothing new to say. I don't even watch the news anymore because just seeing the "O" word makes me nauseaous. I am and will be oblivious for the next 4 years. The History Channel is my friend.

The only exciting thing that really happened lately...I FINALLY FOUND MY CHRIS GAINES CD! I'd been searching for it(and for a new copy) for it seems like 2 years now or longer. And the other day I popped open my Garth Double Live cd case, pried open the back part where the 2nd cd would be and there was this SHINY PRECIOUS that said "Greatest Hits" across it and I almost SCREAMED.

Yes, I love Chris Gaines. This is my favorite album of ALL TIME. I think I should go make a few copies of it now, maybe put one in the fireproof lockbox. One in the car. One in the truck. One in the cd player in the living room. Upload to the cheap fake Ipod-thingee we bought. Sigh.....

It's the end

of the world as we know it...and I DO NOT feel fine. In fact I foresee a severe depression coming on that will last at least the next four years. And maybe even includes looking into moving to Canada. Or at the very least spending LOTS of time playing World of Warcraft-ASSUMING we can still afford it after next January.

sorry, gotta go cry in the corner now...

Nashville City Cemetery Photos

Finally adding in a couple of photos from the Living History Tour at Old Nashville City Cemetery. I had such a wonderful time. I always love visiting this place and the actors did such a wonderful job.

The first photo is of a special presentation being made to former Nashville mayor, Richard Fulton.
This stop on the tour was about former Nashville mayor Ben West, and the part was played by his son, current Nashville State Representative Ben West Jr.

Also portrayed were Nashville's first citizens, James Robertson and his wife, Charlotte.
And one of the most famous buried here, Captain William Driver, the man who named "Old Glory".