The Spendlove family spent our last day together in Nashville. First stop was The Hermitage, the plantation of President Andrew Jackson.
The tour guides wore bonnets and dresses from the Jacksonian Age--the early 1800s.
We walked through the plantation house, with its elegant rooms from the 1820s through 1840s.
We then wandered through the grounds, which included slave quarters and rows of cotton.
We watched a film that dealt frankly with Jackson's weaknesses, such as his cruelty in rooting Native Americans out of Florida and sending them from eastern Tennessee along the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma.
Steve and Jonny took Mia and Ezra to the park and David snoozed in the car, while Lisa, Camille, Jenny, and I shepherded the bigger kids through one of the best-planned, most interactive museums I've ever visited. There were dozens of small enclosures to enter and be surrounded by the strains of a particularly influential country song. There were film clips showing the roots of country music in gospel, western, and rock and roll. There was Elvis Presley's gold-plated car and rows of platinum records.
I let each child choose a CD of country music, from the store, to remember our visit, and we played them all the way home.
As we left the museum, the Stealing Angels, a country music group, were setting up for an evening performance, so we paused for a bit of their music.
The Spendlove family spent our last day together in Nashville. First stop was The Hermitage, the plantation of President Andrew Jackson.
The tour guides wore bonnets and dresses from the Jacksonian Age--the early 1800s.
We walked through the plantation house, with its elegant rooms from the 1820s through 1840s.
We then wandered through the grounds, which included slave quarters and rows of cotton.
We watched a film that dealt frankly with Jackson's weaknesses, such as his cruelty in rooting Native Americans out of Florida and sending them from eastern Tennessee along the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma.
Steve and Jonny took Mia and Ezra to the park and David snoozed in the car, while Lisa, Camille, Jenny, and I shepherded the bigger kids through one of the best-planned, most interactive museums I've ever visited. There were dozens of small enclosures to enter and be surrounded by the strains of a particularly influential country song. There were film clips showing the roots of country music in gospel, western, and rock and roll. There was Elvis Presley's gold-plated car and rows of platinum records.
I let each child choose a CD of country music, from the store, to remember our visit, and we played them all the way home.
As we left the museum, the Stealing Angels, a country music group, were setting up for an evening performance, so we paused for a bit of their music.
We walked along a downtown Nashville street filled with clubs featuring cowboy singers and Elvis impersonators. Music floated out the doors. Our destination was Jack's Barbecue.
We ordered platters of barbecued meats with bowls of sides--corn, macaroni and cheese, stewed apples. We could have added such Southern delicacies as turnip greens, yams, and pickles. We also ladled on Jack's three types of barbecue sauce.
As we walked back to our cars along the souvenir and music-filled Nashville streets, the kids posed with cutouts of guitars and Elvis. Elvis is as much of a country music icon in Nashville as Willie Nelson, although most of us think of him for his rock-and-roll music.
We treasure this photo of the cousins, police line-up style, just before the three families headed for three separate locations--Memphis, Knoxville, and Independence--as our vacations continued alone.
