CUSTOM HOUSE MUSEUM, CLARKSVILLE, TN.

On a ride through town we saw this beautiful building. It is the old Custom House and guess what? It is now a museum and cultural centers. So, yesterday we visited.


This gorgeous old chest with hand carved handles is part of their permanent collection.


Also part of the permanent collection this delightful painting. I could look at it all day.


Wasn’t this bathing “costume” the cat’s pajamas in its day?


An old cotton bale wheelbarrow.


A horse-drawn hearse.


I liked the fancy effect of this push cart fire wagon. Kind of reminded me of a Cinderella carriage.


The museum hosts special exhibits, one of which was a raw wood-carver.


Another exhibit, a whole collection of resin birds frozen in motion. As beautiful as they are, there is something about them that just doesn’t move me like paintings and photos of birds.

I like the fact they help identify birds you see from your window.


My favorite exhibit is entitled Women Painting Women. It will be here through May if you are in the area.


By Gwendolyn Rodriguez. Perfectly sweet.


Easy Ride by Sharon R. Shaver.


This wasn’t from the exhibit, but a beauty of a poster in the Children’s section of the Museum which has toys and a slew of model trains on display.


One room was dedicated to sport. It all started with Olympian Wilma Rudolph, a Clarksville resident that brought home three gold medals in 1960. They’ve named a street after her as well. Wilma Rudolph Blvd.


Wilma helped build relationships between the black and white community in Clarksville. There is a tinge of sadness to that fact.


Having lived through the 1960′s in the very liberal state of California, I’m still stunned. Not that my community was without prejudice, but the south really retained its divisions in  petty ways, we just never heard about them. I admire the curator’s honesty and hope it helps some.

In the afternoon, I had a massage to help alleviate my neck problems and later we had dinner at the VFW Post where we are staying. Out my  window this morning , it is looking like a wet and rainy day here in Clarksville.

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK And APPALACHIAN TRAIL

The Great Smoky Mountains is an old place of rounded, worn peaks. The slow moving glaciers that flattened and scraped the areas of North America above this range, forced wildlife, plants and seeds south where they settled and adapted into this temperate climate. I recognized  trees, bushes, and wild flowers from my native Michigan, considered a cold climate, next to magnolias, tulip trees, spice bush, (below) and orchids typical of southern climes. 

 The Last of The Mohicans was filmed in the Great Smoky Mountains. Grandfather rock formations, giant waterfalls, rippling streams, miles of hovering smoky vistas, the stunning scenery from that movie hung in my dreams for many years. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park was NOT that place, however.  It was filmed in these mountains far south of where we are parked. Rent the movie if you can't go. We are going to watch it again.

You can have one foot in North Carolina and the the other in Tennessee at the New Found Gap Dedication Center at the summit.
A surprise for me was that the Appalachian Trail goes right through the park. I have a friend who is walking the trail in segments, a little bit each year, and she is in her 80's.  What a legacy we have in this park. Jim and I walked the trail into each state for a short distance and happened upon John Reingold from Georgia hiking up from Fontana Dam, about halfway through the park.

Young and strong, he carries his pack with everything to eat, sleep, and drink. It took him four days to get this far. On this morning, he had already walked for over 4 hours.

The trail is rough and tumble, steep and narrow in places, trees fall on the trail. Its closed in two spots during the winter. We were pleased to find it alive with wildflowers as we wandered deeper and deeper into the canyon.

This park happened because people with foresight were alarmed at the fast disappearing landscape as commercial loggers stripped millions of miles clean of everything in sight. Congress authorized the park in 1926 and established it in 1934 after donations,  private groups, and the States of Tennessee and North Carolina raised enough funds to buy the lands needed to make it possible.

The wonder of science... In 1983 the Great Smoky National Park was recognized as a World Heritage Site and an International Biosphere Reserve because of its amazing diversity. The park visitors center museum  at the Sugarland entrance has stunning portraits of insects, butterflies, and flowers. The diverse animal life, birds and plants are showcased as "live" specimens in dioramas.

 To see all 45 pictures you can see my album at the link below: