Summer Photo Fun: Enjoying History in Tennessee

As we enjoy Summer Photo Fun here on the blog, I’d love for you to enjoy some of the Tennessee history we enjoyed while on vacation in July. I love a little history mixed in with the family love and the beauty of God’s world we experienced while getting away from normal life for awhile.

Since I hadn’t researched the Smoky Mountain National Park area in order to decide where to vacation (we decided the travel destination for purposes of a family reunion), imagine my surprise and delight when we encountered old homesteads and mills and the like while driving and hiking through the Park. The photo above is the corn crib at the old Ephraim Bales Place found along the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail. Ephraim and his family lived there from around 1890 to 1930.

Don and I also got to experience a different kind of history as we stopped in Nashville for a couple of days on our way home. We took in the Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum as a belated birthday present for my country music-loving husband. I’m not a huge country music fan, but I know enough to appreciate some of the basics—and we got all that and more while there.

Enjoy these glimpses into the past with me, won’t you?

Here’s my nephew Cody standing in front of the historic Old Mill Restaurant in Pigeon Forge. Gotta love history when it tastes this good. I had corn fritters for the very first time in my life. Yum!

This old homestead, also just off the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, was tucked away in a pocket of natural beauty. Absolutely gorgeous.

Beyond the cabin in the picture above sat this step-back-in-time stable/barn. The surrounding woodlands made me think of the Garden of Eden. Truly the feel of another time, another place.

We even got the chance to go inside the cabins in the area, including this one on the Ephraim Bales place.

First time ever for any of us to hike along a portion of the historic Appalachian Trail.

So much fun during our time in Nashville to see the historic Ryman Auditorium, built in 1892 and home to the Grand Ole Opry for thirty-one years.

Gene Autry’s 1926 Martin 00-42 guitar displayed at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

Dolly Parton’s original handwritten lyrics to Jolene, a #1 hit in 1973-74.

Hope you enjoyed sharing in some of the history we found in Tennessee!

“Remember the days of old; consider the generations long past.” Deuteronomy 32:7a

*What slices of history have you enjoyed while on vacation?

*My photos, except for the one our son-in-law Shawn took along the Appalachian Trail.

*The new issue of Life Notes, my quarterly inspirational newsletter, came out last week. It’s not too late to receive it. Sign-up is free and to the right!