I rolled into Franklin mid-morning and headed straight for the only major attraction I didn't visit last year - Lotz House. To be honest, after the captivating stories at Carter House (just across the road from Lotz House) and Carnton Plantation (a couple of miles down the road), Lotz House didn't impress me much. Unfortunately, the original owners (the Lotz family..) had to flee town, after Mr Lotz, a woodworker from Germany, hand-made a piano depicting the Civil War they experienced. He carved symbols for both the Confederates and Federal sides into the piano, the most dramatic of which was a huge eagle, wings spread, claws clutching a Confederate flag. No one is entirely sure of why he did this, but the KKK (Klan..) heard about it, and were NOT impressed. They planned to come kill him as they thought it was a really offensive symbol. He heard about their intention, and within ten days had sold their house and all the belongings he could, and had packed what was left and his family into a covered wagon, and headed as far away as he could. He ended up all the way West into California. When the Klan came calling, they barged straight into the house much to the surprise of the new owners, and once they established he was long gone, they dragged the piano out front and burned it down to ash. The disappointing part of Lotz is because the owners left so soon, and it wasn't handed down the generations, the house was emptied of its original furnishings, and has been used for different residential and commercial purposes; it has been a family home, a subway shop and pretty much everything in between. An historical home loses some of its fascination when it doesn't really contain the original contents.
Feeling a little underwhelmed, I decided to hop back on the Civil War Trail down Columbine Pike (the infamous pike that Gen. Schofield managed to sneak his 20,000+ men down past Gen. Hood's army..) and head to Spring Hill, the site of the previous major battlefield the day before the Franklin Battle. Upon advice that Rippavilla (I kid you not) Plantation was the best place to go, I headed straight there, and was not disappointed. She's a beauty. The antebellum architecture is grand and stately and in immaculate condition. The interior has been modified, yes, but only slightly by the man who bought the house from the original owners, and so it is still 100+ years old even with the modifications. I would love to own and live in this home. Fourteen foot ceilings downstairs and sixteen foot ceilings upstairs! Grand entranceways and a beautiful serene light-filled sunroom! Amazingly, much of the furniture and décor in the home is from the original family, including hand-sewn quilts placed at the end of the feather-stuffed mattresses in the bedrooms. This home has great historical significance, because it is here General Hood (my main man!) gave his ill-fated orders for the Battle of Franklin. They still have the original dining suite that Hood and his Generals sat on, the dining table he spread his maps out on, to plan his assault on the Federal forces north in Franklin. Looking at those weathered chairs it's easy to imagine the men gathered around, feeling tense and nervous, moving pieces around on their old parchment maps. It was here I learned the origins of the expression 'bite the bullet'. Apparently, when soldiers were gravely wounded, and needed their limbs amputated or some kind of painful medical procedure performed, they were given bullets to bite down on, to try to grit away their pain. Not everyone had painkillers on hand, or left in supply. The museum wing of the house has bullets recovered from the battlefield with actual teeth marks clearly imprinted in them. Glad you live in the 21st century? I patted my handbag containing panadol and gave a moment of thanks upon hearing this story. Also in the museum was a 19th century curling iron. Oh how I was photography was allowed inside the home, because I'm not sure I an adequately describe it. But it is shaped much like the curling irons of today, but with a barrel about 5mm across, and of course no electrical plug. I imagine they heated them by putting them in the fire, and then did their best not to burn their fingers (or scalp!) while curling tiny little tendrils of hair. The sheer patience and amount of time you'd have to spend to get a whole head of hair curled this way is unfathomable. Who has the time?!
A little-known piece of terribly interesting information (if you think about the implications), is that Generals Hood and Schofield were actually good friends - as were many of the soldiers on opposing sides of the war - they both went to Westpoint Military School, and more than that - were roommates. Imagine growing up with someone, going through something as testing as military school, graduating together, and then being called into service on opposite sides? To culminate in a great bloody battle during which SIX Generals died and over 10,000 soldiers lost their lives?
Another interesting piece of information I picked up here was the purpose of those antique settees I've seen around (I believe my nan had one); one joined settee with two 'chair' shapes at each end and a lower, uncomfortable-looking middle seat? Know the ones? Well, these were called 'courting settees', or 'chaperone chairs'. The unwed couple would sit one at each end, and the chaperone would sit in between them, in the uncomfortable part, designed specifically to be uncomfortable so as to keep the chaperone awake and alert. Doesn't that sound like a fun way of dating?! Gods only know what topics were 'safe' or 'appropriate', and how they managed to have a flowing conversation around a crotchety old relative (think elderly aunt or grandmother) or worse yet - the girl's father.
Joining me on this tour was a busload of seniors from Nashville - and boy were they a hoot. One of the lovely old ladies was a member of the Tennessee Confederate Union, and she stood straight and proud when she announced this to all of us. I made friends with a few of them and by the time I left I found myself wishing they could come with me further South. I got a lovely compliment from a couple of them asking me if I was there learning about the War for a college assignment. Ha! God bless!
From Spring Hill I headed South-West to Savannah Tennessee (not to be confused with the Savannah, in Georgia) to spend the night. It seemed like a good place to lay my head, as I was getting weary, and it held a few areas of interest for me. I arrived very weary, and headed straight for the visitors centre, to ask for recommendations on where to sleep and eat. The lady advised that the motel directly across the street gets her good feedback, and the BBQ joint three doors down is very good. So I took her sage advice, and wandered across the road to check in. After I was settled I had dinner - Hickory Pit - very cute little restaurant that is kept in business by the locals and random passers-by. The waitress there had the thickest southern accent I've heard in a long time, it was like listening to molasses slide down her throat. She was such a sweetheart I tipped her nearly 30%. I'm giving Australians a great reputation for tipping in these parts! It was only after I returned to my room to turn in for the night that I noticed across the other street, was a large boring building with the sign "Savannah Correctional Facility". EEP! I locked everything I could and threw my now very heavy suitcase in front of the door, but after watching two episodes of Game of Thrones on my laptop I forgot about my first-world woes and went to sleep grateful for the large comfortable bed and clean sheets. TEN HOURS LATER (which has to be record for me) I awoke refreshed, and ready to tackle the day.
Leaving the car park I was waved at by another guest, and off I went to tour the Historic District of downtown Savannah. Boy oh boy I could live here. Seriously. The homes are beautiful. The grounds are beautiful. The fast-moving Tennessee River creates a natural border for the residential district, and people fish directly off their back porches into it. The abundance of wildlife and nature sounds; the smell of serenity and just a hint of haunted past lingers in the air. The ghosts here whisper with just the right amount of menace; enough for the hairs on the back of your neck to prickle slightly, but not so much you feel endangered. After a couple of hours and covering pretty much all of the northern side of town, I headed for breakfast, where I ran into the same guy from the hotel car park. We exchanged conversation and chatted about traveling the Civil War trail; he's heading for Vicksburg in a very round-about kind of way, and had just come from Shiloh and Memphis - the direction in which I was to head. David from Minnesota is a nice chap, and gave a few recommendations & ideas for the next part of my journey. While I was in the café I asked the staff what the main source of economy is in Savannah, TN. Their responses were hazy; they know a lot of people in town work for a government department called 'ISR' but they're not entirely sure what is done there. One of the girls took the initiative and called out to a local patron to find out. Turns out ISR is secret military research, looking into things like unmanned drones and whatnot. How terribly exciting!
My last stop for this leg of the Civil War trail was in Shiloh, the site of one of the most famous military battles. Shiloh Military Park has a 13 mile driving tour of significant points of interest from the battle in April 1862. Suffice to say (I know not all of you are keen on Civil War history) I found it thoroughly fascinating, and took time to stand on the battlefield and feel the breeze, and imagine the sounds of terror and smell of blood and gunpowder rolling over me. Of course I saw plenty of wildlife, which I endeavoured to capture photographs of, but by far the most wonderful was the nest of bald eagle babies, complete with mum & dad flying to & fro delivering fresh catfish from the Tennessee River only minutes away. I did my best to capture the moment with my new digital SLR; I haven't yet looked at the photos but I am hoping against hope that one or two of them came out OK; they were very high up and I just don't have a good zoom lens. Yet...
After leaving Shiloh Military Park, I headed to Hagy's Catfish Hotel (another recommendation from the helpful lady in Savannah's visitor centre) for lunch. Established in 1938 after owner Norwin Hagys cooked dinner of catfish & hushpuppies for his good friend, Governor Gordon Browning, the restaurant has been in the family ever since. Apparently Gov Browning was so impressed with the fare he insisted Norwin open a restaurant to serve same. Who can argue with their Governor?
Now given I still didn't have any mobile reception (it disappeared just before I reached Savannah the night before), and my phone is acting as my GPS, I didn't have the faintest how to get to my hotel in Memphis in the most direction fashion. Subsequently, I simply followed signs based on the helpful 'south' or 'west' indicators, and meandered my way south-west until I eventually (hours longer than it should have taken) found myself on the outskirts of Memphis, where I finally recovered signal. This journey wasn't wasted however, as I got to see some great back-roads (as opposed to the boring interstates), and drove through a quaint little town called La Grange, established earlier but finally incorporated on December 1, 1829. Situated on a high bluff overlooking the Wolf River with a view of several miles into North Mississippi, this area was originally home to Chickasaw Native Americans. La Grange was settled primarily by families from Virginia, North Carolina and Alabama. Many of the original homes still exist, with cute signs out from identifying when they were built. They range from the super-impressive Woodlawn Plantation (1828) to the small but character-filled La Petit Maison (c1900), and everything in between. I did several turns up and down the main road, taking photos and trying not to get hit by the traffic as the main street happens to by highway 57.
Speaking of photos, as I have now arrived into my hotel in East Memphis, and am safe and sound with reliable wifi, I think I'm going to get about looking at my photos, and creating an Instagram account or Tumblr or whatever you young'uns are doing these days to display photos. Better get onto it now before it gets away from me...
Chat soon,
M x
**update** I have finally created a Tumblr account. You can view photos from my trip so far here: AussieGirlinUSA
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