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The County of Wilson

25 Apr

A new bridge is being built across the Cumberland River, and, the other day, I drove across it for the first time. I guess that means I drove across it twice. First, I went over it. Then, I came back. It was that return trip that I noticed our county seal displayed prominently.

This took me by surprise because I have lived in Wilson County all of my life and had never seen it. Heck, I did not even know it existed. However, that was not the only thing that surprised me. It did not look like a typical seal.County Seal

Most seals that I have seen have symbols that represent the area. There may be some sort of plant that grows in the area. There may be a farmer. There may be some representation of industry. The Wilson County seal looks like something you would see at the post office. The bald eagle is patriotic, but I have not seen many bald eagles around here lately.

It made me think that this must be a more recent creation. The seals with crops, farmers and industry are from a time long past. This one looks more modern. With this on my mind, I called the Wilson County Archives to find out when this seal came into being. They had no idea but agreed that it must come from more recent times.

Anyway, I am on a mission to find out when the Wilson County seal was created and why it does not represent anything special about the area. It is American, but it is not Wilsonian.

That brings me to something that has bugged me for a long time. Why is Wilson County named Wilson? I know why our city is named Lebanon. The settlers saw all of the cedar trees and thought of the Cedars of Lebanon in the Bible. Unfortunately, they are not cedars. They are junipers.

Here is something else. Lebanon, Oregon is named after Lebanon, Tennessee. Some guy from here hopped on the Oregon Trail and named his new town after his old one. That means there is a city in Oregon named for a city in Tennessee that is named after the wrong kind of tree.

Now, back to Wilson. The county is named for Major David Wilson, a prominent man who lived in Sumner County. That is the county that sits on the other side of the new bridge. He was born around Charlotte, North Carolina and fought in the American Revolution. He settled in these parts, which was the western part of North Carolina, and involved himself in many activities of a landed gentleman. Politician, surveyor and other jobs that do not require strenuous labor.

I am sure he was a great man. Wilson County was named in his honor in 1799, a few years before his death. However, I am wondering something. Did he ever make his way across the river and into the land that would bear his name? Did he own property here? Did he help create the new county? What role did this man play in our county’s history?

It is like the seal that really does not represent anything about Wilson County. Did the man who it is named after represent the county?

I guess it does not matter, but it still makes me wonder.

 

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Soccer Americana

21 Apr

It is that time of year again. The weather is warming up. The plants are turning green. Youth soccer is cranking up. For the next several weekends, families across the country will spend Saturdays watching their kids play soccer. We are one of them, as my stepdaughter is a soccer player extraordinaire.image

The other day, I was watching the first match of the season and started looking around. Within sight of the field, there were several things dripping in Americana.

In the distance, I saw traffic going down the interstate. Trucks and cars passed by on their way to unknown places on the map.

A little closer, vintage airplanes took off from the local airport as amateur pilots took to the wild blue yonder.

On the other side of the runway, there sat a National Guard armory with an American flag flying high. Military vehicles were parked in the back.

Further on the horizon, I saw a couple of church steeples. One stood over a Baptist church, and the other stood over a Church of Christ church. Both denominations are big in this area.

As I scanned the landscape, I realized that I was looking at America. However, I was looking at America while watching a soccer game. Does that make soccer a part of this nation’s fabric? We like to talk about baseball, basketball and football as America’s games. However, there were dozens of families watching hundreds of kids playing a sport that many people consider foreign.

I admit that it felt weird. However, I think I am right in saying the following. For all of those people, including me, soccer is an American game. I say that even though I know nothing about its rules or its strategies. All I know is that you are supposed to put the ball in the goal.

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Mindful Meanderings at Music at the Mill

16 Feb

Last night, we went to Music at the Mill, a fundraiser for a local private school. Music at the Mill

A lot of people turned out to watch singers in various stages of their careers – some were searching for the spotlight while others were fading from it. Most of them did a great job, and a great time was had by all. Although, the Willis Clan stole the show. If you like Bluegrass and some old Irish tunes, then you need to check them out.

Collin Ray was the headliner. He is someone who I have heard of, but I was not sure what he sang. It turns out that I recognized several of his songs. However, it was a couple of other tunes that sent my mind on one of its meandering journeys.

Collin talked about the influence that Glen Campbell has had on his career and mentioned that he has put together a tribute album. As a sampling, he sang “Galveston“, one of Campbell’s signature tunes. It was a good rendition, although Collin Raye cannot touch Glen Campbell’s guitar skills.

Later in the set, he sang Don McLean’s “American Pie“. Most people, including me, sang along, but my mind also went into another direction. As people sang the chorus, I started connecting trivial dots.

“The day the music died” references the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and J.P. Richardson, the Big Bopper. “This’ll be the day that I die” is an homage to Holly’s song “That’ll Be The Day“. To take this thing further down the rabbit hole, Holly was inspired to write that song after watching The Searchers and hearing John Wayne, as Ethan Edwards, say, “That’ll be the day.”

So, listening to Collin Raye sing a song by Don McLean made me think of something that John Wayne said in a movie. However, it did not stop there. That is when I realized that he had just sang a song by Glen Campbell, who starred with John Wayne in True Grit, the movie that won the Duke his Oscar. These days, many critics think that he should have won the Oscar for The Searchers and that the win for True Grit was a lifetime achievement award to make up for it.

As I said, most people were singing, but my mind was meandering.

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The Evolution of a Masterpiece

15 Feb

There is this cool place in town called The Art Mill, where people can paint. It is owned by some friends of ours and has been quite successful. On top of that, it is easy. You pick out what you want to do, and they take you through a step-by-step process. Before you know it, you have become an artiste.

My wife thought The Art Mill would be a great place for us to spend Valentine’s Day as a family. My stepdaughter was not too fired up about it, but I was. I was so fired up that I picked out one of the hardest things to do. When we got there, they had to convince me that I should start off with something a little easier. That is when I spied a landscape scene that looked cool.

After a few brushstrokes, it looked like this.Art Mill 1

As I was instructed, a few more strokes were added.Art Mill 2

Now, it was time for a real color – orange.Art Mill 3

Next, I was told to add in some darker stuff.Art Mill 4

At this point, I was not sure how it would turn out. Then, the trees were added.Art Mill 5

The finishing touches were the branches, the shadows and the stars.Art Mill 6

Alright, it is not a masterpice, but it is decent coming from someone who did not know what they were doing.

A strange thing happened while I was painting this landscape. I began imagining someone living within it. Maybe a person coming from a distant place over the horizon. As the night passed, they moved closer to the dark forest. I pictured them moving slowly on horseback while they sensed the world around them. Where were they coming from? Where were they headed? I am not sure, but I think it is a strange world in which they navigated.

Is that what art is supposed to do? Bring out our creativity and imagination?

Anyway, we all had a great time painting, talking and laughing. That included my stepdaughter who wanted to know when we could go back. Next time, though, I do not think I am invited. It will be a girls only thing.

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A Lebanon Institution – Snow White Drive-In

8 Feb

Today, I had lunch at a local institution – Snow White Drive-In.Snow White

Being by myself, I made my way to the lunch counter. On the way, I talked to a few people who I know. I also scanned the grease board that lists the meat and three selections. There were also some homemade pies to check on. However, I already knew what I was going to get. It has been my favorite thing at Snow White since I was a kid. Other people can have their pinto beans and barbecue. They can also have their milkshakes and banana splits. I will take the long chili dog and french fries every time.Chili Dog

As I sat at the counter and ate my chili dog, I began to think about the place in which I was sitting. Snow White Drive-In opened in the 1950s and has seen a lot of changes through the years.

In the beginning, it sat on the outskirts of town on the two lane highway from Lebanon to Nashville. It was probably a destination for the people who lived in town and was definitely a place where teenagers could hang out without being under the watchful eyes of their parents.

Now, Snow White is in the city limits. There are neighborhoods all around it, and a Publix sits across the street. There is also a Taco Bell just down the road.

Snow White has seen a lot of changes, but it has also seen a lot of challenges. Taco Bell sits on the site where another drive-in used to be. I would imagine the competition was fierce between the two businesses, and only one could make it.

When I was a kid, the owner of Snow White was robbed and murdered behind the restaurant. It was a shocking crime, but the business survived as other owners took over.

Snow White has also seen chain restaurants come to town and provide competition. I will not list them all because they are the ones that are in every town. However, a few are close enough to Snow White to be seen.

There was a time when Snow White closed, but other owners knew how important it was to the fabric of our town and reopened it. Now, it stays busy all of the time. It has also doubled as a setting for music videos and movies. Through all of the changes and challenges, Snow White Drive-In has survived as a small bit of Americana.

However, that could be about to change. A few weeks ago, the newspaper reported that the landowner is working on a deal to bring another business to the location. The report did not say what that business was going to be, but I have heard that it is going to be a convenience store, which we already have a million of.

The article quoted the owner of the property, and he went on and on about how he loves Snow White as much as everyone else. In fact, he promised that the restaurant would still have a place on the property in a new building. After all, it is the food that makes the place successful.

I am not sure about that. People can get the same food at a bunch of places. I think it is the building that makes Snow White Drive-In different. People can walk into a place that has been around since the 1950s and imagine a different time. They can feel the nostalgia in the air.

I think eating in a place that people have been going to for six decades is cool. However, I have no illusions that I am experiencing the “good old days”. As a historian, I do not really believe there was a “good old days”. I believe that people were eating in this building when they heard about that John F. Kennedy was assassinated. I believe that those people were white because of segregation. I believe that some people were there the night man landed on the moon. I believe some people were there when they first heard Elvis on the jukebox.

Snow White is like other historical places. Its existence connects us with the past, both the good and bad parts of it. That is why I have taken history students there to eat. It gives them an idea of how things may have been.

I do not fault the landowner for getting value out of his land. Heck, I also develop land and own the property directly behind Snow White. I just feel that he is wrong when he says that Snow White will be the same in a new building. It will be a restaurant just like all of the rest. The food will be good, but the history will be gone.

Something else will be gone. Snow White Drive-In is a part of the fabric of Lebanon. When it goes away, a small thread of the town’s history will go with it.

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In Memory of Meacham’s

27 Dec

Tonight, we struggled to make dinner plans. My wife wanted to eat at home. My stepdaughter wanted to go out. I didn’t care what we did. We decided to dine out and made our way to one of the chains. That’s when my stepdaughter spoke up and said that she wanted to go to Los Compadres, one of the local Mexican restaurants.

Apparently, everyone else wanted to do the same thing. This place was packed. There were tons of people, and we knew a lot of them. A couple of people dropped by the table. Other people were sitting in the bar. On the way out, we stopped at a few tables. Everybody was there, and, with the kitchen being backed up, we had plenty of time to talk to them.

I started thinking about two things. First, people must have been tired of staying home and eating traditional Christmas fare. They had to get out and eat some chips and dip. Second, I started thinking about a place that used to be in town where you would see everybody. It was our local version of Cheers, where everybody knows your name.

Meacham’s Italian Cafe was owned and operated by Meacham Evins, whose father started Cracker Barrel. It sat at one end of a strip mall and served basic Americanized Italian food. The food was good, and it gained popularity because it was the nicest restaurant in town. We had the usual interstate chains, but this was something different. It was convenient and was a place where you could feel at home. Meacham was always there to ask about your meal and ask about your family.

Lunch was one of the peak times at Meacham’s. All of the movers and shakers could be found there around that time. My friend Robert and I were not movers and shakers by any means, but we had lunch there countless times. We saw all kinds of people, but we always looked forward to seeing one particular waitress.

Meacham’s became more than a lunch place when it was expanded into the neighboring space. That’s when the bar became the most popular hangout in town. There’s no way to know how many times I saddled up to the bar to get a drink from James, the bartender who knew everyone and knew what they drank. The place was always packed.

Lots of action took place in Meacham’s. Most of that action involved fun and frivolity. People went there on dates, and people went there with their friends. People dropped in for a quick meal or drink, and people sat on a bar stool all night. Meacham’s had something for everyone. And, that leads me to a story.

I was at the bar when a local preacher walked in. He wasn’t there for a drink. He was on his way to a dinner in the private room and had to walk through the bar to get there. However, this wasn’t just a preacher. He preached at the church where my dad was raised and had known me since I was a kid.

I escaped to a dark corner when I realized that someone else in the bar needed to know. A local man who frequented the bar quite a bit also grew up in this man’s church. I eased up to him and told him that the preacher was walking through the door. He looked at me like I was crazy but realized that I wasn’t joking. To make sure that he wasn’t seen, he got off of the bar stool and laid down flat on the floor. The preacher walked by and never saw him.

Meacham’s has been closed for a long time, and a few restaurants tried to take its place. None of them worked, and the location now looks something like this.

Despite its demise, a bunch of people in my town spent a lot of time in Meacham’s. Some of it is fun to remember, but, frankly, some of the memories are fading with time.

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Counting on the County Fair

8 Nov

Allow me to do some bragging on my community. I am a member of the management committee of the James E. Ward Agriculture and Community Center, which is the official name of our fairgrounds. Annually, it hosts to Wilson County Fair, the largest fair in Tennessee. It is even bigger than the state fair. In my mind, that’s bragging rights.Wilson County Fair

At this meeting, we were presented with the final statistics of the fair. I thought a few of you might find them interesting.

The fair was attended by 589,229 people. While there is no accurate way to determine where all of those people came from, some folks scan the parking lot to check license plates. They found cars from 5 countries, 35 states and 51 Tennessee counties. This is a fair that is known far and wide, but it wouldn’t be possible without the 905 volunteers who take vacation from their real jobs to operate the fair successfully.

The people who oversee the fair like to highlight the agricultural aspects of our community because that’s what county fairs were originally designed to do. With that in mind, there are all kinds of agricultural exhibits judged for their quality.

Let’s see. There were:

403 beef cattle

572 dairy cattle

657 sheep

141 swine

196 mules

681 goats

378 poultry

470 rabbits

193 jars of honey

50 hams

821 fruits and vegetables

954 flowers and plants

Of course, what’s a fair without beauty pageants.

198 babies were signed up for the Baby Show.

24 young ladies competed in the Fairest of the Fair, which was sponsored by Beauty Boutique.

On top of all that, the winner of Ms. Senior Wilson County went on to win the state competition.

There were also cooking contests, antique tractors, school exhibits, horse shows, dog shows, photography contests, art contests and an arm wrestling competition. The list goes on and on. The thing is so big that it can’t all be seen in one visit.

We are all proud of the Wilson County Fair. If you are in this area next August, then you should check it out.

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The Luck of the Night Rain

21 Sep

It rained last night. Usually, that is a great time to sleep and is even better if it is thundering. I didn’t sleep, though. I listened to the rain. Necole was sleeping next to me. That was the best part. I could hear her breathe and feel her when she shifted in her sleep.Night Rain

While lying there, I started to think. That’s one of the things I am prone to do at that time of night. In fact, that’s when I do my best thinking. I wonder how I would do teaching a class that late. My mind ran through all kinds of things, but it settled on the idea of how lucky I am.

I am lucky to have Necole as my wife and Isabella as my step-daughter. I never thought I would have a family, and, now, I have one.

I am lucky to have been raised in a good family and to have joined another one. I love them all.

I am lucky to have great friends who are fun to be around and would do anything to help me.

I am lucky to have the opportunity to travel and see things that others may never get the chance to see. I have been to all of the states, and I wish everyone could do the same thing. It’s hard to understand this country of ours if you haven’t seen it all. Every place is different.

I am lucky to have been a teacher for the past 12 years. Hearing a student say that they never liked History until my class is a great feeling. A lot of the students have gone on to be teachers, and I hope they have forgotten the times when I told them the wrong thing.

I am lucky to have grown up in Lebanon. It receives many complaints, but it is a good place to raise a family. Like other towns, it is filled with mostly good people.

I am lucky to be named after my father. As a kid, I hated having his first name. Now, I am honored to be named after someone who everyone admires so much.

I am lucky that I have not had any major health issues. Knowing people who have battled health problems, this is truly something to be thankful for.

That’s a lot of luck, and, at no point, will I ever forget how lucky I am.

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The Stuff I Think About While Eating Mexican Food

9 Sep

Over the weekend, we had dinner at a local Mexican restaurant, and, as usual, it was packed. It seems that everyone likes Mexican food, and it seems that every town has a dozen restaurants to choose from. However, I can remember when you had to search to find good Mexican food.

When I was a kid, the only place in our area was a chain restaurant called El Chico’s. They had two Nashville locations, but our favorite was in Rivergate Mall, once the most popular mall around. While most restaurants are around a mall, this one was inside the mall. I always thought it was cool to walk into because it was like entering another world. We went from bright lights and mall music to a darkened restaurant with cool music.

Looking back on it, I guess it was kind of cheesy. There were fountains in the entrance and the decor was something that Americans would think was pure Mexican. The food was great because there was no competition. I have no idea how that food compares to what we have now, but the sopapillas were definitely better. Today’s restaurants have some crispy thing covered with cinnamon. The sopapillas of El Chico’s was made correctly, fluffy with a way to pour honey into it.Sopapillas

The other El Chico’s was on Murfreesboro Road and didn’t have the same feel. The food was the same, but it was like walking into a regular restaurant because it wasn’t it a mall. There were no fountains at the entrance, either. We didn’t go there as much, but my most memorable El Chico’s experience happened there.

I ordered my usual cheese enchiladas with rice and refried beans. They brought it out with a little lettuce on the edge of the plate to make it look like there was more food than it really was. Just before I started to eat, this green baby worm crawled out of the lettuce. It wasn’t a gross worm. In fact, it was kind of cute.

I thought about these two locations as we were eating. However, I didn’t think about the food. I thought about the places where they were located. Rivergate Mall and Murfreesboro Road were Nashville destinations for the locals.

My mom did a bunch of shopping at Rivergate, and it was the place to go for dinner and a movie. I can’t count how many times I cruised around the mall parking lots or took a date to that area.

Murfreesboro Road had a bunch of great restaurants. In addition to El Chico’s, there was The Peddler, The Fifth Quarter, Ireland’s and a bunch of other places.

Rivergate and Murfreesboro Road are no longer the places to go. Time has passed them by as other locations have gained popularity. In fact, they have in some ways become places to avoid – rundown areas where crime has increased.

All of that made me think about how cities evolve. Neighborhoods change. Commercial areas change. Cities are always reinventing themselves as different areas go through phases of transformation. Places thrive for many years before being passed up by a shinier and newer development. Then, renewal sets in as people go back to refurbish what once was a thriving area.

Currently, Nashville is an “It” city. Culturally, it is at its peak. However, many areas that used to drive Nashville’s economic engine aren’t doing that great. Rivergate and Murfreesboro Road are two of those areas. I like Nashville as it is, but I miss the days when they were the places to go.

Apparently, that’s the stuff I think about while eating Mexican food.

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What Happens When a Settler Says, “Look At All Those Cedar Trees.”

24 Aug

A few days ago, our school, the School of Humanities, Education and the Arts, held a retreat at Cedars of Lebanon State Park, located a few miles south of town. As we sat in the assembly hall and talked about the upcoming academic year, my mind kept wandering toward our surroundings and the times I have spent in the park.

On one side of the hall, there is a playground and some picnic tables. That’s where we had a picnic for my grandfather a few weeks before he passed away. He had a brain tumor, and everyone knew his time was short. Picnics were one of his favorite things, so we had one while he was still able.

On the other side of the hall, there is a softball field in need of much repair. In the past, our university’s intramurals have been played there, but it was built for a different purpose. Years ago my dad sponsored a professional softball team, and he had the field built as a home park. Everything was donated, but some government agency refused to put up the lights. I noticed that there are now lights.

The Dixon Merritt Nature Center is located just past the field.Nature Center

Named for a local historian, the center presents the wildlife that can be found in the park. When I was a kid, we would take field trips to the nature center. I always wondered why a center dedicated to nature would have stuffed animals on display.

There is a short trail behind the nature center that I always thought was cool. It leads into a gully that contains a cave. I never got up the courage to go into the cave, but legend says that it ends underneath the town square. That’s probably not true, but it was the home of a whiskey making operation.

At the other end of the trail, there is a New Deal era recreation building that used to have a ping-pong table. On the other side of that is a playground with a great slide and a great swing set. When I was a kid, I would see how high the swings would go. Some kids jumped out of them. I always dragged my feet on the ground until it stopped.

In the same area, there are a bunch of picnic tables. These fill up the fastest because they are the first ones that people drive past. Unfortunately, my memories of this area aren’t positive. Sitting on one of the tables, a girlfriend and I had one of those discussions that always ends in a breakup.

If people drive past these tables, then they will find other things in the park. Like any good state park, there is a camping area. There are also some pretty cool trails. A swimming pool is located at the far end of the park. I think that I went there once as a kid. It’s a nice pool, but we had one at home.

There is also a frisbee golf course that a few of us played. That’s when I discovered that I am no better at frisbee golf than I am real golf.

Cedars of Lebanon is named for the grove of trees that it encompasses, and our town, Lebanon, is named for the same reason. When settlers first moved into the area, they saw all of the cedars and got all Biblical. You know, the Bible talks about the cedars of Lebanon, so that seemed like a good thing to name the town.Lebanon Flag

These days, Lebanon is known as the “Cedar City.” Although the park is officially named Cedars of Lebanon, most long-time Lebanese call it Cedar Forest. There are “cedar” things all over the place. There is even a Cedarstone Bank that combines the two things we have most of – cedars and rocks.

The rock part is accurate. You can’t dig anywhere around here without hitting them. However, the cedar part presents a problem. One day, I was talking to one of our biology professors who is an expert in plants, and he said something along the lines of:

You know all of the cedars around here. They aren’t cedars. They are junipers.

So, the settlers were wrong. There are no cedars to inspire the name of Lebanon. Now, the city with the wrong name uses a slogan that is just as wrong. The park that has been part of my life and the lives of many people in this area has the wrong name. We thought we were playing amongst the cedars when we were really should have been calling it Juniper Forest.

All I can say is welcome to “Juniper City.”

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