We departed Fort Knox and headed south to Nashville. Our original plans had us stopping at Mammoth Cave but excessive rains forced them to close most of the tours. We’ll stop there another year. We drove past Mammoth and into Tennessee stopping at Montgomery Bell State Park. I believe that I would probably have to say that my favorite campgrounds have been state parks. They do not always have all the hook-ups but there is an ambience that is not present at commercial campgrounds. Montgomery Bell is beautiful. Covering 3,850 acres, the park has 121 campsites, cabins, a conference center and 120-room inn with, with swimming pool, and a first class golf course. The park’s history goes back to 1795 when a Pennsylvanian built a forge here because of the Harpeth River. Using slave labor he cut a 290’ tunnel through the mountain to alter the stream flow and get the water to operate his forge. It is believed to be the oldest man-made tunnel existing in the nation.
The park is also the birthplace of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. In the 1930s Works Progress Administrration (WPA) and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed the actual park. In 1943 the park was deeded from the National Park Service toTennessee. The park has over 20 miles of hiking trails – some long enough for overnight experiences - and 20 miles of mountain bike trails.

Our first day here was a day of relaxation. I did hit some golf balls at the driving range. On Friday we ventured into downtown Nashville. Our first stop was to see the Life-size replica of the Parthenon and statue of Athena in Centennial Park.
Quite impressive. It was built as a temporary structure for a Centennial celebration along with many other structures. The other buildings were taken down and the plaster Parthenon was repaired until the decision was made to replace it with a more permanent building. It is the only life size replica of the Parthenon in the world.

Bi-Centenial Park on the north side of the Capital Grounds was impressive. A walkway along the west side of the park has a time-line covering Tennessee from 1,000,000 BC to near the present with key facts, quotes and the like etched into the marble wall. A fountain at one end of the park has facts about the Tennessee Rivers in marble and a huge map of Tennessee is engraved in Marble on the patio at the south end. A WWII memorial has a marble globe floating in a fountain. The globe depicts where Tennesseans served around the world in WWII. Adjacent to the park is a farmers market. We had lunch there but were a bit disappointed. The market did not compare the markets we visited in Pennsylvania.

I’m really starting to love Tennessee. Yesterday we went to the Narrows of the Harpeth River State Park. The Narrows are a place where the river bends around after about five miles of course and nearly meets itself. This place where the river nearly meet is separated by 200 yards of limestone mountain. Not a big mountain by most standards, it was in the late 1700s that a Pennsylvanian entrepreneur by the name of Montgomery Bell, using slave labor bored a tunnel through the rock and the water drop on the down stream side was then used to power a drop forge. While Sandi and I were investigating the area we were alarmed by a big splash. We soon saw the head of what we first thought was a beaver but then realized it was an otter—not one but three. We were entertained by their playful antics for nearly 30 minutes and although they were wary of our presence, they did provide some good photo opportunities.

In the evening we headed back into Nashville. One cannot come to Nashville without visiting the Grand Ole Opry. Our nearly front row seats at the old Ryman Theater put us up close and personal with Little Jimmy Dickens, Mel McDaniel, John Anderson, the Riders in the Sky, Whispering Bill Anderson and many more. We were probably on TV on the GAC channel since they were filming a sixty minute part of the almost three hour program for live TV. We thoroughly enjoyed the evening.