A birth, a death, a Trace and fall

Here we are back in the State of Tennessee with our front window looking over a lake with the fall colors all around us. More on that later. We took a drive the other day to see this area of the country and made a stop at the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln at what is now the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park across the boarder in Kentucky.

He was born here but only lived here for about the first two years of his life.

From the visitors center there was a boardwalk trail that led to the monument next to Sinking Springs where the family got all it's water. A short but pretty trip through the woods.

This monument was erected between 1909 and 1911 as a tribute to him and his family.

A closer look shows some of the beautiful marble that the structure was made from.

Inside is what at one time was thought to be his boyhood home but turned out to be a neighbors but it does depict the size and style that his parents were able to build for the family.

When he was about two the family was forced off the property and moved a few miles away on 30 rented acres in Knob Creek. After the family lost their battle with the courts to prove ownership of the property where Abraham was born, they packed up and got out of Dodge. He was born in Kentucky but spent most of his young life in Illinois.

He did help the family work the field in the back of this picture and lived in a cabin similar to the one here.

As we traveled around this part of the country we saw lots of very large barns and were finally able to find one that we could get close to. We have all seen the pictures of the tobacco drying in the barns. This was our chance to see it first hand. This is just the first layer of the plants and in the next picture...

you can see how big this operation is. This is about as close to tobacco that we want to get these days. This is the only barn we saw that had open sides; most were wooden sides with vents in the roof. Very interesting but not for us.

We found a Thousand Trails Wilderness Preserve or park near Hohenwald, Tennessee and settled in with this view out our front window. Just a little morning mist on Chief Creek Lake.

This area is close to the North end of the 450 miles Natchez Trace (trail) and we were able to travel about 1/4 of it. A winding 2 lane road through the countryside with limited access roads to or from it. It was built with most of the cross roads going under or over this roadway so there is little or no traffic on it. The original trail was used by merchants, travelers, indians, and thieves going from the New Orleans area to Nashville area, some as early as the 1700's.

Not sure how we did it but just realized that some of the pictures are out of order so will try and fill in the details as best we can.

One of the pull-outs along the Natchez Trace showing some of the Kentucky farmland or I think they called them ranches around here.

What was amazing to both of us was the mowed grass around here. Along the Trace there is grass between the road and the tree line as much as 100 yards wide, and it's all mowed. The larger homes around have huge, like 50 acre front yards and it's all mowed. Must be very sick people around here.

Another stop along the Trace we found the death and burial place of Meriwether Lewis. This is the monument that was erected over the burial place of Meriwether.

The death of Meriwether still has not been solved to this day but most people think it was a suicide that happened on this property.

Back to the RV park watching the fall colors over the lake behind our campsite.

Might as well share one more picture before the end of this Blog. Happy fall to all our friends.

We headed out this morning and are now in Red Bay Alabama where our MH was born. We have a few items that need to be fixed so what better place than Tiffin factory. Looks like we maybe here for some time as this is the busiest time for repairs at the factory, with so many folks heading south for the winter. But we have friends here which should make the wait more bearable, once they get well. (They both have bad colds, so our playing cards or games in the evening will have to wait.)

To be continued...