Listing Through Life

Opryland Resort was huge — three large hotels with a combined 2,000+ rooms, all covered with a glass ceiling with huge atria in between. The atria were filled with stores, restaurants, fountains, rivers, waterfalls and live plants. It was impressive in an excessive sort of way.

I saw the guy in this photo on several occasions. His full-time job, apparently, is to maintain the ponds and river inside the resort.

I was tempted to pay the $10 to take the quarter-mile boat ride because how many chances will I have to take a boat ride around the inside of my hotel? But I never got around to it.

A bunch of us ate at this restaurant one of the nights. Our table was tucked back into one of the cave-like alcoves along the side. I had salad and steak, both of which were tasty.

There was even a 15-minute water, light and music show in one of the fountains.

I won’t make you sit through the entire thing. Here’s the time lapse version.

These murals were tucked into an alcove inside the resort. I couldn’t resist …

On a cold Tuesday morning, a friend and I got up early and visited Fort Negley, located on a hill south of downtown Nashville. We were much too early to get into the visitor center.

The fort was built by the Union Army in 1862 to defend the city from attempts to retake it by the Confederacy. Artillery in the fort was used during the Battle of Nashville in 1864. It was the largest stone fort built away from the coast during the war, but all the stones visible now are from a “reconstruction” by the WPA during the Depression.

Downtown Nashville from inside the fort.

These sights point to Peach Orchard Hill where an unsuccessful Union attempt was made to break the Confederate lines on December 16, 1864.

I was in Nashville to work the booth at a conference. On Monday, a friend and I drove to Columbia and toured James K. Polk’s home.

We were on a tour with a couple from Minnesota. Our guide could see that all of us were interested and informed and so she took her time, answered our questions and was very informative. In fact, she took so long that we didn’t have time to look around the visitor center in the house next door.

Polk lived in the house, which was his parents’ home, from the time he was 17 until he was married at 23. The furniture now in the house was owned by the Polks, but isn’t from this house. Some is from the White House, some from other homes (now gone) James and Sarah lived in, and some of it was Sarah’s after James died.

This is the entrance hallway. I thought it, and the hallway upstairs, were both very large for a house with only five rooms.

The parlor, with furniture from the White House. The table on which I placed the chair (with permission) was given to the President by an African nation. The top is inlaid marble.

The two portraits show Polk at the start of his presidency and four years later.

The dining room. The tableware was designed by Sarah for use in the White House. Each setting had a different Tennessee wildflower on it.

The upstairs hallway.

Polk’s lounging jacket. It’s the only item of his clothing still in existence — the rest was destroyed because he died of cholera.

The bedroom Polk shared with his three brothers. It contains furniture from Polk’s law office and the daybed he used in his study in the White House.

Our guide told us that Polk was a workaholic and used to spend the night in his office on this bed.

The bedroom used by Polk’s two sisters.

The bedroom used by Polk’s parents. Note that the fireplace isn’t centered.

The two-room kitchen was in a separate building behind the house.

The back of the house as seen from the kitchen.