The Ladies of the Hermitage Association (one must always refer to them thus, capital letters and all) have done an excellent job of preserving the land and buildings on the site. I must admit to not knowing much about Jackson before the visit, and the kindest thing I can say about him after my tour is that he appears have had a challenging personality.
I did see one of the coolest gravestones ever in the Jackson family burying ground.
This stone marks the grave of Dr. John Lawrence (who I believe was married to Little Rachel, Jackson's granddaughter). The tree trunk shape indicates that Dr. Lawrence was a member of The Woodmen of the World.
The oddest part of the tour was listening to the narrator on our headsets burble enthusiastically about the after-hours activities of the Jackson's "enslaved workers". According to Narrator (an academic whose name I have forgotten), once their work was done for the day they went back to their homes (so roomy and spacious ... only 10 people to a 20x20 one-room cabin!), which were "out of sight of the overseer", they apparently spent the evenings with games, music and dancing. How jolly!! Still and all, you have to give the Ladies credit for facing the "enslaved worker" issue head on; Jackson was not only a slaveholder, he would have thought that anyone suggesting that there was anything wrong with it was out of their minds. No use ignoring the elephant in the room, even if it does look incongruous with that pretty pink bow on its head.
Tanya and I also saw Steel Magnolias at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center (a good production, and for once all the actresses' accents were authentic), saw an excellent documentary on rock guitarists (yes, I am a dweeb ... the movie was almost half over before I figured out that "The Edge" was the man's name, not the band he plays for -- I am including that last link on the off chance that I am not the only completely out-of-touch 40-something out there), went on a house tour in one of Nashville's historic neighborhoods, visited a yarn shop (Bliss Yarns, where I fell down hard and bought some stuff), and, if all that weren't enough, did something I don't think would be possible anywhere but in Nashville.
I went to a book signing, where I bought an apron in support of a good cause.
Nothing particularly remarkable about that, but this signing was held in a grocery store.
Right in front of the deli.
Where (once they turned down the Muzak) we got to hear a singer-songwriter perform a tune he had just recorded with Rosanne Cash.
I don't know how I'm going to top that the next time Tanya comes to Massachusetts.
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