The Next 30 Years: October 25: Nashville

As we were finishing breakfast this morning, a couple of US Coast Guard boats pulled up to the dock behind us. Tom went out to investigate, and they told him that they were support staff for the event today. It turns out that there was a rubber duckie race planned today for the Boys and Girls Home of Tennessee in the Cumberland River where we had a front row seat. The duckies were dumped by a front-end loader from a bridge and then corralled by a couple of jet skis as they floated by us.

After lunch we took our bikes out for a five mile ride around Nashville to get a little exercise and also to find our way to the LP Stadium. We road over the Shelby Bridge to the football stadium and found the name of the lovely red steel sculpture, “Ghost Ballet” that we had seen from our side of the river. We returned across the bridge to find a bride with her 14 bridesmaids having her portraits photographed on the bridge. Wow, this must be a special place.

We road out the greenway past the Nashborough fort on the river front which was the original settlement for Nashville. The regional government was established here in 1780. There was a statue there of the famous Jaques Timothe Montbreun, who was the French Canadian fur trader who escaped Indians in the cave we saw in the bluff by the river. Montbreun served as an officer in the American Revolution and was later Lieutenant Governor of the Illinois territory.

Part of the bicycle trail ran through an area known to be ancient sulfa flats where many marina fossils had been found. To acknowledge the history, there were small little sculptures along side the paved path of fish and turtles. We rode to the Nashville Bicentennial Park and saw their long marble “River” wall engraved with quotes about the river systems in Tennessee. Farther down, we passed the Capitol Building and then came to the History wall which ran alongside the park. It was similar to the River wall in that it was carved with notes from the history of the region. As we rode along, we heard a carillon playing in the distance. Following the music we came to a series of

bell towers where the melody was being played. The park was really a beautiful celebration of Tennessee and we enjoyed the ride through the area.

On the way back to the boat, we rode down Broadway by the First Baptist Church. The church has been rebuilt, but the bell tower built in 1886 was preserved for their heritage.