OK, now I want to give everyone some “Did You Know” facts about Tennessee. I love these.
DID YOU KNOW that a man from Nashville gave the American flag its most famous nickname? When Captain William Driver retired after a life on the sea in 1837, he brought home his trusty American flag which he affectionately called "Old Glory."
How about this one?
DID YOU KNOW that a Nashville man was the only American to become president of another country? Yep! William Walker, who is known as the "grey-eyed man of destiny," was from Nashville. He tried to unite all of Central America into one country. He became president of Nicaragua in 1856. He also tried to make himself president of Honduras but he was shot by a firing squad before he could achieve his goal.
DID YOU KNOW that Casey Jones lived in Jackson, Tennessee. He moved from Missouri to Tennessee in 1884 and was killed when his train crashed in Vaughan, Mississippi on April 30, 1900. He was on a run from Memphis, TN to Canton, MS and was trying to make up time. Today there is a museum in his honor located in Vaughan, Mississippi.
I think we all know that the pony express was begun in the “old west”, but DID YOU KNOW airmail originated in Nashville? John Lillard knew people would pay if he could find a way to move the mail faster. He had the first air mail stamp issued in 1877 for balloon service! Although his dream of the balloon didn’t “take off”, the first practical air mail service departed from Nashville on July 29, 1924 in an airplane.
DID YOU KNOW that a Nashville horse was the first American winner of the English Derby? On June 1, 1881, Iroquois, had the honor of being the first American horse to win the English Derby held in Epsom, Surrey, England. Nashville still honors this famous thoroughbred by hosting the annual Iroquois Memorial Steeplechase the second Saturday of May at Percy Warner Park just outside of Nashville.
HERE ARE A COUPLE OF FUN FACTS:
I wonder how many people know that Mountain Dew is the citrus soft drink that was invented in Tennessee and derived its name from moonshine. The name Mountain Dew was first trademarked in the 1940s by two brothers, Barney and Ally Hartman, who ran a bottling plant in Knoxville.
MoonPies have been around ever since I can remember. The Chattanooga Bakery in, of course, Chattanooga was founded in the early 1900's as a subsidiary of the Mountain City Flour Mill. The bakery's original purpose was to use the excess flour produced by the mill. By 1910, the bakery offered over 200 different confectionery items and in 1917, the bakery developed a product which was named the MoonPie. It was originally developed for coal miners to carry in their lunch boxes.
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