FUN FACTS ABOUT TENNESSEE

Hi Ya'll,

Today I've got some interesting and fun facts about Tennessee. Here we go.............

How about this OLDEST fact. Did you ever wonder how old Jack Daniels is? Well the Jack Daniel’s Distillery is the OLDEST registered distillery in the United States and is located in Lynchburg, Tennessee. It was founded in 1875 and is still in operation today.

OK, now snakes aren’t my favorite subject but Tennessee is home to 32 species of snakes; 4 of which are venomous. The poisonous snakes are all from the Pit Viper family. They are the Northern and Southern Copperhead, the Western Cottonmouth, the Timber Rattlesnake and the Western Pigmy Rattlesnake.

I bet the kids out there know this one. I'm sure it's taught in every Tennessee school. There are eight states that border Tennessee. They are Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, Virginia, North Carolina, Mississippi, and Arkansas. No other state, except Missouri, has that many bordering states.

And I bet that most of us who were born and raised in Tennessee know that Knoxville's Neyland Stadium is the home of the University of Tennessee football team. But do you know that this stadium was named after football coach Robert Reese Neyland? Neyland produced 9 undefeated teams. Seven S.E.C. titles, 1 National Championship and seven bowl games. All of this was accomplished between 1926 and 1952. Neyland and 6 of his players were elected to the Football Hall of Fame.

You know as I do that there is so much talk about energy today. Here’s a quick note. Tennessee is known as The Energy Capital of the World. Oak Ridge, Tennessee is where the atomic bomb, that America used against Japan in World War II, was built. Energy research is still being conducted there today.

A lot of the kids out there will like this one……Tennessee happens to be the "Turtle Capital of the World". This is because of the many species of turtles that inhabit the state. There are literally thousands of turtles in Reelfoot Lake, which include several different varieties such as stinkpots, mud, sliders, and map turtles. Reelfoot Lake is located in northwestern Tennessee in Tiptonville.

Did you ever want to be in the center of things? Well if you go to the city of Murfreesboro (southeast of Nashville) you will be in the center of the state. Murfreesboro lies in the exact geographical center of Tennessee.

So now you have more interesting and useful(?) information about Tennessee. Don't you feel educated now? Hehehehehe :)

Check out the ads in the right margin of my blog. There's some interesting information there too.

See ya next time!

YOUR FAVORITE TENNESSEAN

EUNICE

TENNESSEE FIRSTS

Hi Ya'll,

There were a lot of “FIRSTS” that happened in Tennessee. Let’s talk about some of them.

Are you familiar with the Ocoee River in Polk County Tennessee? The Ocoee was the FIRST natural river used for Olympic whitewater competition. It was used in July 1996 during the summer Olympics which was held in Atlanta, Georgia. saw first hand how course designers had to re-channel the riverbed to create an Olympic course one-third the width of the original riverbed. This whitewater competition attracted over 15,000 visitors and more than 1,000 volunteers and staff.

Here's another one............
Did you know that the song “In Perfect Harmony” was originated for Coca-Cola? Yep, and Coca-Cola was FIRST bottled in 1899 at a plant on Patten Parkway in downtown Chattanooga after two local attorneys purchased the bottling rights to the drink for $l.00.

Do you remember actress and singer Polly Bergen?

She was from Knoxville and she was the FIRST woman

to serve on the Board of Directors of the Singer Sewing

Machine Company.

I wonder how many people know the name of the person who is remembered for his famous rally cry "Damn the Torpedoes”? Yes, it was Admiral David Farragut from Knoxville. David Glasgow Farragut was born in 1801 and became an Admiral in the Navy on July 16, 1862....the FIRST Admiral ever in American History.

You know how you remember certain things from

when you were young? I remember learning about

these two things in history class in school. John Sevier

was the FIRST Governor of Tennessee and the FIRST

Constitution of the state of Tennessee was written in

Knoxville during the winter of 1796.

I bet most people don’t know that Tennessee was the FIRST state created out of federal lands. And that The Statehood Proclamation was signed by President George Washington in 1796 and is now on display in the Museum of Tennessee history.

Here are a couple of things that aren’t in the history books.

The Alex Haley home in Henning, TN was the FIRST state-owned historic site devoted to African Americans. And Robert R. Church, Sr. of Memphis is reported to be the South's FIRST African-American millionaire.

I would be surprised if anyone knows this one. A submarine, built by Sumner county native Horace Lawson Hunley, was the FIRST in history to sink an enemy ship, the USS Housatonic, Unfortunately Hunley did not live to see this happen. He died earlier when a submarine he was in sunk.

Knoxville is undoubtedly proud of one of their own.

William Henry Hastie, from Knoxville was the FIRST

Black Federal Judge in U.S. History. He was appointed

by President Franklin D. Roosevelt following his term

as the FIRST Black Governor of the Virgin Islands.

And how about Hattie Caraway. She was born in Bakersville, Tennessee in 1878 and became the FIRST woman United States Senator. Wouldn’t she be proud of what women have accomplished today with so many women in government and a woman who ran for President? She paved the way for other women after her.

YOUR FAVORITE TENNESSEAN

EUNICE

TENNESSEE AND THE CIVIL WAR

Hi Ya'll,

I'd like to tell you a little about the Civil War now. There are a lot of facts most people don’t know about Tennessee during the Civil War. I think the Civil War is particularly interesting, especially the battles and people in Tennessee who really played an important part in the War Between the States.

First of all, just stop and take a look at the hills and wooded areas all over the state that haven’t been touched by companies developing shopping centers and subdivisions. If you think about those areas, it’s easy to imagine how the confederate and union soldiers must have fought in those hills. They were either on foot or horseback and just imagine them pushing and pulling those old cannons. Makes me tired just thinking about it.

I wonder how many people know that Tennessee was the last state to secede from the Union during the Civil War and it was the first state to be readmitted after the war. East Tennesseans were strongly pro-Union, while West and Middle Tennesseans were primarily on the side of the Confederacy. Tennessee ranks number one among other states in the total number of soldiers who fought in the War Between the States.

Listen to this. In 1861, Tennessee Governor Isham Harris signed into law a bill that, and I quote, "allows all men of color" to join the Confederate Army of Tennessee. Within a month, over 1,000 Black Tennesseans joined General Robert E. Lee's Virginia campaign. You know that’s a lot of people in a short period of time considering that back then news spread mostly by word of mouth.

The Battle of Franklin was about the worst battle in the war. Here's a little about what happened there.

The Nashville area, especially Franklin, Tennessee which is just south of Nashville, was in the thick of things during the Civil War. The Battle of Franklin is considered one of the most devastating in the
history of warfare. It has been called "the bloodiest hours of the American Civil War." It only lasted about five hours and it was the smallest battlefield in the war because it was only two miles long and one and a half miles wide. Not only were there 2,500 Union casualties, but Patrick Cleburne and five other

Confederate Generals were among the battle's 7,000 Confederate casualties. More generals were killed at the Battle of Franklin than any other battle in history. There were a total of 9,500 people killed or injured in five hours. It’s really hard to picture just how fierce the fighting must have been in those days. They had primitive weapons, by today’s standards, and there was a lot of hand to hand combat.

Listen to this. The Carter House Farm Office, in Franklin, is recognized as being the most battle-scarred building left standing from the Civil War. The structure is riddled with 1,000 bullet holes from the Battle of Franklin on November 30, 1864. Lieutenant Todd Carter was serving with the Confederate Army of Tennessee when the battle of Franklin took place around his parents’ farm. Todd Carter was mortally wounded just yards from his own home. The Carter House was purchased by the State of Tennessee in 1951 and first opened to the public in 1953. It is a Registered Historic Landmark, and is dedicated to all Americans who fought in that battle.

It’s amazing to think that more Civil War battles were fought in Tennessee than any other state except Virginia. The first major Union victory fought in the Civil War was at Fort Donelson, in Nashville, in 1862 and did you know that there are four national military parks in Tennessee? They are Chickamauga-Chattanooga in Chattanooga, Stones River in Murfreesboro, Shiloh near Savannah, and Fort Donelson near Dover.

MORE TO COME ABOUT THE CIVIL WAR IN TENNESSEE

YOUR FAVORITE TENNESSEAN

EUNICE

"DID YOU KNOW" FACTS ABOUT TENNESSEE

Hi Ya'll,

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."

DID YOU KNOW that Nashville's African-American community was the first in the nation to have a black-owned and operated savings bank in 1904? It was called the One Cent Savings Bank and it is still in operation today. It is now known as Citizen's Savings Bank and Trust.

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.

Check out the ads on my blog.

YOUR FAVORITE TENNESSEAN
EUNICE

JULY 4TH, 2009 IN TENNESSEE

Hey Ya'll,

Happy 4th of July to EVERYONE. I hope you are having a wonderful and safe day today.

I know many people are familiar with the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store but I wonder if you know that it was founded here in Tennessee. A local contractor and Dan Evins, Cracker Barrel’s Founder, scratched the plans for the first store in some dirt on land on Highway 109 in Lebanon,
Tennessee, and the first Cracker Barrel Old Country Store was opened in
1969. As of today, that one store has grown to over 575 locations in 41
states, but the Cracker Barrel Offices are still located in Lebanon. I love
the good country cookin’ with the homey atmosphere. Each store also has a retail area with a whole variety of gifts and fun items to choose from. It’s obvious that their Mission Statement which is “Pleasing People” is very important to Cracker Barrel.

I’ve got some fun facts about Cracker Barrel if you’d like to hear them. I think they might be of interest to everyone.

In a typical year, Cracker Barrel serves……
- 35 million bottles of maple syrup (that’s 6% of the world’s pure
maple syrup supply!)
- 124 million slices of bacon
- 145 million eggs
- and 18 million orders of Chicken N’ Dumplins

They also use 70,000 pounds of flour every day to produce their made-
from-scratch biscuits and dumplins.

I know that’s probably for all the stores together, but I think those numbers are
mind boggling. That is really a whole lot of food.

YOUR FAVORITE TENNESSEAN

EUNICE

A LESSON ON PRESIDENTS FROM TENNESSEE

Hi Ya’ll,

Well, today I have some information about the presidents who were from Tennessee. There have been three U.S. Presidents from Tennessee. Do you know who they were?

The first one was Andrew Jackson, also known as “Old Hickory”. He
was the 7th president from 1829 to 1837 and lived in the Nashville area.
Jackson experienced the first known case of a President being handed a
baby to kiss; however, Jackson declined, and handed the baby to Secretary
of War John H. Eaton to do the honors.

Andrew Jackson’s home is in Hermitage and the driveway is in the shape of a guitar.

The second president from Tennessee was James K. Polk who served as
our 11th president from 1845 to1849. He was born in Columbia, Tennessee
and was the first "dark-horse candidate" in U.S. history to win the
Presidency. During his term, he helped form the U.S. Naval Academy and
the Smithsonian Institute. Polk was the first Governor of Tennessee
to have a college education.

President Polk also called for American volunteers to fight in the Mexican War from 1846 to 1848. He gave each state a quota of men and although Tennessee Governor Aaron Brown's quota was 2,600 men, 30,000 Tennesseans responded to his request and forever earned the state the "Volunteer" nickname. Both Polk and his wife Sarah are buried on the grounds of the state capitol.

The third president from Tennessee was Andrew Johnson who was our 17th president serving from 1865 to 1869. What I find interesting about Andrew Johnson is that he held every elective office at the local, state, and federal levels. He was elected alderman, mayor, state representative, and state senator from Greeneville Tennessee. He served as governor and military governor of Tennessee and United States congressman, senator, and vice president, becoming President following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. President Johnson also oversaw the purchase of the State of Alaska for $7,200,000.00.

He really accomplished quite a bit but during his presidency, the House of
Representatives voted in 1868 to impeach him. They wanted him
impeached because he refused to cooperate or compromise over black
rights and the reconstruction of Southern state governments. They held a trial but the Senate failed by one vote to convict Johnson and remove him from the presidency. Following his term, Andrew Johnson became the only U.S. President in history to be re-elected to the U.S. Senate.

FUN TIDBITS:
MOVIE FILMED IN TENNESSEE: “The Firm”, starring Tom Cruise was filmed in Memphis in 1993.

Randy Travis used to wash dishes at the Nashville Palace.

YOUR FAVORITE TENNESSEAN
EUNICE

TENNESSEE STATE CAPITOL, STATE FLAG, DAVY CROCKETT

The capitol building was designed by noted architect William Strickland. It was begun in 1845 and completed in 1859. Marble quarried in Tennessee was used for the primary building material. As a matter of fact, in some reading I've done about the state capitol, I found it fascinating that the architect, William Strickland, died during its construction and is buried within the walls of the capitol.

I also read about the symbolism of the stars and white band on Tennessee's State Flag. The State Flag was adopted in 1905 and the three stars on the flag represent the grand divisions of the state: East, Middle and West. The white band binds the stars together in unity. This, in a way, symbolizes the unity of the people of the state of Tennessee.

OK, now let me change my direction a little. Let's see...................

Did you know that Davy Crockett was born in Tennessee? I think everyone knows about Davy Crockett. He was that fella that was born on a mountain top in Tennessee like the songs says, right? WRONG! Well, the part about being born in Tennessee is right. But he was actually born Colonel David Stern Crockett on August 17, 1786 and was raised in eastern Tennessee in Green County. He was known as an expert shot, and a humble and witty speaker, and he became a national celebrity, but we all know him as the famous Davy Crockett, "King of the Wild Frontier". Gee, he was awesome, quite a man. He also represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives, served in the Texas Revolution, and died at the age of 49 at the Battle of the Alamo which took place in San Antonio, Texas in 1835. A total of 32 Tennesseans (including Davy) died at the Alamo. I wonder if Davy Crockett would have lived longer what he could have achieved? Do you think he could have become president? We'll never know.

ANOTHER DUMB LAW IN TENNESSEE: Hollow logs may not be sold.

TENNESSEE INVENTION: The Barrett .50-Caliber Rifle was invented in Murfreesboro , Tennessee in 1982 by Ronnie G. Barrett, a former professional photographer and lifelong gun enthusiast. Still headquartered in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Barrett Firearms Manufacturing is the world's leader in large-caliber rifle design and manufacturing.

Your Favorite Tennessean

Eunice