Tennessee and the People We Met

Remember the People

By Sandra Scott

Travel is more than going from place to place.  It is about meeting people with a passion for the places that we visit. Every trip is made more memorable because of these special people and that was especially true on a recent trip to Middle Tennessee.

“How did a Lincoln Museum end up in a Confederate state?” I asked Carol Campbell, Program Director for the Lincoln Museum. She explained that, “Lincoln never stepped foot in Tennessee but in a talk with Civil War General Oliver Otis Howard, Lincoln pointed to the Cumberland Gap on a military map and asked Howard, “Can’t you go through here to seize Knoxville?” Lincoln knew the mountain people in that area were loyal to the Union and went on to say, “General, if you come out of this horror and misery alive, I want you to do something for those mountain people...  I know them. If I live, I will do all that I can to aid, and between us, perhaps we can do them justice they deserve.”

Howard fulfilled his promise to President Lincoln and, in 1897, was instrumental in founding Lincoln Memorial University, www.lmunet.edu, as a “living memorial” to Abraham Lincoln. He considered it a reunion effort, a time to “put aside animosity and embrace America.” Through the years the University collected Lincoln memorabilia that grew to become the present museum with an amazing collection of Lincoln memorabilia and photographs.

What luck! During my visit to the Lincoln Museum they were re-enacting a skirmish for control of the Cumberland Gap that featured “Meet the Generals.” Learning about the people associated with a place puts a human face on travel and permanently fixes the experience in one’s memory.   General Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and General John C. Breckenridge – albeit through re-enactors – were just a few of the generals who participated.

“Stonewall” Jackson, Robert E. Lee’s most trusted lieutenant, explained, “I never liked the name “Stonewall” because it is not what I am really like.” His heartrending story of the deaths of his mother, sister, and daughter shattered his “Stonewall” image. Robert E. Lee discussed his agonizing decision to lead the Confederate Army instead of the Northern Army, “God knows I didn’t want this war – but I came from a long military family. And, I am a Virginian.”  Breckenridge’s tale was the “rest of the story.”  The former vice president sided with the Confederacy. When the war was over, he was considered a traitor and fled the United States. After being granted amnesty he returned to Lexington, Kentucky, and resumed his law practice. “The country was mending. I was accepted back into the community with no animosity.”

After “Meet the Generals” and the skirmish, we toured the museum where it was easy to catch the Tom Mackie’s passion for Lincoln as he led us through the museum. Displays include those dealing with Lincoln’s election and the fateful night at Ford’s Theater plus a reproduction of his boyhood home and a wistful painting of Mary Todd as a young lady.

The person that impressed me the most during my visit to Tennessee was JoAnn Weakley who, with her husband of 55 years, created the historic settlement of Collinsville, www.historiccollinsville.com, near Clarksville, Tennessee.  The Weakley’s love of preserving the past that began with collecting antiques grew to the reconstruction of the entire village of Collinsville on the edge of their farm. Historic Collinsville includes her husband’s ancestral log cabin, a one-room schoolhouse, a church, and several other buildings all furnished as if the occupants had just left. The settlement takes visitors from the earliest "first home" to the expansive big house on the hill with separate kitchen, living and sleeping areas. Each home and outbuilding has been painstakingly restored to its original condition and furnished authentically.

JoAnn Weakley, a former school teacher, explained, “We wanted to establish a place where people of all ages could come and see how our ancestors lived in the 1800s.  There are many lessons and values we can learn from them.” She believes in a hands-on approach allowing people to handle what are in many cases priceless one-of-a-kind artifacts that includes an original bear oil lamp and a 1700s baby tender rescued from the house of Sarah Hale who wrote, “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”

Historic Collinsville newest exhibit, The Irby-Bumpus Wildlife and Native American Center, features a collection of prehistoric Native American artifacts and a sampling of the wonderful variety of animals that have roamed the ancient forests in the Cumberland River Valley.

Weakley worries, “What will happen when my husband and I can no longer care for Collinsville?” Hopefully Collinsville will end up in the hands of an entity that will preserve what the Weakleys have created for others to enjoy.

In Leiper’s Fork, near Franklin, TN, we met unforgettable Uncle Lester clad in his faded jean overalls, plaid shirt, and his silver sequined shoes as he danced the evening away. Lucky was the lady who got to dance the two-step with him!  Leiper’s Fork is a picturesque village on the National Register of Historic Places offering the quaintness of the past and the convenience of the present where shopping includes antiques, fine art and handmade long rifles.

Truly, it is the people more than the places that make travel memorable. For more information on things to do, places to see, and people to meet in Tennessee visit www.tnvacation.com.