After a leisurely tour of the World Market,
we followed the Zzzadigs to Centennial Park in Nashville.
This 132-acre park was originally farmland
belonging to Anne Robertson Johnson Cockrill,
the first teacher in Tennessee
and the sister of General James Robertson,
a founder of Nashville.
Cockrill and her family came from Wake County, NC,
to Nashville in the Donelson Flotilla.
John Donelson, the father of Rachel Jackson
(Andrew Jackson's wife),
was a land speculator and early settler of Middle Tennessee.
He was leading his group of settlers to the Cumberland River region
when the river iced over and they were forced to stay
at Fort Watauga for the winter.
While the men were out hunting,
Indians attacked the Fort and the wounded Cockrill
led the women in a bucket brigade of boiling wash water
to fend off the Chickamauguan Indians
who were attempting to set fire to the fort.
The Indians were eventually driven off
and the fort and families were saved.
In 1780, Donelson's flotilla of thirty or so canoes,
flat boats, and dugouts, traversing the Holston,
Tennessee, Ohio, and Cumberland Rivers,
reached the end of their
arduous 1000-mile journey at Big Salt Lick
(now Nashville).
For her bravery, Cockrill was given a land grant for the land
which was turned into the state fairgrounds after the Civil War.
The site served as a racetrack from 1884 to 1885
and was known as West Side Park.
In 1897, the land was the site of the
Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition
and was renamed Centennial Park.
When the exposition ended,
the buildings and exhibits were dismantled
(with the exception of a full-scale model of the Parthenon),
leaving in its place a landscaped area with a small artificial lake
named Lake Watauga after the western region in North Carolina
where many of Nashville's settlers moved from.
The replica of the Parthenon,
built out of plaster, was originally intended to be
a temporary exhibit and it was scheduled
for demolition on several occasions.
However, Nashvillians had come to view the Parthenon
as the "Athens of the South,"
and had rallied to save it.
In the twenties, it was agreed to replace the temporary
plaster building with a permanent concrete and steel
replacement which remains today.
So much for the history.
Let's look at pictures.

The ancient historian Pausanias gave a description of the statue:
...The statue itself is made of ivory silver and gold. On the middle of her helmet is placed a likeness of the Sphinx... and on either side of the helmet are griffins in relief. ... The statue of Athena is upright, with a tunic reaching to the feet, and on her breast the head of Medusa is worked in ivory. She holds a statue of Victory about four cubits high, and in the other hand a spear; at her feet lies a shield and near the spear is a serpent. This serpent would be Erichthonius. On the pedestal is the birth of Pandora in relief.
Enjoy the photographs.
Rosie, thanks so much for taking us along with you on this trip. You have provided some really interesting info on each location and some wonderful photos! Can't wait to visit some of these places myself. Enjoy the remainder of your journey!
ReplyDeleteThanks Anony. Please stay tuned for lots more. We have only just begun.
ReplyDeleteRosie
PS FYI, Today we're leaving Kansas City, MO for Nebraska. Yes, I am on a blog lag. I'll be playing catch up throughout Nebraska.
whoa I like the Parthenon pics!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting. Too bad it was closed the day you were there.
ReplyDelete