I explored the horse country south of Nashville which was pretty and rolling, with long stretches of land fenced off with a big house, sometimes a lovely colonial brick plantation in the distance. Franklin is an old town about 20 minutes outside Nashville. Pretty buildings but felt very much like a bedroom community. Reminded me a bit of Alexandria va. It was also too cold to walk,around. In Columbia I went west and picked up a portion of the famous Natchez trail scenic parkway which was scenic but off season so not as scenic…. It was odd to be on this pristine two lane highway with no other cars. Felt like I was on some sort of test track.
I got off at highway 46 which turned out to be the most scenic of the roads I went on, winding through horse farm country and a few incorporated towns (I have now been to Sawdust, Tennessee! And there even was a possum hollow there. But not much more.) I passed through a pretty village with lots of antique shops and galleries ( and a historic plaque referring to Thomas Hart Benton. Not sure if it’s the famous Kansas city artist.) I think it is called leipert’s fork village.
The highlight of the day was a superb lunch at the famous Arnold’s Country Kitchen in Nashville, It’s a humble looking red cinder block building but inside it was full of people at 1:30 pm and I went thru the cafeteria line and got fried chicken with three sides ( great mashed potatoes) and a flattened grilled version of a corn muffin. This is the classic “meat and three” found around town.
I squeezed in a tour of the belle Meade plantation which was very different than the Laura plantation I Louisiana. It was a horse plantation and a brick colonial with limestone fronting and columns, not creole like Laura. Had a very long drive back to hotel in cold rain. Nashville traffic can be a drag.
TakeBetsywithyou 