Along the west side of the park, a 1,400-foot Wall of History is engraved with historic events that have occurred over the past two centuries. A granite pylon marks each ten-year period along the wall. The wall 'breaks' at the time of the Civil War to represent the divisive nature of the war on the state.As I mentioned previously the first part of the wall starts in the distant "past" with a "1 Billion Years Ago" marker.
A while after that things got a bit more factual and quite a bit more interesting, ;-).
A small courtyard is located next to the 1796 pylon that marks entrance of Tennessee into the Union.
Looking back there were plenty of inscriptions from before Tennessee became a state. Tennessee was long considered part of North Carolina since many early colonial claims started at the Atlantic and went all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
As mentioned in the website quotation from above the portion of the wall depicting the Civil War is fragmented. Tennessee was the last state to join the Confederacy and did not do so unanimously. Many of the state's citizens were loyal to the North, and in fact the North occupied a good portion of the state for much of the war.
Here you can see the first crack in the wall.
At the middle of the Civil War section you can see a description of the division between North and South (though in Tennessee it was frequently an East/West division).
Near the end of the war Lincoln was assassinated and Tennessean Andrew Johnson became president.
The next year Tennessee was readmitted to the Union.
This is the last crack in the wall.
I also took a video detailing the whole Civil War section of the wall with its many cracks.
I had no idea that the SBC publishers started printing in Nashville in 1891.
It is interesting to note the rise of school spending.
I've been to a Piggly Wiggly store before, but I had no idea that it was the first modern grocery store. From the company's website:
Piggly Wiggly®, America's first true self-service grocery store, was founded in Memphis, Tenn. in 1916 by Clarence Saunders. In grocery stores of that time, shoppers presented their orders to clerks who gathered the goods from the store shelves. Saunders, a flamboyant and innovative man, noticed that this method resulted in wasted time and expense, so he came up with an unheard-of solution that would revolutionize the entire grocery industry: he developed a way for shoppers to serve themselves.
I definitely knew about the Scopes trial previously. I do find this description somewhat inaccurate (but I'm not surprised by this). The issue in the trial was the teaching of the Evolution of Man. General evolutionary theory (concerning all other life besides man) wasn't contested--only the special creation of man. For more about the trial check out this article.
I was informed by my parents that this man's name is pronounced "P" instead of P-A as might be expected from the spelling Peay. I did know that normal school is an old name for teacher training colleges.
I don't think I'd heard this number before.
I took this picture knowing that our next trip would be going to Big South Fork. I plan to blog about that trip soon.
I know some in Tennessee would rather forget about this milestone, ;-). But seriously, it is an accomplishment--though nobody tends to remember most vice presidents unless they are elected to the presidency on their own. I know a good bit of history and I don't remember many vice presidents.
Looking back along the wall you can get an idea of how long it is.
If you'd like to see all of the inscriptions, or at least their text, you can download this pdf from the park's website. I thought the concept, especially the fractured wall during the Civil War period was neat and very well executed. You should definitely check it out the next time you're in Nashville.
~Matt
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