Bicentennial Mall: Tennessee's Wall of History

The Tennessee Bicentennial Mall State Park website describes the "wall of history" briefly and succinctly:

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

Bicentennial Mall: World War II Memorial

Another interesting feature on the Nashville Bicentennial Mall is the World War II memorial.  According to the park's website:

The World War II Memorial was dedicated on November 11, 1997. It features an 18,000 lb. granite globe floating on 1/8 inch of water. The countries on the globe are as they were during the war. There is a small map of Tennessee with lines showing the mileage to different theatres of war. Visitors may stop the globe and turn it with their hands.
The Memorial also has large granite markers that give a brief history of such historic events as the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Battle of the Bulge, as well as scenes from here in Tennessee by using sand blasting engravings of actual photographs on the markers.

I've always enjoyed studying the history of World War II.  When I heard about the World War II memorial finally being constructed in Washington D.C. I wanted to visit, but I wasn't able to see it until 2011 (and I still haven't seen the National D-Day Memorial).

The stars that you see throughout the area represent the 5,731 Tennesseans who died during the war.

The stone columns were somewhat similar to those in the Centennial Exposition memorial area, but much larger with more detailed photographs etched into the stone.  The signs go back and forth from side to side in chronological order, so I had to take a couple minutes to put all of these pictures into the right order.  If you look at the first two pictures below carefully you can see that the columns below match up with the pictures.

"There is a bench that lists the seven Congressional Medal of Honor winners from Tennessee. A time capsule will be opened on November 11, 2045 and contains lists of donors, persons who served, and a separate list of the 5,731 Tennesseans who served and were killed in combat."

The globe at the end of the area was really interesting.  It is balanced on a cushion of water, so it is possible to push it around, causing it to rotate and changing the way in which it rotates.  I got several pictures, but sadly no video of its motion.  This first shot is actually a reflection from its polished surface.  Note the continental outlines of Antarctica and southern South America.

Amy and I had fun pushing the globe around for a bit.  I tried to get it to be oriented properly but Amy pushed it out of whack shortly thereafter.

As we left I noticed that there was a small, quite appropriate sign along the path into the area.

 ~Matt

PS Here is a shot that I took of the whole area as we were walking back beside the area.

Bicentennial Mall: Centennial Exposition

Picture from TN.gov website on the exposition.

In 1897 Tennessee celebrated the hundredth anniversary of the state's admission to the Union with the Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition.  Many Tennessee cities contributed pavilions as well as several international contributions.  Along the Bicentennial Mall in Nashville is a memorial to the exposition.

It includes a circle of stone engraved with different messages from the exposition and is surrounded by various stones engraved with information about the exposition.

Interestingly I read that President McKinley officially opened the festivities from Washington D.C.:

At twelve noon on May 1, 1897, President William McKinley officially opened the Tennessee Centennial Exposition in Nashville.  While the president would not visit the Exposition until the next month, organizers of the event arranged for him to press an electric button in the White House that sparked equipment at the fair’s Machinery Building.  Thus began a half-year of joyous opportunity for the state’s citizens to commemorate the past hundred years of Tennessee’s achievements and history.

To learn more about the event check out this website which also includes many pictures.


The pictures of the stone are a bit slanted because I was trying to get the words in the shot without having boring pictures that were all straight lines at right angles with the ground, ;-).

It is interesting to see how many things that we think of as normal in today's world started at international expositions (like the Eiffel Tower, Ferris Wheels, and so much more).

Vanity Fair contained a diverse arrangement of the exotic and the mundane: the Cuban Village sat near a Nebraska sod house, the “Old Plantation” sat across from a reproduction of the Alhambra, and a living Chinese village was established next to the Gettysburg Cyclorama.

 I have seen the Parthenon several times while in Nashville and I wondered about it quite frequently.  I'm sure that I'd heard before that the city was called the Athens of the South, but it wasn't until this visit to the Bicentennial Mall that I realized that it was a reconstructed building from the exposition.

Construction style for the primary structures imitated the buildings of Chicago’s “White City,” the nickname given to the fairgrounds of the 1893 fair.  Buildings exaggerated the standard elements of Classical design, with grand pediments, deep entablatures, columns capped by various orders of capitals, and fine rows of arched windows.

Different cities and states provided individual buildings.  The most popular of these was perhaps the Fine Arts building, a full-scale reproduction of the Parthenon in Athens.  In 1897, Nashville had already acquired its nickname “The Athens of the South,” so the building epitomized the city’s classical ideals.  Following the Victorian custom of the day, it was crammed with sculpture, paintings, and watercolors, for a total of 1,175 art objects....Another large and beautiful building—the United States government Report on the Centennial Exposition refers to it as “perhaps the most beautiful on the ground”—served as a forum and exhibition space for African American history and culture.  The Negro Building told “the story of achievement under obstacles often seemingly impossible to overcome.”

A total of 1,786,714 people attended the six-month celebration in Nashville—far fewer than attended the Chicago Fair or the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis.  Officials had originally hoped that 2,000,000 people would visit the fair.  One explanation for this minor shortfall was that a yellow fever epidemic was raging in the Gulf Coastal states.  This prevented some individuals in that region from attending the Exposition, and likely frightened many Northerners from attending as well.

If you look up the Bicentennial Mall on Google Maps and zoom in you can get a good view of the Centennial Memorial, about half-way down the Mall:

~Matt

Pointy Things

Why am I writing about pointy things?  Well, a book was just made available for pre-order today, a book by one of my favourite authors.  There are only a couple authors on my "must order" list when they write a new book.  There are several that I like to order, but those I can hold off if necessary.  David Weber, Jim Butcher, and Howard Taylor are all on my short list of books that I must order when they come out.  Their genre's are slightly varied also: military sci-fi, urban fantasy, and comic space opera graphic novel.

I've enjoyed Howard's comic strip Schlock Mercenary for quite some time.  I know that I started reading in college--and at least once during my initial read of the backlog I stayed up all night reading new (to me) installments.  I also pre-ordered his first book back in 2006 and greatly enjoyed it.  In fact I also blogged about that, ;-).

Well I came home to find that my book had arrived. Which book? I'm glad you asked. Schlock Mercenary: Under New Management. I must apologize though, the Amazon page doesn't have much really. I would link to the order page on the main Schlock site, but alas orders aren't being accepted yet. I preordered my book and as a result it was signed! :-) But you can't make regular orders yet--I'm not sure when, but it might not be until all of the preorders have been shipped, including the sketch editions. I headed down to the library after work and read the book. Sure I'd read them before, but it was still great! There was some new content, plus it was printed on glossy pages in beautiful crystal clear colour. Ahhh... 'Tis a sight to behold. I'll definately be ordering the next book when it comes out. [Obligatory link to original post--which has more content.]

 At the time I bemoaned the fact that while the book was great it didn't start at the very beginning of the saga, with the original strip from June 12, 2000.  Of course as Howard says on that page if you start reading there you get to watch his "artwork evolve from bad to, well, marginally less bad. It's your call. Thanks for clicking in!"  Personally I think that it is quite worth it--and I did end up ordering the first two books when they were produced.  I've actually ordered each and every book when it has come out.  Last year the pre-order for the last book was scheduled to open while I was gone on my honeymoon!  Now I love my wife and wouldn't have derailed the honeymoon for Schlock Mercenary (as amazing as it is!), but I thought it was worth asking to see if something could be done.  I've seen pre-orders sell-out in the past and didn't want to get left out just because I was out of the country at the time.  I'm frequently hesitant to do things like this as I work with the public and describe actions like this as "guesty" (not a complimentary term), but the occasion was worth it.  I drafted an e-mail to the Taylors and waited...

I have a slightly unusual question. I just read earlier today that the pre-order date of Schlock Mercenary: Emperor Pius Dei has been pushed back.  I had been planning to order a copy of the book as soon as orders were open (I have all the others--mostly sketch editions) and was hoping to be able to get a sketch edition.  However, I won't have internet access on June 27.  I'm getting married on June 25 and will not be back from the honeymoon until July 3.  I was wondering if there was any way that I could arrange to reserve a sketch edition because of these unusual circumstances.  I remember previously that sketch editions have sold rather quickly.
I understand if it isn't possible, but I assumed that I couldn't hurt to ask.  Thanks.

Amazingly I got a reply back the next day:

Hi Matt,
We'd be happy to hold a copy for you. Just email us when you're back from your honeymoon and we'll help you place the order.Thanks for supporting Schlock,--Sandra Tayler

Let me just say, they didn't need to say yes, but they did.  I've always enjoyed Howard's comics, and his books, and they have great customer service also.  I would highly recommend that you check out the comic strip if you enjoy sci-fi and/or if you enjoy humour.  You'll find it at www.schlockmercenary.com.  Or you can borrow my books--if you live nearby and promise to take care of them (no bent spines!).

~Matt

PS I almost forgot to mention, one of the great things about the books, besides being able to read without having to use a computer is that you get to read bonus stories that aren't available anywhere on-line!  Go order a book today, especially the pre-order for "Sharp End of the Stick."  And you thought I'd forget to explain the title of this post, ;-).