From T to Shining T

Oh, I know that is not the way the song goes!!!

From Texas to Tennessee.

Wallace woke with a flare...not crowing like a rooster, but pretty darn close.  He was ready to start the day...another state house.

Being so close to Nashville, we thought it only fitting to visit here. This is one of the things we never did when visiting in the past. We thank our good friend David for getting us started on this quest.

The Tennessee State Capitol was completed in 1859, and was the design of William Strickland...Greek Revival architecture. Tennessee was the 16th state to join the Union, June 1, 1796.

Now this is unique. When Strickland died, it was his desire to be buried here...right on top of the cornerstone.

He considered this building to be his crowning achievement.

We entered by way of this tunnel (the crypt).

There are three levels: the crypt (ground floor), the basement (the executive floor) and the first floor (the legislative floor).

The elevator took us to the first floor staircase. The frescoes on the ceiling are pretty, but the gasolier caught my eye.

The staircase which took us up to the 2nd floor, has a bullet-nicked handrail that we located. A bullet was fired from above over a bitter fight over the ratification of the 14th Amendment in 1866.

The House of Representatives where there are Roman spears just above the flags, symbolizing strength in unity.

The columns (not pictured) are 21 feet tall and are Nashville limestone.

The Senate meets here. We found the gasolier to be the most interesting thing in this room.

We got a birds eye view of both chambers from the gallery which gave us the closest look at the gasolier.

The gasolier is original, done in 1855. There are 30 globes decorated with Indian corn, elk heads, cotton blossoms and tobacco leaves. Of course we had to locate all of them, the hardest one to find were the elk heads. Can you see them? The next picture will help.

Aha, finally!!! You can also see, they need a little dusting as there are spider webs.

These kind of things are the things we find interesting...each gasolier was different, and beautiful.

We stopped in at the State Library, another interesting room with the spiral staircase and balcony rail with portrait medallions of writers and famous political figures of the time. These were made from cast iron.

No dome to look up into...theirs is a cupola. 

Of course there is the Capitol Grounds to explore and you just have to find the cornerstone where the architect is buried, and the elk heads, and the bullet-nicked banister.

We explored it thoroughly and enjoyed yet another state house.

And yes Sharon, we found the bell!!!

For those who are not aware...there was a replica of the Liberty Bell sent to each state to promote the Korean War bond drive.

We shopped at Camping World for a few supplies, walked through a few motorhomes as this is in our future plans, finished off the trip with a steak lunch at nearby Logan's Steakhouse, which made a perfect ending to a perfect day.

Until next time...