IN THE FAR WEST OF NASHVILLE AND BEYOND
Photography by Carol Serna and Pam Serna

 

In my last posting, I wrote a bit about the changes in #Bellevue which is located in the west section of #Nashville.  Bellevue is basically the last stop in the road before leaving the western section of #Davidson#County which is in Nashville, and then if you are traveling on Highway 70, entering into Cheatham County.  If you travel down #Highway#100 from Bellevue, you soon enter Williamson County.  But what many people don't realize, particularly those who are not from the region, is that beyond Nashville, there is still much sprawling rural land which seems to have escaped, for the most part, the raping of its land by developers.

Last Sunday, my sister Carol and I did something neither of us had done in years...we hopped in the car and took a drive down to none other than Hickman County, Tennessee.  Hickman County can be reached any number of ways, but the route that we chose was the very scenic route of Highway 100.  The sights you encounter as you leave Nashville are enough to cause your senses to stir, to somehow awaken once again to that beauty which is called nature. 

As children, my siblings and I once played in the front yard of our grandmother's old family homestead and in the ice cold water of the creek which ran along the  edges of the property.  That property had belonged to my grandmother's mother and father at one time.  I've heard the stories about my great grandmother who was a midwife.  Apparently, back in those days, midwifery was not quite as sophisticated or as glamorous as some may perceive it to be today.  As I have heard it told, it could possibly be that at midnight, there would be a knock on the door of their home...KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!!!  As someone would rush to the door and throw it open, there might be a neighbor or the husband of a woman already in labor, hysterically asking for the services of the midwife.  My great grandmother would throw on her clothes, or her housecoat, apparently depending on how much time she thought she had, grab her bag and to the horse and buggy she would go, through the hollows of Hickman County without street lights.  In particular, the part of the county they lived in was Bon Aqua. 

 

Rosanna Ledbetter/Midwife
(photographer unknown)

My great grandpa was apparently a former tobacco farmer from Robertson County who one day decided that it was time to try something different, and moved his family to Hickman County where he grew corn.  His name was Clarence Ledbetter, and it is my understanding that he was part Native American, which is not so unusual in these parts. 

Clarence and Rosanna Ledbetter w/her daughters Etta and Ruby Buchanan
(photographer unknown)

At any rate, I've only been able to go back on one occasion and find that same hollow where I played as a child.  The second time I attempted to find it, I didn't.  Not that the old hollow had disappeared, it's just that even in a place like Hickman County, things change, old homes are torn down, sometimes replaced by trailers, new homes or maybe not even replaced at all, and soon, you may no longer recognize that secret place of your childhood.

Since Carol and I had gotten such a late start on our journey to Hickman County on Sunday, I must report that we did NOT find the hollow this time either, as we did not really have the time to search for it on this particular road trip; however, Carol did manage to take some pretty interesting photos and a few cool snippets of video.  The photos are a brief summary basically of our trip there and back, and it will become obvious rather quickly that there is a ton of shubbery and much open space as you leave Davidson County and find your way toward Hickman County.

You can share in some of our adventure by checking out some of the three-minute video that Carol shot with her cell phone on the way there at the following link.  Video is a little shaky at first, but it quickly gets better.  You will also notice that we were not actually narrating the video.  This is very raw footage of a ride to the country and some frank conversation between sisters --

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXHQNb173qk&feature=youtu.be

As an afterthought, I have included a few shots from the construction at former Bellevue Mall site which is to become something of a mix of mall, movies, apartments, etc. once the construction is complete.  While providing jobs for the citizens of Nashville is a good thing, I cannot help but wonder what will be the end result.  In several areas of town where malls were built, one would have had to have their head in the sand (tongue twister, no?) not to know that those areas often experienced huge increases in crime. 

But, I digress.  Please allow me to also share with you now a few photos from my and Carol's road trip and photos of what greets you as you re-enter the city.

You don't see many of what appears to be old abandoned general stores in Nashville, but you just might on the road to Hickman County.

How about a country boy's truck out in the open field?  Looks like fun.

 

So, please let me say that no, I'm not a hater of progress.  Progress can save many lives sometimes.  I'm just someone whose family has had roots in the region for generations.  I've heard the old old stories from and about those generations before me who were farmers, midwives, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters.  I can't help but wonder if my generation is the last in my family that will visit such places as Hickman County and keep those memories of a beautiful, mostly undeveloped land alive.

 

NASHVILLE:  WHERE THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE COLLIDE

By Pam Serna

Carol Serna/Contributing photographer

   
                                                                            

Jerkey Shack

As someone whose family has a history of seven generations in Middle Tennessee, I still have very nostalgic moments when I stop and think about #Nashville today and the Nashville of days gone by.  Everywhere you look in Nashville, a new building project is being erected.  Parts of #history are being wiped out without any thought other than how much profit stands to be made in the deal.

I recently wrote a piece in Facebook about #THE#SPIN, the perspective with which a media outlet will air a story, in particular, reports relating to politics.  I mention 'the spin' as I am aware that there will be some who might view the story I am about to tell as my particular spin on the matter; however, it is for the most part, the truth.

What was it that brought so many people to this once very small, quaint country town?  Well, was it the music?  Was it the universities?  Was it the printing business?  Was it simply the fact that Nashville is a port city, which makes it a center of trade?  Is it because they had hopes of finding jobs and improving their lots in life?  Perhaps it was all of the above.  I recently read a very astute observation by someone whose name I'm afraid I don't recall.  But the gist of the statement had to do with the fact that when people from the north retire, they move south and people from the south don't usually move north when they retire.  So, as you can see, there are a multitude of reasons why someone may have become one of the growing numbers of transplants here in Music City.

However, with the rapid pace of growth which Nashville has experienced in the last decade, there are those who tend to forget some of the quaintness which so many people loved about Nashville.  Yesterday, I was returning from Kingston Springs via Highway 70 South.  The drive from Kingston Springs to Nashville along Highway 70 South is simply beautiful.  Many people who have had enough of the breakneck speed with which Nashville has become a boom town have fled the city for greener pastures in the outlying areas surrounding Nashville.  I've even read a recent article that it is getting more and more difficult to find original citizens of Nashville still living here.

I digress.  As I approached the Bellevue area, I could not help but notice the Jerkey Shack which in located on Charlotte Pike where Highway 70 South and Charlotte Pike become one.  It is obviously the small wooden shack pictured at the beginning of this blog.  Here is a closer shot of it taken by my sister Carol Serna.

And beside the Jerkey Shack is another vendor that has a tradition which has been practiced by farmers and vendors in Nashville forever, the roadside produce stand. This particular stand is better known as Fresh and Local Nashville.  The two small businesses are side by side and are literally at the edge of town as you are leaving the Bellevue area.  And if you are not from Nashville, you may not yet know that Bellevue is on the far west edge of Nashville.

 

 
After I passed the road side vendors, there was another sign which caught my attention.  This one was in the yard of a private home; so, to protect the individual's privacy, I have greyed out the phone number on the sign.  But quilting is such a timeless tradition, and yet, it is one which seems to be fading from the mainstream and often being left to the mass producers of goods. 

The thing that REALLY made all of these small businesses stand out to me was the next thing which I saw, directly contrasting with these signs of nostalgia I had just seen.  And if you know anything about West Nashville or the Bellevue area, you already know that the old Bellevue Center Mall has been demolished to make way for a new mall.  Only one mile up the road from where I saw the signs of nostalgia, some of the people who carry in their DNA the memories of a kinder, gentler Nashville, were the signs of 'progress' in the west side of town. Here are the signs of 'Progress' in the Bellevue area. I have also greyed out the name of the construction company.  If you want to know the name of the company, I guess you will need to drive by there and see for yourself or look it up.

The old Bellevue Center Mall Sign