Sulphur Dell

Sulphur Dell

Home of the Nashville Sounds

Nashville has a old/new baseball park and it comes with quiet a history!  Historians believe the first baseball game may have been played here in 1862, while Yankee soldiers occupied Nashville during the Civil War.  

For 78 years professional baseball was played at this site.  With the city dump smoldering nearby, fans inhaled the aroma of popcorn, peanuts and burning trash.  To add more interest, the Cumberland River would often flood from heavy spring rains and flood the field.  To all these aromas add the sulphur smell which smells something like rotten eggs.  

The ballpark was nicknamed Suffer Hell and the Dump.

In 2013 Mayor Dean announced the Nashville Sounds would be getting a new ballpark to be built on the site where baseball began--Sulphur Dell.

The scoreboard is a giant guitar--with a name like the Sounds and being in Music City would you have expected anything less?  It's actually pretty fun especially when the Sounds score.  Does anyone remember the bull scoreboard from the movie Bull Durham?

With summer on its way, AppleJack and I plan to enjoy some peanuts and crackerjacks at the old/new ballpark--Sulphur Dell.

Play ball!

Grassmere

AppleJack and I were invited to an event at Grassmere aka the Nashville Zoo.

The land for the Zoo was gifted to the city of Nashville by the Croft Sisters.

The gardens around the homestead are tended by the Master Gardeners.

There were many beautiful blooming species.

All around town, the Iris are showing everyone their beautiful side.

The lilacs were blooming and oh what a heavenly smell.

True confession:  I am not a zoo person.  There are reptiles at the zoo and I don't do snakes.

The Mall

Just down the hill from the State Capital building is The Tennessee Bicentennial Capital Mall State Park.

I really meant, just down the hill from the State Capital Building.

The flag poles mark an entrance to the mall.

"The Tennessee. . . is as irregular, as various, as rebellious as the huge valley region that it drains."  This quote is making reference to the Tennessee River which begins in East Tennessee and drains into the mighty Mississippi in Memphis in West Tennessee.  The quote could also be used about the people who live in Tennessee.

The Stones and Cumberland are two of the rivers which flow into the Tennessee River.  During the summer months, these metal disks become fountains shooting water into the air.  Children love to play at the mall!

Flooding is the most widespread and most frequent natural hazard in Tennessee.  In 2010, Nashville was flooded!  Seventeen inches of rain in two days!  Buildings floated down the interstate, the Grand Ole Opry was flooded and closed for many months.  Billions of dollars worth of damage.  Nashville is still recovering!

So, if you are planning a visit to Nashville add the Bicentennial Mall to your list of places to see.

Rador Lake

Every place has a hidden gem.  Rador Lake is one of Nashville's hidden gems. 

In 1913 the L & N Railroad Company purchased  a thousand  acres of land in the Overton hills south of Nashville for the purpose of constructing an earthen reservoir large enough to supply water for its steam engines and livestock at nearby Radnor Yards.

It was also intended to provide a private hunting and fishing preserve for L & N officials and their guests.  But, soon after construction, birds discovered the haven too and began feeding and resting there during their annual migration.

Efforts to preserve the Radnor Lake area began in 1923 when an L & N executive stopped all hunting and fishing and declared the site a "Wildlife Sanctuary" at the request of the Tennessee Ornithological Society.  The beginning of Radnor Lake as we know it today was born. 

Sixty years later. . .creative thinking, fundraising, political action, grassroots work and last minute heroics by dedicated conservationists and leaders, 747 acres of land were preserved in 1973 as Radnor Lake--Tennessee's first natural area and protected eco-system. 

AppleJack and I go to Radnor Lake frequently.  We have put many miles on our walking shoes hiking the trails.  We have solved problems, planned trips, listened to birds, watched the ducks and turtles.  It is a peaceful haven.

Nashville was flooded in 2010.  Think about 17 inches of rain falling in two days.  Parts of Radnor and Nashville are still recovering from the 2010 flood.

In spite of the flood damage, I encourage everyone to go find your city's hidden gem.  It is a treasure you are giving to yourself.