Finally some blogging....
Things have been hectic for us lately. Mostly work related. We have been able to get away for some fun though. One of our favorite things to do is head to the Smokies. Each time through the Smokies is unique and we enjoy visiting during all seasons. On our last trip through we saw a lot of wild turkeys.
We were heading through the Smokies to get the the aquarium in Gatlinburg, TN. We have passes to the aquarium and go whenever possible. Here are some frogs, mudskippers, and jellyfish:
A few weeks ago we drove to Greenville, TN. We were able to visit the home of Andrew Johnson, the 17th President of the United States. Johnson became president after Abraham Lincoln was killed. One of the interesting things I did not realize prior to visiting, was that Lincoln's Vice-President was from the South. Johnson decided not to secede even though Tennessee did.
Greenville is a very small town about 2 hours from Knoxville. We went right when the Spring weather was turning nice. It is a fun area.
The home of Johnson is very well preserved, even though Confederate soldiers used the home during the Civil War. They knew Johnson did not secede and thought of him as a traitor.
This is a beaver cap the President wore. Pretty much all of the furniture and belongings in the home are actually Johnson's, and not just from the time period.
This is a portion of the wall where the wallpaper was removed to show the vandalism that took place when the soldiers were using the house. The graffiti is throughout the house but this is the only part they can show the public because of the language used in the graffiti. The Southerners soldiers did not like Johnson apparently.
Andrew Johnson was a tailor. This is his actual tailor shop. They moved it to the visitors center to help preserve it. When he was President, he rented the shop to his former slaves and they used it as a bakery.
We were also able to see where Johnson was buried but the camera battery died before we could get any pictures. He is buried on top of a hill that overlooks the city. It was neat to learn about his life and why he was impeached. The South was treated pretty poorly by the North during reconstruction but it would have been a lot worse if not for Johnson trying to be fair. He was impeached for being too fair in the eyes of the Northern politicians. Lisa and I are keeping track of how many dead presidents we see. We are up to 4 now: JFK, Andrew Jackson, James K Polk, and Andrew Johnson.
Greenville is a very small town about 2 hours from Knoxville. We went right when the Spring weather was turning nice. It is a fun area.
The home of Johnson is very well preserved, even though Confederate soldiers used the home during the Civil War. They knew Johnson did not secede and thought of him as a traitor.
This is a beaver cap the President wore. Pretty much all of the furniture and belongings in the home are actually Johnson's, and not just from the time period.
This is a portion of the wall where the wallpaper was removed to show the vandalism that took place when the soldiers were using the house. The graffiti is throughout the house but this is the only part they can show the public because of the language used in the graffiti. The Southerners soldiers did not like Johnson apparently.
Andrew Johnson was a tailor. This is his actual tailor shop. They moved it to the visitors center to help preserve it. When he was President, he rented the shop to his former slaves and they used it as a bakery.
We were also able to see where Johnson was buried but the camera battery died before we could get any pictures. He is buried on top of a hill that overlooks the city. It was neat to learn about his life and why he was impeached. The South was treated pretty poorly by the North during reconstruction but it would have been a lot worse if not for Johnson trying to be fair. He was impeached for being too fair in the eyes of the Northern politicians. Lisa and I are keeping track of how many dead presidents we see. We are up to 4 now: JFK, Andrew Jackson, James K Polk, and Andrew Johnson.
No comments:
Post a Comment