Monday 9/18/2023 - The Circle Continues

We departed Goat Island Brewing in Cullman Alabama for our drive to Anderson Road COE outside of Nashville. The hospitality of these folks was truly special. They made us feel like family from the minute we walked in the door! We will stop again, when we are over this way! I completed my walk in the industrial park that the brewery is in. It was not scenic, but it was efficient! 

We took US 31 N into Hartselle, because we had to be out of the Harvest Host by 8:30am, so we went to a Walmart parking lot to have breakfast and pick up a few items.

You can certainly see the German influence in Cullman! Everywhere they are getting ready for Octoberfest!

Hartselle is included in the book The 100 Best Small Towns in America. It is the birthplace of novelist and journalist William Bradford Huie. It is also infamous for a progressive US congressman and senator John J. Sparkman. For its connections to Huie, the city is a stop on the Southern Literary Trail. What trail? The Southern Literary Trail is the first tri-state literary trail in the US. It celebrates acclaimed 20th century writers and playwrights of Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. You can follow it for a journey of discovery to the places that shaped and inspired these writers and playwrights. The Trail is a non-stop literary celebration with events, programs, and exhibits taking place at Trail sites throughout the year.

The next big town on US 31 N is Decatur Alabama. The old Decatur Historic District dates back to the town's settlement in 1817. In the beginning it was called Rhodes Ferry Landing after Dr. Henry W Rhodes, an early landowner who operated a ferry across the Tennessee River. In 1820, President Monroe directed the town be renamed Decatur in honor of Commodore Stephen Decatur after the naval hero was killed in a duel earlier that year. Official incorporation took place in 1826. The Old State Bank, on the edge of downtown, is the oldest bank building in the State of Alabama, being 190 years old. The first wave pool in the United States was built in Decatur and is still in operation at the Point Mallard Aquatic Center.

On Route 31, we came into Athens, Alabama. First thing I thought of was the bulldogs, but that is Athens Georgia! Oooooppps, this is Roll Tide territory! The first settlement came in 1807. Robert Beaty and John Corriel obtained the first land grant, getting 160 acres from the land office in Huntsville. The area continued to flourish and draw more settlers, and by 1818, Athens was an incorporated city before Alabama became a state. Athens is home to three governors, William Wyatt Bibb, Joshua L. Martin and George S. Houston. Founded in 1822, the state's oldest institution of higher education, Athens State University, is in Athens too. Athens boasts a number of historic buildings and residences. Originally an agricultural community, Athens has evolved into a major center of technology in North Alabama.

We turned onto US 72 and crossed the Tennessee River on the "Steamboat Bill" Memorial Bridge. They are two bridges that span one of the widest points along the Tennessee River. The river begins upstream of Knoxville, Tennessee and flows 652 miles south then west across northern. It is the largest river system that passes through the state and is one of the only rivers whose course enters and leaves a state at more than one point.

Along US 72, we got stuck in a bit of traffic and it was right in front of Doomsday Paintball. What an ominous looking place! I learned that they have paintballs, airsoft, and during Halloween they create a unique “doomed town.” This Halloween haunt takes place in an old war-torn town, located somewhere deep in the woods that was quarantined by the government after a large nuclear explosion was thought to have happened many years ago. Unfortunately, the locals had no clue what was coming, and before they knew it, the military set up massive fences & nets around the entire area, to control the radioactive fallout damage. 

According to the last known people living outside the quarantine zone, this extreme event caused the local townspeople to be forcibly cut-off from the outside world for nearly 70 years, making them very unpredictable and unwelcoming. It is thought that their descendants may still inhabit this area – but be warned that few people that have dared to go looking for this forsaken town has ever lived to tell about it! There was a cool Lincoln Town car painted in patriotic colors. The condition reminded me of one we rode in Amarillo to go from the campground to The Big Texan restaurant.

We skirted Huntsville, Alabama. It is home to technology, space, and defense industries and have a major presence here with the Army's Redstone Arsenal, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, and Cummings Research Park. It’s been years since we have been to Redstone, but it’s not on the route, so no stopping! We turned back onto US 231 N, the road we spent most of the other day on. We crossed the from Alabama into Tennessee on this route.

The first “big” town was Park City. It turns out, it is not a city, just a tree lined suburb of Fayetteville, Tennessee. The name "Fayetteville" was chosen in honor of the many settlers who came here from Fayetteville, North Carolina. The first church in Fayetteville was the Presbyterian Church, known at the time as the First Church of Fayetteville. It was established in 1812. One of the most famous landmarks of Fayetteville is the remains of the Stone Bridge, commonly known by the locals of Fayetteville as the “Old Stone Bridge”. It was in 1860 that John Markum and Patrick Flannery, the architects and contractors, began the building of the bridge.

This route on US 231 was a beautiful representation of the rolling hills of Tennessee. But, I would rather have these hills than the whoosh, whoosh of the tractor trailers passing you in the interstate. Travel is about the journey and not just the destination.

We stopped at the Walmart in Shelbyville for our last break before arrival. Shelbyville was established in 1810 on 100 acres of land donated by Clement Cannon (1783-1860), local manufacturer and veteran of the War of 1812. The city was named in honor of General Isaac Shelby (1750-1826), statesman and noted Revolutionary War hero who led colonial forces to victory at King's Mountain. Rich in both cultural history and natural beauty, the town is known worldwide for the annual Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration, a prestigious equestrian event dating back to 1939.

Murfreesboro’s name carries a unique history. Originally called Cannonsburgh in tribute to Tennessee politician Newton Cannon, the city underwent a name change to honor Colonel Hardy Murfree. However, “Murfreesboro” can be a bit of a tongue-twister, so it’s commonly affectionately referred to as “The ‘Boro” by the locals, a more succinct and friendly nickname. Murfreesboro is home to Middle Tennessee State University. Stones River National Battlefield and Cemetery. County seat of Rutherford County.

We arrived at Anderson Road Campground is a lakeside oasis in the green hills of Tennessee. It is our home for the next 2 nights!

God did not disappoint, he gave us a glorious sunset!

#TwoLaneAdventures