Bart has been working 6 - 10 hour days. It totally sucks. So, basically I am tired of staying home, so I am going on my own adventure today.
I have chosen the Belle Meade Plantation!
(Fog)
It has been drizzling rain all morning. But I am ready - here we go! There was even fog and low clouds today. My favorite kind of day!
Well, I found it. That was easy! (As long as I have a GPS signal).
Here we go....I am so excited!
The drive into Belle Meade was so cool. You had to drive over this bridge to get there. You could hear it creaking as you drive.
There is a stream running under the bridge! It was pretty full today because we have had quite a bit of rain this last week.
There it is, in all it's glory. This picture doesn't show the entire size of the Mansion. This is only part of it.
Pretty cool huh? It was built in 1853. They have all these here rocking chairs for people to sit while they are waiting for the tour. Obviously they aren't from back in the day, but it was nice to have a comfy place to sit.
So this is the view from the porch of the mansion.
I was right on time for the 10:30 tour. It was, and is still drizzling rain. It was really cool to just sit and relax for a few - in one of those fancy rockin chairs - of course.
Then, Erica pops out of the front door, in her authentic dress. She said that on a range of comfort in the dress - it would be a 4 on a scale of 10! She will be our tour guide & also told us the rules. NO cell phones, NO eating, and NO pictures. Aww, NO pictures! (Imagine me stomping my foot here). I was disappointed that I couldn't take any photos of the inside. I wanted to share so much. There were so many different rooms, and cool "old" stuff. (Where is Brandon when I need him?) Oh well. The tour of the mansion itself lasted about 45 minutes. But it went by really fast!
There were 8 buildings that I got to see in all. But I started with the mansion house where most of the history took place. There is a cabin (not this house) that you see when you drive in. It was the original house (photos at the end). And, there was originally 250 acres...then it grew into 5,400 acres! Then, life happened, and horses and acreage were sold. There are only 30 acres left now.
The first thing that Erica pointed out to us, was the bullet holes that are still in the pillars right outside the front door. I walked right by them and didn't even notice!
John Harding founded Belle Mead Plantation in 1807. The thoroughbred horse business began with the boarding of stallions as early as 1816.
After the war, his business continued and in 1867-1868, General Harding won more purses with his own horses than any man living at that time in the U.S. He became the most successful thoroughbred breeding farm and distributor in Tennessee.
(Terrible Photo) But, I couldn't take any pictures inside the mansion so I took one off of the brochure. Anyway, this horse is Iriquois. It is one of the famous horses that used to live here. He would run so fast and so hard that he would literally bleed when he was done! Yep, there would be blood running. So, his owner decided to retire him and only use him for breeding.
So, after the tour of the mansion, I was off to the Carriage House. I really liked this area. Of course, this is where they kept the horses back in the day. It was built in 1892, and was almost as nice as the mansion house.
But now, inside is where they house all the old carriages that they used. Some of these are so unique and different....and there was ALOT of them!
How do you like that tufted seat? I bet that was pretty comfortable to sit in, especially if you had a long way to go.
This buggy was really cool too, with the large red wheels!
What about a sleigh? I guess they even had sleighs back then to ride in the snow during the winter months. "Over the River, and Thru the Woods to Grandmother's House We Go....." This was said to be THE most elegant, and was always driven by a coachman. I'll take one of these please! I could just imagine all snuggled up in here with a warm blanket and someone driving me wherever I needed to go.
The Victoria looked extra fancy, too. This one kind of reminded me of the ones that I saw back in England! Actually it WAS named in honor of Queen Victoria. The upper classes used these carriages only for special occasions.
As I was saying before, this is where they housed the Thoroughbreds. Here is the waterer and feeder. These were located in the corners of each stall, but were divided by a partition. I guess to help keep the hay out of the water.
Anyone want to go to war? There were these old cannons in the breezeway of the barn. They looked so cumbersome and awkward.
This one had all leather seats. Each buggy was pretty fancy in their own way. This one was called the Drop Front Phaeton and was quick & easy to use for street travel. It was preferred by the ladies because it was easy to maneuver with a single horse.
This Wagonette, as it is called was used in the country with 2 horses. It was mostly used to transport guests. Man I am learning a lot here.
Anyone up for a ride with a side/saddle? I could only imagine what it would be like to sit on a horse sideways - probably with a big ol' heavy dress on, and ride like the wind. I can barely stay on riding in a standard saddle with one leg on each side of a horse! O ya, and you had to look composed and beautiful at the same time.
Here is another sled. It looked like it could only carry maybe 2 people at the most. Or, 3 really skinny people.
These were called Carts & Traps. They were light weight and again, easy to maneuver.
I paused to try to take a selfie with one of the cannons....I forgot to charge my selfie stick, so this is the best that I could do.
Here is the Roof-Seat Brake wagon. Looks kinda like a double decker bus. Hey at least you didn't have to look at the back of someone else's head the whole time.
This Front Broughan was a closed carriage. This way you could travel and stay out of the weather. It was mostly used for daily travel.
This "Beast" was called a Park Drag or "Private Coach". When the people back then would say "Tally Ho" - this is what they were talking about. It was basically a stage coach and could carry up to 10 people at a time.
These next few photos are just outside the carriage house. Everything is green 'of course', and there were these little jockeys all over the place. Made you feel like you were at a real horse farm.
There are lots of magnolia trees here. Actually they are all over Tennessee. They are gorgeous. I am really liking these flowers. They are HUGE and pure white.
Belle Meade was known for their racing thoroughbreds. Here is a monument - no a grave - for one of the race horse sires that lived here on the property.
Interesting Fact: The roots of this thoroughbred horse farm is so firmly planted here that horses like Seabiscuit, Secretariat, Funny Cide, Barbarro, and every race horse in the Kentucky Derby since 2003 can trace their bloodlines back to Belle Meade!
There was an old water pump there, along with some old antique barrels, bells, and wagons.
This huge 150 gallon vat was used to boil the pigs when it was time to cook em up and eat em.
They had all kinds of old wagons parked outside. I think these were mostly used for transporting supplies.
I found some storm doors that would lead down to the basement. So, since it is a "starmy" day, I know where to go in case we get a tornando warnin! And, that basically sums up the Belle Meade Mansion.
As I was leaving the mansion, I saw this dapper old man walking his 2 dogs. They were little lassie dogs. You could tell that they were well taken care of. They were brushed, and their fur was jus wavin in the wind. I think this guy walks them here daily.
So, I will say goodby to the mansion that I wasn't able to take pictures in, and venture onto the outside buildings.
Hmmm, I wonder what that is over there. Let's go check it out!
Oh but first, I had to go with the group to the free wine tasting / gift shoppe. Actually it was probably included in the price of the ticket ($18). These were all the people who were tasting all the different wines. I think there were like 9 different wines that they got to taste. This is the only winery in Tennessee. You can purchase a bottle and then sit out in the magnolia garden and enjoy it if you want.
I wasn't interested, so I took a picture of the cool little wagon that they had on the shelf, and slipped out the back door.
The grounds were beautiful. There was a drizzling mist that was goin on the whole time, so I had to keep my phone camera under my brochure so that it didn't get wet. What an amazing day. I just can't get enough of this weather.
Okay, so here is the Gardener's House. It wasn't all that fancy. Part of it was locked, and then ....
There was this teeny tiny little greenhouse on the side. Getting better with the selfies - but what's up with my eye? It always goes wonky in the pictures.
Okay, so over to the building that you could see from the porch of the mansion. Turns out, it was the Dairy built in 1884. The walls were built 2 feet thick to keep all of the dairy items nice and cool.
This was the original Harding cabin that was built on the property before the mansion was built that I mentioned at the beginning of the post. You drive right by this when you come into the property.
This was the Slave Cabin, where basically all the slaves lived while they worked on the plantation.
They had a lot of photos of the different slaves that used to work there through the years. Some of them I have to say were pretty rough looking.
There were artifacts inside glass cases, and some musical instruments hanging on the wall.
Leaving that cabin, I did a little more wandering around, and saw an old handcart.
Then I found this awesome spot - the Mausoleum! If anyone really knows me, knows that I really find this stuff fascinating. The Harding family actually entombed 24 of their family members back here.
After awhile tho, they removed them (maybe it was filling up too quickly) and relocated them to another cemetery. I peeked in there just to make sure they didn't forget anyone.
It does have a beautiful view from the opening of the Mausoleum. You can see here, how far the Mausoleum is from the mansion.
Um, I ask you - why the benches? Maybe some of the family came out here to talk to their dead relatives. Lets take a walk and go out and talk with Aunt Elizabeth! Ummm - NO!
Onto happier trails. Here is a children's Victorian playhouse. I guess they were pretty serious when they played "house".
It was rather small tho, but the details on the outside were pretty nice. The wood was carved with little faces and designs.
These were some pretty lucky little kids. I thought they would have played in those beautiful magnolia trees. At least I would have!
So, that basically sums up the entire tour of the Belle Meade Plantation. It was a really good adventure. I would recommend it to someone who was visiting Tennessee.
Last but not least, I treated myself to a light lunch at the Infinity Restaurant before I headed back home. Voila!
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