A green burial in the Tennessee hills

Last Sunday, October 28, 2018, on my way to Georgia, I made a stop at my usual highway rest stop in South Pittsburg, Tennessee, along Nickajack Reservoir Lake.  In some earlier posts I showed pictures of this lake in the winter and summer, this time it started to look like autumn.  It was a sunny day, around 74 degrees F (23.3 C.)  A mist was slowly evaporating from the water.  I walked on the little path along a tree showing vivid red fall leaves.  Sun and nature always heal sadness.

The roof of our house in Georgia was scheduled to be replaced in early October.  I had planned to drive from Nashville to Georgia then.  But life had other plans.  My husband of 51-years passed away in his sleep on Monday October 8, 2018.  He was still walking 3 days before his health took a down turn.  The doctor had told us that he would be slowly declining in the next 2 or 3 years because of his Alzheimer's disease.  We did not expect to lose him suddenly like this, and it was a shock.  I had to quickly come up with funeral arrangements.  My husband dedicated his life to nature, the environment and wildlife so I was fortunate to find out that the first conservation burial ground in Tennessee had formally opened in mid September 2018.  This 112 acre property of rolling hills and meadows had been an old family farm in Sumner County, Tennessee, on the Western Highland Rim, and had been minimally impacted by human activity.  Native American artifacts can still be discovered on the ground.  (Photo courtesy Nature Conservancy.)

This burial preserve is adjacent to Taylor Hollow Natural Area, a 172-acre restricted access natural area owned by the Nature Conservancy.  Taylor Hollow was once a part of the magnificent mesophytic (moderately moist) forest system of middle Tennessee, and is now one of the last undisturbed remnants of this historic and majestic habitat.  It contains such endangered plants as the Blue-eyed Mary (Collinsia verna,) the Ozark Least Trillium (Trillium pusillum var. ozarkanum) plus several others.  In spring there is a spectacular display of wildflowers on the grounds.  (Photos courtesy Nature Conservancy.)

In a future post I'll talk about my husband's illness, but I just cannot do it at this time.  The natural conservation cemetery and Taylor Hollow Natural Area are privately owned, non-profit, with a conservation easement, preventing development of the land forever.  This is the first natural burial ground in the United States protected by the Nature Conservancy.  It will prevent this land from being developed, contaminated and abused.  There are no metal caskets, fertilizer, formaldehyde, concrete or metal vaults, plastics, or foreign matter introduced into the landscape in a natural burial.  A conservation cemetery does not displace pollutants into the environment.  Naturally native plants and animals flourish in its sanctuary.  The funeral director of this conservation cemetery told radio station NPR: "This is not something new; this is something very traditional.  It is more of a return or revival of traditional burying practices.  And it really and truly becomes a place where people can go to reconnect with a loved one."  "A lot of people want to go to a place to say goodbye, and it becomes a sanctuary, a preserve, and a place to connect to nature as well as the memory of your loved one."  He added "People [who] choose to be buried in this area are the people who want wildflowers blooming on their grave and butterflies fluttering about."

This is the way our ancestors were buried but, after the Civil War, it changed with the introduction of embalming.  These natural burial grounds are rare in the U.S. (about 100+ and over 200 in the U.K.) because the 21,000+ modern funeral homes in this country are strong and persuasive.  They are responsible each year for the felling of 30 million board feet of casket wood (some of which comes from tropical hardwoods,) 90,000 tons of steel, 1.6 million ton of concrete for burial vaults, and 800,000 gallons of embalming fluid.  Even cremation is not environmentally safe, with the incineration process emitting many a noxious substance, including dioxin, hydrochloric acid, sulfur dioxide, and climate-changing carbon dioxide.  There is no law regarding embalming or the use of these toxic chemicals which are flushed into our sewers and create an enormous environmental problem.  A natural burial in a conservation cemetery is an eco-friendly option.  There, visitors feel a connection to the earth, a quiet way of saying good-bye to the loved one surrounded by nature.

On Friday October 12, 2018, we drove to the conservation burial grounds in Westmoreland, about 1 hour northeast of Nashville in Sumner County, in the state's northern border with Kentucky.

The ride was pleasant.  We drove through open land and rolling hills.  There were no large towns or malls, just a quiet country setting.

We drove on a narrow country back road to the conservation cemetery.  There was no sign, just a gravel parking area and a wood fence (as shown in the heading photograph.)  The site chosen for my husband's burial was in a wooden area, close to a trail.  The funeral director told me that he had seen a 10-point buck there that morning - my husband would have liked that.  Motor vehicles are not allowed and there are no roads, just rugged paths.  Hiking up the trail we did not pass rows of tombstones, soaring monuments, or plastic flowers as in the standard cemeteries.  We read poems, listened to specially selected music pieces and songs, and then my husband was laid to rest.  Men and children shoveled the dirt back and plants were returned.  It was a simple burial like they used to have in the old west in days of yore.  In this conservation cemetery native stones from the property can act as grave marker, although a GPS tracking device can pinpoint the location of each grave space.

I was still disoriented by my husband's sudden transition.  It seemed that just a few days had passed since he was in the assisted living gardens watching our grandchildren play.  Below is such a picture and also one from last March in a Nashville park.

Everything had happened so quickly.  My head tells me that as hard as it is, going in his sleep is better than having suffered two or three more years from this awful disease; now he is free.  The day before he passed, on Sunday October 7th, I was next to him playing the music he liked on my cell phone.  The next morning, he was gone.  I remember we listened to some Chopin music as in the video attached below.  Now I'll keep listening to his favorite music, alone.

 The song is ended

But the melody lingers on

You and the song are gone

But the melody lingers on ...

 Irving Berlin (Russian-American composer 1888-1989) 

  

 

L'Hermione, historic French frigate, in Baltimore

The French war frigate L'Hermione took the Marquis de la Fayette in 1780 for his second trip to the United States.  Lafayette had first come to the USA in 1777, aged 19 years old, against the wishes of the French Government.  Wounded, he returned to France in 1778.  But he longed to return to fight with the American War of Independence.  He lobbied French King Louis XVI for two years.  Finally winning the king's support Lafayette returned on board L'Hermione arriving in Boston on 28 April 1780.  Below are paintings of Lafayette and L'Hermione by Auguste-Louis de Rossel de Cercy, French, 1736-1804.

About 20 years ago, a small group of people dreamed of building an exact replica of General Lafayette's 18th century ship.  They assembled in Rochefort, France (the same city where the first Hermione was built) craftsmen/women from all over the world who used 18th century ship-building techniques to build this authentic Tall Ship replica - the first and largest one built in the last 150 years.  They used 2,000 oak trees from French forests for the 400,000 hand-sculpted pieces for the hull.  One ton of oakum for caulking was utilized.  Many of these techniques had to be re-invented and forge re-kindled including old-style manufacture of 26 cannons for the battery deck and 8 cannons for the quarter-deck.  By 2011 three million people had donated funds to support this new Hermione. (Photos courtesy L'Hermione Association.)  Please click on collage twice to enlarge and read better.

To re-affirm the historic friendship between the United States and France it was decided that L'Hermione's first voyage would be across the Atlantic to the US.  In mid-April 2015 L'Hermione sailed the 3,819 miles (6.146.08 km) from Rochefort, France to Yorktown, Virginia.  I followed its departure on the French Internet.  (Photos courtesy L'Hermione Assoc.)

Our 48th wedding anniversary was on 17 June 2015. I noticed that L'Hermione would arrive in Baltimore Harbor on the 19th of June.  After a quick check with airlines I found some flights on sale from Atlanta to Baltimore.  Our trip to Baltimore on June 18th was the anniversary present to ourselves.  On June 19th we were on Baltimore harbor.  To say I was beyond excited to visit this amazing historic ship would be an understatement! Below is a picture of an information panel that was hanging on L'Hermione.

In Baltimore the visit of the ship was free to the public (in other ports admission tickets had to be purchased,) starting at 11:00 am, based on a "first come, first served" basis.  My husband joined people waiting in line to visit the ship.  I went toward a group of people standing and watching the welcoming ceremony that had already started.  The French national anthem "La Marseillaise" was being sung and I joined the singing, then the Star Spangled Banner was sung by a lady in period costume.  I was behind several person and could not see very well.  There were chairs in front for the VIPs and a lady going toward the chairs told me that a seat was vacant in the front row and to go ahead there.  So I did.  I had then a perfect view of the ceremony.  There were remarks made by several dignitaries:  the Deputy Mayor of Baltimore, Colin Tarbert, followed by US Senator from Maryland, Ben Cardin (shown below,) followed by the French Naval Attache, the US Navy Commanding Officer and more.

The VIPs were first to visit the ship.  While we waited, the ship crew sang some period French shanties.

It was our turn then to board the frigate L'Hermione, also called The Frigate of Freedom.  We could only visit the top deck.  I took many pictures of course (actually about 350.)  I had never been on a tall ship before and loved looking at everything - the ropes, the canons, ect.

Crew members, wearing period 18th century sailor clothes, explained life on ship.

Looking up, the mast seemed so tall.  Then looking down I could see the 8 canons on the quarter-deck.  A visitor (?) was playing his guitar next to a Hermione lifeboat.

A French company made the cannons.  It took almost four tons of molten metal to 1,600 degrees Celsius - or 2,912 degrees Fahrenheit.  The guns weigh a total of 45 tons of cast iron, a weigh that helps to balance the ship.

After our visit of the museum ship we went back down dockside and visited the Traveling Exhibit.  It is a photographic panel display of Lafayette's role in the American Revolution and the building of L'Hermione replica.

I learned there that the Oneida Nation, a Native American tribe, were precious allies of Lafayette during the 1778 battles and kept ties of friendship with the French and the Marquis de la Fayette for years.  The Oneida called Lafayette "Kayewla" (The Great Warriaor.)  The Hermione next stop was in Philadelphia and Ray Halbritter of the Oneida Nation came to the welcoming ceremony.  He is in the picture below with Benedict Donnelly, President of  L'Hermione La Fayette Association (courtesy L'Hermione Assoc.)

A video was showing the building of L'Hermione's replica in Rochefort.  I took several pictures from it.  (Don't forget to click on collage to enlarge and see better.)

We came to Baltimore from Thursday 18 June, 2015, through Sunday 21 - L'Hermione was staying in Baltimore Inner Harbor until Tuesday 23rd.  There were many educational and cultural activities and events pier-side and beyond during those days - we could see just a few of them.  There were demonstrations of sail making, spinning and weaving, shipboard cooking, small guns demonstration, rope making and more by period clothes re-enactors.  The two fellows sitting below - one is from Rochefort, France and the other from Quebec, Canada.

A re-enactor from the Fixed Regiment of Spanish Louisiana (active from 1769 to 1821) explained the Hispanic involvement in the Revolutionary War and the military and financial support they provided.  It is a part of history not well known - you can read about it on their website here. 

It was a very warm and humid day.  We decided to take a rest and went up to a second-floor Spanish restaurant name La Tasca.  The waterfront patio dining, next to the harbor, was perfect to keep watching the activity around L'Hermione, berthed just a few feet away.  After a salad "Ensalada de aguacante" - shrimp and sliced avocado served over mixed greens with an avocado vinaigrette, we ordered tapas - my husband had "Mejillones con chorizo" - fresh sauteed mussels, chorizo in a ginger broth.  I had "Calamares a la Andaluza" - fried squid, in lemon aioli.  Both were delicious.  For dessert my husband had "Trufa de chocolate" - a decadent dark chocolate truffle croquant topped with traditional vanilla ice cream.. I had "Compota con helado" - dried fruits: cranberries, apricots, raisins, prunes, mango and pineapple sauteed in oloroso wine, with cinnamon ice cream.  Yum!

Well rested and fed, we returned to the Inner Harbor and witnessed a cannon firing demonstration.

Most of our time in Baltimore was spent around the Inner Harbor.  I had been to Baltimore three times before - when I first came to the US I spent several days visiting my English pen pal who lived there.  Another time we came to stay a week with our youngest daughter who was getting her Master's Degree at Jones Hopkins University, then a few years ago, another week to babysit our two grandsons while our daughter and son-in-law were attending a medical seminar - so we had seen many of the main sights there.  We did return to eat in a restaurant in Little Italy - and I'll have posts on all this later on.  But this visit was to see the French frigate replica of L'Hermione - and we had a great time with the ship and all the activities.

I just wished we could have traveled to New York City this past week-end when the Hermione was there for the 4th of July.  The French Minister Segolene Royal as well as the Mayor of Rochefort, Herve Blanche, made speeches.  An evening of dance and music was performed by the Orchestra des Champs-Elysees of Paris.  The Hermione, joined by 300 ships, took part in the People's Parade with a sail-by Salute past the Statue of Liberty.  (Photos credits: Abaca, GeWoessner and L'Hermione Assoc.)

L'Hermione will go up the coast to Boston, Castine (Maine,) Lunenburg (Nova Scotia - Canada) and St. Pierre et Miquelon (France in No. America) and then will return to mainland France.  But there are some good news:  I just read on an online French magazine that there are definite plans for L'Hermione to return to the US around 2018-2019 and stopping in North Carolina, Charleston, Savannah, Jacksonville, Miami, Key West, Tampa, Pensacola, Mobile and New Orleans up to Lafayette in Louisiana.  The Tour de France also just started - life is good!  I'll end up with a beautiful rendition of L'Hermione drawn by my friend in New York City of the blog "Bowsprite."  Please visit her there.

Post pre-programmed.

County Fair in Chickamauga, Georgia

 Earlier this past September my husband and I spent 10 days at our daughter and son-in-law's house in Tennessee while they attended a conference in Boston.  We stayed with the grandchildren.  It was fun being with them.  The two oldest 7 and 5 years old went to school but the youngest, 3 years old, stayed with us during the day.  The youngest baby, 1 1/2 years old, had gone to Boston with her parents.  My husband had a great time listening to his little grandson's tales.  Below are the two au-pair yound ladies wearing Boston tee-shirts.  On the left is the au-pair from China and on the right the French au-pair from New Caledonia.  All the grandchildren are learning Chinese, and can already speak a little.

Coming back from our earlier visit to Tennessee in mid-August, I drove on little country roads along the freeway and we went in a bakery which I showed on my post Local Food in Appalachian Hills of August 18, 2014 - click here if you have not seen it.  This time I drove down the freeway from Nashville and just before Chattanooga took my usual detour via the Chattahoochee National Forest.  There were many signs advertizing a county fair.  Since it was still early on Sunday, we decided to have a look at the fair.  It seems we drove a long way before arriving there.  Below, top map, shows the route from Brentwood, below Nashville, to my usual turn before Chattanooga.  The bottom map shows, in blue, the route to the fair and in maroon the route I usually use to get back to the I-75 freeway; so it was a big detour.  (click on collage to enlarge.)

Since we came back home I have done a bit of reading about Walker County and Mountain Cove Farms, the location for this fair, the first one ever.

Walker County, Georgia, borders the state of Tennessee.  It was created from land seized from the native Cherokee Indians and divided, in 1832, among white settlers through a land lottery.  The Cherokees were herded away on the infamous Trail of Tears.  (I wrote about this in my post of July 26, 2009 "Staying at the Cherokee Indian Reservation" click here to see it.)  In 1836, the county seat town was named Lafayette, in honor of the French Marquis.  One major tourist attraction in this county is Chickamauga Battlefield National Park, the oldest and largest military park in the US.  We visited the park a couple of years ago and I still have to write a post on it.  In 1863, during the Civil War, 34,000 Union and Confederate soldiers died in the Battle of Chickamauga - it is considered the second bloodiest of the war.  The back roads that took us to the fair were curvy, narrow and very picturesque.  We were in a valley with mountains on both sides - Lookout Mountain, on the Tennessee side and Pigeon Mountain on the Georgia side.  I wished to stop many times to take pictures but with the narrow roads it was not easy.  There was an abundance of green color - no hint of fall coming yet.

The valley is called McLemore Cove after Robert and John McLemore, who were the sons of a Cherokee mother and a white trader.  In 1994 the cove was listed in the National Register of Historic Places for periods of significance dating from 1825 to 1949.  It did serve also as a temporary encampment for 15,000 Union troops during the Civil War.  It is one of the most intact rural landscape in Georgia, and at 50,141 acres, the largest historic district in the state.  It felt like driving in another era as there were very few new buildings but mostly historic houses, barns, clapboard churches, shady country lanes, rolling pastures, lush forested slopes, ancient red cedar trees and cattle grazing behind barbed wire fences.  The fair was held at the historic Mountain Cove Farms.

In mid-2000 the McLemore Cove property, including the historic farm and its land were going to be sold to developers and subdivided, but in 2008 the Walker County Commissioner persuaded the State of Georgia to partner with the county and the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation (early president of Coca-Cola) to acquire the farm and land to protect it.  Walker County has made extensive renovations to the main house, barns, and the 1947 workers' cabins (which can be rented.)  There is also a country store, a restaurant and the Manor House for special events.  We drove by these when we left the fair but did not stop - we will have to return another time.

We parked our vehicle then took a small minibus to the fair floor.  There, a small carnival with rides was set up near the road.  But we did not stop and took a ride up a steep hill to the fair.  A pick-up with a trailer filled with bales of hay provided the ride.  You can see the minibus on the top left hand picture below.

From the top of this hill the vista around us was very pastoral - so peaceful and rustic.

The pick-up transportation went further to another building on the farm where some of the animals had been judged earlier.  We stayed by the big show barn and I took pictures of the valley below.

This large white barn is called the "Show Barn" because between 1947 and 1967, stock shows took place there.  Cattle ranchers competed for blue ribbons for their Hereford cattle.  On Labor Day weekends it was the site of the annual Southeastern Rodeo.

Now, prize winning vegetables were shown inside the show barn, as well as baked goods and quilts.

An apiarist (beekeeper) had an exhibit showing how honey is collected.  He also gave free samples of his honey.

Maggie, the Mayfield cow, was guarding the grounds outside the barn.  If Mayfield had been giving free ice-cream samples, I did not see them - must have been earlier in the fair.

After looking at Maggie, the fiberglass bovine, we walked toward a flesh and blood one.  This was a 5 years old prize winning Texas Longhorn cow.  It weighed 1750 lbs (784 ks) and its horns extended to 7 feet wide (2 m 134.)  Its owner let little children sit on the cow for picture taking.  Behind, in a pen, was another beautiful Longhorn.

Another pen had a pretty alpaca - a domesticated species of camelid (such as camels and llamas.) Its owner, Susan B. Darling of the "Little Darlings Alpacas" ranch also showed some knitted items made with the alpaca wool.

Alpacas have been domesticated for thousands of years and originate from the Andes Mountain Range of South America.  Alpacas are warm, clean and fuzzy little animals.  They come in 22 natural colors and their soft wool is easily died into lovely colors.  If I had more land - and stayed home - I certainly would obtain one or two alpacas as pets.

Then we walked around, looking at all the exhibits and booths.  Even though I still have so much homemade jam, I could not resist one type I did not make this year - pear.

Music was in the air - so we walked toward it.  It was the Dennis Brown and Dr. Ted Scoggins Band.  Dr. Scoggins is a family doctor in nearby Lafayette.  For a while it looked as it might rain but the clouds passed us by.  The local television station was filming the band as well.

We left the fair and drove up and down the mountain and winding roads before being back on the valley floor again.  The landscape was certainly bucolic and tranquil - no cars behind or ahead of us.

At the end of a road shaded by old trees we came to a large open space, with a lake in the background.  A wood sign announced that this was the Crockford-Pigeon Mountain Wildlife Management Area.  The late Jack Crockford was a friend and colleague at work of my husband.  This area is not visited very much.  It has miles of hiking trails, waterfalls, fishing, horseback riding, rock climbing and many caves.

We then drove by some cows peacefully grazing in a field covered with yellow wildflowers.  Luckily there was on old church across the field, so I briefly parked there to take photos.  The church, Mt. Olive, was established in 1887.

I photographed the cows who did not mind me at all.  I could have stayed there a long time, but we had to drive back home.

We stopped on the way in a small country barbecue restaurant and shared a small meal (ribs, fried sweet potatoes and okras, peach cobbler,) and enjoyed reading the signs on the wall.

The next morning we saw that our potted plants had not suffered during our absence.  They looked very healthy.  A purple flowered plant had grown tremendously.  We bought it as a tiny green plant, without a tag.  Now the flowers are lovely, but we do not know what type of plant it is.  Anyone knows?