Y’all, it is HOT. And our access to a swimming pool is gone. It is hard to want to leave the air conditioning to have summer adventures, but we managed three days of fun this week.
I couldn’t get it together till Wednesday, when we had to leave the house for an appointment anyway. Immediately thereafter, we drove downtown to visit Blount Mansion.
I vividly remember my own first encounter with this bit of Tennessee history as part of a seventh grade field trip–I was unimpressed and thought it wasn’t much of a mansion at all! This time I was absolutely enthralled with such details as panes of glass installed in 1792–the first glass windows in town–and still there to be looked through over 200 years later, and the desk on which the Tennessee Constitution was signed, and William Blount’s very own fancy shoe buckles still in their original box.
Our guide did a great job of bringing history to life for us. We spent close to two hours in the museum, the house, and the gardens, and Lorelei was NOT bored which she had come expecting to be.
Thursday we went out for ice cream for the third time this summer. (Did I mention it was hot?) Lorelei and I enjoyed it but William did not like how fast the ice cream melted in the heat (we were very messy by the end!).
Friday was really exciting. Last week William had a follow-up appointment with his oral surgeon in Oak Ridge. There was a traffic jam along our usual route back over the Clinch River to Knoxville, and Siri routed us a way I had never seen before. Along this lovely country road we spied signs for an historic cabin and cemetery, and we passed right by a park. On Friday, I told the kids we were having an adventure and we drove back to explore these places.
We discovered that Bull Run Park has a swimming area and made plans to go back and enjoy it!
Next we headed to the David Hall Cabin, and were conducted on an informative tour of this two-hundred-year old cabin and a couple more by the one of the owners, whose wife’s father was raised in it. The Baumgartners live behind the cabins on four of the original 50 acres. We thanked Mr. Baumgartner for all he and his family continue to do to preserve this history for us to enjoy and learn from!
After looking at the cabins, we went back into the woods and explored the Arnold-Hall Cemetery, where David Hall (a Revolutionary War veteran) is buried along with other members of the families. Y’all may know I love cemeteries, so that was a treat for me and the kids indulged me!
That’s it for this week. I’ll be honest–I can no longer promise to do something every single day. But I DO have some plans for next week!
For more summer fun, read on:
Why We Can’t Have a 70s Summer and What We Are Doing Instead
The Summer Fun Continues . . .
More Summer Fun
Summer Fun Update
Summer Fun: Vacation
That 70s Summer
In Which I Grow Lazy
Summer Fun: Exploring History
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