Belle Meade

This is the front of the mansion on the Belle Meade Plantation on the SW side of Nashville (I think?). The family that lived here had the name Harding, but they weren't related to President Harding. The daughters married two Jackson sons, but they weren't related to Andrew Jackson. So, a lot of familiar names that don't do any good.

Jaclyn and I went through the mansion tour, which lasted about 40 minutes. One interesting thing was that they used tulip poplar wood in construction, but it didn't look rich enough for their taste and social status. So, they brough in a guy who faux painted wood grain on all the doors and trim.

What Belle Meade is famous for is thoroughbred horse breeding. They said that a lot of times, all of the horses entered in the Kentucky Derby (I think that's the right race - ask Jaclyn!) were from the Belle Meade bloodlines. Seabiscuit is from Belle Meade blood.

This is looking out from where the mausoleum is. We couldn't tell if anyone was actually buried in there. The path and all of the big hardwoods were very pretty.

We are masters of self-portraits. A well-placed stump made a good tripod for this one. We're sitting on the porch of the building the Hardings lived in while they built the mansion.

The little garden behind the cabin had some nice flowers in it for taking pictures of bees and butterflies.

Here is one of the bees!