Saturday, February 9, 2008

I Don't Know What You're Doing After Work, but I'm Going to My Fort.

So, yeah, I have a fort. Well, maybe it doesn't actually belong to me, but I found it, so that means it's mine. I was walking Aka the Fearless around the neighborhood last week, and we walked in a different direction than usual. Typically I head across 8th to Reservoir Park, and out from there, but not so last Friday. We wandered over towards Greer Stadium (where the Nashville Sounds play) off of Edghehill. Next to Greer, I spotted a grassy park, so I walked towards it. Upon closer inspection, I learn it is a historical site: the site of Fort Negley.
This is what the layout shape of Fort Negley looks like from overhead.
This is Seamus & I returning to our fort, this time with camera in hand and log in mouth.
"The guns of Fort Negley, commanding 3 turnpikes to the South & Southeast, opened the Battle of Nashville, December 15, 1864. This site was selected by Capt. J.S. Morton as the key strongpoint in the Federal line around the city. The European style fort, named for Gen. James S. Negley, was built of stone, logs, earth, and railway iron.", reads one historical marker sign.



I just find the view above fascinating for the imagination; these are original stone walls from 1864 opening out to a view of new stone buildings in 2008...


When this was built, it was recognized as the largest inland stone fortress in North America. I am so happy to have stumbled across this bit of history in my own backyard. Even though it is "my" fort, I will share it with you. Seriously, it's neat. There's been a lot of restoration work done on it fairly recently: signs circle all the way around it describing construction, the layout, the battles, etc, and boardwalks run out along the fortress walls.

Seamus likes it, too, so that means it must be uber -neat.

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