Cold Weather Headed Our Way!

 

Trip Day:	210	Latitude:	36° 30.00 ' N	Locks Today:	0
Miles Today:	34	Longitude:	087°48.28 ' W	Locks Total:	95
Total Miles:	4,422	Location:	Dover Island Anchorage

We moved the boat a mile down the river from the marina to the town dock in Clarksville so we could explore the area.  The city, named in honor of the Revolutionary War hero George Rogers Clark, was founded in 1784.  In 1887, this area was the nation’s second largest tobacco market.  There are some amazing buildings in this town!  The Historical Museum was built in 1898 as a U.S. Post Office and Customs House.  It had so many architectural points of interest it was hard to see the building as anything but a sum of its parts; Romanesque arches, Italian ornamentation, and Gothic copper eagles on the roof. 

 

 

 

The 1999 F3 tornado struck the heart of downtown    Clarksville destroying dozens of historic buildings.  The Montgomery County Courthouse dating back to 1878 was severely damaged.  Its exterior was restored and the interior rebuilt.  It was a magnificent building which was difficult to capture because of its massive size. 

 

 

The  town was quite charming, very clean and probably warranted more time than we were able to give. 

For Civil War buffs,  after the surrender of Fort Donelson in 1862, Union gunboats and troops from General Ulysses S. Grant’s army occupied Fort Clark here.  In 1863, after President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, 1,800 freed blacks were inducted into the army at Clarksville’s public square, forming the U.S Colored Troops. 

Looking out at the Cumberland River, it was hard to imagine iron-clad and timber-clad ships such as the USS Conestoga steaming upstream, capturing the forts, occupying the towns and confiscating the locally grown crops and resources. 

After leaving Clarksville, we had the river to ourselves, passing only one tug and a few small fishing boats.  The bright sun highlighted the fall colors, creating scenic views.  Late afternoon we anchored behind Dover Island and settled in—the prediction for tonight is a low of 37!

 

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6th - CLARKSVILLE, TN
 

Trip Day:	209	Latitude:	36°30.56 ' N	Locks Today:	1
Miles Today:	28	Longitude:	087°26.16'W	Locks Total:	95
Total Miles:	4,388	Location:	Clarksville, TN

As predicted it rained during the night bringing a cold front to the region.  We awakened to a cold, damp boat with temps in the low fifties.  We dressed warmly in layers and jackets before Ron went forward to pull up the anchor—I also had a blanket wrapped around me at the steering station.  Thank goodness the wait for Cheatham Lock was short, however, it seemed to take forever to drop the 26’, perhaps because we were the only boat in the lock.  This lock is closing for a month on Oct 16th for maintenance and repairs so any boats who ventured into Nashville have to be back through this lock next week. 

We arrived in Clarksville before noon with one purpose in mind;  find a place to watch the Gators vs LSU football game.  By the time we had settled in the marina slip and checked in at the office we had been directed to a restaurant just a short bike ride up the road.  By 1:30 we had staked our claim to a table in front of a wide-screen TV and the waitress brought us the remote since we were the only customers in that section. 
Texts were flying between Ron, our son Ron and son-in-law, Chad when scores were made and/or penalties called. The unexpected Gator victory was sweet!  We left about 7 o’clock after it was evident that the University of South Carolina had the upper hand on Georgia.  

Tomorrow we will explore the town of Clarksville.