Cheekwood & Belle Meade Plantation

No loud neighbors last night made sleeping very good and we awoke around 6 am.  The Loveless Café leftovers from last night made for a good breakfast this morning so we could get on the road by 9 am.

Our first stop for the day was Cheekwood Art and Gardens.  The volunteers in the grounds were very helpful in planning our walk around the grounds.  We learned that Cheekwood was the home of an early investor in Maxwell House Coffee that originated at the Maxwell House Hotel here in Nashville.  The estate was named for Mr. Leslie Cheek and his wife whose maiden name was Mabel Wood.  Cheek sold his interest in Maxwell House Coffee to Postum (General Foods) for stock holdings.  In the early 1930s, Cheek traded his Postum stock for stock in IBM.

The architecture of Cheekwood is such that the buildings blend with the landscape.  The mansion blends with the rolling topography of the area.  There are a variety of gardens from the Japanese gardens, to herb gardens, to perennials to wildflowers.  The area is large and has a lot of plant varieties but there was limited signage so we had difficulty identifying many of the plants.  There was a number of interesting sculptures along the many walking paths that cut through the property.  The mansion was being redecorated so we were unable to see many of the inside exhibits.  Since the day was heating up to the mid 80s, we were all ready for lunch and a cool drink so we found a nearby Subway and had a nice meal.

After lunch we visited Belle Meade Plantation nearby.  In the late 1800s the plantation was over 5400 acres and raised some of the world’s finest thoroughbred racehorses.  All horses entered in the Kentucky Derby in the recent past can trace their ancestry back to Belle Meade.  We learned that the championship bloodlines go back to a stud named Iroquois who was the pride of Belle Meade.  In the early 1900s, the plantation fell on hard times and the Jackson family (no relation to Andrew Jackson) had to sell off the plantation in sections to raise money.  The decline in the popularity of horseracing and the decline in the stock market both contributed to the demise of Belle Meade.  Today, the plantation is held by a nonprofit agency, The Association for the Preservation of Tennessee's Antiquities, who conducts tours and makes wine to provide for the upkeep the plantation’s remaining 30 acres.  Our guide was excellent and gave us an excellent tour of the mansion with the living quarters, servant areas and supporting structures.  We finished our tour by enjoying a sample of four wines made at Belle Meade Winery today; white, muscadine, red and blackberry.  All the wines were good but Emily and Steve liked the muscadine wine but Mary liked the blackberry best.  After the wine tasting, we walked through the slave and servant cabins and the dairy on the grounds before driving back to the Knight’s Inn to rest before going to dinner.

We drove to Mary’s Aunt Mary Anna’s home for dinner.  She prepared a delicious ham with scalloped potatoes, asparagus and mixed fresh fruit.  For dessert, we had homemade chocolate pudding with fresh raspberries which was excellent.  After dinner, we looked at photos and shared stories.  It was a very nice evening.
After leaving her house, we drove past the former home of the late Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash who were their neighbors.  We stopped for gas before we got on the highway and were pleased to get it for $3.13 per gallon in contrast to the $3.69 that is the going price back home in West Virginia.

We plan to rise early on Wednesday morning and drive to Lynchburg to tour Jack Daniels and George Dickel Distilleries before returning home on Wednesday afternoon.

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