From my earliest memories, I can vividly recall my mother sitting and writing Christmas letters and notes to tuck into the cards she sent to friends and family every year. She spent days picking out exactly the right card for each one on her list and penning each one a sweet personalized note. In her latter years, when writing so many personal letters by hand became hard, I typed up mother’s Christmas letter and duplicated it for her to put into her cards. But, still, she often added personal messages to each card anyway. Christmas, to my mother, was the time to make personal contact with all those she loved.

Coming from that legacy, it’s no surprise that I, too, began to create and send personal Christmas cards and letters after J.L. and I married, with each letter and card filled with handwritten notes, family news, and photos. Early cards I sent were often hand-drawn,  like the two cards duplicated here. The blue card at left with the black and white drawing shows J.L. and I rocking in two old rocking chairs—and as you can see by the bump on my belly, we were expecting our first child. I drew the happy sleigh on the right many years later—when our family had expanded to four. It shows J.L., Max, Kate, and myself tucked into the seats of the sleigh. Inside this card was a poem I wrote starting with these lines: “Dashing through the year … Where did the months all go? It seems like yesterday, I wrote to you before!” I guess that was my creative writing streak surfacing even then!!…ha,ha.

The “photo” years of the children and their news filled most all of our Christmas cards in the years when when they were growing up. I wrote personal letters in my cards through those years, too, tucking in photos of first Max, when small, and then of Max and Kate together over the years to follow. I get cards from our families and friends like these now every Christmas, with photos of children and grandchildren tucked inside. I think we all love our children and want to share the memories of their lives with others.

Growing busier with work and family as the years passed, I began to write a Christmas letter every year I could duplicate in quantity and tuck inside my cards. These letters chronicled the busy events and news of our lives and family during the year—graduations, new jobs, vacations, special events celebrated, and occasionally sorrows. I usually printed these Christmas letters on colorful holiday stationery but others I created in black and white, many with half-tone photos included.

After the children left home to begin lives of their own, J.L. and I began new hobbies and activities. We finally had more free time and more “back to the two of us” time again. We started hiking and wrote a hiking book. I fell in love with the Smoky Mountains in a new way and began to write novels set around the mountains. J.L., busy with his business publishing fishing and hunting guide magazines and selling sports products, and myself teaching college, often eight to nine classes a year, didn’t leave as much time for Christmas letters. Yet, most years I somehow found time to write them anyway. It just didn’t seem like Christmas without them. Christmas letters had become a tradition by then, and loved holiday traditions are hard to leave behind. Becoming more “computer savvy” in those years, I began to create photos cards for the holidays. I tucked these into every Christmas card or sometimes sent them instead of a Christmas card.

Yesterday and today, I addressed all my Christmas cards for 2018. They are stamped and ready to drop into the mail now. This year I didn’t write a lengthy Christmas letter or even a short one. Our lives, and the news of our 2018 year, are much the same as our news of last year … traveling to events and book signings, speaking to groups, attending regional festivals and literary conferences, and working on more books. J.L. said we should simply write: “Christmas Letter Ditto From Last Year.”…  I did, however, tuck a photo into each card as you see below. Somehow a Christmas card without a note or photo just didn’t seem complete.

Today, with so many new friends and fans all across the U.S. and abroad that J.L. and I have added to our lives as authors of fourteen books now … I decided that my old memories about Christmas letters and cards of the past would be my December blog post … and my Christmas letter to all of you. So I’m wishing every one of you a blessed and joyous Christmas season … and a prosperous and happy New Year. May God bless you … and keep you and yours in the palm of His Hand.

I also put this little holiday poem on my author Facebook page in case you missed it: ” Hello December, the last month of the year, …May you all savor holidays full of good cheer! … Hang up your wreaths, decorate your trees,… Address Christmas cards and send one to me!…  Wrap up your presents, offer them with love, …And remember all season the Gift from Above.

Embroidery is the art of decorating fabric with yarn or thread. It’s an old craft dating back to the Third Century BC and examples of embroidery work have been found in practically every culture and social class around the world. In times past, skills in embroidery, sewing, and quilting were more prized—and needed for practical reasons—but at regional arts and crafts fairs, like the one we attended this weekend, you can still see clever and artistic embroidery and needlework displayed.

My mother sewed, as did both my grandmothers who also made beautiful quilts, but none of my close family did what my grandmother termed “fancy work.” I can’t remember that anyone taught me to embroider although I learned to do so. I do recall, however, that when mother made her many trips to the fabric store for patterns, thread, and fabrics, I always headed to the sewing crafts section. I loved to study the framed embroidery examples of cross-stitch, crewel, and needlework on the walls. At some point I came home with my first simple cross-stitch kits to try out.

I learned to create those first cross-stitch and crewel embroidery projects by reading and following the instructions in the kits. The patterns stamped on tea-cloths, table-runners, pillows, handkerchiefs, and other items offered an easy way for even a child to learn. Later, I checked out books about the craft in my local library to learn more about embroidery techniques. Most of the items I made in those early years were given away as gifts, but a few years back—while cleaning out my mother’s sewing after she passed away—I found two samples of my childhood work Mother had saved, a toaster cover and a table runner. I laughed to find them. I doubt anyone would be caught dead with items like these in their homes today, but I couldn’t resist tucking them away in a drawer to keep, just as my mother did.

When I married, craft items for the home were much more popular than today. I returned to embroidery then, along with learning other craft skills of the time like tole painting, to make decorative items for my home and to give for gifts. Homemade gift items were lovingly appreciated at that time, cherished and used, and I gave away many embroidered and handcrafted items and framed paintings for holidays.

Before both my children were born, in addition to making crib blankets, baby pillows, toys, and some clothes, I stitched an embroidered sampler for each child’s room—one for Max of the ABC’s and one for Kate with her name on it. I’ve kept these for sentimental reasons like I’ve kept the children’s early drawings in their baby books.

In the continuing busy years of childrearing and working, I only occasionally did embroidery again. The projects I took on were often larger more ambitious ones like the framed rock garden I sewed one winter. I began drawing my own original pictures for embroidery projects in those years, too, making personalized Christmas stockings, pillows, or framed embroidered scenes for family members.

Looking through my old embroidery basket, while working on this blog, I found several items partially begun and unfinished, plus a set of cute kitchen items I worked in crewel, with a lot of French knots, that I always meant to frame. Also in the old basket were colorful embroidery floss and crewel yarn, my old embroidery hoop, linen fabrics, patterns, and a kit for a crewel pillow covered in pretty wildflowers I bought but never began.

I rarely have time to embroider anymore. Now my artistry skills and creativity go into writing and creating books. But I still admire the skill because I know how much time, talent, and patience it takes. I stood watching a quilter add lavish, detailed embroidery work to a lovely crazy quilt this weekend at the Mountain Makins’ Festival in Morristown, Tennessee. The old itch to pick up a needle resurfaced as I watched. I doubt, however, you’ll see me posting new embroidery pieces on my blog or Facebook pages any time soon … but my guess is you will soon encounter a new book character, skillful with a needle, who adds intricate embroidery work to her crazy quilts and crafts. Perhaps she’ll also make some colorful stitched home items like my old kitchen pieces to sell at arts and crafts festivals near her home.

In one of L.M. Montgomery’s beloved Anne of Green Gables books Anne Shirley said: “I’m so glad we live in a world where there are Octobers.” Here in Tennessee, October is an “expectant” month. We watch the trees, still green, knowing that sometime soon we will begin to see those first turning leaves and then – perhaps suddenly in late October – a rush of color … russet reds, rich oranges, and golden yellows. Oh, yes … we’re glad to live in a world where there are Octobers…. And in a world where there is the expectance of beauty and the expectance of change.

I hope that you will get out to savor the beauty of October near your home  – in whatever state you live in. In all our states, there are many beautiful city, state, and national parks to take you “up close” to nature. Don’t simply drive through a scenic park either, but get out of your car to take a walk, to smell the crisp fall air, to feel the leaves crunch under your feet, and to look up into the canopy of fall color. John Muir said: “In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks” and this is so true. When on a walk, you will feel that touch of peace, refreshment, inspiration, and inner joy that only being in God’s glorious outdoor world brings.

People often ask J.L. and I where to best enjoy the fall colors when visiting in the Great Smoky Mountains, and we have some favorite places. Although the popular Newfound Gap Road to the overlook on top of the Smokies is a lovely drive, the traffic is often so congested in the fall that we avoid it for lesser-known but equally beautiful spots. Near Gatlinburg, the Gatlinburg By-Pass offers lovely views and the Roaring Fork Nature Trail winds along a scenic one-way back-road, passing by old cabins, historic spots, and many pleasant trails. We like both of these places for color as much as the Newfound Gap Road.

To the west of the Smokies near Townsend we also avoid Cades Cove in the fall, because of the congestive traffic there, stalling constantly for tourists to take photos of any wildlife they spot along the way. Instead, we take to the back roads and love drives like the Rich Mountain Road behind Townsend that travels up to Rich Mountain Gap. It’s a winding, steep road but the foliage along the way is beautiful in fall and there are several trails you can enjoy at the top of the mountain.

Between Townsend and Maryville, Tennessee, is the 18 miles long Foothills Parkway, offering some of the most stunning autumn vistas you can find anywhere in the Smokies. On the highest point of the Parkway, a half-mile walk to Look Rock will take you to the Observation Tower for 360-degree panoramic views. Soon, too, the new extension of the Parkway will open across the mountains to Wears Valley,  bringing even more miles of scenic beauty. We love the Foothills Parkway drives. East of the Smokies, the far end of the Foothills Parkway climbs the mountain ridges between Cosby and Newport, with lovely pullovers and vistas. These Parkway roads are seldom overly crowded or congested with traffic—true treasures for Smoky Mountain visitors.

Still another beautiful spot for stunning fall color is the Cataloochee Valley on the east side of the Smokies near Maggie Valley and Waynesville, North Carolina. The road into the valley is always a glory in the fall and visitors can enjoy many fine hiking trails scattered throughout the valley. The scenic, winding Cataloochee trails, like Bradley Creek, the Cataloochee Divide, Pretty Hollow Gap, and the Boogerman Trail, offer quiet walks to enjoy the fall color up-close and personal. The Blue Ridge Parkway, rising behind Maggie Valley, and traveling across the mountain to Cherokee, NC, also has many beautiful vistas and overlooks. While on the Blue Ridge Parkway, we also like to drive the Balsam Mountain Road to the picnic area, where a short walk takes you out to the Heintooga Overlook with fabulous panoramas across the Smokies ranges.

While the Smoky Mountains offer stunning fall scenes every autumn, we often have seen equally beautiful color in Tennessee’s state parks. To find a state park near you, our new guidebook DISCOVERING TENNESSEE STATE PARKS might give you ideas for things to see and enjoy in the state parks. In town, we also have city parks with lovely fall color and nice outdoor trails. Our favorite is Ijams Nature Park. But we also enjoy simply walking the streets of pretty neighborhoods in Knoxville (like our own) where mature trees abound around old established yards. Often a few late fall flowers and mums add an extra touch of beauty to these landscapes.

So, yes, we are glad to live in a world where there are Octobers. Don’t let this beautiful month pass you by without getting out of doors to make good memories of your own.

People like collecting things … from simple inexpensive things like postcards to more precious items like Faberge eggs or rare coins. There seems to be an innate part of us that likes to find, keep, and collect things we like. Small children pick up pretty stones, leaves, or pinecones  almost instinctively to take home and put on a shelf.  On trips to the beach kids love to collect shells, which I still like to find and bring home even now. As children grow older they often begin to collect other small items and toys they can purchase inexpensively like stickers, stamps, coins, bracelets, small cars, or stuffed animals. Amateur versus serious collectors may collect items of all different kinds simply because the subjects interest them. They may not care about the monetary value of the things they collect at all.

I’m not sure of all the reasons why people collect things but I seem to remember nearly everyone in my family collecting something at one time or another. My mother collected pitchers; she liked pretty colored glassware – and she collected Fiestaware, which I inherited. She also collected buttons because she liked to sew. I remember loving to get out the metal tin boxes filled with the buttons she’d collected to play with them. My father collected tools because he liked to fix and make things. I remember he collected National Geographic Magazines, too. As an engineer, they appealed to him and he enjoyed them. Dad also had a few carved birds. He liked to whittle. I inherited two of his birds and I later picked up a few beautifully carved and painted birds over time that I love, too.

My husband J.L’s mother had many collections. She collected baskets, roosters, dolls, Depression glassware, and quilts, among many other things. I inherited one of her butterfly quilts, which I really cherish. As a boy J.L. loved baseball and collected baseball cards. I know he wishes he still had some of those cards now.

Because I played outdoors so much, I’m sure I collected many outdoor treasures in my romps around the countryside. I remember making a “leaves” book with all the different leaves I collected one summer. I collected Betsy McCall paperdolls, too, from the back of Mother’s McCall’s magazines every month. Neither of these collections cost me anything but they were fun. I also collected small character dolls I received for birthdays and Christmas over the years…. Madame Alexander dolls, Ginny dolls, Betsy McCall dolls, a Miss Revlon and a Bob doll, and some Skipper dolls. I never really got into Barbies as my daughter Kate did later. But I created a fine fantasy family with my big collection of dolls. Dad built me a dollhouse for them and I spent many happy hours decorating and making furniture for that house and inventing play stories about that family.

I soon started other collections, as did most of my school friends. I collected Nancy Drew books and, along with my friend Paula, started a collection of glass and porcelain horses. Both of us were very “horse crazy” in those schoolgirl years. Like most teens, I collected records and Teen magazines and charms for my charm bracelets. The Nancy Drew books, records, and magazines are long gone but I still have many of the horses and my old charm bracelets.

One collection I inherited was of small teacups and saucers, which were my mother’s. She’d received them from the minister and his wife she lived with during her college years at Elon College. I kept these to honor the memory of that pastor and his wife who put my mother through school and let her live with them—very special in her time, when from a family of twelve children.

As an author and avid reader, I admittedly have always collected and still collect books. Many I treasure and re-read again and again. I like the idea of collecting books because you can enjoy them over and over, and I learn from them every time I re-read them … unlike so many items I collected but have now let go. I have many old books in my collection, passed down from others, many reference and academic books, novels by favorite authors, spiritual and devotional books. I’ve also started collecting a few glass paperweights. I admit I’m drawn to them when we’re traveling or when I see special ones at a crafts fair.

J.L. and my daughter Kate are not very avid collectors but my son Max likes to collect things. He has taken many of the old collections of his youth home with him to New Orleans from our house. Some he’s sold on eBay; some he’s kept. He likes comic books and always has. He also collects vinyl records and displays old toys, action figures, and Matchbox cars in his office.

There are a lot of interesting studies about why people collect and why people collect the things they do. Although collecting can have a dark side and can become obsessive and unhealthy, for most people collecting is normal and fun—like an adventurous hobby. One of my friends, Jayne, collected small bells all her life; she enjoyed finding new ones when she traveled, and she could tell special stories about each one she had. A lot of people say they don’t collect anything and yet their closet is filled with forty pairs of shoes, their hobby room overflows with fabrics or art supplies, or their garage is piled high with sports equipment. So, probably all of us collect one thing or another whether we realize it or not.

I am not the buyer and collector I once was in my youth. Today I look around and realize I need to get rid of excess things in my home rather than adding more. Although I recognize the personal value of the small things I’ve collected and kept over the years, they will probably have little sentimental value to my children someday.Now I am more of a collector of experiences, adventures, and stories. I tend to collect “moments” now more than things. … However, I think collections tell a lot about the individuals who have them. I also think homes with collections are always more interesting than homes without them. So, should people collect? My answer is yes, and I love this quote about collecting to close: “Collect things you love, that are authentic to you, and your house becomes your story.”

In my June and July blog posts, I talked about my husband J.L.’s and my visits to the wonderful state parks in East and Middle Tennessee, and this month I walk to talk about our travels to the West Tennessee parks. We explored all the 56 state parks in Tennessee over a two-year period to write our state parks guidebook Discovering Tennessee State Parks. If you’ve missed buying it, you can pick a copy up or order it at your favorite bookstore or online at: https://www.amazon.com/Lin-Stepp/e/B0028OJMPA

Many East Tennessee parks snuggled among the hills and mountains common to that area, while Middle Tennessee parks offered a more diverse terrain. The parks in West Tennessee tend to lie on flatter land, tucked in rich forests or along lakes or rivers. With these parks, further from our East Tennessee home, we planned trips of several days at a time. On these travels we stayed mainly at park lodges as we could so we could take late evening walks to enjoy the sights and pleasures around the park grounds even after dinner. Park lodges and cabins offer discounts of several kinds, like senior and military discounts, and anyone can get on an email list from the state park office to receive discounts being offered. We used these at almost every visit to the park inns and lodges.

Our first parks visited were clustered along the Tennessee River, the Kentucky Lake, and the nearby forests and natural areas—Nathan Bedford Forrest State Park, Paris Landing, Big Cypress Tree State Park, and Natchez Trace.  Paris Landing proved to be one of our favorites … a boating, fishing, waterskiing, and swimming paradise on a gorgeous expanse of the Kentucky Lake near Tennessee’s northern border. The marinas and view of the lake here were stunning, and we enjoyed staying overnight at the lodge.

We also stayed overnight at the Pin Oak Lodge at Natchez Trace State Park. This vast park with over one thousand acres was fun to explore. It had three pretty lakes, miles of hiking and equestrian trails, beautiful campgrounds, a diverse variety of cabins, a great swim beach, and a zillion places to picnic and fish. We talked to many visitors who come back to this park year after year to vacation. I enjoyed learning, too, about the interesting history of Natchez Trace which helped to explain all the kudzu we saw—often encroaching over the hiking trails we wanted to try and nearly covering many trees.

The kudzu invasion was nothing, though, compared to the insect invasion at Pinson Mounds State Park. It is a historic, archeological site in Madison County below Jackson, but the park spreads across a low lying, rather swampy area, a haven for wetlands insects. To see this park, you have to walk on paths and raised bridges through the grounds and cypress swamp areas. Shortly into our walk, the mosquitoes and swarms of large black dragonflies found and attacked us. Youch! We spent a lot of time swatting mosquitoes, running from the dragonflies, and regretting we had not taken a bath in insect spray before setting out! So be sure to douse yourself in repellent when you visit! This park is interesting historically, and you will see Indian mounds and barrows in the 400 acres of the archeological complex. Also, the park visitor center and museum building [below], was built to look like a giant mound and  is filled with great  artifacts and exhibits.

One thing we learned about state parks, especially in West Tennessee, is that many of the visitor centers, museums, and restroom areas close long before listed closing hours. Also park maps, even when we took one with us, were often unclear, without street names and signs to help us find our way to different points. However, the West Tennessee parks had their own special interest and charm. … We loved exploring Chickasaw State Park, Big Hill Pond, and Pickwick Landing near the Mississippi border.

Pickwick Landing was our favorite of these with another beautiful lodge, cabins, two campgrounds, and a stunning marina on Pickwick Lake. As a golfer, J.L. liked the fine golf course here, too, and also the golf courses at Montgomery Bell and Paris Landing. We both loved the blue expanse of the lake, meeting us at every turn throughout the park. If you love to fish, boat, and get out on the water, this is the park for you. … In contrast to all the other parks in West Tennessee, Big Hill Pond and Big Cypress Tree Park were both very small parks with few amenities, and the Big Hill Pond showed signs of neglect with most of the trails overgrown and picnic areas poorly maintained. The draw of Big Hill is for those wishing to trek for miles into the park’s rugged, snaky backcountry trails, that wind their way through Dismal and Cypress Swamps. Visitors shouldn’t attempt either if not properly dressed for hiking and a backcountry adventure.

The last leg of our parks’ visits took us to four parks either along or not far from the Mississippi River on Tennessee’s western border—starting with T. O. Fuller near downtown Memphis and following north up the Mississippi to Meeman –Shelby Forest State Park, Fort Pillow, and ending at Reelfoot. If you are visiting historic downtown spots in Memphis like Beal Street and Elvis’s home at Graceland, T.O. Fuller has a beautiful campground to consider and the park is as clean and neat as a pin. Up river Meeman-Shelby spreads over 12,539 acres, an immense park, although not all of it is readily accessible to the public. We enjoyed hiking several of the trails there, finding immense,old growth trees with vast diameters, driving down to the river, learning the history of the area, and exploring around pretty Poplar Tree Lake.

Don’t despair in looking for Fort Pillow State Park. The route to it is a long one from the interstate, taking you back through farmlands and straight through the grounds of a prison—perhaps not a good place to stop and explore! But not far from the prison you will find the little park on a high bluff above the river, and its museum and grounds, with great cannons and rifle pits, are great spots to visit, especially for history buffs.

Reelfoot Lake State Park, which we’d always wanted to visit in the far northwest corner of Tennessee was a perfect place to end our travel journey. We were both fascinated with the history of this park and how an earthquake, causing the earth’s surface to rise and fall, had pushed a rampage of water from the Mississippi River into a now sunken area to create a huge 15,000 acres lake. Even more interesting was how many species of fish had been swept into the new lake, creating a fisherman’s paradise. The old cypress trees below the new lake’s surface didn’t die out like other trees and vegetation, either, so you will see them out in the lake—a fascinating sight.  In many places around the park, as at the visitor center, you can walk out on long boardwalks to see the lake, its submerged trees, and birds, eagles, and wildlife more closely. This park is a fun place to visit … and proved a happy ending to our trip and tour exploring all the 56 parks.

We hope you will get out to visit the many parks in Tennessee—or in your own home state—to enjoy the beauty and diversity that each holds and to have some adventures of your own. You won’t regret it! And maybe we’ll run into you there!

When J.L. and I began exploring the Middle Tennessee state parks, the only one of 26 parks in that area we’d ever visited was Fall Creek Falls State Park near Crossville. Even when we returned to that park in our journey across state, we found we’d only seen a section or two of this glorious park, missing many of its special attractions.

Working our way from east to west, the first parks we visited were in the northeast part of Middle Tennessee—Edgar Evins on the Center Hill Reservoir, the Sgt. Alvin C. York historic site near Pall Mall, Pickett CCC Memorial Park outside Jamestown, Cumberland Mountain State Park, the Cordell Hull Birthplace near Byrdstown, and Standing Stone State Park in Overton County. I think the most memorable among these were Pickett and Cumberland Mountain.

Pickett was full of surprises. None of the park descriptions we read in advance prepared us for the stunning sandstone bluffs, caves, rock bridges, and geological features we found. I remember spotting a sign for Rock House Trail as we started into the park. I talked J.L. into hiking down the trail—which looked nondescript at its beginning, hoping we might find the remains of an old rock settlers home. What we found instead were rock house bluffs towering over our heads and a narrow passageway twining along underneath them. This proved to be only the first of many similar incredible trails like this throughout the park, which often began like woodsy pathways, but then led to rocky stairs, bridges, bluffs, and other fun “finds.” In addition, the CCC museum, lake, and picnic areas around the park were scenic—and we learned this was the first park in the southeast to be listed as a dark sky viewing location, making us wish we could stay  to look for stars and constellations later that night.

Cumberland Mountain State Park, near Crossville, we remember mainly for its scenic beauty. It’s tucked around serene, picturesque Byrd Lake, and J.L. and I loved the long, arched stone bridge with seven arches across the lake built by the CCC, as well as the winding lake trails, rustic cabins, and gorgeous golf course. Near the park entrance we loved exploring the Homesteads Tower and Museum, too, and learning about the early history of this area.

Moving across state we began to hit what we later termed “The Waterfall Parks”—a series of  glorious parks with rushing cascades and tumbling falls. Among our favorites were Cummins Falls with its 75 ft curtain of water falling over a rocky bluff, Burgess Falls with its multiple waterfalls spilling over rocky ledges, all viewable from a riverside trail, and Rock Island with a glory of stunning falls scattered all around the park.

As we neared Nashville and the center of the state, J.L. and I found ourselves continually delighted and entertained by the diversity of parks we discovered. Many times, traveling down the interstate and highways around this area, we’d seen park signs but never driven back to visit them—missing so much! Surprisingly, one state park sat right in the middle of downtown Nashville, the Tennessee Bicentennial Capital Mall State Park. Even with the city skyline all around it, the park still provided an oasis of green and offered an interesting glimpse into Tennessee history.

South of Nashville, we explored parks like Tims Ford sprawled around the banks of beautiful Tims Ford Lake, Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park with its rich history and stunning waterfalls,  Mousetail Landing, and the David Crockett State Park.

Beyond Nashville we especially enjoyed our visit to Montgomery Bell State Park and spent the night at the inn looking out across Acorn Lake. This large park offered many scenic spots, historic areas – like the old Cumberland Presbyterian Church above, beautiful lakes and picnic sites, making it easy to see why the park is so popular. Nearby, we had fun visiting Dunbar Cave, Port Royal, and Johnsonville State Historic Park on the Tennessee River. This park had a great museum and many Confederate structures, old cannons, battlefields, and monuments.

Two unusual parks in Middle Tennessee each spread out over a long area, versus being on a single site. The Harpeth River State Park consisted of segments along 40 miles of the Harpeth River—and it was like a scavenger hunt finding each one. Similarly, locating the most interesting sites to visit at South Cumberland State Park had us driving sometimes 30-45 minutes between each section in this vast 25,539-acres park, spanning four counties. Our favorite spot in this park was the Stone Door area in the Savage Gulf section of the park near Beersheba Springs south of McMinnville. From the Stone Door Ranger Station off Hwy 56, we walked to Laurel Falls and then took the two-mile round trip hike to the Laurel Gulf Overlook and the Stone Door, where rocky bluffs create a deep slit, or door, between them. The views across the gorge and mountains here made a great finale to our day.

Honestly, it never dawned on J.L. and I what treasures we’d see and what wonderful times we’d have exploring the parks in Tennessee. After completing the Middle Tennessee parks, we eagerly began planning longer trips to see what we might find moving further west toward the Mississippi River. In my August blog next month I’ll talk about the parks in West Tennessee—and spotlight more memory photos, too. I hope you’ve been enjoying this summer journey around Tennessee’s parks.

If you have not picked up our guidebook DISCOVERING TENNESSEE STATE PARKS, you can order it at any bookstore near your home or find it online at Barnes & Noble or Amazon. It describes all 56 parks and is loaded with over 700 color photo illustrations. If you buy and enjoy it, please consider writing a short review about what you liked on Amazon. See you next month!