Beyond the South End

(Vacation to Nashville, 1980s—Part 2)

 

A bus tour of the city and to view the stars’ homes cost $10.50 each. It could have been more enjoyable if we had not been crammed into a panel truck with windows where the best view was the roof of the vehicle. Hindsight is wonderful. So if you go, we would advise you ride with Country and Western Tours. Their new and modern vehicles are designed to accommodate sightseers.

A couple of things we learned were that Minnie Pearl had one of the biggest houses on Millionaire Row, right next door to the governor’s mansion. Found out also that she doesn’t like tourists stopping to gawk. The driver said she calls to complain every time a bus stops at her home. Other impressions were that Ronnie Milsap has an impressive house but has built a large brick fence all the way around to prevent intrusion. Waylon Jennings also has a big high fence around his house for the same reason, privacy.

Eddy Arnold protected his privacy with a $15 sign. He put his wife’s name on it and the tour guys had a hard time convincing the tourists that Eddy Arnold actually lived there. Also found out that the expansive home for the late Hank Williams, Sr., valued at $1.75 million, was sold at public auction to a Nashville businessman for $80,000.

Another tidbit given us by the driver was that after Gene Autry, the richest country star of all time, the richest entertainers living in Nashville are Eddy Arnold and Roy Acuff. Each is worth millions.

Next stop was a night out at the Stock-Yard. It was formerly an actual stockyard brokerage house which has been converted to a restaurant. They brag about curing their own beef. When we saw in the ad that free limousine service was provided we knew it was going to be expensive. It was. The medium-priced steak was $15.95. Chicken was $9.95. The meal was excellent. The service left something to be desired, and it really disturbed us when our waiter matter-of-factly asked us what kind of potato we wanted, and then we found out that they charged $1.95 extra for baked potato. We had to ask for butter, and waited a good 20 minutes for our check. The total for two—steak and chicken, including a drink apiece, was $41.80. It was good, but not that good. We will say it again, we would just as soon eat around here at the Spinnaker, Helm, Elmer’s or Peter Otts. It’s just as good, and they don’t soak you extra for a baked potato.

The Bull Pen Lounge was a bummer. We sat so far from the bandstand we might as well  have been in the parking lot. The dance floor was postage-stamp size in comparison, and the music was not one bit better than can be heard any Saturday night at Echo Hill, Rendezvous Club, or the 10-4 Diner. In fact, all the time we spent in Nashville we didn’t hear any band that was one bit better than everyone’s local favorite, the Country Wranglers from North Waldoboro.

Loretta Lynn’s Dude Ranch was not what we had expected. The Lynn mansion was a bit shabby to say the least. It needed painting, the lawn hadn’t been mowed all spring by the looks of it. The front walk was a mess. The women said the curtains were not hung properly and the windows were dirty. The ranch part of the plantation is basically a campground. If you go there, don’t expect to break bread with Loretta, she’s hardly ever there according to what we were told.

By contrast Twitty City, which was brand new last year, is sparkling. The grounds are well kept, and Conway’s 24-room mansion is immaculate. But there is not a whole heck of a lot to see there. For $5 a head, you can go through his showcase, which is a slick audio-visual presentation utilizing clips from the television movie of his life aired a year ago. The women loved it. We thought the most impressive part of the whole thing was Conway’s 1955 Thunderbird convertible which has 61 miles on it, and displayed in the showcase. Now that’s impressive. How appropriate for Conway to have a T-Bird. Get it—T-Bird, Twitty Bird, his trademark.

The automobile trip down and back from Tennessee was enjoyable. There is some beautiful countryside between here and there, including New England, Pennsylvania, New York State, West Virginia and Virginia. The rolling hills, expansive forest lands and beautiful farms of Tennessee reminded us of New England in a way. The scenery is beautiful—the only thing missing is the ocean.

The people are very friendly. We got to know the waitress at the Day’s Inn where we had breakfast every day. Sarah Smith gave us superb service, the same as we get from our own Coffee Shop’s Bev.

Sarah was friendly and helpful with directions and suggestions. She made our stay away from home a little more comfortable.

All in all it was a great trip. We would recommend it to anyone. It’s expensive, but the people are nice and friendly and ready to please you. There is one thing though—they sure do talk funny.