Coal Girl and Indians

Loretta Lynn’s Ranch, 4/26/19

After leaving SE Alabama, we headed to an RV park just SE of Huntsville near the Tennessee river and Guntersville Lake. It was lovely, but we didn’t do much … took a walk in the woods, washed the truck, etc. We then moved on to the Natchez Trace State Park in Tennessee. Located about midway between Nashville and Memphis, it is a really pretty park with lots of boating/fishing and what looks like a lot of good hiking. We didn’t get to do much hiking since we took in a couple of local attractions, the first of which was the home of the coal miners daughter, Loretta Lynn’s Ranch. Really.

Located on a beautiful chunk of land, it is a very pretty place. We saw horses grazing in a field full of yellow flowers, a somewhat cheesy simulation of a coal mine, the outside of a re-creation of her childhood home and the exterior of her mansion. We did not spend the bucks to take a tour of the houses or the 18,000 square foot museum. We wandered a bit, then took off. As a side note, our Garmin GPS seemed to like to route us down a gravel road on the way out. Interesting.

The next day we took a field trip to the Pinson Mounds State Archaeological Park. For two thousand years or so there was an advanced Indian civilization living in the midwest. Much like the Mayans did, they left behind large earthen mounds, almost certainly for ceremonial and/or astrological reasons. An excellent example of these complexes is found at the Pinson site. We wandered the museum, climbed a mound to a viewing platform on the second highest mound in the US (72 feet, the highest is near St. Louis), and took a nice walk through the grounds. It was very cool and informative and I’m glad we went.

As a side note, this was our first stop where we had no TV signal and no streaming-capable cell service, although we were able to surf/get email as long as we were patient. Hey, we’re retired and in no hurry. We spent several pleasant evenings reading and being mellow. How old school.