More Caching Around Nashville 4/28/2008

We started out this morning driving to 2 virtual caches in Hermitage, TN. The first was at Clover Bottom Mansion came to be owned by Dr. James Hoggatt, who built the antebellum home in 1858 on land inherited from his father, Capt. John Hoggatt, a Revolutionary War soldier. Apparently, the custom was to give land to the soldiers to repay them for their role in the Revolutionary War. This fine Italian villa style home is centered in an area of local historical significance.Social life at Clover Bottom revolved around church, parties, and the race track; not necessarily in that order. Now horse racing was serious business, and no where on earth did appreciation for the sport transcend those of the Clover Bottom folk. Anthony Clopton and his neighbors were members of the Clover Bottom Jockey Club, the hub of Tennessee horse racing for many years. Among its members was one Andrew Jackson. General Jackson was particularly devoted to the “sport of Kings,” and never missed an opportunity to match his renowned horses against all comers. The events surrounding the races of March 3, 1806 proved not only to be a rich source of gossip for the inhabitants for months, but continues to engage the interest of historians and the imagination of writers.
Then it was down the road to an old cemetery behind the local YMCA for a virtual cache that had to do with one of the grave markers. The Grave marker was for John Hoggatt who commanded a company in the Revolutionary War.
Then we had lot of easy Park & grab caches. First was at Taget in a light pole, then a ccahe in a bird house in the cache owners front yard, then a cache at the park & ride at Hermitage Depot in a light pole, then a cache on a guard rail in a small shopping center, next was a cache under a phone booth, then a cache near Andrew Jackson's home "Hermitage" in a hidey hole in a tree, another cache in a light pole in a shopping center, another light pole cache at Wally World, a cache in back of a shopping center on a guardrail, a cache at a archery range in the bushes, a cache in a cedar tree along a local street where it is rumored that Andrew Jackson planted the row of cedar trees, a cache in a local park in a stump, another Wally World near a stone wall, and then a cache in a Mexican restaurant.
Our last cache was in the town of Old Hickory at the site of The Old Hickory Powder Plant. It was destroyed on August 10, 1924 and the story is as follows. Powder, machinery and buildings valued at $28,000,000, war time prices, and at more than $2,000,000 at present valuation, were destroyed in a fire that swept clean a 40-acre tract in the heart of the Old Hickory powder plant at Jacksonville, Tenn., near here, this morning. Approximately 45,000,000 pounds of gunpowder, stored by the United States government as a war reserve were consumed in the flames. The cost of manufacturing this powder during the war, according to Maj. Oscar Krupp, United States ordnance officer in charge, was 50 cents a pound, making the total cost $22,500,000. The present market value of the powder is approximately 1 cent a pound, making the total values $450,000, Maj. Krupp said. The powder had been stored here by the United States government as a war reserve. One-half of it was to have been used in road building under the direction of the Department of Agriculture. Fifty factory buildings, owned by the Nashville Industrial Corporation, most of which were rented by the government for storage of powder, were consumed. The factory machinery was the property of the government. The fire was declared to be the greatest single loss suffered by the government since the world war, and was rated as one of the most destructive incidents in the history of government munitions plants. No one was severely injured. At sundown this afternoon it was impossible to approach the area of the fire because of the intense heat. An estimate of the loss, therefore, was impossible. All estimates were made from a distance by government and private employees. The government office and all surveillance records of powder and inventories were destroyed. Duplicates of the inventories, it is said, are on file in the War Department at Washington. By 12:30 p.m. the conflagration had exhausted itself and left nothing but a white-hot tangle of debris. No dangerous explosions occurred. Several thousands of small arms ammunition were ignited, but the bullets spent their force against the brick walls. Throughout the day firemen from the plant and the village fought the flames. At 10 a.m. two fire engines from the Nashville fire department were sent to the scene to aid in the work of fire fighting. Women of the village, mostly wives and daughters of officials, volunteered for canteen service and worked all morning. The origin of the fire is undetermined. All loss is covered by insurance. The area destroyed is exactly one-half of the entire plant. The flames for hours threatened the remainder of the plant, and the absence of high wind is believed responsible for saving it. The flames originated in solvent recovery house No. 8, in the northeast end of the powder storage area, and leaped from building to building until finally they died out. The power house, considered the most valuable building of the plant, escaped the flames by a scant 20 yards.
After we saw the site of the Powder Plant we drove through Old Hickory and saw the Old Hickory Cemetery where General Thomas Overton is buried. He served in the Revolutionary War and as a Inspector of revenue in NC. We also saw the Old Hickory Triangle which served as the commercial core of Old Hickory from the 1920's through the 1940's.
We drove on back to the RV and had lunch and I made our campground reservations for the next week and a half in TN on our way back to New York. Then I went and showered and Mom did the logs for our caches. I got back and watch a little TV and when Mom got done I finished putting our pictures on yesterdays blog, finally. This wi-fi is so bad I switched to our internet card and got it done lickety split. I stopped in the office and the owner said that they had 2 wi-fi antennas and people a mile away can get there connection. Well I don't believe it because the signal is very weak and I am continually being disconnected from the internet. She claimed it was because I had a lot of other wi-fi networks and the passwords used to access them still stored in my pc so I deleted them and guess what no change. Well its time for dinner now so we will say until tomorrow and we love you all.


Picture List:1-Old Hickory Powder Plant, 2- Old Hickory Triangle, 3-Madison College, 4-General Thomas Overton historical marker, 5,6-Old Hickory Cemetery, 7-General Thomas Overton gravestone, 7,8-Thomas Hoggatt burial site and gravestone, 9-Clover Bottom Mansion historical marker, 10-Clover Bottom Mansion, 11,12-Outbuildings at Clover Bottom Mansion.