Success in Savannah!

7:50 a.m., local time, I'm leaving Nashville, Tennessee, USA!  A few snowflakes are twirling around but it is cold - 34 degrees, and I'm on Interstate-40 West.  After a few miles out in the country, the snow is getting serious.  I have to take off the 'cruise control' on my Camry to be safe; the roads look wet.  I hope it stops snowing before I get to Savannah!  I'd hate to have to look for graves under snow!

Here are some interesting names of places that caught my fancy along the road south: Exit 172: Dickson, the 'attraction' sign shows the "Dickson Sewing Store - Sewing Classes."  I've never seen a sewing store on one of these signs before!  Exit 148: Grinder Switch Winery. Exit 147: a really long bridge over a small river, the Duck River.  Exit 143: Mouse Tail State Park.  Exit 137: Cuba Landing.  A very long bridge over the Tennessee River/Kentucky Lake: very big and beautiful.  Exit 133: Bird Song Road.  Now I have to turn off I-40W onto Kentucky 69 South.  You see so much more on these two-lane roads!  I just passed a trailer painted with white and black zebra stripes.  Passed Cub Creek.  I love all the political signs: "Michael Smith for Mayor" ??mayor of what??  Passed through the town of Parsons in Decatur County.  My Aunt Mildred and Uncle Jess got married in Decatur County!  There are hardly any cars on the road here but me.

I'm looking for some red soil around here.  I remember very dark red soil here when I was a teenager.  There's some orange soil south of Parsons.  Passed Rushing Creek and Green Branch Road.  I'm very amazed by the lack of traffic on Kentucky 69 South.  I saw three chickens beside the road.  Then they flew off as I approached and I noticed there was a dead animal.  Guess they were vultures!  Passed Wheat Store Road.  There's a long bridge over the Tennessee River; this river is not as wide as the Ohio River but is a good-sized river.  At the other end of the bridge is Hardin County!  Wheeeeeeeeeee! I'm here!

I pass a sign for "New Harmony Baptist Church."  Yes!  My Grandpa Reuben's first wife, Ida, is buried in the New Harmony Cemetery; he may be there also.  I must turn off and see if the cemetery is there.  After a few winding miles in the boonies (country!), I find it!!  What a thrill!

New Harmony Cemetery, close to Savannah, Tennessee, March 25, 2014.

New Harmony Baptist Church, March 25, 2014

View of New Harmony Cemetery

It is extremely windy and cold!  I'm glad I brought my winter coat.  The cemetery is not large so I walk around all the old graves and see no signs of my relatives' graves.  Perhaps theirs were some of the ones that were so worn that the markers were unreadable.  Well, I tried!

Following the road around, it turns into a gravel/dirt road, super-narrow.  I hope I don't meet a car or truck coming the other way!  There were two logging operations with big trucks full of logs.  The road is really in the country!  It is so beautiful here.  In full bloom are vibrant yellow forsythias, cloudy white trees, clumps of yellow daffodils, some red bushes, and one tall weeping willow tree.  I see a field with long-horn cattle.  The road is very hilly and winding.  I'm glad it's not raining - it might be impassible.

Now I'm back on a main highway. The country is quite hilly.  The roads follow the crest of the hills.  I pass Moose Lodge Road and Turkey Creek then Horse Creek.  I reach Savannah, Tennessee! There's a sign, "Savannah, the Catfish Capital of the World."

My first stop is the Hardin County Library.  Perhaps they will have records of other cemeteries, graves, and street addresses of my relatives.  It is a new, very nice library.  I buy a "Friends of Hardin County Library Cookbook."  The librarians are very friendly and helpful.  Connie is responsible for genealogy.  We go through several books of family names with the corresponding cemeteries compiled by the local historical society.  None of my people are listed.  Connie suggests I go to the "Shackelford Funeral Home" - "They are the only funeral home in this area."

The large Shackelford Funeral Home.

The staff at the funeral home were friendly, efficient and helpful.  They quickly found three of the four relatives' graves that I was looking for.  They printed out the information and gave me driving directions to the cemeteries.  And then they gave me a business card and advised, "If you get lost, just give us a call."

Next, I need to find the motel arranged for by my brother, Don in Counce, Tennessee.  He, his wife, Kathleen, and I will meet there tonight and plan our strategy for tomorrow.  On the way, I pass the Pickwick Dam over the Tennessee River.  The dam is immense and impressive!  On the road to the motel I notice a sign, "Mississippi border - 5 miles."  We are really in extreme southern Tennessee!

Later, Kathleen, Don and I arrive at the motel and quickly decide there's enough time to try to find the small town of Saltillo, Tennessee.  How small?  303 people.  That is small!  We wander a bit around the countryside but finally find Saltillo.  It is the place where my dad grew up, on the Tennessee River.

I didn't recognize this small town, not having seen it since I was a teenager!

Saltillo "Landing": a place where the riverboats used to tie up when the river was the most common means of travel.

This is the former one-room schoolhouse where our dad went to elementary school.  Note the bell in the front.

After the thrill of finding Saltillo, the three of us went back through Savannah and over the Pickwick Dam again to the motel.  Tomorrow is another day!