Jen's Visit

This past weekend, my niece Jenni and her two kids, Ben and Rachel, came from California for a visit. We haven’t seen them for over a year so it was a real treat. They were only here for a 4 day weekend so we spent a lot of time visiting one another rather than the sites. I think our old home movies were the hit of the visit, at least for Jenni.
We did make it to Franklin though for a look at Carnton Plantation and the downtown area. Franklin was founded in 1799 and has kept its charming downtown area with brick sidewalks and townsquare. The streets are filled with unique shops including local crafts, clothing and restaurants. We ended our walk through town with lunch at the Mellow Mushroom for delicious pizza.



Franklin During the Civil War
The Civil War brought skirmishes, spies and the burning and raiding of homes. On November 30, 1864 came the bloody and tragic Battle of Franklin, where Confederate forces charged entrenched Union soldiers near the Carter House and died by the thousands. The five hours of fighting resulted in Confederate losses of more than 6,000 and Union losses of more than 2,000.
Carnton Plantation was built by Randal McGavock in 1826. It was inherited by Randal’s son, John, who lived there with his wife Carrie. It became the largest Confederate field hospital as many wounded were brought in for treatment. This story was immortalized in Robert Hicks’ bestseller
The Widow of the South. 2 acres of land was designated a final burial place for confederate soldiers that died during that battle.