The Bells of Saint Matthew

Edition 1. Issue 13.

 

The Bells of Saint Matthew

All of us who reside in Stephens Valley made our choice, at least partially, based upon the promise of living in a pedestrian, small town environment. Of course, most of that promise is not yet realized because the town square promised to us, is still just a promise. Still, as we approach the Christmas season, some of the elements of that small town vision are already available to us. One of those features is the daily serenade of bells we hear when we are outside, just as we might hear from a prominent church steeple in a little town square. The bells we can already hear are part of the ministry of Saint Matthew Catholic Church and School – our neighbor just a short walk down Sneed Road, and we are very lucky to have them in the neighborhood.

Recently, Joel Bolen, Director of Music Ministries for Saint Matthew, sat down with The Valleyist to tell us more about the way the carillon, and its bells, helps them accomplish their mission. The campus of the church and school is stunningly beautiful. The buildings sit in the middle of a multi-acre park-like setting that is just off Sneed Road. Most of us using Sneed Road might think that a beautiful soccer field is the extent of Saint Matthew. Although the field is lovely, that is hardly where Saint Matthew Catholic Church and School ends.

On Pentecost Sunday in 2007, Saint Matthew dedicated the installation of a digital carillon, with outdoor speakers designed to enhance the mission of the church and the lives of everyone living in this valley, and what a gift they gave us. The notes of dozens of bells were sampled and stored in the digital memory of the Saint Matthew system. Nearly indistinguishable from the sound of real cast bronze bells, the carillon sounds most days, spreading happiness and certain messages to us all.

Just before 8 am, we hear several peals of a single bell indicating that Mass is about to begin. Roughly thirty minutes later we hear a cacophany of bells peal for a few minutes denoting the end of Mass. At noon we get a bigger treat. The Westminster, or Cambridge Chimes (from its place of origin, the Church of St Mary the Great, Cambridge) plays just before the carillon peals 12 strikes to mark noon, and afterward the Angelus peal is heard (three strikes of the lowest bell, repeated three times). The Angelus is a call to prayer and is intended to spread goodwill to everyone. At 3 PM we get another performance. The Westminster Chimes sound again, followed by some seasonal music. The seasonal music consists of patriotic, seasonal, or hymns, depending on the time of year. Finally, at 6 PM, we again hear the Westminster Chimes, then 6 peals of one bell to denote the time, followed by the Angelus peal and the Vespers Song.

The carillon also does some special performances related to special events at Saint Matthew. When a funeral is held at Saint Matthew, the lowest bell tolls a number of times equivalent to the age of the deceased. At Easter, the bells fall silent on Holy Thursday and remain silent until Easter Sunday. Since the carillon is digital and capable of many additional functions, a keyboard was attached to the carillon during the depth of the COVID pandemic and Mr. Bolen played the bells of the carillon manually to help us all weather that trying time. That brings us to discuss what else is possible from the Saint Matthew carillon.

Depending on where you live in SV, and when you moved into the neighborhood, it is possible that you haven’t even heard the bells discussed here. In the summer, the leaves on the trees and the warm air reduce the volume of the bells from the Saint Matthew campus. In winter, the bare trees and colder air make the bells far easier to hear. Mr. Bolen indicated that Saint Matthews would like to hear from the SV residents as to how we would like the bells to be modified. So, would we like the volume to be higher in summer so we can hear the bells better? Would we like the bells to toll more often, perhaps on the hour instead of only 8:00, noon, 3:00 and 6:00? On the first day of summer, would we like to hear Beach Boys music? Joel Bolen’s email address is jbolen@stmatthewtn.org. He suggests we let him, and the church, hear our feedback on the carillon and any changes we would like Saint Matthew to make.

When Christmas Day rolls around, try to take a moment at one of the abovementioned times to go out and live the words of the lovely Christmas Song – I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.

William Ray - Author 

The Warner Parks -- Our Neighbors to the East

Edition 1. Issue 12.

 

The Warner Parks

When John and I were living in Green Hills in the 70s, it was still a sleepy little borough on the outskirts of the rapidly expanding city of Nashville.  My job at Bryan, Pendleton, Swats and McAllister was an easy walk from home and the mall was still a small grouping of retail stores with one large department store.  When we moved to Temple Hills in the early 80s, it felt like a long commute between my office and home. No matter which route I took, I drove through or beside one of the Warner Parks each way, just as all SV residents do. In every season there was beautiful wooded land to enjoy and very little traffic during rush hour. It was years later that I actually started researching the parks and found out just how many individuals and groups were responsible for creating and preserving the roughly 4,000 acres we know today as Edwin Warner Park and Percy Warner Park.

    The history of the Warner Parks begins with The Belle Meade Plantation.  In the early 1900s it was one of the world’s great thoroughbred stud farms.  One of the Belle Meade thoroughbreds, Iroquois, became the first American born and bred horse to win the English Derby.  He is still honored annually at the Percy Warner Park’s Iroquois Steeplechase that is attended each spring by thousands of hat-wearing race fans.  Even though the plantation survived the Civil War, it fell into decline financially and was sold in 1910 to Luke Lea and the Belle Meade Land Company for residential development.  Lea’s sweeping plans to convert Belle Meade Plantation into an upscale subdivision adjacent to a country club was ambitions, but he foresaw the benefits of easy access to thousands of wooded acres to be enjoyed by the leisure class.   In 1927 Lea gave to the city of Nashville 868 acres of hilly land. It was then up to Percy Warner, as chair of the Parks and Recreation Board to develop the then unnamed park.

   Percy Warner was a well-known businessman and nature lover who always focused on providing quality recreation for as many citizens as possible.  Upon his death, the original 868 acres was named Percy Warner Park.  After his death, Percy’s brother, Edwin, joined the park board and served as chairman until his death in 1945.  Edwin oversaw the planning and execution of the labor that transformed open land into multi-use municipal park acres including the steeplechase course.  He was instrumental in procuring the Works Project Administration during World War II to help with the building of the park and was able to increase the acreage from 868 to more than 2,600 acres.

   The New Deal and the WPA provided a much-needed influx of capital and labor which meant good jobs for many Nashvillians after the Great Depression. During the next several decades the Warner Parks became a controlled natural landscape for the enjoyment of the public, adding picnic shelters, hiking trails, golf courses, riding stables and a model airplane field.  I remember many autumn hayrides through the parks as a teenager in the 60s and my children enjoyed the annual Hot Air Balloon Festival that drew crowds of enthusiasts in the 70s.  My grandchildren are fans of the hiking trails and golf courses still going strong today.  The Nature Center has become a great resource for students and teachers.

   In 1990 an innovative team called “Special Warner Action Teens” came on board to help with park maintenance. Ten young people spent the summer working on the trails and their parents paid their salaries. This concept evolved into the volunteer group, “The Friends of Warner Parks”, that has taken care of the maintenance of hiking trails and picnic areas for over thirty years, adding the Harpeth River Greenway in 2008. This 9.2 mile paved trail follows the Harpeth River running through the former Devon Farm that is now Ensworth High School.  Also added in 2013, were eight miles of mountain bike trails.

   If you would like to find out more about the Parks, Lynne Bachleda has written a book, “A History of The Warner Parks”, which covers each decade in great detail. I particularly liked her quote at the end of the preface, “How fortunate we are that Luke Lea, Percy Warner, Edwin Warner and the individuals who surrendered their long-cherished family farms made a place to feel the forest, play the fields, see the stars and come to know our souls”.

Libbey Hagewood - Author 

Pasquo Church of Christ

 Edition 1. Issue 11.

 

Pasquo Church of Christ

My last article in the “Valleyist” was on the Natchez Trace where I made reference to one of my early

relatives in Tennessee, Bryant Whitfield. I thought I would write on some other nearby landmarks for

this issue.

 

Looking around and thinking about a topic for the newsletter, I read a little on the history of the Pasquo

Church of Christ. You cannot miss the church because it is located on the corner of Highway 100 and

Pasquo Road. The Church of Christ grew out of the Restoration Movement of the early to mid-1800’s. 

The Disciples of Christ, also known as the Christian Church, were part of the same religious movement. 

These two groups divided on differences of doctrine in the mid to late 1800’s.

 

The Church of Christ consists of independent congregations that are each governed by a group of elders

selected from the individual church. They believe that the Bible is the sole source of authority for the

church and attempt to pattern their churches in a manner consistent with the first century Christians as

described in the New Testament. Their services consist of prayers, communion, sermon from the

preacher, and congregational singing. One of the more distinctive aspects is the singing is acapella

(without instruments). While this was true for many years, I know some congregations, such as the

Fourth Avenue congregation in downtown Franklin, now include song leaders with guitars and the use of

some percussion instruments. There is something to be said for acapella singing. Pat Boone went to

Lipscomb High School and was raised in the Church of Christ. His brother, Nick Boone, was a song leader

in a local congregation for many years. Ray Walker, of the Jordanaires, was a backup singer for Elvis

Presley on many of Presley’s early hits. Ray Walker was also the song leader at Madison Church of Christ

in Nashville with preacher, Ira North.

 

The Church of Christ as a group were very powerful in Nashville and Williamson County for many years.

As Nashville and the surrounding area has grown with the influx of newcomers, I believe the group’s

influence has waned, but there was a time in the early sixties where the Church even dominated local

television on Sundays. Ira North and Batsell Barett Baxter would be familiar names to my

contemporaries from around here. In the early sixties Ira North hosted a local quiz show in Nashville

called “Know Your Bible”, airing every Sunday afternoon. Remember, this was a time when there was

only one football league and one televised game per week. Eventually, the worship service at Madison

Church of Christ was aired live every Sunday with Ira North preaching and Ray Walker singing.

As stated, the Pasquo Church of Christ is an independent congregation, organized in 1901, 1902.

According to its website, the church needed a new larger facility in the 1940’s, and the present structure

was built. Mr. and Mrs. W. E. Stephens, Sr.  “made the completion of the building possible”.  While I

was raised in the Church of Christ, I have never attended a service at Pasquo. My wife and I plan to

remedy that in the near future. I am sure any of you would be welcome there and at any Church of

Christ around.

 

Pasquo Church of Christ lists on its website some of the preachers who have pastored the congregation

over the years.  I found some of those listed interesting because I knew them. One was Jimmy Dorris.

His wife and my father were first cousins.  Robert Hooper, another on the list, was a history professor at

David Lipscomb College (now Lipscomb University and affiliated with the Church of Christ). I attended

David Lipscomb College, class of 1973, and attended one of his classes.  The most interesting of those

listed was Axel Swang. He was the dean and head of the business department at Lipscomb for many

years. The school named a building for him. Doctor Swang was a CPA, and he taught the introductory

accounting classes that were required of all business majors. He was notorious for throwing either chalk

or his chalk board eraser at you, if you did not answer his questions in class correctly. I was the target

on more than one occasion. Needless to say, I did not get my degree in accounting. However, there

must be something about that field because I married one, an accountant that is, albeit she was from a

different college. I do not let her have chalk or erasers.

 

 

John Whitfield, Esquire (ret.) - Author

Native Nashvillian and a Tennessee family for many generations

The Harpeth River System

 

Edition 1. Issue 10.                             September 2022

The Harpeth River System As a resident of Williamson County and Stephens Valley, the word “Harpeth” is something we encounter many times each day. Harpeth is mostly rooted in the name of the river system that we interact with daily. The Harpeth River rises in western Rutherford County where runoff from Versailles hill accumulates. From there it runs about 120 miles before emptying into the Cumberland River near Ashland City. Before joining the Cumberland, the river passes through a number of significant historical features, like the “Narrows of the Harpeth” where Montgomery Bell built a complex feature to power his ironworks on the site. A future issue of The Valleyist will expand on this. According to Wikipedia.org, the source of the name is not really known. Some think it is from the French explorer Bernard De La Harpe, who came to the area looking for information about the territory which was claimed by France in the early 1700s. There are those who think the name came from America’s first known serial killers, the Harpe brothers. Another theory is that it sprang from the antediluvian love story of Hilpa, Harpath and Shalum. In the story, Harpath comes to an untimely end drowning in a river as he attempted to cross it, and some think that our Harpeth was the river. Whatever the source, the number of businesses, streets, and associations in the area using Harpeth in its name is astounding. Tom T. Hall even wrote a song, modifying Harpeth to Harper in the hit by Jeannie C. Riley – Harper Valley PTA, which was inspired by Harpeth Valley Elementary in Bellevue! Regardless of the heritage of its name, the Harper River System is important to us. We either cross the Harpeth, or one of its major tributaries – the West Harpeth, the Little Harpeth, or the South Harpeth, every time we leave Stephens Valley. Together, these major tributary streams are 1,000 miles long. This whole river system is un-impounded. That means there are no dams along the Harpeth River system, so it cannot be controlled to prevent flooding. It is the second largest river system in Tennessee to remain un-impounded. When flooding rains occurs in our area, the Harpeth often escapes its banks and becomes a serious impediment to our personal transportation, as the Harpeth, and its tributaries, are nearly everywhere in our corner of Tennessee. We are very lucky to have the beauty of the Harpeth River system surrounding us, but in several ways, the river is not so lucky to have us. Since the river runs right through the explosively growing city of Franklin, and meanders throughout the similarly growing Williamson County, the Harpeth faces serious challenges. The booming Franklin population extracts its drinking water from the Harpeth, and its flow is not sufficient to provide present needs, much less future demand for water (luckily, Harpeth Valley Utility District does not withdraw water from the Harpeth for our needs in SV, and we will do a future article on that). Not far downstream from where Franklin extracts water from the river, they dump the effluent from their sewage treatment plant back into the Harpeth. That is upstream from Stephens Valley. As a result, all too often in the summer low flow periods, the Harpeth fails to meet water quality standards for recreational use and for fish and aquatic life. Nearly 60% of the main river is often impaired, as well as 37% of those 1,000 miles of tributary streams. The main cause of the river’s impairment is reduced dissolved oxygen due to the high amount of nutrients – especially phosphorus – discharged into the river, encouraging the growth of oxygen depleting algal blooms. Franklin’s sewage treatment is likely the main offender here. The nutrient output of that facility is enormous, and in some summer months, the sewage plant effluent makes up 33% of the total flow in the river in the vicinity of Stephens Valley! This river situation is not caused by the SV development, and our neighborhood might well be functioning to reduce phosphorous contribution to the river system. Even though many of us are guilty of adding phosphorous fertilizer to our lawns in pursuit of extra-green beauty, and even though a lot of that phosphorous washes out and heads toward the river via Trace Creek, there are elements to the design of SV that likely cancel out much of that phosphorous. Concrete is something we have a lot of in SV. Concrete contains calcium, which has been proven to bind phosphorous. Our sidewalks, driveways, and especially our alleys which are paved with crushed limestone and concrete pavers, all act to filter the runoff and capture some phosphorous. So, though we are not particularly proactive in improving the Harpeth River system, we are passively acting to protect it. We should all be thankful for that.  William Ray - Author 

My Stephens Valley Story

 

Edition 1. Issue 9.                                 August 2022

Each of us will have our own Stephens Valley history so I will encourage the rest of you to start documenting the circumstances that brought you to Stephens Valley by sharing mine.  I guess you could say that a lost golf ball gave me my first view of Stephen’s Valley. Many years ago, Temple Hills golf course was 36 holes with a very hilly back nine that overlooked Stephen’s Valley.  You could not actually see the valley because the tree line remained very dense, but one day, an errant drive sent my ball deep into the woods.  Through the trees, I saw for the first time a beautiful green valley with a few random houses and a herd of cattle grazing in the distance. After inquiring about the area, I learned it was the Stephen’s farm and that there was a connection with country music and overalls. That did it for me. The next week was spent researching the Stephens Manufacturing Company. That lead to the discovery that they advertised on the Grand Ole Opry radio show. How could such a beautiful piece of land be right down the hill from my golf course when I never knew about it? My infatuation with Stephens Valley had begun and we noticed a few houses for sale in the area. My husband has always been a history buff, so he started researching the history of The Natchez Trace discovering that the Trail of Tears intersected the Trace very near the Stephens Farm.  Thus began our adventures exploring The Trace and finding the many spectacular scenic views. We hiked down to Jackson Falls, never imagining that one of the streets in our future neighborhood would be named for it. We were also perusing the Sunday paper in hopes that one of the houses on Natchez Bend or Pasquo Road might be something we could afford. It was the mystique of the valley you could see through the trees that kept drawing us back. Ultimately, we gave up on trying to buy a place there, but Pasquo Road remained one of our favorite spots for a Sunday afternoon drive.  In 1975, I was surprised and delighted to see that the Stephens Farm was part of the Holiday tour sponsored by the Nashville Garden Club. Of course, I was not going to miss that opportunity. The house at that time was pretty much still the original log house that remains the nucleus of the Stephens home today. Upon his father’s death, Bill Stephens inherited his family’s land in the valley. Our own Neika Stephen’s is a great resource for the history of the valley after it was purchased in 1932 for $10 an acre.  I will not steal her thunder with this meager telling of the tale, but you should get to know her if you can.  She comes in a golf cart to all the gatherings in Meriwether Park.  I learn something new every time I speak with her, like where the name of the park came from. It seems that the ruins of the Grinder House, an inn on the Old Trace where famed explorer and statesman Meriwether Lewis lost his life, can be found at mile marker 401, along with Lewis’s grave. The circumstances of his death are extremely mysterious and still being debated today. A good rainy afternoon read if you like mystery. Fast forward thirty years of my life mostly spent living on hole number 11 at Temple Hills. We watched the old nine holes that overlooked Stephens Valley get handed back to nature and eventually turned into the Timberline development. Luckily Bill Stephens had a plan for the valley which will remain the subject for future stories, but my personal journey to the neighborhood began with my daughter’s friendship with John Rochford. She mercifully offered to help us downsize and clean out. Our search for a smaller house, and a smaller yard, lead us to Stephens Valley and the accommodating arms of John Rochford and Lance Fossick. The rest is recent history, but I hope this telling has inspired you to share your own path to Stephens Valley and how you first felt the mystique. Libbey Hagewood - Author

Natchez Trace -- Our Neighbor to the West

 

Edition 1. Issue 8.                                 July 2022

 It was 1809. Nashville (Nashborough until 1784) was almost thirty years old. Bryant Whitfield needed some hard cash. The corn crop on his land around Newsome Station was good. The family had plenty to eat, plenty to feed the stock, and had ground all the corn meal the family would need. The question was what to do with the rest of the corn.  It would not keep. Everyone around had a good crop, so there was no market for the surplus. The best option was to make whiskey. It was storable, transportable, and marketable. So, Bryant started making his Tennessee whiskey at his still on his property. How to turn the whiskey into hard cash when all his neighbors had plenty of corn, meant that Bryant had to find a market for his whiskey.  New Orleans was the best market of any size easiest to reach, with “easy” being a relative term. So, Bryant and a couple of neighbors determined to build a flatboat, loaded their kegs of whiskey and launched out of Nashville on the Cumberland River. The river current would take them to the Ohio River (the current actually took them north to the Ohio), then the Ohio would take them to the Mississippi, and then the Mississippi River current would take them to New Orleans. When Bryant and his crew stopped at Natchez, they learned through conversations with other boatmen and travelers that Natchez was probably their best market. They could get their cash now. They could avoid unknown troubles along the river and the port of New Orleans. Most importantly they could get home from Natchez. Bryant and his crew knew they would never be able to go back like they came. Going against the current all that way was too difficult. So, Bryant and the crew sold their whiskey and their flatboat in Natchez and started walking home to Nashville on the Natchez Trace.    The Natchez Trace started in Natchez (before Mississippi was a state) and terminated in Nashville. It was roughly 500 miles long and if you pushed hard, you could travel the length of it in fifteen days.  The Trace was built in 1802 by the new federal government by army troops following older Indian trails and even older animal trails primarily made by bison that would migrate to Nashville which was a well visited (by animals) salt lick.

The original Natchez Trace was an important highway for the early settlers in this region. In 1938 the National Park Service started the Natchez Trace Parkway to commemorate the original Natchez Trace and finally finished the last segment that ends on Highway 100 in Pasquo, Tennessee in 1996. While the Parkway does not follow the exact original route, it does follow the general route through Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi for 445 miles. As a resident of Stephens Valley, you are only a hop, skip, and a jump from a ride and walk through some old Tennessee history, folktales, and mysteries.

The original Trace crossed lands claimed by the Choctaw and the Chickasaw tribes, and unlike the Parkway, it contained prehistoric Indian sites. Travelers would find some accommodations along the route referred to as “stands”. In fact, one of the original Trace mysteries involved Merriweather Lewis of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Folks still argue over whether Lewis was murdered or if he committed suicide when he was found dead one morning in 1809 at Grinder’s Stand in what is Lewis County today. You can see the national monument that marks the site and a reproduction of the inn at the Merriweather Lewis National Monument about 75 miles down the Natchez Trace Parkway from Nashville.

Other famous travelers of the original Trace were Aaron Burr, Andrew Jackson, and Mike Fink. General Jackson earned his nickname Old Hickory walking up the Trace with his Tennesseans in 1811 and he triumphantly walked up the Trace again after whipping the British and saving the country in 1815. The original Trace had its share of outlaws, cut-throats and land pirates, too. Some of the famous or infamous were the Harpe brothers - Micajah and Wiley, and Sam Mason.

The original Trace was instrumental in binding together what was then known as the Old Southwest. With the growth of settlements near the route like Columbia and river ports to the west like Memphis the number of travelers dropped off from the 1820s on until steamboats reduced the Trace to local traffic in the 1830s.

As stated above the Natchez Trace Parkway contains parts of the original Trace and you can stop your car and walk the original Trace where President Jackson, Merriweather Lewis and others travelled through what is now Davidson, Williamson, Hickman, Maury (that is pronounced Murray for you newcomers and Pasquo is pronounced Passco), Lewis and Wayne Counties. The Parkway has one of the most beautiful bridges in the country and that bridge crosses Highway 96 just a few miles from Highway 100. To see the real beauty of the award-winning bridge you need to approach it on Highway 96 going toward Franklin. However, you can get on the Natchez Trace Parkway at Highway 100 and ride across the bridge then get off at the Highway 96 exit and go under the bridge on Highway 96.  You might want to hurry as the bridge is undergoing some changes. I said earlier the original Trace had some mysteries and one may have involved suicide. This beautiful bridge has earned the nickname of “suicide bridge”. It seems that about forty people have chosen to make their last fling or their last trip right over the bridge. It is a long drop, but I hope the changes to try to stop jumpers do not ruin the aesthetics. 

For some reason the state decided to name a state park it built during the depression, the Natchez Trace State Park.  I think this was done to confuse people from somewhere else. The State Park is nowhere near the original Trace and has no connection to it other than both are in Tennessee. The State Park is in west Tennessee in Henderson, Carrol, and Benton Counties.  I have relatives in West Tennessee so I will not say anything bad about them misnaming a park to confuse yankees. You might also find yourself on a street in Nashville named the Natchez Trace too?

John Whitfield - Author

More on Electric Power in Stephens Valley

 

Edition 1. Issue 7.                                 June 2022

Let’s talk some more about the issues of electric power, broadband, and mobile phone service, and the reliability thereof, here in Stephens Valley. After the storm on May 21, that seems to be a very timely topic.

While we covered the general topic of how our homes receive electric power from Nashville Electric Service back in Issue 4, this electric power discussion will be more focused on our individual reliability needs.

The industry that I spent my life in is changing rapidly. The association of electric power and broadband networks produces new opportunities and capabilities. In a former life, I called the offspring of that marriage “infotricity,” and I still think that is a good name. Had this concept been pursued at the onset of Stephens Valley, it would have been a tough fight to get it implemented, but things would be a bit different in our valley. SV could have included NES’s first micro-grid. A micro-grid is a semi-autonomous segment of a larger grid, one that is capable of isolation from the main grid, and temporarily operating on its own resources. Here is how the SV micro-grid would work. At the loss of power in the NES circuit which normally feeds SV, automatic switches would isolate SV from NES and begin to provide power to SV from its distributed resources. These resources would include solar arrays and grid-battery storage. Broadband would be used to command all non-essential loads in SV homes to turn off, so that the stored energy could provide lighting, refrigeration, garage door operations, and telecommunications. The resulting reduced load profile could allow such a battery system to keep SV afloat for several hours, while no single owner would be tasked with owning and maintaining an individual system.

Of course, micro-grids are a bit more complicated than that. The developer would have to allocate some land for the solar arrays, and an arrangement would have to be created with NES to interface the grids, but the result could have been an amenity that produces benefits, both in comfort and in economics. You see, the evolving power industry could also make it possible that the power produced by the SV generation is sold to NES/TVA on all the other days when that energy is not needed by the SV residents! An amenity that the residents and the developer both have equity in could be a real asset, but it seems doubtful that such a project would interest the developer. Still, of all the options available to us for improving our electric power reliability, this would be the gold standard solution, and all of the technology to make it work already exists.

Since a community-wide solution seems unlikely and nearly impossible, there are a lot of other options available to us for protecting our own homes from extended power outages. There are tried and true solutions, like installing an individual standby generation system. While these systems work great, they are expensive and must be constantly maintained after installation. There are new options coming too. Take a look at the tsunami of new electric vehicles coming to market. These EVs will increasingly offer technology to allow the battery system in the vehicle to back feed its stored energy into the home, allowing it to function like a standby generation system when it is plugged in. The exciting thing about these is that you can also take them out and drive them! EVs are proliferating at such a rate that home builders would be very smart to go ahead and install 240-volt outlets in the garages of all new SV homes. We are all going to need them soon enough, and it is certain that the next owners of our homes will want this feature installed.

But before we go off on one of these relatively expensive solutions to electric power reliability, let’s look closely at the size of the problem we seek to solve. Since we explained the architecture of the NES grid as it relates to SV in Issue 4, we know that NES has made some significant investments in reliable delivery to SV. Although the normal feed to SV comes down a tree-infested McCrory Lane, NES has also provided a couple of redundant feeds that they can use to restore our power if those trees fall. They have also provided redundancy within SV with alternative underground cabling routes. So just exactly how likely are extended power outages in SV, and how long should be expect them to last. We’ve really got to know these givens before we choose how we are going to protect ourselves.

I’m going way out on a limb here. I am going to suggest that we ought to expect an average of five hours per year of power outages from NES. Since we all live in new, well-constructed homes, we should endure the temperature just fine, even while our HVAC is out of operation. The reasonable and low-cost steps we should all take to survive those rare outages are these:  have flashlights strategically placed and every year on the first day of spring – replace the batteries; have a battery-operated AM-FM radio and follow the annual battery replacement guideline above; buy a mobile phone backup battery/charger (around $30) and make sure it is charged up annually; and consider buying a UPS (battery) to power your WiFi router (this solution is not perfect, because even though your home WiFi router is backed up, loss of power to other components on the broadband provider’s network can still leave your router down). We also learned something about AT&T mobile phone service during the May 21 outage. It isn’t very good. Look at the option of using more than one phone service vendor for the phones in your household. Diversity and redundancy are good for essential services, and our mobile phones are certainly essential. Using these relatively inexpensive safeguards can really help you endure the brief outages SV experiences.

William Ray - Author

What is Wrong with My Boxwood Shrubs?

 

Edition 1. Issue 6.                                 May 2022

 

If the leaves of the boxwoods in your landscape are turning reddish-brown, your plant is likely suffering from winter injury.

In Stephens Valley, we inherited several different varieties of the plant when we purchased our homes. Having been here two years now, I have witnessed the phenomenon for myself with the plants in front of my house.

As with any tree or shrub in the landscape, boxwoods have their own set of diseases, insects and various other stress disorders. Each year in the early spring, Extension offices receive a lot of calls about boxwoods turning a reddish-brown color. The agent I spoke with said it is a very common complaint.  Most clients say their boxwoods were a normal green color the previous summer. However, at some point during the fall and winter, they began to turn bronze.

Interestingly, this type of coloration in boxwoods is very common in shrubs that are stressed. The most common cause is a stress disorder known as winter injury. Boxwoods are very cold hardy and will not die as a result of this injury.

Although they may appear sick or diseased, this discoloration is usually temporary and will disappear as new spring growth emerges. This injury is most obvious when a severe cold freeze follows a period of mild temperatures. Tennessee has had several warm to cold temperature extremes this past winter. Drought conditions during the fall and winter also can contribute to foliage injury and discoloration.

This problem is called ”bronzing” and a little protection can go a long way to avoid it.  Protection from winter winds is key to limiting bronzing. If the planting site does not offer protection, burlap wraps or windbreaks may be used to protect foliage.  Damage is usually more pronounced on plants located in sunny, exposed areas with west or southwest exposures to winter winds and winter sun. You can minimize the damage by avoiding these locations when planting boxwoods and by mulching and maintaining uniform soil moisture the entire year. Mulching plants with wood chips or pine straw can help minimize drought stress. Never fertilize in late summer or fall with a fertilizer that contains large amounts of nitrogen, particularly in a quick release form. Spring and early summer are the best times to fertilize, but only if the plant needs it. A soil test will help determine the exact amount and types of nutrients the shrubs may lack.

A few diseases can also cause similar leaf symptoms in boxwoods. The easiest way to distinguish between a disease and winter injury is by observing the entire plant. Winter injury affects all the leaves on boxwood shrubs uniformly. Diseases tend to be more random and start out by affecting one or two branches initially and then spreading to other branches and nearby shrubs over time. Often, diseased leaves will form distinct brown spots with tiny black bumps. These are the fruiting structures of a fungal disease. The leaves may completely dry out and fall off the plant when diseased. In contrast, leaves that are discolored from winter injury will remain firmly attached to the branches.

For help diagnosing disease, insect and other problems on boxwoods, trees, or other shrubs, bring a plant sample to your local Tennessee Extension office, 4215 Long Lane in Franklin. Many samples can be diagnosed in the office for free. If your county agent is unable to diagnose your problem, he or she can forward your sample to the UT Institute of Agriculture disease diagnostic labs at UT in Knoxville.

Samples should include both healthy and abnormal leaves on a branch section at least 6 to 8 inches long. Place the sample in a sealed, zip-lock bag.  Or you can just wait for your new growth to come out and prove the experts right in their “guestimation”.  Mine are already looking much better and spring was not fully sprung when photos were taken. See pictures below.

For more information, contact your local Tennessee Extension office at 865-974-7324.

For more reading and pictures about the boxwood, including how it got the name, use the attached link.

Bronzing

Pictures below were taken on March 15^th at 2008 Garfield Street. Stop by on your walk today and see how they have progressed.

 Libbey Hagewood - Author

Voting in the Valley

Edition 1. Issue 5.                                 April 2022

 

A Discussion About Voting in the Valley

Your right to pull the lever is right here on us.  Or your right to sit out the election may be your choice.   We are still in a country where you may choose to do either one.

 I was doing some research on the upcoming election, and for the first time ever, I called a county representative.  As a practicing attorney for many years, I have dealt with lots of elected officials; judges, circuit court clerks, register of deeds, sheriffs, but not a county representative.  I had some questions, so I called Matt Williams of voting district nine, because I thought he was my representative. As it turns out things have changed, and we folks of SV are now in voting district eight. Matt Williams was a pleasure to talk with, and he went out of his way to help. Matt says that we will be issued new voter registration cards soon. 

Your voter registration card shows your voting district, your school district and the districts for your state house, state senate, and United States representative. Matt encourages everyone to vote (if you are eligible), and told me only 15 to 20 percent of the voters actually vote in off year local elections. He would like to see more participation.  However, he is unopposed in this year’s election. In fact, there are many offices where the incumbent is unopposed. 

This might suggest the current office holder is doing a good job in the office.  I personally think that is true here in Williamson County. There is one big change that adds excitement and interest. For the first time ever, the school board members must run as either Republicans, Democrats or Independents. My bet is in Williamson County, a true blue Democrat will run as an Independent. I am starting to have a difficult time writing about elections without giving you all the benefit of my good judgment, so I will list the dates and offices to be filled without giving you any help on how you should vote. If you want my help, bring something to drink over, and we can sit on the porch and discuss it and other world problems.

May 3: vote in the state primary and the county primary (if any) for county offices and for judges

August 4: Election Day for county offices and for judges. Also, the primary for state senate and state house of representatives

November 8: General election for U. S. House of Representatives, State Senate and State House of Representatives.

So, on May 3, we can vote for judges.  Deanna Hood and Shane McNeill are both running for Circuit Court Judge for the division II held by retiring Judge Martin. The other Circuit Court Judges are unopposed.

Sharon Guffee, the current Juvenile Judge is challenged by Connie Reguli in the Republican primary.

The County Clerk will be contested in the Republican primary by Jeff Whidby and Glen Casada. The Democratic primary has Andrew Becker and Deborah Sparks.

In the Republican primary for School Board the choice is between Donna Clements and Shawna Graham. An independent is running unopposed: Kenneth Chilton.

Our County Commissioner district eight has three Republicans running and we vote for two. Those three are Jerry Rainey, Barb Sturgeon, and Drew Torres.
I think that is it for the May primary election, but we will have more for August.

John Whitfield - Author

 

Electric Power in Stephens Valley

 Edition 1. Issue 4.

 

Electric Power in the Valley

In the first three issues, I urged the SV residents to organize and develop positions on issues such that they could be presented to the SV Board as the wishes of the collective. Since that really hasn’t happened yet, this issue will pause on the organization pleas and, instead, provide some simple background information which might be of interest to all SV residents. So, let’s talk about how electric power is distributed to Stephens Valley.

Everyone here gets their electricity from Nashville Electric Service (NES). In turn, NES buys that power wholesale from Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). In my opinion, we are very lucky to have TVA as the supplier to NES. TVA has a very diverse set of generation resources they use to supply electricity to its 153 local power companies, like NES. They use area dams to generate hydroelectric power (the original renewable energy resource for electricity generation) and those dams provide about 11% of the power we use here, they use nuclear plants to produce about 39% of our energy, they burn natural gas to get about 26% of our needs, they still burn coal to produce 19% of our energy, the rest comes from wind, solar and energy efficiency programs. It is great to have so much diversity on our supply because if something crazy happens to one source, or fuel, it doesn’t cripple TVA.

TVA was born of the Great Depression and FDR’s intent to make the economy and living conditions of the southeastern US better by seeing to it that electric power was democratized – made cheap and available to all. TVA is also tasked with managing the flow of the Tennessee River system, and the economic and environmental stewardship of the region. TVA is owned by the United States, but they get no financing from the public coffers. They raise their own capital completely apart from the federal government, and they pay their debt service with revenues they generate. You can read a lot more about TVA at www.tva.gov.  NES was created in 1939 and is a non-profit, owned by Nashville Metro. NES policies are set by a Board consisting of five members, appointed by Nashville’s Mayor. You can read more about them and sign up to see their meetings at https://www.nespower.com/about-nes/.

NES is one of the largest municipally owned utilities in the US. They serve 420,000 meters over a 700 square mile area, using 5,900 miles of transmission and distribution lines in the process. But once NES purchases this TVA power and uses its distribution circuits to transport it, how does the power get to our homes in Stephens Valley?

Now NES hasn’t shared their mapping with me, but by riding around and observing I can tell that SV is normally served by a high voltage circuit that originates at the NES McCrory Lane substation. The good part about that is we are not too far from the source substation. The bad part is that a lot of that circuit comes down McCrory Lane, which is completely infested with trees that are looking for an opportunity to fall and damage the overhead circuit! As that circuit comes up Pasquo Road, there is one pole in front of the SV West Townhome project where the circuit goes underground to serve us. There is another pole near the original SV entrance on Sneed Road where the other half of the SV underground distribution starts. This is a good design that NES has implemented. Underground cables can fail, and the repair time can be many, many hours. Having redundant feeds into SV means that NES could reconfigure a failed underground component and get nearly all customers back on while repairs are taking place. This is a good thing!

I’ve only discussed about 8 miles of NES grid here. Since NES has about 5,890 other miles of plant to maintain, it is clear we are way out on the edge of their system. For now, being on the edge isn’t what we really want, but as the electric grid changes over the next few years, perhaps we will wind up in a very good position. You’ve likely noticed that we do have sporadic power outages in SV. The most common interruption to our electricity is a simple momentary interruption. Those are the events that send us scurrying to re-boot computers and reset the time on our garage door openers. These occurrences are from transient faults on the McCrory Lane circuit. A tree branch, an animal contact (think birds and squirrels), a lightning strike, or a car accident causes fault current to flow to ground. This fault current is recognized by a relay at the substation and the circuit breaker at the substation opens (just like a circuit breaker in our garages) the circuit to eliminate the overload. Now, when that happens at a substation the relays are fast and smart, and they immediately tell the circuit breaker to reclose. When that happens, and if the fault is gone, we only experience a sub one second blink. Of course, when one of our garage breakers trips, we must go find it and physically reset it. That normally takes a bit longer, but the principle is identical.

As the future unfolds, SV might find a way to become a “microgrid” and, if so, we may be able to cruise through outages by using our own stored energy right here in SV. There are exciting times coming in the electric power world, but more discussion about that will have to wait for another issue of The Valleyist.

It is hoped that this column will appear monthly, at a minimum, and it will attempt to illuminate the SV opportunities for creativity and partnership with our pseudo government right here in our beautiful valley. But I am not going to go it alone on authoring these essays. If you like to write, please join me in this endeavor.

William Ray - Author

Organizing Our Creativity

If you agree that the Stephens Valley (SV) Owners have immense talent and creativity, then it is time to talk about how to use it. The Owners might work to compose a list of grievances, and since Festivus is upon us, they could air them! Alternately, we could start by figuring out how we can become a more cohesive group and organize something similar to the First Continental Congress, through which we could address the SV Board of Directors as a group. Either step would be good.

Anyone who downloads and uses the TownSquare app ought to take a little time to go to the Documents link and check out the Covenants, Conditions & Restrictions. It is a long, complicated document, written in legalese, but everyone should review it. Though there is a lot of discussion there about the powers and the membership of the Board, don’t get hung up on that. There is a special exclusion sentence that makes it clear that the Board will be exclusively chosen and run by the Rochford team for a very long time. That might not be a bad thing, but it does mean that the Owners do not presently have a voice, nor a vote, in how decisions are made about the neighborhood. But there are ways to work within that environment.

It is important that the Owners pursue an organizational architecture that allows them to talk with the SV Board as a collective. Pursuing such conversations as individuals, makes the individual small and powerless, and easy to ignore. There are about 150 Owner families now – likely enough to form the critical mass necessary to have a voice.

It seems that the Board would like to work with the Owners – perhaps up to a point. We should try to find where the limits of that bandwidth of cooperation exist and try to work there, at least initially. If the Board could just embrace transparency, a relationship could be off to a good start. There are many other documents and filings that are of interest to the Owners. Those documents ought to be posted to TownSquare. When the Board schedules a meeting and creates an agenda, information about those meetings ought to be published with information on how Owners might participate. The same goes for the “Design Review Committee.” You will not find that group mentioned in the CC&R, but it is believed that the Design Review Committee exists to carry out the mission of the Architectural Committee discussed therein. Why shouldn’t Owners have access to the applications considered by that committee along with the decisions they render?

Learning how to simply consume information about the Board’s activity, even before we might begin to offer opinions from the Owners’ perspective, seems like a place where our creativity could begin to grow. The Board might also learn that engaging with the Owners could provide them immediate benefits. The Owners certainly want the Board and the Rochford team to be successful. As the Board approaches events like any hearings before the Metropolitan Planning Commission, they might need Owners to testify in their behalf. It seems likely that if we start talking to each other, such help from Owners would be likely to occur.

It is hoped that this column will appear monthly, at a minimum, and it will attempt to illuminate the SV opportunities for creativity and partnership with our pseudo government right here in our beautiful valley. But I am not going to go it alone on authoring these essays. If you like to write, please join me in this endeavor. I think the next issue ought to deal with ideas on how we can choose our own “congress” to begin to consider consensus issues that can be communicated to the Board. 

William Ray - Author

A Lone Wolf is Easy Prey

 

Edition 1. Issue 3.

 

Proof That a Lone Wolf is Easy Prey

In the first two issues, I urged the SV residents to organize and develop positions on issues such that they could be presented to the SV Board as the wishes of the collective. Of course, as an older man I’m quite capable of ignoring my own advice, and this issue is the proof of that.

Over the last couple of months, there have been a couple of drainage issues that caused discussion among the SV owners. As a licensed Civil Engineer, and as an older man, I couldn’t resist the urge to solve these issues for the neighborhood and become a hero. The latter certainly hasn't been the result.

Some of the discussion included a statement by an SV Board member about how SV was vexed in solving these problems due to the restrictions of “the SWPPP” (Storm Water Pollution Protection Plan). I was intrigued by this statement and began to wonder just what the SWPPP included. After quite a lot of Googling, I found the website for the Williamson County government (they maintain one of the best local government websites I have ever seen!) and their stormwater management program. I also discovered a very helpful and knowledgeable fellow, Michael Scott, who is the Stormwater Coordinator. After a few conversations with Mr. Scott about getting a copy of the SWPPP, he suggested that I might want to talk directly with David Horwath, with Land Innovations, LLC (Rochford’s development partner on SV). So, I did. The resulting email thread follows from my attempt to suggest ways to solve one of the standing water issues (by the way, I am still determined to get a copy of that SWPPP and read it to understand how it restricts finished pavement on some streets, while allowing it on others):

 

Dear Mr. Horwath

Good morning. I was given your name by Michael Scott (who is copied on this email). I hope you are doing well and that you can help me with a couple of questions relative to storm water drainage in Stephens Valley. I am a resident of Stephens Valley and I have taken on the project of helping to answer question the residents have about certain nuisance standing water issues, and, hopefully, solve one or two of them.

The most puzzling issue is nearly daily water ponding at the belly of a vertical curve in Secton 1 – Phase 2. At a raised median that contains a stormwater collection box labeled “Bioretention A” on the plans attached to the recorded SWPPP, both sides of the street collect deep nuisance water. This collection is mostly associated with a rain event, but there is some nuisance water there even on dry days. This is puzzling.

The final course of asphalt has not been installed adjacent to the southern curb cut for drainage into a drop box inlet, so a small amount of water cannot even access the inlet, but the problem is much larger than that. I am wondering if your firm has done as-builts of this and if the inlet elevation of that drop box has been checked to make sure it is lower than the curb cut. Can you please verify that? Further, is it possible that the slope of the pipe from that inlet to the collection box is incorrectly built? Verification of that would be good.

If I were to guess, your firm has likely designed the elevation properly and the slope of the discharge pipe. I’m also going to guess that these elements were checked as built and they were correct. That leaves the likely scenario that the inlet, the discharge pipe, and perhaps the collection box, are silted up and the design invert elevations are not the present elevations because they are full of debris and mud. Can your firm check this out and communicate with the developer to get this situation remedied? I would love to be able to report to the hundreds of residents affected by this nuisance, that a cause has been found and that repairs are scheduled.

Thank you.

William J. Ray, P.E.

 

Dear Mr. Horwath:

Two weeks have now elapsed since I sent this email. I think that is a reasonable time for you to have given me some sort of response. Do you intend to respond? I would love to get my questions answered via this simple exchange of information, as opposed to filing some sort of complaint with Williamson County.

Thank you,

William Ray PE

 

Mr. Ray, 

Good morning. I did not receive this previous correspondence. I just checked and see that it was marked spam. I apologize for that. I will review your concerns and have a response sent back to you later today. Thank you for your concerns and reaching out. I just need to check our notes and talk with the contractor and engineer of record to make sure my assessment is correct. 

Thank you, 

David Horwath 

 

Mr. Horvath,

Thank you. I was afraid that might have happened!  I look forward to this information as does the neighborhood!

Billy

 

Mr. Horvath,

Additional FYI. Just took this pic. The inlet is taking some water now, but as you can see, ponding must be near top of curb for it to flow. Problem could be that the riprap is poorly placed or clogged.

Billy Ray

Billy,

I have verified the information you have been previously provided by our development partner and the HOA is accurate. I’m the one that gave them the details. I would encourage all residents to utilize the HOA portal available to them for any questions. This is the only way we can ensure that the messages sent out are consistent and factual. This area will unfortunately have nuisance water until we can reach the appropriate build out to topcoat roads and turn them over to Williamson County per the regulations. Regarding routine and regular maintenance, we have active agreements with certified contractors to perform this work as required by the regulations.
Thank you,
David  

David,

Thank you for the response. It was timely, yet disappointing. I will copy it to the owners.

Billy

 

This exchange teaches us a couple of things. First, we’ve learned that Billy Ray is not charming enough to convince anyone on the SV development team to recognize the expertise available from the owners and partner with them to address the problems we share (so far), instead of digging in and defending the status quo. Second, we should learn from this treatment of an individual presenting a problem in the spirit of cooperation. Lone wolves are easy prey, and the status quo is quite well protected here in SV, even though simple and effective solutions might be presented. I still feel that we can break down that wall. Again, my suggestion is that we use our collective talents to create some sort of legislative body who can present problems and solutions to the SV Board in a manner which is not so easily dismissed. Who among us can organize such a body? We also have a bit of a ‘Tower of Babel’ problem in that there is not yet a single communications medium that reaches all the owners. Some use TownSquare, others use GroupMe, but often we fail to communicate because so many just do not get the message and thus many are not engaged. Sage Nozko started a process of collecting email addresses for everyone, and I think that is something we could use as a first step to organizing. Please participate in that effort!

On a positive note, for those who are subscribed to TownSquare, the last SV newsletter was very promising. There were hints at transparency in that issue as it provided links to meetings of the Design Review Committee. That is progress! Other great progress by the SV development team includes the astounding accomplishments on the pool, the pool building, and the sports courts. This is exciting! Who among us can help organize pickle ball lessons and create some sort of neighborhood annual championship?

It is hoped that this column will appear monthly, at a minimum, and it will attempt to illuminate the SV opportunities for creativity and partnership with our pseudo government right here in our beautiful valley. But I am not going to go it alone on authoring these essays. If you like to write, please join me in this endeavor.

William Ray - Author

Stephens Valley -- The Fertile Verge

As Stephens Valley (SV) enters its fifth year, it is time to reflect on what SV is now, and more importantly, what the community can become. Seeing the SV of 2021 is now quite easy. Just look down your street at how the community has grown during the last year – growth that is so rampant and successful, that surely no one could have predicted it. The Rochford team and Land Innovations, LLC, the architects, the engineers, and the craftsmen, all deserve credit for their parts of the process. Their creativity and determination are notable and laudable, but the stew of Stephens Valley includes many more ingredients, and that concoction is very similar to the American creativity that powers our great nation.

Daniel Boorstin explained American creativity by pointing to the “Fertile Verge.” He pointed out that a verge is a place of encounter between something and something else. Kinds of landscapes, seascapes, stages of civilization, ways of thought and ways of life, all presented a treasure of verges in the early days of American development. Perhaps Stephens Valley is positioned to become a microcosm of that success as a strikingly similar number of verges exist right here.

Stroll down any SV street and you will encounter architectural verges (Cape Cod, Country French, Colonial, Tudor, Craftsman, Cottage, and Mediterranean) and inside those homes are people from a striking number of “home countries,” with a similarly wide variety of expertise, customs, and experience. SV residents are also of a wide variety of ages, which also creates generational verges. Unlike the melting pot of early America, where certain ethnicities often gathered in enclaves, the density of SV homes, the prevalent front porches, and the sidewalks, place SV’s verges in very close proximity. SV’s unexpected mix of peoples and architecture puts the residents in a constant state of discovery of themselves and about others, which they could not have known or noticed in our former, more homogeneous, places of origin. It is not a giant leap to predict that the Stephens Valley verges of today will yield more of a crop of creativity from the current residents than anything the conventional farming production yielded by the efforts of the Stephens family when they farmed and nurtured this land.

Everyone involved with Stephens Valley needs that creativity. We have problems to solve. SV is not in any municipality, so there is no local government (other than Williamson County government) to respond to our needs. SV is at the verges of NES and MTEMC relative to electric power, and neither Comcast nor AT&T seem overly interested in improving the broadband service available to SV. Residents are concerned with a litany of issues: speed limits, traffic management, fences, drainage, growth, and evolving demographics. But addressing these matters presently is the domain of a de facto government in the form of Rochford Realty and Construction, Inc. and Land Innovations, LLC. While these entities created SV, and thus have the right to govern it, the SV community must create ways to augment their creativity with that of our collective creativity, which flows from the fertile verges of Stephens Valley.

Look for new monthly chapters to the SV opportunities for creativity and partnership with our pseudo government right here.

William Ray - Author