Of Cheers, Mayberry, and Pickleball

 Edition 2. Issue 2.

 

Of Cheers, Mayberry, and Pickleball

Making your way in the world today
Takes everything you've got
Taking a break from all your worries
Sure would help a lot
Wouldn't you like to get away?

Most of us came here to do just that…get away…from our former life. The Stephens Valley development team promised us a community where people can live more easily in harmony with nature, while preserving that natural beauty which surrounds us along the Natchez Trace Parkway, and we liked that idea. Their bold intentions are slowly unfolding as the development team minds their stated mission, and, at the same time, their fiscal bottom line. Meanwhile, the mission of the residents is a little different. We are looking to live in harmony with the environment, but we also seek to live in harmony with each other.

We long for the Mayberry qualities we fell in love with as we watched The Andy Griffith Show and Cheers all those years ago. For many of us, we seek out new friends and relationships to replace those we left behind when we left a former life. The builders of our homes have graced us with some of the architectural elements necessary to build relationships and community. We have big front porches that are close to wide sidewalks, and those elements encourage conversation and engagement with neighbors, but those engagements are not automatic. We residents must put in a little work to turn proximity into family relationships. We can use those sidewalks and become pedestrians more than we do.  Giving ourselves the opportunity to encounter each other and become friends is central to our goals for living in Stephens Valley. While we know we cannot achieve that closeness fully until the town square is a reality, which will give us better walking destinations, it is quite amazing how we can generate some of those qualities on our own – without the help of the development team.

Without a town square destination, the residents are still finding reasons to walk – sometimes just to enjoy nature and architecture, but other times with a destination in mind. Residents walk to the homes of neighbors for social events and to play games, like Mahjong. Many residents also walk to the pool and the racket sports courts. And it is suspected that the residents involved in those activities are learning how to play the games, but mostly they are learning about their neighbors, and those neighbors are becoming great friends.

The Mahjong group consists of a dozen, or so, mostly women, who find the game interesting and fun, on the surface. However, just under the surface, they all realize that the most fun is in turning neighbors into friends who enjoy each other’s company. They like to hang out. The pickleball group likes to walk to a destination too – the Stephens Valley pickleball court. It is fair to say that less than a year ago, few of them (there are about a dozen regulars) had ever been on a pickleball court. Now, most of them play about ten hours per week! Their average age is a bit north of what one would consider the sweet spot for athleticism. Although they keep score, they do not dwell on it, nor do they long remember who won. I’m quite certain the Mahjong group is the same way. There have been injuries and certain healthcare providers have been involved in their pickleball addiction. But they too are learning that the gang that populated the bar in Cheers wasn’t there simply to get hydrated. Rather, they loved the community and the people in it. So it is with the Stephens Valley pickleball crew. They show up to play pickleball, but that is just on the surface. They really show up because of the others who show up. They regularly welcome new attendees that have never played pickleball before, and they suspend games to render impromptu clinics to transfer their “vast” knowledge of the game to those neighbors. They spend more time laughing, joking, trash-talking, and becoming friends, than they ever spend hitting pickleballs. They come at the regular times, even when injured and unable to play. They have just as much fun on the sidelines cracking wise with the players, as they do actually playing. They accomplish the goal of building community either way.

It just might be that we make more progress by seeking out these new connections to each other, that we will ever accomplish by lobbying, cajoling, or begging the development team to make progress for us. But, while we are awaiting more progress from the SV development team, we are learning to develop community on our own, and if you are not yet involved in these community building activities, then you should be, because…  

Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name
And they're always glad you came
You want to be where you can see
Our troubles are all the same
You want to be where everybody knows your name

From the Cheers theme song by Gary Portnoy and Judy Hart-Angelo

HOW THE STATE OF TENNESSEE GOT ITS NICKNAME, SAVED THE COUNTRY, AND GOT A NUMBER ONE COUNTRY SONG

Edition 2. Issue 1.

HOW THE STATE OF TENNESSEE GOT ITS NICKNAME, SAVED THE COUNTRY, AND GOT A NUMBER ONE COUNTRY SONG

On October 16, 2020, the Tennessee Volunteer Statue was unveiled and dedicated at the Camp

Blount Historic site in Fayetteville Tennessee. For those that do not know how to speak

southern, Fay’-et-vul is the correct pronunciation. Fayetteville is about one hundred miles from

Stephens Valley, south down interstate 65 and then east on highway 64. My sweet wife and I

went to the dedication. You can see a picture of the statue below. It is in honor of and represents

the volunteers from Tennessee that fought in the War of 1812. The dedication was held at the

time of the COVID scare and was not well attended even though it was outdoors. You can watch

the event on YOUTUBE. I found the event to be incredibly refreshing to have a statue of

Tennesseans that fought in the War of 1812 being unveiled and dedicated at a time when other

statues of heroes were being defaced and torn down by mobs of lawless people who have no

sense of history. As a native Tennessean, I am proud of all my relatives who fought for

Tennessee including my Tennessee relative that fought in the War of 1812.

I expect that most folks today know more about King Charles III of England (the current king)

and his children, William and Harry, and their spouses than they know about the War of 1812.

In some regard it is easy to understand, since the United States has saved the English, and their

Royals, at least twice since 1914. However, in 1812 there was no love between us. So, after some

time of abuse, the new country declared war on the mother country. The United States then

called for volunteers to fight the British. The new state of Tennessee (admitted to the country as

a state in 1796) answered the call. Governor Willie Blount called for 3500 volunteers to fight the

British and their Indian Allies. The response by the Tennesseans to the Governor’s request was

immediate and enthusiastic. The response by the men in Tennessee was the beginning of the

nickname, the Volunteer state (and it was renewed in the war with Mexico).

The Volunteer Statue, photo courtesy of Bobby Lanier and Paul Henry per campblount.com

1814 WE TOOK A LITTLE TRIP ALONG WITH GENERAL JACKSON DOWN THE

MIGHTY MISSISSIP

The war was not going well for the new country (constitution ratified 1789 and consisted of 18

states by 1812). The army and militia in the northwest had suffered more defeats than victories,

there were a few naval victories by single ships but nothing to threaten the British fleet. The

British were fighting Napoleon at the same time and finally forced his abdication and first exile

in 1814. Francis Scott Key wrote the song, in 1814, that became our national anthem, The Star

Spangled Banner, but at the same time the British burned The Capital and several other

government buildings in Washington. On their way out, the British sacked and burned Hampton

Roads, Virginia killing and raping civilians in the area. Those British forces and some others

were then headed to New Orleans. New Orleans became part of the United States as part of

Louisiana Purchase in 1803. It was still very much French, and Louisiana had only become a

state in 1814. The British, led by General Pakenham (General Wellington’s brother-in-law),

planned on taking New Orleans, shutting the Mississippi River to the U.S., and keeping it, since

the British did not recognize Napoleon’s right to sell it. The British were bringing 6,800

professional soldiers led by professional officers who were veterans of the Napoleonic

wars to the fight. The United States had General Andrew Jackson leading 4700 men to stop him.

Of that total 1352 were Tennesseans leaving from Camp Blount. The others were around 200

U.S. regulars, Kentucky and Louisiana militia, some pirates, and a few Choctaws. While the

entire campaign lasted a few months, the big day of the battle of New Orleans was January 8,

1815.

WE CAUGHT THE BLOODY BRITISH IN THE TOWN OF NEW ORLEANS

General Jackson had no military training. He was a lawyer and a farmer. What he had was an

indomitable will, unbelievable energy, and a hatred for the British from the time of the

Revolution where he was hacked and scarred by a British officer, lost a brother in fighting, and

lost his mother to disease while she was nursing wounded and captured patriots. He also had the

courage to stand ten paces from someone holding a pistol and wanting to kill him. Jackson did

not know the enemy’s plan, so he worked tirelessly to prepare for the invasion and battle. He

took a defensive position to defend the city, and after some preliminary skirmishes, the day of

battle arrived on January eighth.

WE FIRED OUR GUNS AND THE BRITISH KEPT ACOMING

The British held Jackson and the Americans in utter contempt. They called the Tennesseans

“dirty shirts “. No one can question the courage of the British. They came marching to the

American defensive earthworks thinking they would run over the dirty shirts and drive into the

city.

WE FIRED ONCE MORE AND THEY BEGAN TO RUNNING DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI

TO THE GULF OF MEXICO

The battle was over relatively quickly. The heaviest attack was against the area defended by the

Tennesseans. The British were devastated. The British lost 700 killed, 1400 wounded and 500

captured. The Americans lost 13 killed and 39 wounded. (Some accounts give U.S. casualties as

70 total.) This huge difference in casualties caused many Americans to see the hand of God in

this affair. In fact, January 8 was celebrated like the Fourth of July for many years following the

battle.

Shortly after the battle some northern minstrel wrote a song to commemorate the battle

wrongfully giving some Kentuckians more credit than they were due. In fact, a goodly number of

the Kentuckians arrived without arms. Jackson, at first, found this incredible and remarked that

he had never before met a man from Kentucky that did not have a rifle, a deck of cards, and a

bottle of whiskey on his person at all times.

In 1958 Johnny Horton recorded “THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS “. It became the number

one country hit for the year. You can ask your Alexa to play it, if you have forgotten the words

or never knew them. The song was written by Jimmy Driftwood who also gave us, “THE

TENNESSEE STUD”. [Not related to the War of 1812]. The best version is by Doc Watson on

the Nitty Gritty Band album “WILL THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN “.

For those that have heard that Jackson’s great victory was after a treaty was signed,

you need to know, that by its terms the treaty signed by the British government had not been

ratified by the United States, which was required. Moreover, by its terms, the treaty stated that

each party kept whatever was in that party’s possession at the time of ratification. So, the British

would have kept New Orleans if they had won the battle. The combatants on the day of battle

believed the war was still on, because it was.

As for me and my house, we will celebrate January eighth as I find it to be the most important

day to celebrate in January. I intend to listen to Johnny Horton sing, toast Jackson and the

Tennessee volunteers and try to get my wife to make shrimp gumbo. I will sit by sipping some

good Tennessee whiskey.

Footnotes:

1. Two good books have been published recently that give good accounts of the entire

campaign. Glorious Victory by Donald R. Hickey and Patriotic Fire by Winston Groom.

2. If you want to watch a movie on the battle, there are two by the same name, The

Buccaneer. The second is a remake of the first that Cecil B. Demille directed. Lots of

historical inaccuracies though. The President’s Lady is good from Rachel Jackson’s

point of view, starring Susan Hayward as Rachael and Charlton Heston as Andrew

Jackson.

John Whitfield, Esquire (ret.) 

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