Guidebooks are annoying. Just because some editor who doesn’t know me tells me which restaurant is the best or what attraction is a must-see doesn’t make it a must-see attraction. Sightseers’ Delight is dedicated to the weird, the quirky and the fun. After all, traveling is fun.
If it’s not, you’re doing it wrong.
All of the places highlighted in this ever-growing database are great. Sightseers’ Delight has visited them all. We think you should make a point to see every one of them. But, this is not a guidebook. Just a webpage to help you plan your next adventure.
Stones River National Battlefield in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, preserves the ground where one of the Civil War’s most important battles was fought from Dec. 31, 1862, through Jan. 2, 1863. Congress established the battlefield on March 3, 1927, and President Calvin Coolidge signed the legislation the same day, beginning a century of preservation and public interpretation at one of the war’s most consequential sites.
The battle came at a critical moment for the Union. As 1862 ended, President Abraham Lincoln needed a victory to raise morale after the defeat at Fredericksburg and to support the Emancipation Proclamation as it took effect on Jan. 1, 1863. Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg had positioned his Army of Tennessee near Murfreesboro to block a Union advance toward Chattanooga and protect the productive farms of Middle Tennessee. On Dec. 26, 1862, Gen. William S. Rosecrans led the Union Army of the Cumberland out of Nashville to meet him.
The fighting at Stones River was among the bloodiest of the war. The Union victory was narrow, but it lifted Northern morale, reinforced the Union’s changing war aims and helped open the way for later campaigns deeper into the Confederate heartland.
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Andrew Jackson built the original Hermitage in 1804, more than a decade before the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812 and more than 20 years before he was elected the nation’s seventh president. The current mansion was built between 1819 and 1821 and later underwent major renovations in 1831 and after an 1834 fire heavily damaged much of the house. The current Greek revival look of the house dates to 1835. Jackson — nicknamed “Old Hickory” — retired from public life in 1837, and he lived in The Hermitage until his death in 1845. Jackson and his wife, Rachel, who preceded him in death, are buried on the grounds.
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Fort Donelson National Battlefield preserves the resources of and tells the stories of the 1862 campaign and battles for Forts Henry, Heiman, and Donelson, and the opening of the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers. The national park includes Fort Donelson National Cemetery, established in 1867, as the final resting for Union soldiers and sailors initially buried in the Fort Donelson area. It contains the remains of 670 Civil War burials and roughly 909 veterans from other wars. Dover Hotel, the Surrender House, was built between 1851 and 1853 and served riverboat travelers before and after the Civil War. Confederate Brig. General Simon B. Buckner and his staff used the hotel as their headquarters during the battle. Buckner surrendered to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in the hotel.
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By the 1930s and 1940s, Dunbar Cave was a popular destination, not so much because of its natural splendor, but because of the musical acts that performed at the cave entrance. The 8-mile-long Dunbar Cave was formed millions of years ago and has always attracted people. During digs at the site, archeologists found Paleo-Indian artifacts buried near the cave entrance, and in 2005, Indian glyphs were discovered on the cave walls.
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Confederate troops in November 1861 built defenses overlooking the Cumberland and Red rivers. Following a major battle at Fort Donelson in nearby Dover, Confederate troops abandoned Clarksville; Union troops later found the abandoned fort and reworked it for their needs. In 2011, the city opened a $2 million interpretive center to tell the story of Fort Defiance. In addition to a movie in the center, visitors can see remarkable well preserved earthworks at the site and take in a newly installed Confederate money exhibit.
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A stone cabin on this site is said to be stone blockhouse of the Valentine Sevier Station. On Nov. 11, 1794, Native Americans attacked the outpost, killing six; a seventh was scalped, but recovered. Valentine Sevier was a brother of Tennessee’s first governor, John Sevier.
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Judge William O. Beach paved the way for wine production in Tennessee when he opened this winery in 1987. While Beachaven produces a number of sweeter, fruit-flavored wines, it also produces a strong assortment of drier wines. For starters, consider sampling the Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. For anyone unsure about the wine, the tastings are free, as is a brief tour of the grounds. The winery’s highly popular Jazz on the Lawn series in summer months features free music at the winery.
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To take advantage of its best asset, the city built a mile-long walkway along the Cumberland River. The walkway provides visitors with nice views of the traffic traversing the river and offers a nice respite from the city’s usually congested streets. The river is also the backdrop for many events, including an annual music festival and also the home to the Christmas on the Cumberland celebration.
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In 1898, the federal government built a customs house and a post office at the corner of Second and Commerce streets to help process the increasing volumes of mail to and from the city. In 1984, the building was transformed into the Customs House Museum and Cultural Center touted as the state’s second-largest general interest museum. The museum features a number of permanent exhibits, including the postmaster’s office and Memory Lane, dedicated to telling the story of Clarksville and Montgomery County’s history.
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The city of Clarksville, Tennessee, unveiled the Frank Sutton Statue on Franklin Street in May 2017. Local sculptor Scott Wise created the statue of Sutton, a Clarksville native best known for portraying Sgt. Vince Carter on the 1960s CBS show “Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C.” Sutton in the South Pacific with the U.S. Army during World War II. The statue stands along Franklin Street across from the Roxy Regional Theatre. Sutton, who died in 1974, also appeared in “Gunsmoke” and “The Twilight Zone.”
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