Downtown Franklin and the Carnton House

Saturday morning we headed downtown to meet up with Lance and Becky.

We were going to be exploring Franklin. Historic, downtown Franklin.

We met up with them at the Starbucks. 

Paul found a Praying Mantis.

He was very excited.

These are just a few of the photos he took.

I was less excited about the Praying Mantis, but more excited about my Skinny Vanilla Mocha. 

We had gotten a welcome to church giftcard for Starbucks from the Murfreesboro church so our two drinks only cost us 90 cents!

I was happy.

Good tastes and good prices.

And rain, as is evident by my coat.

Hot sun one moment, pouring rain the next.

So weird.

When Lance and Becky arrived we began the downtown stroll. 

Lots of window shopping.

And much history, which of course made Paul very happy.

This is the Tourism Office.

I was jealous.

I wish I had worked in such a cool building when I did tourism.

Though to be fair I worked on a ferry boat, and that was pretty rad.

We ducked into the Tourism Building to get some information. 

They had a lot of information!

They gave us many brochures and suggested a few things to see.

We narrowed it down to the Carnton Plantation. 

On our way back to our cars to head to the plantation we needed to duck the rain again.

We also got to see more of Franklin's cute downtown.

William Powell is my grandpa's name.

I thought I should photograph this.

We followed this map to the Carnton Plantation

The 5 minute drive was BEAUTIFUL.

For reals.

The Carnton Plantation.

Carnton is a historic plantation house and museum in Franklin in Williamson County, Tennessee. Carnton is the setting for the novel "The Widow of the South", by author Robert Hicks. The sprawling farm and its buildings played an important role during and immediately after the Battle of Franklin during the American Civil War. 

It is also beautiful.

The Smokehouse

The Slave Quarters

Slave Quarters again

The Spring House

(Kind of like a refrigerator - build on a stream to keep food cool)

Steps to the Slave Quarters

The Boers in love under a tree

Inside the Slave Quarters

The Spring House up close

Paul found a lizard

The spring under the Spring House.

The pond feeding it.

The view from the pond.

The view of the front pathway

Me on the porch!

The Morgan's on the porch

This house is beautiful.

The Boers at the front door

The Morgan's at the front door.

The Gardens

Then we headed back downtown for lunch.

We were soooo hungry.

We picked an Irish Pub.

McCreary's.

It was an excellent choice.

My fish sandwich and salad were amazing.

The four of us had a great time.

History.

Learning.

Beauty.

Food. 

Friends.

Good day all in all.