America the Beautiful – By Cooper Chilton

David Crockett State Park is located in Lawrenceville, TN, about a 90 minutes ride from Nashville and 2 hours east of Memphis. Sitting on 1,319 acres, it features exhibits on Crockett’s life, the site of his enterprises, a small waterfall where his mill sat and Lake Lindsey. It has a restaurant, boat dock (with kayak and row boat rentals), pool, luxurious cabins, hiking and beautiful scenery. This is a park for leisurely riding or just vegging out. David (Davy) Crockett was born in Limestone (northeast Tennessee) and lived his life in Tennessee until his ill-fated trip to Texas. He was brought up poor and was often an indentured servant to pay off his father’s debts. As a result, he spent his political career fighting for the rights of settlers to keep their land. Although we think of Davy as a frontiersman in buckskins and a coonskin cap and he did wear such attire when scouting for the army or hunting, he was much more. Upon moving to Lawrence County he served as justice of the peace, a colonel in the militia, state representative and after moving to Memphis, several terms in the US Congress. On Shoal Creek in the park, he built a gunpowder mill, gristmill, and distillery. When a flood wiped out his enterprises, he moved to Memphis. Crockett fought President Andrew Jackson’s ideas in Congress, one of which was the resettlement of Native Americans. Ironically, the Trail of Tears runs through the park bearing his name. His death at the Battle of the Alamo is well known, but whether he died fighting or was captured and executed is not known. But his legacy will live on in American history as being a great man. His famous motto “Be always sure you’re right, then go ahead”, would serve us well today. On our way home we stopped at Rebel Bar and Grill in Columbia. This biker bar claims to be home to the “World Famous Mule Balls” (meatballs with a center of cream cheese and jalapeno) and also, great cheeseburgers. I can attest to the tastiness of both. They feature live music and, glad we missed it, Karaoke. While we were there, they had a band made up of youngsters, Derailed Band, who did a great job of Southern Rock including Skynrd, Eagles, etc. And, importantly, the beer was reasonable and cold! Worth a visit!