This time of year the people in Middle Tennessee USA are graced with the beauty of fall leaves in thousands of colors. Nature’s one last hurrah before winter sets in, autumn leaves provide the palette of gold before everything turns silver.
I admit I hadn’t visited our Putnam County Agricultural Fair in many years until last year when my husband wanted to ride the Double Ferris Wheel. Reporters had made a big deal about it in the newspaper and he wanted to ride it. So we went, walked around the midway, watched a bit of the tractor pull event and left after riding the Double Ferris Wheel a couple of times.
My father’s parents were born in this area in 1902. My parents were born in 1932, and were married in 1952. I always thought that was an interesting play on the number 2. As with most towns in Tennessee in the 1920’s and 1930’s, there wasn’t a lot going on in the way of entertainment. Most of the area inhabitants were farmers who worked long hours to bring in crops and livestock.
Tennessee is sort of a funny shaped state. North to South, it is only 116 miles, while East to West it stretches 482 miles. Tennessee has three major cities, Knoxville in the East, Nashville in the Middle, and Memphis in the West. Since a great deal of the traffic through Tennessee is along Interstate 40, these three cities are the hubs for their areas. About 80 miles East of Nashville, and about 100 miles West of Knoxville is my hometown of Cookeville, TN. Being on Interstate 40 helps Cookeville to be the jumping off point for people traveling along the Interstate.
