Monday, April 22 update

Gravestones, picket fences, and invasive plant removal

Over 100 Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) students arrived at the Park at 8:30 Saturday morning as part of Park Day, a variation on Earth Day, I expect.  Most were there as part of course requirements for a biology class, others day because they liked the idea of doing some volunteer work at the park.  Divided into three groups, students worked with Park Rangers to construct a new picket fence along one of the roads in the park.  Another group worked to remove invasive species from the floor of the forest.  That was a formidable task, but those biology students are smart – most were wearing Wellingtons! 

The third group was asked to work with one of the grounds crew and Hillary and me to scrub gravestones.  That was a task.  As you may or may not know Stones River National Cemetery, part of the Park, has about 7200 gravesites, of which 6100 are from the Stones River Battle.  That means they have been there since 1865.  That means there is a fair accumulation of mildew, moss, and overall dirt from that much history.  Some national cemeteries simply power wash the stones, but it is the policy here to hand scrub each stone with a gentle antibacterial type cleanser.  The 40 students worked in pairs using a soft brush, a spray bottle of the cleaning solution and clear water to scrub at least 50 stones per pair over the 2 hours they worked.  Do the math; barely a dent in the work to be done.  But what a difference it makes.

For all their work the students received a tee shirt and a lunch of pizza and pop.  Park staff was delighted with the turn-out and all the work accomplished.  Here are some of the photos:

Community Theater not 20 miles away

Springhouse Community Church hosts a The Lamplighter Theater, a community theater company that performs five different plays each season.  We were fortunate to get tickets for Saturday night’s performance of “To Kill a Mockingbird.” What a fine production that proved to be.  We were told by one of the other volunteers here at the park that the pastor is a professional actor, his wife a costume designer, and there are several other theater types involved with the congregation and its ministry.  Given our work and the context in which we are doing it, I was most interested to see how this production of Mockingbird would be presented and how it was received.  It was excellent, from Atticus to Scout, from Calpurnia to Bo, each character was wonderfully played and created a most engaging performance.  The audience’s sympathies were clearly with the falsely accused Tom Robinson and his lawyer.  I was stunned; my prejudices are challenged most every day down here.  This was the company’s closing performance for the year, but next year’s season tickets are already available – “Pride and Prejudice” to “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” on the docket.  What a gift that outreach ministry is to the communities of Smyrna, Murfreesboro, LaVergne.  Smyrna, TN, is the home of a huge Nissan plant, by the way.