(This is part of the TENNESSEE! Tour. When I finally get a little caught up on posts, you can read about how we got into the south at http://bit.ly/MoosefishDoesTennessee. (Clicking that before it's posted will get you an error.))
We woke in Greenville, Tennessee late. Our first stop of the day was at the Andrew Johnson National Historic Site, which didn't open until 9am. You might ask yourself, why go to a National Historic Site for one of our worst presidents? It's a great question. It's because we're completionists.
There are 424 units in the National Park Service. I've visited about a quarter of them. Every time I get to go on a trip I plan it around the National Park Units even remotely close to where I need to be. Sure, I could have just flown to Nashville for work, worked, and flown home. Or I could plan a thousand mile circuit to visit new NPS units. So that's why we stopped at Andrew Johnson's site.
As for why President Johnson wasn't high on the list of presidents, he favored repairing relations with the white south over protecting the rights of the formerly enslaved blacks. Yeah, national unity and all that, but not at the cost of the people who make up the nation. In the end, he was largely overruled by Congress, but did manage to escape being removed by one vote in the Senate. Bully for him.
The site is nice enough. We learned a lot. Stop if you're like us and you feel you must. Otherwise there are better places to spend your time.
📍On the lands of the ᏣᎳᎫᏪᏘᏱ Tsalaguwetiyi people.
