Tennessee

Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for... shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the South. The Commodore hoped that his gift and the greater work of the university would help to heal the sectional wounds inflicted by the Civil War. Today, four undergraduate and six graduate schools comprise Vanderbilt, enrolling approximately 12,000 students from all 50 U.S. states and over 90 foreign countries. In its 2011 ranking of universities, U.S. News & World Report placed Vanderbilt 17th among national universities and the schools of education, law, medicine, and nursing were ranked among the top 20 in the country. The Academic Ranking of World Universities listed Vanderbilt as 41st in the world in its 2009 ranking. The university is among the top 10 recipients of federal research funding with $444.3 million in 2008.
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Monthaven, also known as the Leonard B. Fite House, is a historic home in Hendersonville, Tennessee and is on the National Historic Register. It was... built around 1860, and was used as a field hospital during the American Civil War. A few skirmishes occurred on the property as well. The historic building is now home to galleries and offices of the Hendersonville Arts Council. During its time, Monthaven was considered a neighbor to Rock Castle and The Hermitage, both miles away.
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Maxwelton, currently a private residence, is a single story Victorian Piano Box House located on Southern Avenue near Buntyn's Station along what was... the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. In Middle and West Tennessee, Piano Box Houses were erected from the mid 1800s into the early part of the 1900s. The name for these one-story houses derives from their similarity to box-shaped pianos. Maxwelton was built around 1860 of Tennessee native Poplar and Cypress woods and features a long recessed central porch between two flanking parlors. The interior of the home has fourteen foot ceilings and four inch pine board floors. There are five fireplaces with wooden mantels and some have ornately tiled hearths. It is named after the famed estate in Scotland whose stories are chronicled through story and song. Maxwelton was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. Judge John Louis Taylor Sneed purchased the home in 1874 and the home has been in the Sneed - Ewell family for four generations. Upon his death, his wife inherited Maxwelton and since there were no children from their union the home was passed to her nephew, John Sneed Webb and then to Webb's daughter, Kathleen.
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Blythe Ferry was a ferry across the Tennessee River in Meigs County, Tennessee. In 1838, the ferry served as a gathering point and crossing for the... Cherokee Removal, commonly called the Trail of Tears, in which thousands of Cherokee were forced to move west to Oklahoma from their homeland in the southeastern United States. While the ferry no longer exists, the ferry site is now part of the Cherokee Removal Memorial Park, which was dedicated in 2005 and was still under development in 2007. The park comprises a section of the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge, which is managed by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. The Blythe Ferry site is situated along the eastern bank of the Chickamauga Lake impoundment of the Tennessee River, just south of the mouth of the Hiwassee River. The site is located near a point where Meigs County, Rhea County, and Hamilton County meet. Tennessee State Route 60, which formerly crossed the river at the ferry, connects the area to Cleveland to the east, Dayton to the west, and Decatur to the north. The unincorporated community of Birchwood is located just to the southeast.
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Lester Raymond Flatt was a bluegrass musician and guitarist, best known for his membership in the Bluegrass duo The Foggy Mountain Boys, also known as Flatt and Scruggs, along with banjo player Earl Scruggs. Flatt's career spanned multiple decades; besides his work with Scruggs, he released... multiple solo and collaboration works. Flatt also served as a member of Bill Monroe's band during the 1940s. Flatt was born in Duncan's Chapel, Overton County, Tennessee, to Nannie Mae Haney and Isaac Columbus Flatt. A singer and guitarist, he first came to prominence as a member of Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys in 1945. In 1948 he started a band with fellow Monroe alumnus Earl Scruggs, and for the next twenty years Flatt and Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys were one of the most successful bands in bluegrass. When they parted ways in 1969, Flatt formed a new group, the Nashville Grass, hiring most of the Foggy Mountain Boys. His role as lead singer and rhythm guitar player in each of these seminal ensembles helped define the sound of traditional bluegrass music.
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Lisa Marie Presley is an American singer–songwriter, also known as the Princess of Rock 'n' Roll. She is the only child of singer Elvis Presley, and daughter of Priscilla Presley. Lisa Marie Presley was born in Memphis, Tennessee, exactly nine months after her parents' wedding. She lived at... Graceland, Elvis' Memphis estate, until her parents' separated in 1972. Following their separation, and subsequent divorce, she divided her time between living at Graceland with her father and in Beverly Hills with her mother. This arrangement continued until her father died on August 16, 1977, after which she lived exclusively in Beverly Hills. When her father died, Lisa became joint-heir to his estate with her grandfather, Vernon Presley, and her great grandmother, Minnie Mae Presley. Following the death of both Vernon and Minnie Mae, Lisa became the sole heir and inherited Graceland. On April 8, 2003, Presley released her debut album, To Whom It May Concern. It reached #5 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and was certified gold in June 2003. Presley wrote all the lyrics and co-wrote some of the melodies.
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Albert Greene , better known as Al Green, is an American gospel and soul music singer. He reached the peak of his popularity in the 1970s, with hit singles such as "You Oughta Be With Me," "I'm Still In Love With You," "Love and Happiness", and "Let's Stay Together". In 2005, Rolling Stone named... him #65 in their list of the '100 Greatest Artists of All Time'. The nomination, written by Justin Timberlake, stated that "people are born to do certain things, and Al was born to make us smile." The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Green in 1995, referring to him as "one of the most gifted purveyors of soul music." Green has sold more than 20 million records. Green was born in Forrest City, Arkansas where he formed a gospel quartet, the Green Brothers, at the age of nine. The group toured throughout the South in the mid- '50s, before the family relocated to Grand Rapids, Michigan. The Green Brothers continued to perform in Grand Rapids, but Al's father kicked the boy out of the group after he caught his son listening to Jackie Wilson. At the age of 16, Al formed an R&B group, Al Green & the Creations, with several of his high-school friends.
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Winfield Scott "Scotty" Moore III is an American guitarist. He is best known for his backing of Elvis Presley in the first part of his career, between 1954 and the beginning of Elvis' Hollywood years. He was ranked forty-fourth in Rolling Stone magazine's list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All... Time. Scotty Moore learned to play the guitar from family and friends at eight years of age. Although underaged when he enlisted, Moore served in the United States Navy between 1948 and 1952. Moore's early background was in jazz and country music. A fan of guitarist Chet Atkins, Moore led a group called the "Starlite Wranglers" before Sam Phillips at Sun Records put him together with then teenage Elvis Presley. Phillips believed that Moore's lead guitar and double bassist Bill Black was all that was needed to augment Presley's rhythm guitar and lead vocals on their recordings. In 1954 Moore and Black accompanied Elvis on what was going to be the first legendary Presley hit, the Sun Studios session cut of "That's All Right ", a recording regarded as a seminal event in rock and roll history.
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Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquin name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares a... border with six states, with its eastern border largely defined by the Mississippi River. Its diverse geography ranges from the mountainous regions of the Ozarks and the Ouachita Mountains, which make up the U.S. Interior Highlands, to the eastern lowlands along the Mississippi River. The capital and most populous city is Little Rock, located in the central portion of the state. The name "Arkansas" derives from the same root as the name for the state of Kansas. The Kansas tribe of Native Americans are closely associated with the Sioux tribes of the Great Plains. The word "Arkansas" itself is a French pronunciation of a Quapaw word "akakaze" meaning "land of downriver people" or the Sioux word "Akakaze" meaning "people of the south wind". The pronunciation of Arkansas was made official by an act of the state legislature in 1881, after a dispute between the two U.S. Senators from Arkansas.
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Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from... the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, which namesake is from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi . The state is heavily forested outside of the Mississippi Delta area, and its catfish aquaculture farms produce the majority of farm-raised catfish consumed in the United States. The state symbol is the magnolia grandiflora tree. Mississippi is bordered on the north by Tennessee, on the east by Alabama, on the south by Louisiana and a narrow coast on the Gulf of Mexico and on the west, across the Mississippi River, by Louisiana and Arkansas. Major rivers in Mississippi, apart from its namesake, include the Big Black River, the Pearl River, the Yazoo River, the Pascagoula River, and the Tombigbee River. Major lakes include Ross Barnett Reservoir, Arkabutla Lake, Sardis Lake and Grenada Lake. The state of Mississippi is entirely composed of lowlands, the highest point being Woodall Mountain, in the foothills of the Cumberland Mountains, 806 feet above sea level.
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Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States of America. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the... east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland waterways. The state ranks 23rd in population with almost 4.6 million residents in 2006. From the American Civil War until World War II, Alabama, like many Southern states, suffered economic hardship, in part because of continued dependence on agriculture. Despite the growth of major industries and urban centers, white rural interests dominated the state legislature until the 1960s, while urban interests and African Americans were under-represented. Following World War II, Alabama experienced growth as the economy of the state transitioned from agriculture to diversified interests in heavy manufacturing, mineral extraction, education, and technology. In addition, the establishment or expansion of multiple military installations, primarily those of the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force, added to state jobs.
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The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau,... Kentucky is a Southern state. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth . Originally a part of Virginia, in 1792 it became the 15th state to join the Union. Kentucky is the 37th largest state in terms of total area, the 36th largest in land area, and ranks 26th in population. Kentucky is known as the "Bluegrass State", a nickname based on the fact that native bluegrass is present in many of the pastures throughout the state, based on the fertile soil. It made possible the breeding of high-quality livestock, especially thoroughbred racing horses. It is a land with diverse environments and abundant resources, including the world's longest cave system, Mammoth Cave National Park; the greatest length of navigable waterways and streams in the Lower 48 states; and the two largest man-made lakes east of the Mississippi River.
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