Wednesday, August 14, 2013

History


This week's Writer's Post Blog Hop is hosted by Darla at "Blessed Little Creatures".  This post was written in response to her prompt.

    When I was a teenager I visited the Hermitage plantation in Nashville, Tennessee with my mom and was blown away by the pure history that surrounded me.  If you listened carefully you could almost hear the whispers of the occupants that once lived there.  It was mind boggling to realize a hundred years or so before folks were going about their business in that exact spot.  History was being made. Andrew Jackson himself walked those same paths.  He slept in that room and dined at that table.  I wonder if in a hundred years or so down the road if people will wonder about me and what made me tick, where I slept, what I ate, and how I felt about things. 





      Even though we were only minutes away from the bustling metropolis of Nashville, there in that place time had been frozen as it once was when Andrew Jackson had lived.  The slave cabins were intact and even more fascinating…quite a distant from the house stood the outhouse.  It kind of blew my mind at the time because of the way it was constructed and where.  Not only was it quite a jaunt from the main house, it accommodated three people with three holes.  Seriously it was an outhouse built for three.  Not only that, there was absolutely no privacy.  My crazy animated mind quickly conjured up these people of the past sitting side by side taking a crap…together. 
Boy, have we come a long way from those days without indoor toilets with doors and economy sized cans of Febreeze!   What I find even more astonishing is that I know, I just know those folks must have woke in the night and had to go. That was a hell of a long way to run.   I guess folks just did their business in a china commode right in their room in those days and inhaled the fumes for the rest of the night.  Or I imagine when they were done, they threw it out the window.  Watch out below for flying turds!  Maybe that is where the old story my dad used to tell of a man getting killed by a flying turd came from.  I wonder!   Boy, am I glad I live now in the land of indoor toilets, running water, and ventilation!!


       I eagerly anticipated history class in high school and thoroughly enjoyed it.  I think it is important to learn history because it is only through learning what happened in the past that we can truly understand and grasp the present and the future. Like those that came before us, we live, we learn, and proceed forward with that knowledge.

10 comments:

  1. A fellow history buff - cool! :-) Great post Kathy and I'd love to see this area in person one day. Can't get that image of three on the potty out of my head now. LOL

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    1. Debbie, LOL it really boggled my mind. I mean in modern bathrooms you don't have 3 toilets in a row because generally going to the bathroom is private me time. It just struck me as incredibly funny! The Hermitage is a must see if you happen to be in the Nashville area. Thank you for stopping by and for your kind comments! ♥

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  2. One of my favorite things to do while on vacation is tour historical sites. Great post! And I too am glad to be living with indoor plumbing...

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    1. Talya, having to make a mad dash to the outhouse would suck big time! LOL Thank you for stopping by and for your kind comments! ♥

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  3. I know what you mean!! It's incredible to be surrounded by history, and realize how hard times really were back then w/ no running water, food spoiling quickly, getting food poisoning and having to sprint to an outhouse or use the 'thunder mug' in your room. Dis. Gus. Ting. And people wonder why I refuse to camp in anything other than an air conditioned RV or a cabin with electricity and running water. I won't even visit a friend's camp in Maine b/c I will not use their outhouse.

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    1. JoJo, I can't imagine how people managed back then!! Thank you for stopping by and for your kind comments! ♥

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  4. I love all things old and filled with history but am happy to have many modern conveniences ~ too many spiders and crawly things in an outhouse for me!!!

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    1. Judi, I am with you on that score! Thank you for stopping by and for your comments! ♥

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  5. My great-grandmother had an outhouse and it had 2 "seats". We finally bulldozed her home and buildings because they were falling apart in the 80's.

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    1. Holli, wonder what was up with the multiple seats?? Thank you for stopping by and for your kind comments♥

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