Our Tennessee trip...

Two weeks ago, my daughter and I drove to KY and surprised my mom with a weekend visit.  In return, she surprised me by coming home with us for a week.  We made plans to reupholster a winged back chair that I'd wanted to recover for a while.  My mom knows how to do so many things.  She has reupholstered furniture, boat seats and car seats.  She can sew, knit, crochet and paint.  She has recently taken up photography too.  We spent a few days driving around, searching for the perfect fabric, but to my dismay, it was not to be found.  So we moved on to plan B.

Lynchburg, TN

Whiskey barrel planters on the square in Lynchburg, TN.

We drove to Lynchburg, TN, home of the Jack Daniels Distillery.  It's a quaint little place with a town square and a population of 6000+.  On the square you'll find leather shops, restaurants and fudge made with Jack Daniels whiskey.  There's a lot of history there and the people are very friendly.

We stopped in a few of the shops and talked to the locals, then I headed to Nina's candy shop.  I can't go to Lynchburg without bringing home some Jack Daniel's fudge.  Yum!




Falls Mill
We made our way to Fall's Mill through the backroads.  We actually didn't know that's where we were going until we stopped at Tim's Ford Lake and I picked up a few flyers.  We saw this beautiful place on one of the flyers and I remembered seeing a post on facebook about it.  I was sure that this place would be right up our alley.  I was right.

Finding it was an adventure in itself.  I'd never been before and had no idea how to get there.  I stopped at a gas station and got directions from a man that said he was going to "keep me out of town".  Ha!  So off on our journey we went.  Looking for roads that we had never heard of out in the middle of nowhere.  Found it!  I'm usually good at that.  I supposedly have some native american heritage, I guess that's where I get my sense of direction.

The mill was built in 1873 and has been used as a cotton and woolen factory, a cotton gin and a woodworking shop.  Today the wheel still works and is used to power millstones to grind cornmeal, flour and grits.

The second floor of the mill is used as a museum and that's where I found myself lost in photography.  I thought all of these dust covered relics lent themselves well to an antique photo treatment.

Game of checkers, anyone?

Ball jars from days gone by.

I'm really glad that I never had to sew on this.  :)

I just couldn't resist these.  :)

One ringy, dingy, two ringy, dingy....I can see Lilly Tomlin with this phone in her hand.

As a graphic designer, I had to get some shots of this old printing press.  They are still using it today.

This is a gear from one of the weaving machine.

These are old record and ledger books.

Needless to say, my mom and I had a great time on this trip.  Sometimes, the best trips are the one's that are close to home.  We wished that we had more time at the mill but we had to get back home to start dinner.  As we were leaving, these two beauties posed for us.

I'm so glad that we had this time together.  I love my mom.  <3