As 2011 begins to wind down and I have had time to reflect a
little on the past nearly 365 days, I am astonished by all that has happened. The beginning of 2011 started
off with me planning on making one Presidential trip (to LBJs Ranch and Grave)
and the Governor’s Blog wasn’t even on the radar and now here I sit having
visited 6 Presidents and 19 Governors (I hope to visit one more to make it an
even number before the end of the year). My journey has taken me to five
different states and over a dozen small towns in Tennessee that until now I
never had a reason to visit.
From the eastern most visit to Teddy Roosevelt’s Sagamore
Hill in Oyster Bay, NY to western most visit
to Ronald Reagan’s Presidential Library in Simi Valley, CA is an expanse of
2862 miles…in between these two locations I visited Andrew Johnson in
Greenville, TN, Harry Truman in Independence,
MO, and Eisenhower in Abilene Kansas, Lyndon Johnson in Stonewall, TX and Richard Nixon in Yorba Linda, CA.
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| The view from the Reagan Library |
I saw an alien head in Lebanon, TN, while visiting William
Campbell, and the birthplace of Nathan Bedford Forrest, on my way
to visit Prentice Cooper in Shelbyville.
After many attempts to contact the land owner, I snuck into the cemetery of
Newton Cannon to snap a few shots of his grave in Eagleville and saw the first
private grave monitored by an alarm system I have ever seen while visiting Austin Peay
and Willie Blount in Clarksville, TN.
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| Newton Cannon Cemetery |
These experiences have been shared with some the most important people
in my life. Amber and Major were with me
in Knoxville as we trudged up and down the hilly downtown looking for the Old
County Court House, which is the final resting place of John Sevier. While on a family vacation to my aunt and
uncle’s place, my dad and my nephew, Will, took time out to travel with me
through the hills of East Tennessee, seeing views that were truly breathtaking,
own our way to Greeneville to visit former Governor and President, Andrew
Johnson. Effrin and I took our first
plane trips together to both Kansas City and Los Angeles and visited a total of
four former Presidents. William and I
traveled to five different cities and knocked out an astonishing six governors
in one day. All of these experiences meant so much to me and brought me even
closer to the people in this world that I love and respect most.
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| Major's ready to roll... |
You see, that is what each of these trips truly is, an experience,
to be shared and remembered and each name I check off of the list brings with it
experiences and memories that will last a lifetime. It is the laughs and the
struggles, the time spent driving and wandering the cemeteries looking for graves, the places we eat and the weird little side trips we take, that makes each visit special and unique and what I crave more than
anything. So, thank you all, thank you for reading, thank you for participating
and if you’re ever feeling the need to visit a graveyard be sure and let me
know and I will be there with camera in hand ready to make new memories with
you.
#18 & #20
Name: Andrew Johnson
Birth: 29 December 1808
Death: 31 July 1875
Age at Death: 66 years, 7 months, 2 days old
Age at Death: 66 years, 7 months, 2 days old
Interment: Andrew Johnson National Cemetery
Term in Office: October 17, 1853 – November 3, 1857 & March 12, 1862 – March 4, 1865
Political Party: Democratic & Unionist/Military Governor
Andrew Johnson was born on December 29, 1808, in Raleigh,
NC, to Jacob and Mary Johnson. Following
the death of his father, he would move with his mother and stepfather to
Greeneville, TN, in 1826. Entering into an apprenticeship, as a tailor, he would
open eventually open his ownsuccessful shop. The year after moving
to Greeneville, he would meet and marry his wife, Eliza McCardle, with whom he
would have five children. He would first be elected to the State Legislature
and then the State Senate and finally as a congressman in the U.S. House of
Representatives. He would serve in the
House of Representatives for ten years before being elected as the Governor of
Tennessee, a post which he would hold for two consecutive terms. Following his
terms as Governor he would next be elected to the U.S. Senate and would serve
there until Tennessee seceded from the Union on June 8, 1861. A strong proponent of the Constitution of the
United States, Johnson viewed secession as unconstitutional and would be the
only Senator from a seceding state to continue serving during the Civil War. In
1862, Lincoln would call upon Johnson to serve as the Military Governor of the
State of Tennessee for the duration of the War.
In the election of 1864, Lincoln would again call upon Johnson to be his
running mate. A little over a month
after his inauguration as Vice President, Johnson would be thrust into the role
of President following the assassination of Lincoln. As President, Johnson
would offer amnesty for the rebelling southern states and much of the
confederate government. He would also
become one of only two Presidents to be impeached and was only one vote shy of
being convicted. Following his term as President,
Johnson would run for and eventually be reelected to the U.S. Senate, the only
former President to do so. He would die
on July 31, 1875, in Elzabethton, TN.
According to his wishes he was buried in Greeneville, TN, his
body being wrapped in an American flag and his head laid upon a copy of the
Constitution.
