The most iconic building in Clarksville, TN, has over 125 years of documented history. The…read morewell-designed architecture even withstood an F3 tornado in January 1999. It transformed from a Federal Post Office to the Department of Electricity, and now a beautiful museum to showcase Clarksville's rich culture and history for all ages to enjoy. We enjoyed a group of self-guided and museum-guided tours that included story time, a craft activity, a scavenger hunt, and a plethora of hands-on educational fun. The kids enjoyed the interactive model trains exhibit, Explorer's Landing, and Art Studio. Check out their website membership, group rates, special events, and ways to donate to this beautiful museum. It's truly worth a visit. Highly Recommend!!!

Usually I like to tie up my reviews with a nice ending of how my visit to a place was. For this…read morereview, I am cutting the foreplay to tell you how this review ends, so you will be compelled to read more or to skip this review entirely. Keep reading: In a nutshell, this is the place to go to learn everything you need to know about Clarksville, Tennessee. The museum is very clean. The staff is courteous and very professional. The art from the temporary exhibits was profound, sensational, and brought me to another time and world beyond Clarksville. If you are looking for this, please read the rest of my review. ******************** The Customs House Museum has been on my to go list since I moved here. The Museum is open to the public with free admission all day from 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. as part of their monthly Second Saturday Free Admission Day. It was the perfect rainy Saturday, and it was easy finding the museum.I found an empty parking space and headed off to the wrong direction. Turned around and found the place instantly. Megan at the front desk gave me a map to the museum. She even showed me a photograph of the music store Jimi Hendrix went to when he was a soldier in Fort Campbell. I wandered slowly to each room in the museum. The most fascinating exhibits were: 15 Over 50: A Women's History Month Exhibition March 7, 2019 - June 9, 2019 March 7 - June 9 Kimbrough Gallery This exhibition features 15 contemporary women artists from across the country all over age 50. Works include photography, painting, and sculpture done in a variety of styles. Johan Hagaman was my favorite artist. I found her statement very profound. It stood out more than the art she created to represent it. JOHAN HAGAMAN | SCULPTOR ARTIST STATEMENT: Passing clouds. Poetry. Climbing vines. Current events. I am a collector of often unrelated and ambiguous images and ideas - not looking for anything in particular, but noticing patterns; and I try to process what it means -- how we have been shaped, and what is seeking to emerge--by making something formal. Being covered in vines, leaves, birds - a metaphor that has become a dominant theme in my work for some time - is both about paying attention and also about how what we are paying attention to determines how we shape our world, and are shaped by and tied to it in a circle of reciprocity. - Johan Hagaman This statement was the most mind provoking Item in the museum to me. It still reverberates in my head. She put into words and art the idea of how we create our REALITY and design our world. She shows this by having vines, leaves, and birds emerging from her sculptures of people. ********* MIKE ANDREWS: A NEW VISION: Crouch Gallery - A local teacher & sculptor working in wood and limestone brings his new pieces to the Crouch Gallery. Included in the show are Andrew's figurative pieces, abstract benches, and wall-mounted forms. His work is simple, elegant, and compelled me. It reminded me of the time I touched gigantic expensive vases made of stone or clay that held skeletal remains of the dead. It was a burial reserved for the very wealthy. Absolutely mesmerizing how a sculpture or vase can evoke zen, calm, and a magical zing. ******* My third and final favorite: BECOMING CLARKSVILLE: HONORING LEGACIES OF LEADERSHIP Explore Clarksville's history in Becoming Clarksville: Honoring Legacies of Leadership. Find out how local agriculture, industry, education, culture, government, medicine, military, and transportation have all contributed to the city of today, and learn about the leaders who have shaped our history. The exhibit also includes engaging computer interactives and a film area. Very impressed with this historical exhibit and the film area. I watched all the films and read everything displayed about Fort Campbell. I plan to go back to the Custom Museum again and revisit this area again. I wanted to read everything about Clarksville, yet my time was limited. ************ In a nutshell, this is the place to go to learn everything you need to know about Clarksville. The museum is very clean. The staff is courteous and very professional. The art from the temporary exhibits was profound, sensational, and brought me to another time and world beyond Clarksville. Thank you for reading this review. 7:07 AM time to have a brand new day.

Fort Defiance (formerly also known as Fort Sevier & Fort Bruce)…read more We loved the little walking path that was here. It shows some of the original earthworks. Museum was very informative. Clarksville, TN in the 1860's was a vital communication/transportation center for the Confederacy. It was a major producer of tobacco and agricultural goods but became an important source of iron (its local foundries producing cannon, artillery shells and musket balls for the Confederate army early in the war). Clarksville's location at the confluence of the Cumberland and Red Rivers made it a strategic point. The Confederates in preparing for the city's defense constructed Fort Sevier on a hill that commands the two rivers. On February 19, 1862, Union gunboats came up the river from Fort Donelson and reported the fort displayed a white flag and was left deserted. The Union took over the fort and enlarged it so that it would control traffic on the Hopkinsville (Kentucky) Pike. After the Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863, Clarksville became a Federal recruitment center for the induction of free blacks and former slaves into the Union service.

We stopped by since we were killing some time in town for a wedding later in the day. The small…read moremuseum was pretty interesting as was the video. If so inclined they have a long walking path down to the river ( beware the path back is uphill). The fort itself is not much to see given it is just earthen walls. Nice views to downtown c-ville. Ok especially if you are a civil war history buff but for all others... meh.

Right before fall, I decided to go on a road trip with my father, who loves Civil War history. We…read morehad done everything from Gettysburg, Perryville, Camp Wildcat, Fort Sumter, Antietam/Sharpsburg, Leesburg, and Fort Sullivan. So, I decided to revisit the Jefferson Davis Monument, which I had initially visited in 2011 with a colleague from Madras, India, who wanted to see some historical places in Kentucky during a trip to Fort Campbell. It was a pleasant morning drive from central Kentucky to Fairview, Kentucky, which is the birthplace of Jefferson Davis. At the visitors' center, they offer a video describing Davis' life and the construction of the monument. Also, some post cards, books, and magnets souvenirs on the monument and the Civil War. We learned that he married the daughter of the 12th U.S. president, Zachary Taylor. She died three months later of malaria. Besides being the President of the Confederacy, he was a West Point graduate, Secretary of War under President Pierce, and a U.S. senator from Mississippi. We found it interesting that Davis was never tried for treason especially since the government could easily make out a prima facie case that Davis had committed treason by levying war against the United States. However, we learned that Davis could defend his suit by arguing that the session of his then-home state of Mississippi had removed his United States citizenship and his duty of loyalty to the Union, therefore rendering him in capable of committing treason against the United States. Next, you can pay an $8.00 fee to take an elevator to the observation level. The views span for miles, and we saw some Amish on horse and buggy, along with some farmers tending their land. The guide was Tim, who offered additional information about the monument: a 351-foot obelisk, the third-tallest in the US after the Washington Monument and the San Jacinto Monument. The concrete walls are 7 feet thick at the base and 2.5 feet thick at the top. Finally, the area is well maintained, and we sat on a park bench and ate lunch as time went by; besides, people are always in a rush, and often don't enjoy the moment of peace, especially after escaping the hassle of the city.

The fourth largest concrete monument in the United States is a tribute the the President of the…read moreConfederacy who was born here in Kentucky before going on to lead the group of states that seceded from the Union. I was here super early and that gave me the opportunity to explore the grounds undisturbed. No one in any of my pictures but that does mean that I was unable to visit the top of the monument. There is plenty of parking, lots of picnic sites and a playground. Restrooms are available during business hours. We're in very rural Kentucky so there is not much else nearby. [Review 1226 of 2024 - 258 in Kentucky - 22249 overall]

Depends on your style and tastes because it definitely is a little eerie! If you like weird,…read morethough, it'll be a good place to visit. It will definitely be something we will always remember, but not one we necessarily recommend.

This place is absolutely different. It's a super duper collection of "yard art" of all sorts. The…read morestuff in the collection is the stuff in the collection but the creators/owners of the place are what brings out the magic. With an endless stream of puns and plays on words and a clear passion for what they're doing, that's what makes this place even more special. There are all sorts of things in the collection put together in various art installations around the property. There are historical things, a lot of toys, and so many plays on words you can't count 'em all. We purposely stayed an additional day in the area just to visit the museum and it was well worth it.I think everybody will get a smile out of this place but the joy in the owners' eyes makes it especially great. And the puns, oh the puns!

The Pratt Museum in Fort Campbell is a little museum I visit a lot to reflect and to learn about…read morethe history of Fort Campbell. It is a great place to meet unique, intelligent, and curious people and military veterans. I learn something new every time I come here. I first visited it when I came to Fort Campbell a couple of months ago. It was a very brief self guided tour. My in-laws were mostly fascinated by the Vietnam exhibit. I was drawn to the personal possessions of Adolph Hitler, the katanas of the Japanese soldier, and the fine details of the uniform of the German soldier. The Bastogne and glider exhibits stand out a lot in the museum. The WW2 BASTOGNE ROAD SIGN and photograph seem to be very eye catching due to the iconic battle of WW2. "In December 1944, the Wehrmacht launched its last major offensive in the West. The aim was to drive a wedge between the Allied Army Groups advancing into Germany. The Belgian town of Bastogne sat at the junction of several key roads and it was imperative that the Germans capture it in order to speed their advance. However, the American 101st Airborne Division held out for several days, whilst being completely surrounded and cut off from reinforcements. On 26 December, the siege was finally lifted. The defence of Bastogne would go down in history as one of the most well-known battles of the European campaign. " Source: https://www.epicmilitaria.com/ww2-bastogne-road-sign.html Complimentary maps of Fort Campbell are given at the museum. New and temporary exhibits pop up on a monthly basis. At the front desk, a map of the inactive Clarksville Base (located in Fort Campbell) is on display. They don't have copies of the Clarksville Base map but you can photograph it. "Clarksville Base was at one time the repository of about a third of the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal, putting it on the Soviet Union's top-10 list of targets - some say as high as No. 3 - designated for annihilation in the event of World War III." - PHILIP GREY | LEAF-CHRONICLE FILES You are allowed to take photographs inside the museum. Admission is free and repeat visits are welcomed.

Visited the museum today for a promotion ceremony. This is a great museum! Very clean and well laid…read moreout. Excellent displays and very educational. Represents history to present day very respectfully and accurately. If you like history, the 101st or the military and you are in the area, this is a must stop!!

I wasn't sure what to expect. I wasn't even sure they were open. But I called ahead, and they were…read morethere. It is an astounding collection. It's pretty much a personal collection, sorted out and displayed for the public. I was there to see a few planes, and they have three or four. But they also have many cars, and tractors, and antiques, and old toys, etc. Every couple of minutes I would walk past one display and smile or laugh or gape in surprise at the amazing vehicle or artifact in front of me. There is one whole section of the building, essentially one big barn, full of John Deere tractors. And there are many, many other brands represented, of all ages. There are antique cars, and race cars, and just flat weird vehicles. There's an ultralight plane in the building, and several Vintage planes outside. Spend an hour or two, wander around. You can bring the kids, although it's not really set up for little kids and they can't climb on much. But it is super cool for them to look at all the old toys and interesting vehicles. Plus you can show them what a telephone booth was, and a switchboard, and a jukebox.

I took my 7 year old grandson and he and I both enjoyed it tremendously…read more We thoroughly enjoyed the boat ride through the cave and the green water for St. Patrick's Day was awesome The Scavenger hunt was lots of fun for my grandson

The atmosphere and how pleasant everyone that worked here was absolutely wonderful. We enjoyed all…read morethe trails and the views. Our boat guide was Bri and let me just say, I 100% recommend her. She was informational, funny and we just had a fantastic time with her being our guide. The cave was really neat to see and experience along with some of the history that goes with it. We will definitely return and bring our kiddos next time.

We had a charmed day, tour and visit. Met Bob the rooster. And co-owner too who was exceptionally…read morecordial and welcoming. The museum and grounds include significant Americana, Johny Cash, Elvis, and a painting featuring Bob Dylan. Clean. Well cared for and presented. Loved it. We arrived on a quiet fall day, out of season and couldn't promise the same experience for others. There is a gathering area to enjoy music performances in the summer months that wasn't open. There wasn't any food sold and I'm unaware if guests can bring any snacks to the events.

My husband and I were spending a few days in Memphis, and I just happened to pick up a pamphlet…read morefrom the visitor's center about TN Music Pathways. The last night there I decided to read through it, thinking to myself that we needed to make another trip through Tennessee to hit all of these cool places. Some we have already been to, but wouldn't mind going again. My husband being a HUGE Johnny Cash fan, I suggested we make a detour on our way home, just to fit Storytellers Hideaway Farm in. We were NOT disappointed. We both thoroughly enjoyed the tour of the house and the barn with all sorts of memorabilia. The highlight of the experience was the music and camaraderie with Johnny Cash's nephew, Mark Alan Cash. We could sit there and listen to him all day. We loved listening to the stories from his personal experiences with his uncle. If we ever get the chance to come back through here, we definitely will.

The museum inside the headquarters building is quite an experience to behold. Each exhibit displays…read moredepth, history, and the simplicity of the 101st Airborne Division. It was my first visit inside the building, and it was a very peaceful and moving experience.

As the HQ of one of the most famous military units in history, you'd expect the 101st building to…read morehave some historical displays... and you'd be spot on. The structure itself is unique and sets itself apart from anything else on base. Big and blue! The first thing you might notice is the walls adorned with historical artifacts, signs and sculptures... that is if you miss the 10' obelisk outside. As you walk further in, there's an impressive Medal of Honor Rotunda with life sized jumper suspended my parachute lines in the center. Pretty Cool. Walk around. You'll see a display dedicated to Old Abe, the Eagle on the 101st insignia. My favorite was the small statue of the Paratrooper with the air-filled chute after landing. Brought back memories of trying to unclip while the parachute was nearly dragging me along the ground. Check out the pictures. Hope you enjoy.