Southern Roadtrip Detour: Rogersville, Tennessee

I'm such a sucker for small southern towns that boast some sort of historical significance. If Davy Crockett slept there or anything similar, that's good enough for me. This is why when I was traveling along I-40 in East Tennessee recently and saw a sign for Historic Rogersville, I suggested to my friend and traveling companion that we take a detour.

My friend Terry and I had driven from Knoxville to nearby Johnson City to hear Emily P. Freeman speak at a women's conference. You might be familiar with Emily as author of the book Grace for the Good Girl and her blog, Chatting at the Sky.

It was an enjoyable event and Emily shared some encouraging words, but the highlight of the trip (in my opinion) was historic Rogersville.

It's a little ways off the interstate, but we had some time so we decided to check it out. Rogersville, Tennessee is one of the oldest towns in the state and has a couple of claims to fame. One is the amount of Federal-style architecture, which was impressive. Another is the Hale Springs Inn, an historic hotel and tavern that is fully operational and apparently quite the popular spot for swanky events. We were disappointed to find that it was closed to the public for a wedding that particular day.

Since we couldn't check out anything beyond the exterior of the Hale Springs Inn, we headed out of town just a bit to another historic site, the Thomas Amis Mill. The Thomas Amis home, a log cabin, was built in the late 1700s and it has now been restored and converted into a restaurant.

Amis Mill Eatery offers a full menu of different tasty items, including cheesy squash soup which I'd never had before but enjoyed very much.

It was so fun to dine out on the back porch of a house built in the 1700s while looking down at this lovely view. I hope to travel back to Rogersville again because it's just so quaint. Plus the Hale Springs Inn restaurant seems like a good excuse to return!

Have you made any fun or unexpected detours lately? Safe travels!

Vintage Holiday Décor & a Deal with Flourish!

I scanned the above image from a vintage issue of McCall’s Magazine (1961) because I fell in love with the fun use of Styrofoam balls to adorn this doorway. I always see them in craft stores, but usually think of them as something that needs to be decorated. I never thought about just leaving them as is and treating them like snow balls!

Since I woke up today to find this all over my car (and also falling from the sky), the snowy retro doorway seemed a fitting image to post. I’m not sure if I will tackle my entire doorway, but a small wreath of white Styrofoam balls might be kinda cute. 

If this gorgeous pink wreath is more your style, you might want to check out Southern Flourish Magazine for some wonderful holiday ideas. A fabulous e-magazine released quarterly, this formerly free publication is now going to become subscription based…but have no fear! The fine folks at Southern Flourish have offered a great deal to Southern Belle Simple readers.

For $8 you’ll get a year’s worth (4 issues) delivered to your email inbox on the day of publication. If you subscribe before December 31st, you’ll get an extra issue free! Just use the code BELLESIMPLE when you subscribe to get the deal. Southern Flourish’s holiday issue is out and the previous issues can be accessed online for free, if you want to check it out before you subscribe! I’m thinking this might be a good gift for a few people on my list!

Front Porch: Show us yours?

This is not my house. This is not my porch. I wish it were. I would love for this to be my house, but alas it is not. This is a house I saw while in the darling area of Germantown, near Nashville. I have a small patio off the back of my condo, but my heart longs for a porch like this one. This porch…is perfect.

I’m thinking about doing a weekly Saturday feature here on Southern Belle Simple called “Front Porch.” I would love for folks to send me pictures of their porches (either decorated for the season or just as they are) and I can share them each week. I thought about doing a linky, but this way anyone with a porch can send in a picture even if he/she doesn’t have a blog. I’ll also periodically share lovely porches that I’ve run across.

A person’s porch is kind of his or her jumping off point for the world and I thought it would be neat if we could share a little glimpse of our worlds with each other. Does this sound like something you’d be interested in participating in?

{email pictures to southernbellesimpleblog@gmail.com}