Sam Houston Schoolhouse
Last week, I promised photos from our recent visit at Sam Houston Schoolhouse in Maryville, Tennessee.
On the grounds where the once Tennessee governor taught school is a small museum filled with heirlooms that were either used in the Houston household, Sam’s parents, or in the school. The museum was poorly lite and I could not use my big girl camera without the flash, which led me to use my iPhone camera for indoor shots.
In the above collage (second row, 3rd from left), you will notice a newer McGuffey readers set inside the cabinet. I thought this was interesting because we used the same ones in our homeschool with our children. Also, there are some very old McGuffey readers in the bottom row dating back to 1857.
My next collection of photos, I took with both my big girl camera and iPhone outside the museum. Sam Houston is not buried here. A small grave marker stands just outside the schoolhouse as a memorial to him. He died of pneumonia in Huntsville, Texas in 1863 where he lived and his body laid to rest.
Houston was an interesting figure. He lived amongst the Cherokee people for a short period and Chef Ahuludegi adopted him, as his own son. I am unclear if his birth father was still alive at the time, but his mother was living. He married three times, he fathered 8 children with his third wife, and over the years he was a soldier, schoolteacher, and politician.
For years, we wanted to visit the Sam Houston Schoolhouse. It was a real treat to spend a Sunday afternoon soaking in beautiful skies and a forgotten past. We finished up with a brief drive along the Foothills Parkway. I will leave you with an image of a lone bird soaring over my head. We couldn’t tell if the bird was an eagle or buzzard. Do you know?
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21 Comments
hilary
that must have been a great trip.. I love going to places like that!
Rorybore
I love visiting historical places like this! there is a pioneer village near us and I cannot wait for when the kids go on a field trip to visit it. It’s standard in our schools that children go – it will be so cool to walk around the site, just as a I did as a young student. And of course, it will not have changed much.
love the shot of the bird!
ImagesByCW
I love your shot of the bird, whatever it is!
McGuffy Ann
This is so interesting. I love Tennessee, and learning about the history makes me love it even more.
Sue
Looks like a cool museum full of very interesting history. I love going to places like that. Thanks for sharing @ for stopping by my blog 🙂
Lydia
Great pictures. It looks like a very cool place to go.
Wieczora (◔‿◔)
Oh, yeah! I would like to make a vitit in this interesting museum. Thanks for sharing and hosting this nice project.
Enjoy the rest of your wednesday!
Best regards, Wieczora (◔‿◔)| My photoblog
aquariann
Historical buildings are so fascinating! Have you ever visited Williamsburg? Neat capture of the lone bird.
Cathy Kennedy
I visited Williamsburg when I young teenager. It would be nice to go back, especially around Christmas since they dress in period costumes for the holidays. That would be excellent to photograph!
Pam Williams
Huntsville Texas is about 30 miles from where I live. I have some pictures of the Sam Houston monument if you are interested. Also have info and facts page of his history here in Texas. If you would like any of this let me know.
Cathy Kennedy
Pam…that would be really nice. Forward anything you have to my email addy, and please be sure to include your copyright on all of your personal photos. I can include this in a future post. You know what, you should start your own photo blog. I think you would really enjoy it!
another jennifer
I’m not sure what the bird is, but it’s a gorgeous shot. Love visiting museums and learning about history. Thanks for sharing!
Julie Corbisiero
Hi Cathy, these photos are so nice and thanks for sharing your day outing with us. I love going to museums too. The school house is so charming and it reminds me of Little House on the Praire! Take care and have a nice day and week.
Julie
stevebethere
That looked like an interesting trip I like the photos very clear 😉
Cathy Kennedy
We really enjoyed our time spent inside the museum and in the old classroom. I love visiting historic sites in the area!
Sheryl
Oh my goodness; what a fantastic museum. I would love to spend a day there. (Okay, so I’d love to go shopping there, but I doubt they would allow that.)
Thanks for featuring LibertyHillHouse! This week’s photo isn’t terribly artistic, but it is true to our reality. Why is it that when I hold up the nice camera everyone pokes their brother and squints, yet when the camera is packed away they are at their cutest? Ah well – fuzzy crooked shots of kids in their pjs will probably capture my heart years down the line.
Cathy Kennedy
Fuzzy pictures are better than none, I always say. You are definitely right, these images captured the heart of the moment and will live forever not only digitally, but in the hearts. Nice job, Mom! 😉
abrianna
Sounds like a fun trip with some great pictures. Does your camera have an A or Av mode on it? That stands for aperture and by lowering the aperture number it allows more light into your lens, thus enabling you to shoot in low light conditions without flash (sometimes).
Cathy Kennedy
Yes, my camera can be set to aperture priority. With photography, as you know there are many variables that can be adjusted to allow more light through the lens to strike the sensor to give your image the proper exposure. Unfortunately, I only focused on the shutter speed, focal length, and aperture. Under normal situations then this may have been good enough, but with the low ceiling, with very little natural light, and a single (maybe two) incandescent light I failed to adjust my ISO. That needed to be bumped up from 100 to at least 400. I am shooting my Nikon D7000 with all manual settings pretty much. I figured the only way to re-learn old school photography with a DSLR is to fiddle with the knobs and buttons. My digital point n’ shoot camera crippled my novice level photography skills. That’s okay, though. I am having fun learning everything through a wiser me perspective. Things make more sense to me today than they did in 80s when I was in my 20s. I credit this to my DH by helping to build my self-esteem over the years.
abrianna
Understood. I was not sure how far along you were with photography. I have the d5100 and I am usually in A mode. Every so often I try manual mode, but find that adjusting shutter sped is complicated.
Cathy Kennedy
It is all very tricky, especially when you’re rusty as a door nail, like I am. lol