I just got back from Murfreesboro. It's about 150 miles, over on the other side of the
Cumberland Plateau. Beautiful country down that way.

We had to take my wife's mother to see the hearing aid guy and while they were in his
office, I walked around the down town area a bit. About 45 years ago, when I was a
college student working part time for the Daily News Journal, my regular beat was down
there. I would go by the city hall, visit the police station, then go to the fire hall and the
court house. I might pick up a story, but usually all I got was a list of real estate
transfers and marriage licenses. Murfreesboro was a small town back then.

While I was strolling around, I went down to the corner of West Main and Broad where a
paved bike and hike path connects a park and some other points of interest. It even
follows a creek under Broad a couple of times. Then I ambled up to the square where the
Civil War era courthouse still stands. The building that once held the police station and
city hall were torn down a long time ago and the old fire hall is gone too. On the way I
passed the Home Journal building. It was the original home of the newspaper that I
worked for, but they changed the name and moved to another building sometime prior to
1953. The square looks different now. The court house has been extensively remodeled
and they put new additions on each end about 40 years ago. There are more trees and
fewer parking spaces, but there is less traffic in that part of town. Many of the old stores
have become law offices and the city government has moved to new quarters down on
broad.

The trees I mentioned are mostly ginkho trees that are popular in Murfreesboro. They
were brought to Tennessee from Japan early in the 20th century and are now common
over much of the Central Basin. Ginkhos are excellent shade trees and look similar to
elms until you notice the notched, fan-shaped leaves. Fossil record indicates that they
date from the dinosaur days, making them a very old type of tree.

After the ladies got out of the hearing aid guy's office (the hearing aid was tuned up) we
drove down East Main Street which still has many of the original victorian houses that
were there during The War. Several of them were occupied by Union and Confederate
troops, but hopefully not at the same time.

Murfreesboro is an historic old town. I guess I'm a small part of it's history, but I'm
probably not mentioned in the books.
Howard