Hello,
October 17th 19th, 2016 – Our 91st meeting!! We continue our seventh year.
The next meeting of the Nashville (TN) Civil War Roundtable will be on Monday, October 17th, 2016, in the visitor’s center of Ft. Negley Park, a unit of Metro Parks, Nashville, TN. This is located off I-65 just south of downtown between 4th Avenue South and 8th Avenue South on Edgehill Avenue/Chestnut Avenue. Take Exit 81, Wedgewood Avenue, off I-65 and follow the signs to the Science Museum.
The meeting begins at 7:00 PM and is always open to the public. Members please bring a friend or two – new recruits are always welcomed.
Our Speaker and Topic - “The Ryman Diaries”
Thomas Ryman was born south of Nashville in 1841. After moving with his family to Chattanooga, he was back in Nashville for the Civil War. Ryman helped support his family by fishing and other jobs. It was after the war that he became a successful steamboat owner based in Nashville. At his height he owned some 35 steamboats plying the trade on the Cumberland River. In 1885, after attending a revival in a tent, Ryman and a partner put up the money to build a magnificent building so that such events would not have to be held outdoors again. In 1892 the building was completed and today it bears his name – the Ryman Auditorium.
Our presenter this month, Debbie Watts, using multi-media film and slides, will tell the story of the Civil War, and specifically the Battle of Franklin, which helped to shape the lives of the two principal characters, young Bettie Baugh, a Franklin girl whose family narrowly escaped that battle, and Captain Tom Ryman, the Nashville entrepreneur, who would build a commercially successful river transport business.
Debbie will read excerpts as Bettie Baugh, her involvement before, during and after the Civil War, to include being a post-war nurse, and contracting typhoid. She will also synopsize Tom Ryman’s Civil War adventures from her book, which she will have at this meeting.
As a bonus, Debbie will also perform “Aura Lee,” a Civil War-era love song, as a piano-vocal, from her stage play version of The Ryman Diaries. An extra-added attraction from the recipe section of the book will be a serving of Bettie Ryman’s hazelnut tarts, a favorite of Captain Ryman.
Finally, we will get a “sneak-peak” of her upcoming book, FROM TENNESSEE TO THE WHITE HOUSE, WITH LOVE, will include readings from the chapter which takes a glimpse into the life of Eliza Johnson, wife of President Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, her experiences during the Civil War and beyond.
Four-time published author, Debbie Watts, shows no signs of slowing down. During 2016, she began her third year of production of her original stage play, THE RYMAN DIARIES, based on her book of the same title. Watts calls her book/stage play a “labor of love,” and she credits that love of regional history the impetus for her success with this multi-media project. From a career in Nashville as a songwriter/entertainer, to her ten-year stint at Opryland and The Nashville Network as an entertainer/writer/producer, to her 26 years as an educator and instructional coach, Debbie has infused each project with love. In a recent interview for an entertainment magazine, Debbie said: “My Ryman Diaries represents a career high for me. It brings to Nashville and tourist audiences the sweet story of Captain Ryman, his conversion to Christianity, and the subsequent building project of Nashville’s iconic Mother Church of Country Music, the Ryman Auditorium.”
In addition to the Ryman project, Debbie is marketing a Christmas book, “What’s In My Stocking.” She has launched a 1940’s musical revue, which she performs at military reunions and patriotic tributes. To read more about Debbie, her Ryman Diaries, and her other projects, go to wattsd2.wix.com//rymandiaries.
We hope you will join us for this interesting program.