My name is Christie Elise Jones, and I am majoring in University Parallel Studies with a concentration in English.  This is my second to last semester at Volunteer State Community College, and next fall I shall be attending the University of Memphis.  At the University of Memphis, I shall be double majoring in English and either Political Science or History, with a minor in Judaic Studies.  I plan to acquire my MFA, and it is my hope to be a professor at Volunteer State Community College.  I am a native of Hendersonville.  I was born at Baptist Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, and I have resided in Hendersonville for almost the entirety of my life since the age of one year old.  My family is of Scot, Irish, and Cherokee ancestry, and my parents met at the Gold Rush bar near Vanderbilt University, a university that both my mother and one of my three brothers attended.  My father preached during my childhood, and he now works for the state.   My family has roots in this area, and my grandfather’s business, which was subsequently my father’s business, is on the National Registry of Historic Places:  Acme Farm Supply.

     Before it was a feed and seed store, it was a buggy store, and the building stands as a testament of time on First and Broadway in downtown Nashville, Tennessee.  I consider Acme to be one of the most significant historic sites in my area because its success gauged the transition of the area from an agrarian economy to a service economy.  Loyal farmers of the area would purchase Sweetena horse chow, chicken scratch, Purina chows, Purple Top turnip seeds, 7 top Turnip seeds, fescue, and all manners of farm necessities.  The business thrived for many decades, but in 1998, it closed its doors.  Across the street of the empty feed and seed store, Hard Rock Café hosts the new clientele of First and Broadway.  Times change, and downtown Nashville no longer has room for a great part of its roots:  a feed and seed store.

     As a child, I gladly carried out feed to the cars of farmers and businessmen alike, and I took pride in the heritage of the area.  What I know about the first peoples of the area seems be a narrative of two worlds that collided:  the world of Native Americans and the world of colonial frontiersmen of Fort Nashboro on First Avenue, upon the banks of the Cumberland River.  The Native Americans trekked the treacherous Trail of Tears, driven away by the colonials.  Cherokee women and children, separated from husbands and fathers, would keep hope along the trail when they found the signature arrowhead of their father or mate, a testament that he was still alive. The trail is along the Natchez Trace, not too far from Fort Nashboro and Acme’s closed doors.  History has a way of closing doors.  Within her dark chambers, the past is like the womb of mystery for the future.