Tag Archives: Chickasaw,

The Hana Chronicles: Month 10, Day 1

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Posted by on in children, Education, Family, Historical, Personal Values

October 22, 2026- Hana has now been ten months blessing our lives and keeping us on our toes. In the past month, she has mastered standing up and scooting. She is actively walking with support and has taken a few steps, independently, here and there. Babbling with intention is now accompanied by pointing to something she wants. She tries to help in little ways-picking up a clean diaper and a package of wet wipes; pulling her shirt off, at changing time; trying to put on her own straps and secure the tray, when placed in a high chair.

My grandchild loves to look at books and makes “comments’, after looking at a picture or two. She does best when given a limited number of books (2-3) to look at, at any one time. Otherwise, a whole shelf of books could end up on the floor.

She also likes our stroller walks, and is still very much interested in the Halloween and Harvest displays that alternate in several of the neighbourhoods we have covered in our meanderings. Her favourites are the skeletons, especially the tall ones.

HANA’S NOTE- I like sleeping in the stroller, on the way back home. The streets Papa chooses for each walk are sometimes the same ones; sometimes new ones. I like the neighbourhoods though.

EXPANDING CIRCLES: Alabama-I have been in the Heart of Dixie seven times: First,in 1987, on a bus bound for Phoenix, by way of New Orleans and Houston; then, in 2011, with several days visiting Montgomery, Tuscaloosa, Selma and Birmingham; 2015, in Daphne, near Mobile and a visit with a friend in Sylacauga; 2022, to Tuskegee, at the tail end of a road trip by rental car, that began and ended in Atlanta; then a train trip from Atlanta to New Orleans, which went through Birmingham and Tuscaloosa; and finally, in July of that year, making a brief stop in Florence and Muscle Shoals.As in other parts of the South, I have encountered only graciousness and hospitality, from anyone and everyone.

The turf- Northernmost Alabama is covered by the Cumberland Plateau, which extends south from Tennessee. To its southeast is the Appalachian Valley, the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. South of the Appalachians is the Piedmont Plateau. The rest of the state is Black Belt, a reference to the rich black soil and coastal plain, whose soil, especially in the Sawgrass Region, of southeast Alabama, is a bit sandier. Alabama is drained by the Tennessee, Alabama, Coosa, Tallapoosa, Chattahoochee, Tombigbee, Black Warrior and Mobile Rivers, along with their tributaries. The state is bounded by the Gulf of Mexico, on its southwest.

First Nations-Alabama is the ancestral home of the Alabama-Coushatta, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Yuchi peoples. Mound builders were active in Alabama, before the ascendancy of the Five Civilized Tribes, and left some decidedly civilized structures at places like Moundville. Choctaw and Creek maintain presence in Alabama in the MOWA and Porach communities, respectively. All other Indigenous people were removed form Alabama in the 1830s. As settlers encroached on Native lands, in the 1810s, a civil war broke out among the Creeks, The Red Stick faction opposed white settlement; another faction allied itself with the U.S. Government. The Red Sticks were soundly defeated in the Creek War of 1813-14, in the Battles of Tallushatchee, Talladega and Horseshoe Bend. The other tribes were included in the Trail of Tears, as indicated above.

Where I most feel at home- Daphne, Sylacauga, Tuskegee, Selma, Florence

Where I most feel at peace- Sylacauga, Tuscaloosa, Ozark

NEXT: Florida

The Hana Chronicles: Month 9, Day 26

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Posted by on in children, Education, Family, Hiking and Nature, Historical, Personal Values, Social, Travel

October 17, 2026- Hana and I went on a long walk this afternoon, as her Mom was taking an hour or so for herself, and it was a beautiful day. Hana enjoyed the walk, but after a while, she wanted to get out of the stroller and stretch. It will be a grand thing, when she can wear socks and shoes, and balance being in a stroller with walking around.

Hana is noticing what other children are doing. She was delighted by a girl of about five, who was walking her much larger dog, and pretty much making it mind. I think my granddaughter will be a rather authoritative pet minder, one of these days. She certainly communicates her feelings quite forcefully.

HANA’S NOTE- I had a huge breakfast today. I didn’t have much room at lunch time, but by dinner, I was very hungry again. So that was another big meal.

EXPANDING CIRCLES: Tennessee-The Volunteer State, along with Kentucky, extends from the Mississippi River to the Appalachian Mountains. I have been to all parts of Tennessee, visiting about a dozen times. The first time was in 1979, spending an unusually snowy, blustery nigh, in Memphis, sitting by a fireplace and thoroughly enjoying catfish and hush puppies, at an “all-you -can-eat” hotel restaurant. A dear friend lives in Crossville, halfway between Nashville and Knoxville. Other good friends live in each of those cities, and an extended family member lived for a time in Chattanooga. I’ve always enjoyed my visits to the Volunteer State.

The Turf- Tennessee’s western third is riparian plain, part of the Mississippi Delta. The central part of the state is rim country nearly surrounding Nashville, which itself sits in a low-lying Basin. The Cumberland Plateau rises to the east of the Highland Rim. The peaks and valleys of the Appalachian region. including the Blue Ridge, borders the Cumberland, to the east. Tennessee is drained by the Mississippi, Tennessee,Clinch, Cumberland, Buffalo and Holston Rivers, as well as their tributaries.

First Nations- Tennessee is the ancestral home of the Cherokee, Shawnee, Chickasaw, Quapaw and Yuchi peoples. Other tribes found homes among the Cherokee, at different periods of the adjustment to the coming of Europeans to the middle part of North America. Mound builders pre-dated those nations, leaving their earthworks behind, most prominently at Pinson Mounds, Mound Bottom, Toqua, Citico and Old Stone Fort.

With European, and then American, expansion, came pressure on the nations which lived east of Cumberland Gap, such as the Cherokee. These tribes then move in on their neighbours, the Yuchi and Shawnee, pushing them west and south. The Cherokee, and later the Chickasaw, were moved out of Tennessee in the 1830s, as part of the forced relocation to what is now Oklahoma. Today, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw have a small community in Lauderdale County, west Tennessee. Native people have re-settled in Nashville and Knoxville. There are, however, no other organized First Nations communities in the state.

Where I most feel at home- Crossville, Wildersville, Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Shiloh

Where I most feel at peace- Fall Creek Falls, Natchez Trace, Nashville’s Parthenon, Crossville,

NEXT: Mississippi