The Land Trust for Tennessee set out in 1999, in the words of its mission statement, “to preserve the unique character of Tennessee’s natural and historic landscapes and sites for future generations.” In 2012, near the end of its fourteenth year, the Nashville-based non-profit organization had completed more than two hundred individually-crafted legal agreements with property owners in fifty-plus Tennessee counties, assuring that their designated tracts of land – about 75,000 acres in all – will be safeguarded forever. These family farms, native forests, mountains, waterways and historic sites, which together bolster the state’s image as one of the greenest and most picturesque in the nation, will be perpetually sustained for the pleasure and benefit of all.
To explain how these diverse conservation covenants work is a complex task, since each separate case is its own story, with its own narrative and cast of characters. Recognizing these challenges, The Land Trust decided to select a few “typical” partner-families and present their stories in singular detail through the pictures of photo-documentation Nancy Rhoda and the carefully crafted verbal profiles of writer Varina Willse.
Home to Us: Six Stories of Saving the Land invites us onto the ground and into the lives of the Crunks, the Neals, the Fishers, the Pierces, the Knights and the Ozburns – Tennesseans who have set aside their property to be preserved as a legacy to the future. Home to Us goes to the heart and soul of a universally recognized bond that connects all people to the places they call home.

Home to Us: Six Stories of Saving the Land

History

Willse, Varina

Americas

University of Tennessee Press

In the second half of 1845 the focus of Polk's correspondence shifted from those issues relating to the formation of his administration and distribution of part patronage to those that would give shape and consequence to his presidency: the admission of Texas, preparation for its defense, restoration of diplomatic relations with Mexico, and termination of joint occupancy of the Oregon Country. For the most part the incoming letters tended to urge rather more militancy on the Texas and Oregon questions than Polk would adopt, and notions of national destiny registered a singular theme of buoyant confidence in taking on both Mexico and Great Britain if military action should be required. President Polk and Secretary of State James Buchanan succeeded in both using and controlling the surge of nationalism that heightened expectations for expansion westward. Polk and Buchanan agreed on the importance of reestablishing diplomatic relations with Mexico, but the President chose to take a personal hand in managing the selection and instruction of John Slidell, whose departure for Vera Cruz would not be made public until he had arrived in Mexico. Polk wanted to give the fledgling Mexican administration of Jose Joaquin Herrera a chance to compose Mexico's differences with Washington free of contrary pressures from Great Britain and France; and he fully understood the price that Herrara might pay for a peaceful settlement of the Texas question. If Mexico required more than $6 million for the purchase of their two most northern provinces, as provided in his instructions, Slidell might agree to any reasonable additional sum. Slidell's mission probably never had much chance of success, for without control of his military the Herrara administration could neither give up its claim to Texas nor overcome British opposition to the sale of New Mexico and Upper California. Within but a few days of Slidell's arrival in the Mexican capital, Mariano Paredes y Argilla organized a military coup, put the Herrera government to flight, and on January 2, 1846, declared himself interim of president of Mexico. Polk left on the table his predecessor's initiative to divide the Oregon Country at the 49th parallel with all of Vancouver Island going to the British. The summary rejection of that offer by the British minister to Washington, Richard Packenham, so angered Polk that on August 30th he formally withdrew all prior offers to settle the dispute. The British foreign secretary, Lord Aberdeen, disavowed and assured the U.S. minister to Britain, Louis McLane, that no ultimatum had been sanctioned by his government. Buchanan tried in vain to soften Polk's decision to initiate further negotiations, but he had determined to give the required one year advance notice prior to abrogating the treaty of joint occupancy. Accordingly, in his First Annual Message to Congress Polk asked for a joint resolution terminating Oregon agreements with Great Britain. Polk received high praise for his Message and its hard line on Texas and Oregon. In addition to the texts, briefs, and annotations, the editors have calendared all of the documents for the last six months of 1845. Entries for unpublished letters include documents' dates, addresses, classifications, repositories, and precis. The Polk Project is sponsored by the University of Tennessee and assisted by grants from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, the Nations Endowment for the Humantines, and the Tennessee Historical Commission. The Authors: Wayne Cutler is research professor of history at the University of Tennessee. He earned his bachelor's degree at Lamar University and his master's and doctor's degrees and University of Texas at Austin. Professor Cutler became director of the Polk Project in 1975, served as associate editor in the fourth volume of the correspondence, and headed the editorial team in the preparation of the series' fifth and subsequent volumes. He began his professional career in 1966 as an editorial associate of the Southwestern Historic Quarterly and moved to the assistant editorship of the Henry Clay Project in 1970. James L. Rogers II, the Project's associate editor from 1995 until 2002, received both his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Louisiana at Monroe and his doctor's degree from the University of Tennessee. He joined the Polk staff in 1991 as graduate research assistant and became associate editor following completion of the series' ninth volume.

Correspondence of James K. Polk, Volume 1: 1817-1832 (Correspondence of James K. Polk, 1)

Biographies & Memoirs

Polk, James K.

Historical

Correspondence of James K. Polk, Volume 2: 1833-1834 (Correspondence of James K. Polk, 2)

In the second half of 1845 the focus of Polk's correspondence shifted from those issues relating, to the formation of his administration and distribution of party patronage to those that would give shape and consequence to his presidency: the admission of Texas, preparation for its defense, restoration of diplomatic relations with Mexico, and termination of joint occupancy of the Oregon Country. In addition to the texts, briefs, and annotations, the editors have calendared all of the documents for the last six months of 1845. Entries for unpublished letters include the documents' dates, addressees, classifications, repositories, and precis. The Polk Project is sponsored by the University of Tennessee and assisted by grants from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Tennessee Historical Commission.

Correspondence of James K Polk, Volume 3 1835-1836.

In the second half of 1845 the focus of Polk's correspondence shifted from those issues relating, to the formation of his administration and distribution of party patronage to those that would give shape and consequence to his presidency: the admission of Texas, preparation for its defense, restoration of diplomatic relations with Mexico, and termination of joint occupancy of the Oregon Country. In addition to the texts, briefs, and annotations, the editors have calendared all of the documents for the last six months of 1845. Entries for unpublished letters include the documents' dates, addressees, classifications, repositories, and precis. The Polk Project is sponsored by the University of Tennessee and assisted by grants from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Tennessee Historical Commission.

Correspondence of James K. Polk, Volume 4: 1837-1838 (Correspondence of James K. Polk, 4)

Correspondence of James K. Polk, Volume 5

The Correspondence of James K. Polk, Volume 6: 1842–1843 (Correspondence of James K. Polk, 6)

The Correspondence of James K. Polk, Volume 7: January–August 1844 (Correspondence of James K. Polk, 7)

Tribes That Slumber: Indians of the Tennessee Region

Politics & Social Sciences

Lewis, Thomas M.

Social Sciences

"This book has been written for students, for amateur archaeologists, and for all other persons with curiosity about the Indians. The story is factual because it is based upon archaeological researches, both our own and those of our colleagues, and upon historical records. As we have gazed back into the faintly illuminated distant past, the people of our story have become almost like old friends to us......"

Lewis, Thomas M.N.

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