An Ode to Clarksville, Tennessee

After a few days enjoying Nashville, we were back at the Clarksville Marina for the second time. We left the boat there for two weeks while we took a trip to Wisconsin and Texas for a quick visit with the fam, back to the boat for a few days, then a quick run to Fort Worth for a yell practice and a Corps march-in (it’s an Aggie thing).

But while we were in Clarksville, we sure did enjoy it. The marina is located in Liberty Park, a gorgeous park with ponds, ducks, a massive playground, a dog park, walking paths, open space, and bike rental. We went for several walks in the park. You must go and see all the ducks, including the species that must have come directly from British parliament with its powdered wigs. If you listen closely, you can hear the parliamentary “harumph, harumph, harumph” that is so common in any video coming from Parliament.

“Hear ye, hear ye! The Honorable Gentleman from Duckingham would like bread crumbs!”

On one day, I needed to mail something so I headed toward the post office. There is a blue dropbox across from the Shell station, but I needed to take my bill to the actual post office. It’s in town, and it was the perfect reason to take a walk. It’s about a two mile walk to the downtown area and well worth it. I love town squares and learning about how towns begin. Clarksville has plenty of historical markers along the way. The settlers of our country were mostly people who were escaping from something or running toward opportunity, and Clarksville is no different.

We enjoyed meals at Liberty Park Grill, which we could see from our boat. We also went to Edward’s Steakhouse, which was a nice treat. They had good food with a nice atmosphere. When we were there, the special was a bacon-glazed prime rib for $20. It was a $20 prime rib, but Owen said the bacon glaze was very good. I had bourbon glazed salmon. The cheesecake was fantastic!

On another day, we walked the Riverwalk, which is, believe it or not, along the river. There’s a museum that is open until 8:00 pm but not staffed. The exhibit tells the story of the town from its earliest settlers to its role in the Revolutionary War to its Civil War history to the river’s role yesterday and today. There’s a walkway, a free dock for visitors (we thought it would be challenging to dock the boat here, but the dinghy would have been ok, we think), and some scenic overlooks in the city.

We didn’t make it to Fort Defiance. The reviews make it seem like not much, but we would have liked to check it out if we had more time.

While there are many walking trails in Clarksville, the sidewalks leave a little something to be desired. They would not support a wheelchair and in some places were too narrow for two people to walk side by side. Downtown, they were adequate, though steep. There are bike lanes on the road (I’m not a biker), but traffic seemed to move fast and I would be scared to use them (again, I’m not a biker).

Tip: If you rent a car from Enterprise, they WILL pick you up. However, the nearest place is downtown and only open weekdays. When we rented a car from them, we would have been unable to return it on the weekend and would have been charged through Monday, even though we were returning it Saturday night. Instead, they changed our reservation so that we could return it to a different location in Clarksville that has a dropbox for keys.

Another tip: We used Instacart to get groceries from Kroger. There was nothing within walking distance that we could find. The Instantcart driver could not find the marina, so we ended up talking on the phone so that I could guide him. That he made it was a miracle, as I didn’t know much about where we were!

We loved our stay in Clarksville. If you take the side trip to Nashville, we highly recommend a stop there. The locals are friendly, and the marina is great.

PS. Owen said my “ode” should have 17 verses. I apologize for my lack of dedication.