Sunday in Jackson

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As all good people start their Sunday in Tennessee, I went to church. We went to the Englewood Baptist Church in Jackson. Tommy, Michael’s host Dad regularly attends this church. The church was the second largest in Jackson and has over 1000 attendees. The audio-visual during the service was the best I have seen for a church.

As you all know, the south is very religious. In the greater Jackson area alone there are over 200 churches! Jackson has a population of about 50,000. It seems like there is a church on almost every corner. Baptist is by far the most common denomination, with Jackson only having two catholic churches. There a numerous streams of Baptist as well. Interestingly, religion is still extremely racially segregated with the blacks having their own churches to the whites.

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In the afternoon we went to the Casey Jones’ Museum. Casey Jones was America’s most famous train driver. Casey lived in Jackson. He was well known for how he could make up time for trains that ran behind time. I came to his death when the train he was driving crashed into another train. He was very brave to not leap out of the engine in order to keep braking the train ensuring the passengers behind the engine would be saved. He was the only person killed in the accident.

There have been numerous movies about him. He was the driver of “The Little Engine that could” in the Disney animation.

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You can walk though his house which is decked out in the style is was in 1900 when he died. (See pictures) They also have a model railway, and a steam engine identical to that which he drove.

I had dinner with two of Michael’s friends from High School, Sean and Chelsea. It was at a Mexican restaurant. The beer here is soooo cheap. I got a pint for only $3.