Another Mess

The Chop House Restaurant was where my big Sis and I celebrated her upcoming birthday. Under a different name it was part of the 150 acre campus of the once very well known school, Castle Heights Military Academy.

This is another one of the old buildings of the school converted to other uses.

This building was converted to a Library.

The main building was converted to Lebanon City Hall. The monument out front honors the cadets.

A closer look at the monument.

The back of the monument. OOPs. I see kitty and the bottom of Sis.

Further up the hill is another monument dedicated to 911.

This building is fenced off and boarded up awaiting someone to come and fix it up to provide a continuing use of the old building. Surely there is someone out there who could use this old building.

This building is now the Corporate Headquarters of Cracker Barrel. If you have never eaten at a Cracker Barrel restaurant you have really missed out on a good meal.

Castle Heights was founded in 1902 in Lebanon, Tennessee as a private school. When World War I approached, it was converted to a military academy and no girls were allowed. Historical documents show that in the 1950's there were over 500 students (all male) enrolled and that the campus had a total acreage of 150 acre. In the Chop House are lots of old photos of the school and the cadets and the instructor. You could spend several hours just going around and looking at the photos.

My big Sis said she could remember how all the young men from tiny ones to large ones ran amok in the city of Lebanon. They all were neatly dressed in their gray uniforms no matter what size.

I remember we had one local Smith County boy who went there and he was always seaking into our high schools functions. The boys in the CHMA were called Goobers. Sorry, I do not know how or when that got started.

In 1970's the girls were allowed to come to the school. The high cost of a boarding school along with the distaste and longevity of the Vietnam War saw the school close in 1986.

The kitty justice is that the school buildings were not torn down but were preserved .