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My wife and I drove down to the river again today, I have been curious to see how much it has risen since last weekend. We went a bit further down stream today, to the Tom Lee park. The park, not really a park yet, is an open stretch between the city and the river. Newly planted trees will probably transform it into a park within the next ten years. I had the luck to see two of the old steamboats struggling with the strong current, their progress was almost undetectable.
I realized that this place deserves better weather for picture taking, it is gloomy and overcast today and really, really chilly again.
I never stopped to look at the "sky line" or city from this angle before, it doesn't look bad at all. But i need to come back when the sun is shining.
The park got its name to honor this black man, who in 1925 while risking his own life saved many of the passengers on a steam boat that capsized on the river. The statue depicts him saving a man from drowning. One must remember this was in 1925; the passengers on that ship were white, upper class families, he, on the other hand was, let us say, underprivileged... He saw beyond all prejudice and bigotry and saw fellow human beings in distress. Or, and this is a heart breaking thought, had he all his life been taught to regard his own life as less worthy than the passengers' lives on that sinking boat?
They have chosen the location well for the statue. I can imagine the panic being swept away by the strong current after a shipwreck.
Out near the tree a bit left of center in the image is where I was standing last week taking pictures.
The water might rise further before it is over. But this is by no means a disaster on the Tennessee side, it is far worse on the other side, where huge areas are under water.
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