Tales from the road: Going 'nuclear' in Hartsville, Tennessee

Oh, deer: The enormous cooling tower at the nuclear power plant.

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Minutes after pulling into quaint Hartsville, Tenn., where Rebel cavalry commander John Hunt Morgan scored a huge victory on Dec. 7, 1862, western Pennsylvania pal Jack and I scored beverages and knowledge at a coffee shop on River Street.

Inside, a tall man wearing a cowboy hat and sunglasses ambled over to us strangers and engaged in small talk.

“You know,” the local told us, “there’s an abandoned nuclear power plant just down the road. It’s near the prison.” 

“OMG! What good fortune I have,” I thought to myself.

The massive remains of the nuclear power plant
loom behind a chain link fence.

Only three months ago, I explored a battlefield a Napoleon volley from an honest-to-gawd working nuclear power plant in sleepy Grand Gulf, Miss., where they have a fabulous, little Civil War museum with a Mastodon leg on display and a docent who regales visitors with nuclear power plant humor. (Hi, Mac Drake😀)

So naturally, I obsessed about the nuclear power plant while Jack and I drove the 17-stop Hartsville battlefield tour. (The tour and accompanying podcast were excellent — well, except for the ornery cows behind the ancient farm walls and the vicious hounds that yapped at us while I manuevered Mrs. B’s SUV near the frigid Cumberland River.)

Every three or four minutes, I tortured Jack with: “Hey, I want to see the nuclear power plant before we leave.” 

We obeyed all warning signs.

After an excellent late lunch at Hartsville’s only Mexican restaurant — Jack paid, so it tasted much better than a regular lunch — we made our way to the abandoned nuclear power plant and state prison.

What a surreal scene: The massive skeletons of the nuclear power plant buildings and the enormous cooling tower seemed like something worthy of a Stephen King novel. We also spotted vultures, crows, deer, cows and other animals — none, thankfully, with five eyes, six tails or glowing body parts. That’s because the Tennessee Valley Authority shut down the nuclear power plant in 1984. (Google it.)

Before leaving, of course, I had to see the prison. How amazing! The glint of afternoon sunlight off razor wire with the cooling tower as the backdrop would have made for an award-winning photo, but Jack got nervous and we had to go. 😬

A few weeks ago, law enforcement arrested three men — two from Pennsylvania (hmmm) — who parachuted into the cooling tower. (Note to law enforcement: I’m afraid of heights.) Per the news report, people sneak into the plant “thinking there is top-secret government information inside.”

Let’s keep history — and abandoned nuclear power plants near Civil War battlefields — alive. 🔥