There are memories
Fleeting
That are just
Beyond my reach
tom tenbrunsel
A Carl Sandburg Writer
Arthor’s Note: A little history in the pursuit of memory: Formerly John Geist & Sons, the building in the photo now the Geist Restaurant. The weathered hand painted sign belies its history. My sister, Ann’s, husband’s grandfather, Geist, immigrated from Germany to settle and establish the blacksmith shop, shoeing draft horses and mules and repairing wagons in 19th and 20th century, Nashville, Tennessee. Located at 311 Jefferson Avenue at the foot of the Jefferson Bridge spanning the Cumberland River, the immigrants lived in the dirt floored basement beneath the triple layered oak shop floor above, built to support the huge draft horses. Hard working industrious people, the Geist’s cooked over a stone oven using candles and lanterns to light their living quarters.
In three generations the shop gravitated from shoeing horses to a very reputable lawnmower repair business (with old forges and anvil still in use for blacksmithing). I worked after school in the shop, learning much about lawnmower repair and forges and life. I helped place the shop on the National Historical Registry. I share many fond memories of “ The Shop.” Husband and wife, Ann and George Geist ran the small engine repair shop until their retirement in this century. They sold the property to what is now known as the Geist Restaurant.
*Little known fact, Timothy Demonbreun, a French fur trader, first settled Nashville and was buried behind the Shop.
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