Yeoman's in the Fork Blog

Hunting for rare books in middle Tennessee is sure to get a little harder in our new, post-flood life just outside of Nashville. As most of you have seen covered on the news and in the papers, the 100 mile radius around our store in the heart of Tennessee received over 15 inches of rain in a 36 hour period not two weeks ago. I recently read that this flooding was a once in a 1,000 year event... I don't know whether that makes me feel better or not folks. The fact that I was alive (and still alive to write about it) in the period when this rare, freakish storm of storms hit my homeland is both a blessing and a curse I guess. As life settles back to normal for most us here in Leipers Fork, the storm and its devasting impact lurks all around us and is visible from the road and from the air... Hundreds upon hundreds of homes destroyed and families displaced by rising water seem to be the legacy left in the water's wake. We at Yeoman's escaped the storms with very little loss. Our storefront that was built to last in the 1880's and all of our wonderful pieces of the past are safe and dry. Our employees escaped unscathed and the largest complaint seems to be a lack of drinking water available for purchase at the local grocery store. Many of my neighbors and friends were not so lucky. I have never witnessed such destruction in such a short period!

The hunt for books not destroyed by the Cumberland, Red and Harpeth Rivers is now the challenge for a man who hunts for treasures between the covers and lives for finding the next rare piece in the stacks and stacks of looked over books at the local antique store. I cannot even imagine the impact of the oil spill on those in the shrimping industry in Louisiana, but it must feel a little like those who lost the home they were born and raised in here in East Nashville. We are so sorry to all those who were not as lucky as we were and please know that you are in our thoughts. Tennessee will recover and the hunt will go on! This is an unexpected setback, but we were once the west and we carved our way a few hundred years ago. We can and will do it again!