A new book from former Chattanooga photographer Robin Hood has been awarded a national prize.
HISTORIC WILLIAMSON COUNTY: Treasured Sites, released in February, has been awarded the 36th Annual National Benjamin Franklin Silver Medal for excellence in publishing.
The award was announced by the Independent Book Publishers Association, America’s largest publishers’ association, at their annual conference in Denver, Colorado in April. The Grandin Hood book was selected from more than 1,800 entries. This is the fifth time in recent years a Grandin Hood book has received the distinctive award.
HISTORIC WILLIAMSON COUNTY celebrates the 225th anniversary of Franklin and Williamson County’s founding. Hall of Fame author Jim Crutchfield, Heritage Foundation Historian Rick Warwick, and Pulitzer Prize photographer Hood collaborated over two years to create the large-format tribute to Williamson County’s rich historic heritage. The commemorative edition is described as "a stunning collection of engaging text, historical photographs, and new color photography."
The book presents 75 sites, from the county’s first settlers’ 1799 log home and a still-existent fort attacked by Cherokee Indians in 1788, through the Federal and Greek Revival manses of the 1800s, to the late-nineteenth-century Victorian “Grand Dames” sprinkled throughout downtown Franklin.
The book illuminates the rich architectural heritage of many of Franklin and Williamson County’s historic homes and sites with colorful text and photo profiles. Tennessee historians have noted the book as “an unprecedented collection of iconic sites chronicling Williamson County’s history."
Grandin Hood Publishers recently published the 100th Anniversary book for the National Parks Conservation Association, and is currently producing a book celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, both located in Washington, D.C.
Mr. Hood, who grew up in Chattanooga and was a photographer for the Chattanooga News-Free Press, said he also aims to soon publish a long-planned book on Hamilton County's historic buildings.
Mr. Hood and his wife, Peggy, live in an 1852 mansion in Franklin. They have lived in the columned "Whitehall" since 1979 when they purchased it while Mr. Hood was working with Chattanooga writer Barry Parker on The Tennesseans, written for Governor Lamar Alexander.
"Whitehall" was built in 1828 and was used as a hospital during the Civil War.
HISTORIC WILLIAMSON COUNTY: Treasured Sites
Publisher: Grandin Hood Publishers
ISBN: 979-8-9876414-5-3
Retail Price: $60.00
10” x 13”,144 pages, 200+ photographs
Available for purchase at Landmark Booksellers online at: www.landmarkbooksellers.com