Solar Eclipse Totality: Once In A Lifetime Experience

On the road at the break of dawn, I traveled the 120-mile trek to solar eclipse totality on Monday, Aug. 21. I stood atop the dam at Center Hill Lake near Smithville, Tenn. and watched a marvel of the heavens I’ll probably never see again. The full solar eclipse was everything that was advertised…and more. For those who did not see the event from totality, missed the total effect of what will be a few moments I will never forget.

Center Hill Lake, Tenn. Leaving home at sunrise, I made the trip through the highways and backroads of Middle Tennessee to the final destination of Center Hill Lake, which is located 70 miles east of Nashville. The spot was as close as you could get to the center of the shade of the first coast-to-coast solar eclipse since 1918. The shadow cast by the moon, known as the umbra, passed directly in the path of the sun was spectacular. All along the way to the vantage point the festive activity of what was to come in just mere hours was eye-opening with T-shirt sales and special meals being offered aplenty at every stop.  The sights were nothing compared to the cloudless sky and witnessing the bright corona of the sun, that appeared to explode from around the moon for two and half minutes in the short window of eclipse totality.

People from all over the world made their way to the umbra for the event that was the first in the Middle Tennessee area in 500 years. Men, women and children from places ranging from Boston, New York, Texas, Virginia, Georgia, Alabama and the country of Austria were there to look skyward and for a few moments experience something as breathtaking as you will ever see.

Markus Wallerberger and Yuri Poppuv both work as physicists at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich. and made the trip to the Deep South for a lightshow like no other. “I saw a total eclipse in my home country of Austria in 1990, but it was slightly cloudy that day and I did not see what I saw here today,” said Wallerberger, 32. Meanwhile, Poppuv, 42, witnessed his first eclipse and was excited beyond words. He added, “The excitement leading up to this was incredible, but nothing like I witnessed.”

An hour and half before totality, the moon’s silhouette began to appear over the sun while all looked through their special ISO-standard eclipse glasses designed to keep the retina of your eyes from receiving damage from the direct rays of the sun. At precisely 1:27 p.m. the moon’s shadow covered the area overlooking Center Hill Lake and the surrounding green mountains. Scanning the area from atop the dam you could see what appeared to be a post-sunset in every direction of the horizon. The colors were spectacular. Removing the protective glasses, we all looked up and saw the lightshow of the sun’s corona spilling out in all directions from the moon’s silhouette. Next to the corona, four planets, Venus, Mars, Mercury and Jupiter, were expected to be visible in the sky. I saw two of those: Venus and Jupiter.

Upon the totality, the temperature dropped 10 degrees and the only sounds you could hear were of those cheers of the people on top of the dam and those in the countless boats far below on Center Hill Lake. Many of the vessels shined their multiple colored lights and one fired a flare high into the sky in celebration of the heavens. On the lower side of the dam, some 300 feet below from where people gazed in amazement, the nearby campground was almost totally darkened by the eclipse.

“The view was breathtaking and for a short time it was like the earth stood still,” said Ava Malone of Huntsville, who made the trip to Center Hill Lake, where she spent many days as a young girl in the 60’s and 70’s swimming in the waters that were created by the dam in 1948. “I wanted to be here for this event. The view was spectacular. I will remember this day forever.”

One attendee, who hailed from Boston, said his wife was in Charleston, South Carolina and had terrible weather for the viewing. “It was absolutely awesome here in Tennessee. This couldn’t have been better.”

All of the fanfare for the rare event, especially in larger cities like nearby Nashville, were all small in contrast to the festive experience the heavens presented to millions along the path of the moon’s shadow. For the lucky few of us at Center Hill Lake, our own celebration came to a pause…for the mere 150 seconds for what was an experience of a lifetime.