Adams is the site of an infamous haunting, the Bell Witch. The first manifestations of the Bell Witch haunting supposedly occurred in 1817 through 1820 on a farm owned by John Bell.[9][10] A memorial to the Bell family can be found at Bellwood Cemetery. The city's municipal offices are now located in the former Bell School, which was built in 1920 and named for a descendant of John Bell. A log cabin built by John Bell around 1810 has been relocated to a plot across from the Bell School.[11]
Ashley Durham Booth, Miss Tennessee Teen USA 2006, Miss Tennessee USA 2011, and runner-up Miss USA 2011.
Dewey Phillips, Rock n' roll disc jockey. Phillips was the first DJ to spin a record of Elvis Presley on the air waves.
Alcoa
As its name suggests, Alcoa is the site of a large aluminum smelting plant owned and operated by the Alcoa corporation.
Notable People
Randall Cobb, graduate of Alcoa High School in 2008 and wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers in the National Football League[18]
Dave Davis, former wide receiver in the National Football League, played for the Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers and the New Orleans Saints[19]
Shannon Mitchell, NFL player[20]
Lynn Swann, NFL player, born there but grew up in San Mateo, California
Sidney A. Wallace, U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral[21]
Billy Williams, NFL player
Altamont
Notable People
Arlo Gilliam, singer-songwriter
Athens
Notable People
Eric Axley - professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour
George Washington Bridges - Congressman and Southern Unionist
J. Lawrence Cook - piano roll artist.[24]
Bean Station
On May 13, 1972, 14 people were killed in a head-on collision between a Greyhound bus and a tractor-trailer on U.S. Route 11W in Bean Station, which gave the U.S. Route 11W the nickname, “Bloody Highway 11W."[7]
On April 5, 2018, Southeastern Provisions, a cattle slaughterhouse near Bean Station[8][9] was raided by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); 11 workers were arrested and 86 more were detained, all of whom were suspected of residing in the United States unlawfully.[8] At the time, the raid was reportedly the largest workplace raid in US history.[9] In September 2018, the owner of the meatpacking facility was found guilty of multiple state and federal crimes, including tax evasion, wire fraud, employing immigrants not authorized to work in the US, and many other workplace violations.
Beersheba Springs Resort
Beersheba Springs
Beersheba Springs Resort
In 1854 Colonel John Armfield, a slave trader from Louisiana, acquired the property. Upwards of 100 slaves were brought to Beersheba Springs to work on Armfield's changes to the property: a new luxury hotel, cabins and grounds that would accommodate 400 guests. The resort would feature laundry facilities, ice houses, billiard rooms, and bowling alleys. French chefs were brought in to serve guests, as were musical acts from New Orleans.[6]
A wooden observatory was built at the front of the hotel. From the observatory, guests could watch Confederate and Union armies battle during the Civil War. Eventually the threat of war, raids, and plundering would cause a decline in visitation to Beersheba Springs and the resort was handed over to Northern investors.[6]
The resort would re-open in the 1870s but never returned to its former glory. In 1940, the Methodist Church purchased the resort and re-opened it for assembly and summer camps. Architecturally the resort remains unchanged besides, as of recently, parts of the hotel have been "modernized" or restored.[6] The camp now serves as the home to the annual Beersheba Springs Arts and Craft Festival.[8] In 1980 the resort area was placed on the National Register of Historic Places
Benton
The Benton fireworks disaster was an industrial disaster which occurred on May 27, 1983 on a farm southeast of Benton. An explosion at a secret illegal fireworks operation killed eleven, injured one, caused damage within a radius of several miles, and revealed the operation.[9] The operation was by far the largest and most successful known illegal fireworks operation and the blast, having been heard over 20 miles away, was arguably the largest and most powerful explosion involving firework explosives.
Bolivar
Wayne Farris, known as Pro Wrestler The Honky Tonk Man, lived in Bolivar.
Billy Tripp's Mindfield - The Mindfield (also known as The Mindfield Cemetery) is the sculpture and lifelong project by Billy Tripp. Begun in 1989, the sculpture is the largest in Tennessee at 127 feet high and the length of a football field.[4] Billy assembles every piece of The Mindfield alone using cranes and by climbing the structure itself.[22]
From the late 19th into the early 20th century, whites lynched three African-American men in Brownsville, two in the 20th century. John Boxley, accused of assaulting a white woman in 1929, was taken from jail by a white mob and lynched.[11]
In the late 1930s, with Haywood County's black majority[12] disenfranchised, in 1939 a number of blacks in Brownsville founded a local NAACP chapter. They worked to assert their right to register and vote in the presidential election of 1940. In June 1940 threats were made against the group, and Elisha Davis was kidnapped by a large white mob. They demanded the names of NAACP members and their plans. He fled town, followed by his family, losing his successful service station and all their property.[13]
On June 20, 1940, Elbert Williams, secretary of the NAACP chapter, and Elisha's brother Thomas Davis were questioned by police. Thomas Davis was released,[13] but Williams was never seen alive again. His body was found in the Hatchie River a few days later, with bullet holes in his chest.[13] He is considered to be the first NAACP member to have been lynched for civil rights activities; he is the last recorded lynching victim in the state.[14] Several other NAACP members were run out of town by police, fearing for their lives.[13][15]
Thurgood Marshall of the NAACP conducted an investigation of Williams' murder and appealed to the Department of Justice to prosecute the case, providing affidavits of witnesses. FBI agents were sent to the town in September to protect blacks wanting to register to vote, but the local people were fearful because there had been no prosecution of Williams' killers. In October 1940, The Crisis, the magazine of the NAACP, reported that no blacks registered to vote.[16] Thomas Davis and his family moved North and resettled in Niles, Michigan.[13] DOJ closed the Williams case in 1942.[11]
A retired white Tennessee lawyer, Jim Emison, has joined the family and other supporters in working in the 21st century to bring justice to Williams. Since 2012 he has been working on the case, based on contemporary Department of Justice files and his own research. He turned over his materials to DOJ in 2015, asking them to re-open the case.[11] In 2015 the Tennessee Historical Commission approved an official historical marker honoring Elbert Williams. It was dedicated in Brownsville on June 20, 2015, at a memorial service marking the seventy-fifth anniversary of Williams' murder. The featured speaker was NAACP President Cornell W. Brooks.
Tina Turner (born 1939), singer, lived here as a child and was born in nearby Nutbush
Son Bonds (1909–1947), musician
Paul Burlison (1929–2003), rockabilly pioneer, guitarist, member of The Rock and Roll Trio
Tony Delk (born 1974), basketball player and coach, graduated from Haywood High School
Marvin Ellison, Former JCPenny and current Lowe's CEO
Clay Evans (1925–2019), gospel singer, pastor and founder of Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago, Illinois
Rockey Felker (born 1953), football player and coach[26]
Joseph Folk (1869–1923), Circuit Attorney of the city of St. Louis, later 31st governor of Missouri
Alfred Alexander Freeman (1838–1926), politician and judge, candidate for governor in 1872
Richard Halliburton (1900–1939), adventurer and author
Brett Scallions (born 1971), frontman of the band Fuel
Jim Thaxton (born 1949), football player
Billy Tripp (born 1955), author, artist
Jarvis Varnado (born 1988), basketball player for Hapoel Gilboa Galil
Elbert Williams, African-American civil rights activist, lived in Brownsville and was lynched here in 1940
Bruceton
Patrick Willis – NFL linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers
Bulls Gap
Notable People
Legendary country comedian Archie Campbell, who regularly performed at the Grand Ole Opry and starred in the television show Hee Haw, was a native of Bulls Gap. Campbell referred to the town in many of his classic comedy routines. His house has been preserved as a museum and tourist attraction, and U.S. Route 11E through Bulls Gap was renamed "Archie Campbell Highway" following his death in 1987. Every Labor Day weekend the town has an annual three-day celebration honoring Campbell with a car show, food and live music.
New York Times best selling author Amy Greene grew up in the vicinity of Bulls Gap.[13]
In Popular Culture
In Cormac McCarthy's novel Child of God, Lester Ballard murders a young couple in their car, gets in the car, turns on the radio, and listens to the radio host talk about an upcoming event at Bulls Gap School.[14]
Bulls Gap's dirt racetrack, Volunteer Speedway, is referenced in Peter Farris' novel Last Call for the Living.[15]
George Washington Harris' short story, "Sut Lovingood at Bull's Gap," is set in Bulls Gap.
Sports
Bulls Gap is home to Volunteer Speedway, a dirt racetrack, that is billed as the "World's Fastest Dirt Track.
Byrdstown
Former Secretary of State Cordell Hull (1871–1955)— who played a pivotal role in the creation of the United Nations— was born just west of Byrdstown. The Pickett County Courthouse, built in 1935, and the Cordell Hull Birthplace are both listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Other historical sites include the Amonett House at the junction of TN-325 and TN-111
Sierra Hull (b. 1991), musician
Camden
It was near Camden where country music stars Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas, and Hawkshaw Hawkins lost their lives in a plane crash on March 5, 1963.
Notable People
Nyman Furr, musician known as "The Tennessee Fiddler"
Tanner Hudson, NFL Tight End for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Frank P. Lashlee, member of Tennessee General Assembly
Col. Littleton, fashion designer
Charles F. Pendleton, awarded a Medal of Honor for his actions in the Korean War
The Clinton Engineer Works, named after Clinton, was the official name for the Manhattan Project site in Tennessee which produced the enriched uranium used in the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima, as well as the first examples of reactor-produced plutonium. The site was also known by the name of its largest township, Oak Ridge. The works were located starting about 3 miles (4.8 km) southwest of Clinton, continued for 10 miles (16 km) towards Kingston and contained roughly 58,900 acres (23,800 ha)
Clinton High School Desegregation Controversy
In 1956, Clinton gained national attention when segregationists opposed the desegregation of Clinton High School. Following the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case of Brown v. Board of Education, a court order required the desegregation of the high school. Twelve African-American students enrolled in the high school in the fall of 1956. On August 27, 1956, the Clinton Twelve attended classes at Clinton High School for the first time, becoming the first African-Americans to desegregate a state-supported public school in the Southeast. While the first day of classes occurred without incident, pro-segregation forces led by John Kasper and Asa Carter arrived in Clinton the following week and rallied the city's white citizens. Riots broke out in early September, forcing Governor Frank G. Clement to station National Guard units in Clinton throughout September. Sporadic violence and threats continued for the next two years, culminating in the bombing of Clinton High School on October 5, 1958. With an influx of outside aid, however, the school was quickly rebuilt.[13]
A museum dedicated to the desegregation crisis, the Green McAdoo Cultural Center, is now housed in Clinton's segregation-era Green McAdoo School.
Notable People
Trey Hollingsworth, congressman born in Clinton
John C. Houk, congressman born in Clinton
The McKameys, Southern Gospel group based in Clinton
Charles McRae, NFL 1st round draft choice, All-American football tackle (attended University of Tennessee)
John R. Neal, congressman born near here
Larry Seivers, two-time All-American wide receiver at the University of Tennessee; drafted into the NFL by the Seattle Seahawks but did not play
In 1925, the famous Scopes Trial was held in Dayton and, for a period of time, filled the town with hucksters of every description and journalists from around the world. The participants included William Jennings Bryan in the role of prosecutor and Clarence Darrow as the principal defense counsel. The trial was over the issue of whether evolution should be taught in public schools. John T. Scopes, the defendant in the trial, was a local science teacher who was recruited by George Rappleyea to begin to teach evolution in his science class, and at the provocation of the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union), despite it being against Tennessee law at that time. Rappleyea believed that this conflict would create an enormous amount of publicity for the town, and he was proven correct.[10] The town bustled with activity as people began to flock from near and far to hear the verdict on this controversial issue.
Although this trial is often represented as being pivotal in the movement to allow evolution to be taught in American schools, it actually marked the beginning of a major decline in the teaching of evolution which did not start to recover until the early 1960s.[11] Likewise, the Butler Act, which Scopes was supposed to have violated—though it was never invoked again—remained on the books until 1967, when it was repealed by the Tennessee Legislature.[12]
H. L. Mencken famously covered the trial for the Baltimore Sun and recruited Clarence Darrow to lead the defense team.
Immediately after the trial, Bryan continued to edit and deliver speeches, traveling hundreds of miles that week. On July 26, 1925, he drove from Chattanooga to Dayton to attend a church service, ate a meal, and died (the result of diabetes and fatigue) in his sleep that afternoon—just five days after the Scopes trial ended.
Notable People
Howard Armstrong (March 4, 1909 – July 30, 2003) – African American string band and country blues musician
Joseph Aloysius Durick (October 13, 1914 – June 26, 1994) – U.S. Roman Catholic bishop and civil rights advocate
Jake Gaither (April 11, 1903 – February 18, 1994) – Hall of Fame head football coach at Florida A&M University (FAMU) for 25 years; won six black national championships and amassed one of the highest winning percentages in collegiate history
Russ Hodges (June 18, 1910 – April 19, 1971) – baseball broadcaster for New York and San Francisco Giants; best known for calling Bobby Thomson's famed 1951 Shot Heard 'Round the World
Red Holt (July 25, 1894 – February 2, 1961) – former Major League Baseball first baseman with the Philadelphia Athletics
Dave Roller – former NFL defensive lineman
John Scopes (August 3, 1900 – October 21, 1970) – teacher charged with violating Tennessee's Butler Act and tried in a case popularly known as the Scopes Monkey Trial
Rachel Held Evans (June 8, 1981 – May 4, 2019) – Columnist and New York Times Best Selling Author
Cory Gearrin (April 14, 1986 – Present ) – current Major League Baseball first baseman with the New York Yankees
Dickson
Notable People
Francis Craig, songwriter, bandleader
Trevor Daniel, American Football punter for the Houston Texans of the National Football League
Walter S. Davis, educator.[15]
John Mitchell, baseball player
Craig Morgan, country singer
Anson Mount, actor
Sunita Mani, Indian-American actress
John Rich, country singer
Anthony Wayne Van Leer, entrepreneur
Dresden
Notable People
Matt Beaty, baseball player for the Los Angeles Dodgers
Lin Dunn, former WNBA coach of Indiana Fever
Emerson Etheridge, Civil War-era congressman and candidate for governor
Roy Herron, Tennessee politician, attorney, and author
Andy Holt, Tennessee politician and businessman
Popeye Jones, professional basketball player
Ned McWherter, former Governor of Tennessee
Mike Pyle, mixed martial arts fighter
William D. Vincent, U.S. Representative from Kansas
Dunlap
Attractions
Dunlap is often referred to as the "Hang Gliding Capital of the East" and is home to the East Coast Hang Gliding Championships and a hang gliding organization known as the Tennessee Tree Toppers.
Notable People
Raymond H. Cooley (1916–1947) - World War II soldier and Medal of Honor recipient
Ray Phelps (1903–1971) - professional baseball player 1930-1936
Tom Stewart (1892–1972) - U.S. Senator and Scopes Trial attorney
Dakota Hudson MLB pitcher St. Louis Cardinals
Dyersburg
On December 2, 1917, a 24-year-old black farmhand named Lation (or Ligon) Scott[9] was brutally lynched by a white mob[10] before a crowd of thousands.[11] Over the course of several hours, Scott was publicly tortured. He was chained to a post in an empty lot adjacent to the town's court square.[12] Torturers burned out his eyes with red-hot irons.[11] When he cried out in pain, a red-hot poker was rammed down his esophagus.[11] He was then castrated, and more hot irons placed on his feet, back, and body until "a hideous stench of burning flesh filled the Sabbath air".[11] After being tortured, Scott was slowly burned at the stake.[10][11] Scott's torture and murder occurred over a three and a half hour period.[11] No one was prosecuted for the lynching.[9] Author Margaret Vandiver wrote in "Lethal Punishment: Lynchings and Legal Executions in the South", “The lynching of Lation Scott was the most ghastly of all those I researched."[9]
Notable People
John Calvin Fiser (1838-1876) was an American merchant and soldier (Colonel)[23]
Robert Fuller (1947–present), professional wrestler, better known as a manager in WCW and WWF
James A. Gardner (First Lieutenant), recipient of the Medal of Honor, 1966
George "Two Ton" Harris (1927-2002) (wrestler), known as "Baby Blimp", professional wrestler, National Wrestling Alliance
Emmett Kelly, Jr. (1923-2006), "The World's Most Famous Clown" better known as "Weary Willie"[24]
Michael Swift (1974–present) (National Football League) 1997 San Diego Chargers, 1998-1999 Carolina Panthers, 2000 Jacksonville Jaguars
Henderson Edward Wright (1919-1995), Major League Baseball pitcher, Boston Braves and Philadelphia Athletics - 1945–48, 1952
Elizabethton
Notable People
Paul Edward Anderson, 1956 Olympic gold medalist in weightlifting
Margaret Bowen — led the March 12, 1929, walkout of 523 female co-workers at American Glanzstoff, beginning the 1929 labor strikes[42]
William Gannaway Brownlow, governor of Tennessee, U.S. senator, Methodist minister, and publisher of the Whig newspaper.
Samuel P. Carter, U.S. Army general and U.S. Navy admiral.
Charles Davis, University of Tennessee football player and Fox Sports analyst
Landon Carter Haynes, Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives, Confederate senator, lawyer, Methodist minister, and editor of the Tennessee Sentinel.
Alec McLean, Olympic rower.
Thomas Amos Rogers Nelson, early Elizabethton attorney and member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Dayton E. Phillips, jurist and member of the U.S. House of Representatives
Jeff Reed, Major League Baseball catcher
Alfred A. Taylor, governor of Tennessee and congressman
Robert Love Taylor, governor of Tennessee and U.S. senator from Tennessee
Kent Williams, Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives
Jason Witten, National Football League tight end
Mary The Elephant's Excecution
Erwin
Erwin earned some notoriety in 1916 when the only known public execution of an elephant in Tennessee occurred in the community.[10][11] Mary, an elephant in Sparks World Famous Shows traveling circus, had killed her handler, Walter Eldridge, in nearby Kingsport after the inexperienced trainer allegedly struck Mary on the head with a hook. News of a killer elephant spread via rumors and sensationalist news stories, and calls for Mary's execution began. Some towns announced they would turn the circus away if it showed up with the elephant. So Mary's owner, Charlie Sparks, decided to execute Mary by hanging in order to appease the crowds. Erwin was a little more than 35 miles south of Kingsport, and as home to the region's largest railway yard they happened to have a 100-ton crane car that could lift the five-ton elephant.[12] Surrounding communities decided that Erwin was the best place to carry out the execution and Erwin obliged, even though the town itself was against it. An estimated 2,500 people turned out at the local railway yard to see Mary hoisted by a crane to meet her demise.
Playwright George Brant won the 2008 Keene Prize for Literature for his a one-act play titled “Elephant’s Graveyard", depicting this story.[12][13]
The town has recently implemented a yearly festival to help raise funds that go exclusively to The Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald.[14][15]
Between 1916 and 1957, the Southern Potteries plant operated in Erwin along Ohio Avenue. The plant produced a hand-painted dishware known as Blue Ridge that became popular nationwide in the late 1930s and 1940s. Blue Ridge pieces are still popular items with collectors of antique dishware
Estill Springs
During the time of Prohibition, Estill Springs was home to prominent local mobster and bootlegger Parker Jones. Parker and his gang took advantage of the heavily wooded terrain to distill their bootleg booze. Parker and his men also used Estill as their primary logistics hub to traffic the booze through Middle Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia. Jones remained in Estill for several years, "owning" mayors, city councilmen, and police officers. The government dispatched dozens of revenue agents to arrest him and his men. However, when they finally arrived at his hideout, they found nothing and Parker was never seen in Estill again
Etowah
Notable People
Paul Cantrell, politician and state senator.[13]
Al Clayton, photographer.
Leon Daniel, journalist.
Steel Arm Dickey, Negro Leagues pitcher.
Tom Saffell, former major league outfielder.
Thomas W. Steed, United States military officer during World War II.
Chris Whittle, American media and education executive.
Fayetteville
Notable People
John Neely Bryan, founder of the city of Dallas, Texas
Jim Bob Cooter, NFL offensive coordinator
Rick Dempsey, former Major League Baseball player
Bob Higgins, former Major League Baseball player
Kelly Holcomb, former NFL quarterback
Frank Kelso, U.S. Navy admiral[16]
Ira L. Kimes, Brigadier general and Marine Aviator
Anthony Shelton, former NFL and CFL player
Hatton W. Sumners, Former U.S. Representative
Ed Townsend, singer-songwriter, co-wrote “Let’s Get It On" with Marvin Gaye
Goodlettsville
On April 28, 1892, an African-American man called Ephraim Grizzard was taken to the Nashville jail for allegedly assaulting two daughters of the Bruce family in Goodlettsville.[10] Two days later, he was lynched by a mob of 10,000 in Nashville.[10] His corpse was taken back to Goodlettsville, where it was burned.[10]
Little League World Series
A little league team from Goodlettsville participated in the 2012 Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA where they won the United States Championship and qualified to play for the World Series title against the international champion. They were the fifth team from Tennessee to qualify in series history, and the first to play in the championship game. They lost to a team from Tokyo, Japan in the finals. They were the first Tennessee team to qualify since 1987. As tournament runners-up, they were the most successful Tennessee team since 1985. They were the first to win at least two consecutive games since 1974. And, they were the first Nashville area team to qualify since 1970. It was only the second year for little league baseball in Goodlettsville.
In 2016, a second little league team from Goodlettsville qualified for the World Series, giving the State of Tennessee four LLWS tournament teams in five years; and, the eighth in state history. The 2016 team advanced to the United States championship game where they lost to a team from New York; thus, falling one game short of the World Series championship game. The team finished fourth in the world after next losing the consolation game against a team from Panama, the international runner-up.
Robert K. Byrd (1823–1885), Union Army colonel and state senator
Jeremaine Copeland (b. 1977), professional football player and coach
Dixie Lee (1911–1952), singer and actress, first wife of Bing Crosby
J. C. Powell (1926–1988), academic, former president of Eastern Kentucky University
Hohenwald
The third largest animal trophy mount collection in North America is located at the Lewis County Museum of Local and Natural History in downtown Hohenwald.
Hohenwald is also the home of the Elephant Sanctuary, the largest natural-habitat sanctuary for elephants in the United States.
Notable People
Meriwether Lewis, of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, died and was buried seven miles east of the town at Grinder's Stand in 1809.
Rod Brasfield, an old Grand Ole Opry comedy star, made his home in Hohenwald and referred to it in his routines.
David Sisco, who in 1974 placed ninth in points in the Winston Cup Series, is a native of Hohenwald,
Author William Gay, whose books include The Long Home,[7] Provinces of Night,[8] I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down,[9] and Twilight.[10]
Lynchburg is best known as the location of Jack Daniel's, whose famous Tennessee whiskey is marketed worldwide as the product of a city with only one traffic light. Despite the operational distillery, which is a major tourist attraction, Lynchburg's home county of Moore is a dry county.
Notable people
Jimmy Bedford (1940–2009), sixth master distiller at Jack Daniel's.[15]
Davy Crockett (1786–1836), American frontiersman, who lived in what is now Lynchburg from 1811 to 1813.
Bill Dance (born 1940), angler and host of Bill Dance Outdoors, who resided in Lynchburg during the summers of his childhood and learned to fish in Lynchburg's Mulberry Creek.
Jasper Newton Daniel, aka Jack Daniel (1846–1911), founder of Jack Daniel's Distillery.
Nathan "Nearest" Green (c.1820–?), former slave, a distiller who trained and worked with Jack Daniel's.[16]
Little Richard (1932–2020), American rock and roll artist, resided in Lynchburg.[17]
Bobby Majors (born 1949), Tennessee Volunteers and NFL football player
Johnny Majors (born 1935), College Football Hall of Fame, All-American tailback at the University of Tennessee and head coach of the Iowa State Cyclones from 1968 to 1972, Pittsburgh Panthers 1973–76, 1993–96, and the Tennessee Volunteers 1977–1992.
Shirley Majors (1913–1981), patriarch of the Majors football family and former head coach at Sewanee: The University of the South from 1957 to 1977.
Lem Motlow (1869–1947), nephew of Jack Daniel and second owner of Jack Daniel's Distillery, who also served in the Tennessee House of Representatives and the Tennessee Senate.
Reagor Motlow (1898–1978), great-nephew of Jack Daniel and co-owner with his siblings of Jack Daniel's Distillery. Motlow also served in the Tennessee House of Representatives and the Tennessee Senate.
F. E. Riddle (born 1870), American attorney born in Lynchburg and studied law under Judge Samuel A. Billingsley, moved to Oklahoma and became a Justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
Bonnaroo Music Festival
Manchester
Since 2002, Manchester has been the host city for the annual Bonnaroo Music Festival. The city's population swells to nearly 100,000 people for the four-day event, for which people travel across the country to camp and enjoy continuous and diverse music.
Notable People
DJ Qualls, film actor, Road Trip, The New Guy, Hustle & Flow.
Betty Sain, horse trainer and breeder
J. Stanley Rogers, Tennessee House of Representatives majority leader
Portland
Notable People
Corey Brewer, born and raised in Portland; current NBA basketball player
Ronnie McDowell, born and raised in Portland, country music star
Rugby
Founded in 1880 by English author Thomas Hughes, Rugby was built as an experimental utopian colony. While Hughes's experiment largely failed, a small community lingered at Rugby throughout the 20th century.
The Rugby experiment grew out of the social and economic conditions of Victorian England, where the practice of primogeniture and an economic depression had left many of the "second sons" of the English gentry jobless and idle. Hughes envisioned Rugby as a colony where England's second sons would have a chance to own land and be free of social and moral ills that plagued late-19th-century English cities. The colony would reject late Victorian materialism in favor of the Christian socialist ideals of equality and cooperation espoused in Hughes's Tom Brown's School Days.[2]
From the outset, however, the colony was beset with problems, namely a typhoid epidemic in 1881, lawsuits over land titles, and a population unaccustomed to the hard manual labor required to extract crops from the poor soil of the Cumberland Plateau. By late 1887, most of the original colonists had either died or moved away from Rugby.[3] However, a few carried on into the 20th century and the village retained a small, continuous population.
Selmer
Buford Pusser
Sheriff Buford Pusser served as the sheriff of McNairy County from 1964 to 1970, and since Selmer is the county seat, the location of the courthouse and the jail, this was his base of operations. His story has been made famous in the Walking Tall movies starring Joe Don Baker and Bo Svenson. The movies were filmed in nearby Henderson.
Matthew Winkler homicide, 2006
Selmer became a focus of national news media in late March 2006. A local minister, Matthew Brian Winkler, was shot to death by his wife Mary Carol Winkler at their Selmer home. After Mary was said to have fled Selmer with the couple's three daughters, she was apprehended in Orange Beach, Alabama, and was returned to Selmer for trial. She has confessed to the authorities concerning the shooting of her husband with a shotgun. In trial she stated that her husband both physically and emotionally abused her. This murder/trial can be seen on the television show 'Snapped' Season 6 Episode 1, aired in 2007.
Drag racing catastrophe, 2007
On June 16, 2007, a high-power Pro Modified drag racing car driven by Troy Warren Critchley lost control and killed six young people while performing a burnout routine during a car show charity parade on Mulberry Avenue. Critchley's car left the road and struck part of the crowd attending the Cars For Kids charity parade. Six young people were killed. Two died at the scene of the accident, and four died later at hospitals in Selmer, Jackson and Memphis. A total of 20 others were injured and were transported to various hospitals throughout western and middle Tennessee. Results of a Tennessee Highway Patrol inquiry into the accident have not been announced. Pending lawsuits filed against the city and event organizers ask for more than $US 85 million in damages.[16][17][18]
Sevierville
Notable People
Kristian Bush (1970–): Raised in Sevierville, Bush is one half of country duo Sugarland (with Jennifer Nettles) and the great-grandson of the founder of Bush Brothers and Company (the makers of Bush Beans).
Bruce Connatser (1902–1971): Born in Sevierville, Connatser played first base for Major League Baseball's Cleveland Indians.
Jason Layman (1973–): Born and raised in Sevierville, Layman played college football for the Tennessee Volunteers and was drafted as an offensive lineman for the Houston Oilers (now the Tennessee Titans) in the National Football League.
The McCarters: The vocal country music trio consisting of Jennifer, Lisa, and Teresa McCarter grew up in Sevierville.
Roy Hardee "Red" Massey (1890–1954): A Major League Baseball player who played one season for the Boston Braves, Massey was born in Sevierville.
Dolly Parton (1946–): Country music star Dolly Parton has composed more than 3,000 songs throughout her career and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Sevierville is her home town.
Randy Parton (1953–): The younger brother of Dolly Parton, Randy is a country singer, songwriter, and actor.
Stella Parton (1949–): The younger sister of Dolly Parton, Stella is also a country singer and songwriter.
Ella Mae Wiggins (correct spelling May)(1900–1929): A ballad writer and union organizer for the National Textile Workers Union, Wiggins was murdered during the Loray Mill Strike in North Carolina. She was born in Sevierville.
Shelbyville
Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration
The Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration[18] takes place each year during the 11 days and nights prior to Labor Day. It is the largest show for the Tennessee Walking Horse, during which the breed's World Grand Champion and over 20 World Champions are named. The Celebration is a festival event where more than $650,000 in prizes and awards are given. The Celebration began in 1939, and the first winner was Strolling Jim.[19]
Shelbyville is known as "The Pencil City" because of its historical importance as a center of wood-cased pencil manufacturing.[12][13] It is still a site for manufacture of writing instruments. In 1982, National Pen Corporation purchased its largest competitor, U.S. Pencil and Stationery Company.[14] Sanford Corporation produces the Sharpie, the world's top-selling writing instrument, in the city.[13] It was in Shelbyville in 1991 that the world's longest pencil was produced, a plastic-cased pencil 1,091 feet (333 m) long, weighing 27 pounds (12 kg).[15]
Joe Jenkins, Major League Baseball player[32]
Sondra Locke, actress[34]
Shelbyville was featured in Miranda Lambert's video "Famous in a Small Town".[citation needed]
The city was also profiled in the film Welcome to Shelbyville, as part of the PBS documentary film series Independent Lens. The film spotlights recent demographic changes in the community, with a focus on the growing number of immigrants from Latin America and Somalia (both Somalis and people from the Bantu minority ethnic group).
Shelbyville was also featured in GADA film's Our Very Own (2005 Film), directed by Cameron Watson. The film, dubbed "a love story to Shelbyville", highlighted some of the peculiar and humorous memories of Shelbyville in the 1970s. The film follows five teenagers who are determined to meet Shelbyville's own Sondra Locke. Filmed in 2004, it highlights the square, Capri Theater, Pope's Cafe, Central High School, Duck River Dam, TWHNC, and many other landmarks.
Shelbyville was mentioned in the lyrics of Nashville country duo Birdcloud's song "Saving Myself For Jesus"
Hardin County was the site of the 1862 Battle of Shiloh (also known as the "Battle of Pittsburg Landing") during the Civil War. The battleground site is 10 miles (16 km) southwest of the city of Savannah. Union General Ulysses S. Grant commandeered the Cherry Mansion just off the city square for use as a headquarters during the battle.
Signal Mountain
Notable People
Susan Akin, 1986 Miss America
Zane Birdwell, Grammy Award-winning recording engineer
Rachel Boston, actress and producer
Charles H. Coolidge, Medal of Honor recipient, namesake of Coolidge Park and member of 3rd Battalion, 141st Infantry Regiment
Byron De La Beckwith, convicted murderer of civil rights leader Medgar Evers, moved to Walden, just outside of Signal Mountain, near the end of his life
Emma Bell Miles, writer, poet, and artist
Paul V. Nolan (1923–2009), Tennessee state legislator 1969-1970
Suzanne Fisher Staples, author of award-winning Shiva's Fire and other books
Mary Q. Steele and William O. Steele, a married pair of children's authors who separately wrote Newbery Honor-winning books
Smithville
Smithville is home to the Smithville Fiddler's Jamboree, which it has hosted annually since 1972.
Notable People
Bob Allen, Major League Baseball pitcher
John Anderson, country music singer
Joe L. Evins, U.S. representative
Alan Jackson, country music singer; former resident[17]
Greg Tubbs, Major League Baseball Player, Cincinnati Reds, 1993
Lonnie Mack, pioneering blues-rock guitar soloist lived close by for many years and died here
Aaron Tippin, country music singer
Dottie West, American country music singer and songwriter
Soddy-Daisy
Notable People
Joe Chaney, darts player
Terry Gordy, professional wrestler
Bryan Harvey, former Major League Baseball relief pitcher
Ralph McGill, journalist
Stefanie Wittler, Miss Tennessee 2009
Sparta
Sparta is notable as a place where two renowned airmen lost their lives. Hawthorne C. Gray, an aviation record holder, died in a balloon-basket mishap over Sparta in 1927, and Lansing Colton Holden Jr., a World War I flying ace, crashed his plane near Sparta in 1938.
Notable People
Foster V. Brown, U.S. Congressman[16]
David Culley, NFL coach[17]
John D. Defrees, newspaperman and politician
George Gibbs Dibrell, Civil War general (Confederate) and U.S. Congressman[16]
Lester Flatt, bluegrass musician in the Foggy Mountain Boys
John C. Floyd, U.S. Congressman [18]
Erasmus Lee Gardenhire, politician and judge who served in the Confederate States Congress and Tennessee House of Representatives; lived his adult life in Sparta[19]
Kellie Harper, head coach of the Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team; grew up in Sparta[20]
Benny Martin, bluegrass musician who invented the eight string fiddle[21]
Ethan Roberts, Major League Baseball pitcher
Tom Rogers, Major League Baseball pitcher
Charles Edward Snodgrass, U.S. Congressman; uncle of Henry C. Snodgrass[22]
Henry C. Snodgrass, U.S. Congressman[23]
Lefty Stewart, Major League Baseball pitcher[24]
James W. Throckmorton, 12th Governor of Texas and U.S. Congressman[25]
Earl Webb, Major League Baseball outfielder
Springfield
Notable People
Edward Butler, Army officer in the American Revolution and former acting Inspector General of the United States Army, died in Springfield
Richard Cheatham, Whig Congressman from Tennessee, was a Springfield native and resident. His children included:
Jeff Fosnes, record-setting Vanderbilt University basketball star, became a doctor in Springfield and still lives there
Daniel E. Garrett, born near Springfield, practiced law there and was elected to the state house and senate from Springfield; he later moved to Texas, where he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives
Albert Hadley, interior designer and decorator, was born in Springfield
Charles Hartmann, New Orleans jazz trombonist and union activist, died in Springfield
Paul Henderson, African-American photojournalist, was born in Springfield
Alice Vassar LaCour, African-American teacher and singer, was principal of an American Missionary Association school in Springfield for former slaves
Bill Monroe, musician called the "Father of Bluegrass", died in Springfield
Romeo Nelson, boogie woogie pianist, was born in Springfield
Jasen Rauch, Christian rock guitarist and songwriter, lives in Springfield
Bill Sanders, award-winning editorial cartoonist, was born in Springfield
Tracy Smothers, professional wrestler, was born in Springfield
Harry Underwood, self-taught "outsider artist", has his home and studio in Springfield
Sweetwater is the home of the Craighead Caverns which contains the Lost Sea, the United States' largest underground lake.
Notable people
Butch Baker, country music artist
Gerald Brown, NFL and collegiate coach
Kippy Brown, NFL and collegiate coach
Harry T. Burn (1895-1977), Tennessee legislator who broke the deadlock on the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution and gave women the right to vote in the United States, worked as an attorney in town from 1927 to 1951.[17]
North Callahan, historian and journalist
Dwight Henry, politician
Paul Dean Holt, former NASCAR Winston Cup driver
Frank North, collegiate coach
Gerald North, climatologist
Tiptonville
Tiptonville was the scene of the surrender of Confederate forces at the end of the 1862 Battle of Island Number Ten in the American Civil War. The monument for this battle is located on State Route 22 approximately three miles north of Tiptonville, since the island itself, the focal point of the battle, has been eroded by the flow of the Mississippi River and no longer exists.
Notable People
Clifton Cates (1893–1970), 19th Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps
Carl Perkins, musician
Jerry Reese, former general manager of the New York Giants
Trenton
Trenton is most famous for its collection of rare antique porcelain veilleuses, donated by the late Dr. Frederick C. Freed in 1955.[13] The teapots are unique because the candle's glow illuminates the pot's exterior, thus serving as a night light. None of the 525 teapots in this collection are alike, and some are designed as palaces or people in unique still-life castings. The town celebrates its collection with an annual "Teapot Festival" held each spring since 1981.
Trenton is also known for its unusual speed limit of 31 miles per hour (50 km/h), established by the city in the 1950s and posted by signs throughout the town.
Notable People
Robert M. Bond, United States Air Force general
Dave Brown, meteorologist and weatherman for Memphis TV station WMC channel 5, an NBC affiliate
Eugenia Winwood (nee Crafton), wife of Steve Winwood
John Wesley Crockett, member of the United States House of Representatives who was born in Trenton
Gene Hickerson, Hall of Fame offensive lineman for the Cleveland Browns was born in Trenton
Lew Jetton, known as a blues guitarist/singer, while also spending many years as a meteorologist and local television personality, was raised near Trenton
Ben H. Love, eighth Chief Scout Executive of the Boy Scouts of America
Peter Matthew Hillsman Taylor, author of the novel A Summons to Memphis, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1987
Wallace Wade, college football coach
Bailey Walsh, politician
William Woods, Major League Baseball pitcher
Tullahoma
The noted whiskey brand of George Dickel has its roots in Tullahoma. Jack Daniel's whiskey is distilled 12 miles (19 km) southwest of Tullahoma in Lynchburg.
Rock pioneer Little Richard Penniman died in Tullahoma in 2020
In popular Culture
"Tullahoma Dancing Pizza Man" is a song by country artist Eddie Rabbitt on his second studio album, Rocky Mountain Music, released in 1976.
Tullahoma is also the title of country star Dustin Lynch's album released January 17th of 2020. Lynch is from Tullahoma.
Notable People
Dewon Brazelton, born here; baseball player[20]
Eric Clutton,[21] resides here; popularly known as Doctor Diesel, he is a renowned designer of aeromodels and the FRED experimental aircraft.
David Hess, born here; professional baseball player .
Little Richard, rock and roll pioneer, lived here at the time of his death in 2020.[22]
Antonio London, born here; football player[23]
Dustin Lynch, born here; country singer.
Steve Matthews, born in Tullahoma; football player[24]
Bryan Morris, from here; professional baseball player
Justus Sheffield, born and raised here; professional baseball player
Jimmy Valiant, born near Tullahoma. This professional wrestler is known as "The Boogie Woogie Man" and "Handsome" Jimmy Valiant.
Ally Walker, born here; actress.
Union City
Notable People
Russell Dickerson – country music singer
Steve Finley – MLB outfielder, World Series champion with Arizona Diamondbacks
Bruce Fleisher (1948–2021) – professional golfer
Andrieus A. Jones – US Senator of New Mexico 1917–1927, born in Union City
Jovante Moffatt – NFL Player
Jon Robinson – General Manager, Tennessee Titans
Derrick Turnbow – MLB pitcher
Koko B. Ware – professional wrestler
Zach Underwood – professional fighter
Vanleer
Notable People
Paul Hinson, baseball player
Mary Magdalena Lewis Tate, female African-American minister
Luke Perry, actor (made popular in Beverly Hills, 90210)[11]
Waverly
On February 24, 1978, a propane tank car explosion occurred in downtown Waverly when an L&N train derailed. The explosion, which killed 16 people, led to an overhaul of the methods used by the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency when responding to hazardous material spills.
Notable People
Deborah Adams, author
Murray Bowen, psychiatrist and professor
Susan Goodman, 1983 Mrs. America[16]
George Morgan, country music singer
Daryl Mosley, singer, musician, and songwriter.
White Bluff
Notable People
Anson A. Mount IV, star of film and television. Anson's father, Anson Mount III, also grew up in White Bluff, and became the sports editor for Playboy magazine.
Larry Fleet, singer-songwriter
Winchester
Notable People
Francis Joseph Campbell (1832–1914), anti-slavery campaigner and pioneer in educating the blind
Ida Beasly Elliott (1864–1948), missionary in Burma[18]
John Templeton, financier and philanthropist
Reuben Davis, a U.S. congressman from Mississippi
Brian Dayett, New York Yankees/Chicago Cubs Major League Baseball player
Mike Farris, recording artist, formerly of the Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies
Phillip Fulmer, former University of Tennessee football coach
Jeff Hall, former University of Tennessee placekicker
Tracy Hayworth, Detroit Lions football player
Jeremy Nunley, football player
Ed Pryor, music video director and record producer
