Town of Cumberland

Town of Cumberland. . The Town of Cumberland (1810-1843) was sited at the, confluence of the Cumberland and Red Rivers as a projected river port for farming communities north of the Red River. It began as a keelboat landing slightly up the Red River to serve the original 640 acre grant dating from the 1780s. Despite the establishment of warehouses and a sawmill, the town never fully developed as planned. The landing, however, was a valuable location for loading flatboats and later, steamboats. By the 1840s, the area was called Red River Landing., A major road ran up the hill and between what is now Fort Defiance and Trice's Landing. Another road paralleled the Red River to a ford, and later, a bridge connecting to Clarksville. By the early 1840s, the towns of Meachamsville and New Providence developed along these routes and their connecting roads at the top of New Providence Hill. The area was a flourishing commercial center prior to the Civil War., Photo captions: , A Keelboats, designed to travel upstream, measured about 60 feet long by 8 feet wide. Although equipped with a sail, they often had to be rowed, poled or hand winched upstream. Travel from New Orleans to Clarksville by keelboat took three to four months., B Flatboats, designed to travel downstream, measured about 50 feet long and 12 feet wide. They were navigated by a huge stern oar and three outer steering oars. After reaching their destination, flatboats were usually dismantled and sold as scrap lumber. , Far right:Receipt dated October 12, 1859 from New Fireproof Tobacco Warehouse at Red River Landing assures shipment of 250 barrels of flour to New Orleans aboard the steamboat Ella at the cost of sixty cents per barrel.