Betty Lee Erwin McCord (1925-1953), a Maury County, TN native, was dedicated to the health and well-being of the youth of this area. Our beloved “Betty Lee” was a physical education teacher and girls basketball coach at Columbia . . . — — Map (db m151183) HM
1946 Columbia Race Riot. In February 1946 a struggle between an African American World War II veteran, James Stephenson, and a white shopkeeper over a radio repair order sparked a riot, fueled by law enforcement officers who raided the African . . . — — Map (db m97098) HM
In this house, Lt. Gen. Hood established his command post while bypassing Maj. Gen. Schofield's force at Columbia, Nov. 24, 1864. Here also, Dec. 20, Maj. Gen. Forrest issued orders for covering the retreat southward of the Army of Tennessee. On . . . — — Map (db m75040) HM
Born in Williamson County, A.O.P. Nicholson attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill at the age of fifteen. When he graduated four years later, Nicholson studied medicine and, later, law. He was admitted to the bar in 1831 and began . . . — — Map (db m196593) HM
Walking from Decatur, Alabama to Columbia in the 1820s as a poor illiterate boy in his teens, Andrew Johnson came to Columbia to seek work as a tailor's apprentice. Not much is known about his time spent here. We know his home was on or near 207 . . . — — Map (db m168626) HM
After the Rev. Franklin Gillette Smith took charge of the Columbia Female Institute in 1837, he moved his wife and family into the rectory (completed in 1835) to your left. In 1852, he started his own school here, the Columbia Athenaeum. When the . . . — — Map (db m168638) HM
Bethel House Hotel
On this site stood the stately, historic Bethel House Hotel, built by W. D. Bethel. Construction was the commercial center of Columbia. The first floor was devoted to stores, restaurants and offices. The second floor held a . . . — — Map (db m140724) HM
This horse, which set a mile pacing record of 1:55 in 1938, was foaled here in 1931. His dam was Gay Forbes. His sire, Napoleon Direct (1:59 3/4), is buried here. Here, also, is buried Haynes' Peacock, champion Tennessee Walking Horse, 1940 and . . . — — Map (db m75049) HM
J. Percy Priest, the son of George M.
and Axie Priest, was born on April 1,
1900, one mile west on the old Theta
Road. From January 3, 1941 until his
death on October 12, 1956, he served
as U. S. Congressman from the Fifth
District. Priest . . . — — Map (db m172072) HM
Born in Waynesboro, Georgia, John Carpenter Carter attended the University of Virginia from 1854 until 1856 when he began the study of law at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee under the tutelage of Judge Abram Caruthers. Carter would later . . . — — Map (db m196620) HM
"Miss Camille" was a Maury County native and lifelong resident of West Seventh Street in Columbia, Tennessee.
She was a graduate of the Columbia Female Institute, where she taught a number of years. She studied organ music at the Cincinnati . . . — — Map (db m151179) HM
Born near Fredericksburg, Virginia in 1763, John Gordon settled in Nashville about 1782. On the frontier, Gordon made a name for himself as an Indian fighter. He was commissioned by Territorial Governor William Blount as a militia captain in 1793. . . . — — Map (db m196621) HM
Born to a wealthy and distinguished Maury County family, Frierson graduated from Columbia Military Academy at the age of sixteen with the highest scholastic honors the young school had ever seen. A very talented writer, Frierson spent his summers . . . — — Map (db m196827) HM
College Hill School, originally known as the
Colored Public School, was the first public school for African Americans in Maury County. Established in 1881, the school's first principal was J.H. Kelly. In 1885 W.I. Lewis, who served as principal . . . — — Map (db m151169) HM
Since its beginning in 1868, under the command of Captain Thomas A. Butler, the Columbia Fire Department has answered the call to serve the Columbia community. It has become one of the top-rated fire departments in the country, thanks to the hard . . . — — Map (db m151173) HM
In 1888, local residents gave 67 acres to the U.S. Army for an arsenal. The Bowling Green stone buildings quartered troops in the Spanish–American war. Columbia Military Academy was founded in 1904 and opened formally August 23, 1905 with 167 . . . — — Map (db m63117) HM
About 1½ miles northeast, the Army of Tennessee, less S.D. Lee's Corps and most of the army's artillery, crossed Duck River on a pontoon bridge. Cavalry, under Forrest, crossed here and at other points, screening the movement. Gen. Lee's Corps . . . — — Map (db m75042) HM
(Preface): In September 1864, after Union Gen. William T. Sherman defeated Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood at Atlanta, Hood led the Army of Tennessee northwest against Sherman's supply lines. Rather than contest Sherman's "March to the Sea," . . . — — Map (db m28688) HM
Known as the “Silent Man from Tennessee” and the “Grand Old Man of the Turf,” Ed Geers was born just west of Lebanon, Tennessee in Wilson County. There in Wilson County, he made a name for himself training and racing horses, and that is what . . . — — Map (db m196598) HM
Carmack was born in Sumner County, Tennessee. Just a few years after his birth, his father died, leaving his mother to care for the small family. She found employment at the fledgling Webb School in Culleoka and brought her young family to Maury . . . — — Map (db m196614) HM
In September 1864, after Union Gen. William T. Sherman defeated Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood at Atlanta, Hood led the Army of Tennessee northwest against Sherman's supply lines. Rather than contest Sherman's "March to the Sea,” Hood then moved . . . — — Map (db m202159) HM
In May 1938, the City of Columbia purchased 7.81 acres of land from Mrs. Ida L. Padgett in the amount of $585.75 for the first park dedicated to the African American community.
Mr. Henry ‘Chick’ Shelton, a member of the City Park Commission, . . . — — Map (db m156525) HM
Maury County was created by act of the General Assembly of Tennessee Nov. 16, 1807
Organized Dec. 21, 1807 in the log home of Joseph Brown about 400 yards west of this point.
The county seat was moved to Columbia Dec. 21, 1808
First . . . — — Map (db m156895) HM
Forrest's cavalry, screening the advance of Stewart's Corps on Columbia met Capron's Cavalry Brigade in this locality and chased it back to Columbia, where the presence of Stanley's XXIII Corps behind entrenchments gave them protection and prevented . . . — — Map (db m28659) HM
In 1865, the U.S. Congress chartered the Freedmen's Savings and Trust Company, known as the Freedmen's Bank, to aid freed persons in their transition from enslavement to freedom. In 1870, Samuel M. Arnell and J.P. Baird established the Columbia, . . . — — Map (db m151176) HM
(side 1)
Given by Willis Frierson to his slaves. Oldest marker is Milly Embry, 1861. Jim Frierson who was stolen from his family as a child is buried here with his wife Vinnie and many descendents including Napoleon Frierson for whom the . . . — — Map (db m97094) HM
GrafTech Internaitonal
Since 1937, GrafTech has called Maury County home, welcoming multiple generations of employees and supporting thousands of families. The site was chosen in part because of the newly formed Tennessee Valley Authority, . . . — — Map (db m151182) HM
Land for this cemetery was part of a North Carolina grant to Nicholas Long; John White deeded to the city of Columbia in 1808. Here are buried, among pioneers of the "Territory South of the River Ohio" and other early settlers, Major Samuel Polk and . . . — — Map (db m148447) HM
Arriving at Columbia ahead of the Confederates, Schofield entrenched around the town. Hood, arriving Nov. 26, demonstrated against his position, with Lee's corps and most of his artillery, while the rest of the Army of Tennessee crossed Duck River . . . — — Map (db m28671) HM
Sending Lee's Corps and the bulk of his army's artillery toward Columbia to engage and hold Schofield in check, Hood moved the Confederate Army of Tennessee east along this road to Davis's Ford of Duck River. Here he crossed, to place himself across . . . — — Map (db m152136) HM
James Carpenter was born in Columbia during the Civil War. He was educated in Columbia, and in preparation for a professional career, studied architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. He . . . — — Map (db m177497) HM
Prior to his presidency, James K. Polk was a successful lawyer in Columbia. He was admitted to the Maury County bar in 1820 following his graduation from the University of North Carolina.
Polk's first case ended successfully when he defended his . . . — — Map (db m168615) HM
This house, constructed in 1816, is the only surviving Tennessee residence associated with the nation's eleventh president. James Knox Polk (1795-1849) lived here from 1818 to 1824. When Polk's mother died in 1852, the house passed to his younger . . . — — Map (db m97096) HM
The parents of the eleventh President of the United States occupied this property in 1816, at which time young Polk was 21. From that time, except for periods of absence due to holding public office, or his extensive law practice, this was his home . . . — — Map (db m28951) HM
Organized in April 1895, the Jane Knox Chapter was named in Honor of Jane
Knox Polk whose father, James Knox, was a Captain in the Revolutionary War,
her husband, Samuel Polk who was a Colonel in the Revolutionary War, and her
son, James Knox . . . — — Map (db m151181) HM
(Front)
Jefferson Davis
President of the Confederate States of America
1861 - 1865
Before the War Between the States, he served with distinction as a United States Congressman and twice as a United States Senator. He also . . . — — Map (db m206002) HM WM
Congressional Medal of Honor awarded to John Harlan Willis, Pharmacists Mate First Class, U.S.N. by the president for conspicious gallantry, exceptional fortitude and courage above and beyond the call of duty while under fire on Iwo Jima, he having . . . — — Map (db m168597) WM
About 1/2 mile east Joseph Brown lived. Enroute to the Cumberland Settlements by river from North Carolina in 1788, he was captured by Indians from Nickajack Cave. He escaped and in 1792 led the Ore expedition back to destroy the town. Settling . . . — — Map (db m75039) HM
Born in Maury County, James Council Wooten, II was named after his grandfather – the first James Council Wooten, a Confederate colonel. Young Wooten's parents were John and Emma Wooten. Together they owned Maury Dry Goods and were very civic-minded . . . — — Map (db m196616) HM
Late in the War Between the States, a group of Confederate officers won the hearts and sympathies of the South. They were known as the “Immortal 600.”
The Federal navy had tightened its grip on the South. Every Southern port was blockaded. It was . . . — — Map (db m196628) HM
The Cheairs Family moved to northern Maury County in 1811. The Cheairs patriarch (also named Nathaniel) purchased three hundred acres of land just south of present-day Spring Hill. It was on this land that young Nathaniel was born in 1818. He was . . . — — Map (db m196619) HM
In 1923 A.J. Armstrong, W.L. Brown, J.H. Kelly,
Dr. C.E. Jones, the Rev. W.H. Lampley, J.H.
Sanders, and Albert Wright founded the Maury
County Colored Hospital to serve African Americans
in Maury and surrounding counties. The . . . — — Map (db m151168) HM
(Center plaque)
The Major General William E. Potts Veterans Memorial Plaza
Named in honor of
Columbia native
M. G. William E. "Billy" Potts, USA
1936-2004
For his service to community, state and nation
Military Attache, . . . — — Map (db m224349) WM
In October 1843, free blacks in Columbia established Mount Lebanon Missionary Baptist Church, the oldest black Baptist congregation in Tennessee. Edmund Kelly was its first pastor. The original church was built several blocks southeast of this site, . . . — — Map (db m148450) HM
An orphan apprenticed by the court to James Purcell "to learn the trade of cabinet maker" Vaught learned his trade during Columbia's early growth period. The high quality and lasting beauty of his buildings earned him the "Master Builder" title. . . . — — Map (db m168610) HM
Born August 13, 1799; died
April 9, 1880.
A founder of Rose Hill Cemetery,
dedicated Mason, devoted
Methodist, Confederate patriot.
He built more fine houses
than any man ever in Maury County.
Married Lucretia J. Journey
and Sarah . . . — — Map (db m196634) HM
On June 26, 1863, Confederate Lt. Andrew Wills Gould, son of a prosperous Nashville merchant and an artillerist in Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest's cavalry, died here at the Nelson House Hotel. He had been badly injured in a clash with . . . — — Map (db m156894) HM
The first house here was built by Maj. Samuel Polk, who came here from North Carolina in 1806. In his family was the ten-year-old son, James Knox Polk, who was to become the 11th President of the United States. He spent his boyhood here. — — Map (db m75046) HM
Born in Vermont, Franklin G. Smith moved to the South once he had completed his formal education at Middlebury College and the Princeton Theological Seminary. He worked as a teacher in Georgia before settling in Lynchburg, Virginia. There, he was . . . — — Map (db m196631) HM
This concrete Bridge replaced a steel girder structure built in 1889. The plaque from the old bridge is below
City Council Accepting Bridge 1974
J.A. (Buddy) Morgan - Mayor, Barbara Harwood - Vice Mayor, Councilmen: James L. Bailey - 1st . . . — — Map (db m209693) HM
(preface)
In September 1864, after Union Gen. William T. Sherman defeated Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood at Atlanta, Hood led the Army of Tennessee northwest against Sherman’s supply lines. Rather than contest Sherman’s “March to the . . . — — Map (db m75035) HM
Saint Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church was originally a group of black people who
held weekly meetings in the basement of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Early in 1840 they formed their own organization and erected their first church on the . . . — — Map (db m156529) HM
In a cabin here the escort with the body of the "Boy Hero of the Confederacy" stayed overnight while returning to his home in Smyrna, Tenn., for burial. A member of Coleman's Scouts, Army of Tennessee, he had been executed by the Federal commander . . . — — Map (db m208774) HM
Samuel Rush Watkins and his wife, Virginia (Jenny) Mayes Watkins, who worshipped here at Zion Presbyterian Church, are buried in the cemetery. In his book Company Aytch: or, a Side Show of the Big Show, Watkins left an incomparable memoir of . . . — — Map (db m85997) HM
Rose Hill Cemetery was established in 1853, with the earliest graves at the top of the hill. During the Civil War, when the Federals occupied Columbia, its location next to the Nashville & Decatur Railroad made it a significant outpost. Several . . . — — Map (db m156527) HM
On this site stood the first law office of
James Knox Polk
1795-1849
Lawyer, State and National Legislator
Speaker, House of Representatives in Congress
Governor of Tennessee and
Eleventh President of The United . . . — — Map (db m189432) HM
Consecrated Sept. 4, 1842, by James Hervey Otey, first Episcopal Bishop of Tennessee, this church was built by Leonidas Polk, then Missionary Bishop of Southwest and his three brothers, George, Lucius, and Rufus, who divided a grant received from . . . — — Map (db m28651) HM
Erected in 1842 for worship and spiritual instruction of white and negro people. Built under supervision of the Rt. Rev. Leonidas Polk, Bishop of Louisiana, on land given by him and with labor and materials contributed by him and his brothers, . . . — — Map (db m85996) HM
Parish organized 1831
This building erected 1861
“Lord I have loved the habit-
ation of Thy house and the place
where Thine honor dwelleth” — — Map (db m196647) HM
At the close of the War Between the States, the Confederate dead buried in various places around Columbia and in the outlying communities were disinterred and reburied in this one section. There are over 120 Confederates buried in this section, but . . . — — Map (db m196613) HM WM
The river runs as a narrative through our history - its thread plays within the stores of farming, war, food, recreation, contemplation, and relaxation. It has been both a barrier and a road, for many it is a blessing , for a few it has been a . . . — — Map (db m209412) HM
General Nathan Bedford Forrest was known for his hot temper and he met its match in young Lt. Andrew Gould. At the Mason's hall, (7th & Garden Street) Forrest blamed
Gould for the capture of two cannons by the Union troops in an ambush, which later . . . — — Map (db m168602) HM
Knoxville was the capital of Tennessee and John Sevier was Governor when Maury County was created by the Tennessee Legislature on November 24, 1807, and named for Abram Maury, a pioneer surveyor. The site of Columbia, the county seat, was land . . . — — Map (db m189310) HM
This is the final resting place of the parents and seven of nine siblings of James Knox Polk. Revolutionary War Major Samuel Polk and Jane Gracey Knox were married on Dec. 25th, 1794 at Hopewell Church, located in Mecklenburg County, North . . . — — Map (db m151180) HM
The Reverend Edmund Kelly was born in Columbia, Tennessee in 1817. At age 16, he went to work at a boy’s school. With a strong desire to learn to read, he paid boys with candy to teach him how to read. In 1843, Kelly co-founded and was the first . . . — — Map (db m189427) HM
Columbia's Union Station Train Depot was built in 1902 by the Louisville & Nashville Railroad and opened in November 1903. Designed in a vernacular Romanesque style, it is one of the city's most imposing landmarks. The two-story brick and stone . . . — — Map (db m151171) HM
About 1 mile south, in 1807, a Presbyterian colony from South Carolina built a log meeting house and established a community around it. A school soon followed. A brick church was built in 1815, the present structure in 1847. Many descendants of the . . . — — Map (db m63118) HM
Brothers Erastus and Hardy Park, founders of
the Culleoka Produce Co., brought prosperity
to the farmers of the surrounding area in the
early part of the twentieth century in the form
of cantaloupes. The founders shipped cantaloupe
varieties . . . — — Map (db m151166) HM
Land donated by Richard "Kettle Dick" Anderson from 2,000 acre land grant he settled in 1810. Named "Old Well" for well at NW corner of cemetery dug by Andrew Jackson's army returning from the battle of New Orleans. Early settlers used the well as . . . — — Map (db m102063) HM
Tobacco Farm- You see here a typical early 1900's tobacco farm. A 10-minute loop walk takes you through the field and to the barn where you see tobacco hanging to dry.
Old Trace- From here you may drive north on a narrow 2 -mile section of the . . . — — Map (db m60218) HM
In the early 1920s, African Americans Joseph Worley, Andrew Polk, and Finn Wray, along
with the community, city and county governments secured funds to build the “Mt. Pleasant
Colored School.” A Rosenwald facility, it was later named . . . — — Map (db m152135) HM
A veteran of the American Revolutionary War from Georgia, Jonathan Webster purchased this large farm. He came here when the area was a wilderness and was credited with killing the last panther in this area. In 1810 he began this house. Known as the . . . — — Map (db m63120) HM
(East face)
Erected in memory of our
Confederate soldiers
by the
Bigby Gray Chapter, U.D.C.
The love, gratitude and memory
of the people of the South
shall gild their fame in one
eternal sunshine
(south face) . . . — — Map (db m177546) WM
Designated a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of Interior in 1971. Rattle and Snap was built between 1842 and 1845 by George W. Polk and his wife, Sallie Hilliard. Restored to its original character and furnished with period . . . — — Map (db m28660) HM
Here on the square, on April 20, 1861, a hundred local men under Capt. Daniel F. Wade were sworn into Confederate service as the Bigby Greys. The women of Mt. Pleasant presented the company with its first flag, in the first Confederate national . . . — — Map (db m75021) HM
(front)
This Confederate unit was formed here on the square and on October 30, 1861 marched to war. Maury Co. farmboys with no military or artillery experience , they were led by Capt. J.M. Sparkman. With little training, they manned the . . . — — Map (db m156892) HM
Founded 1892 as the Campus School, near Vanderbilt University, by William C. Branham and William Hughes. Moved to Spring Hill 1897, and operated as Spring Hill School. The name was changed to Branham and Hughes School in 1898, and to Branham and . . . — — Map (db m62311) HM
Cleburne's division moved west from the Rally Hill Pike at approximately 4:00 p.m. Cresting the hill west of the pike, it crossed a light strip of woods and moved into an open field. Their arc of march took them across the front of Bradley's . . . — — Map (db m208518) HM
Cleburne's advance rolled north in pursuit of Bradley's brigade which fled north of McCutcheon Creek to establish new lines at the southern edge of town. Reacting promptly to the retreat of Bradley, Lane's brigade began to reposition itself to . . . — — Map (db m87562) HM
On November 29, 1864, General Nathan B. Forrest approached Spring Hill from the east at 11:30 a.m. From here, General James Chalmers launched an attack to seize the Columbia-Nashville Pike to the west. Surprised by strong Union forces, Chalmers was . . . — — Map (db m75085) HM
By 4:00 p.m., Patrick Cleburne had marched his division north on the Rally Hill Pike. A brief meeting with several of Forrest's officers indicated that Federals were located in force between the Rally Hill Pike and the Columbia-Franklin Pike due . . . — — Map (db m188479) HM
After the sun set, Confederate plans began to quietly fall apart. Hood appeared confident that Forrest held the pike north of Spring Hill, and thus was not unduly concerned with cutting the pike south of town. Hood’s orders suggest an unfamiliarity . . . — — Map (db m208502) HM
On a knoll just southwest of the railroad depot is the antebellum home of the widow Lizinka Brown. Her son, Campbell Brown was a staff officer with Confederate General Richard S. Ewell of the Army of Northern Virginia. Ewell and Mrs. Brown married . . . — — Map (db m188409) HM
This was the last home of Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell, CSA. Here his wife and her son, Maj. Campbell Brown, with Capt. M.C. Campbell and W.J. Webster, brought the first Jersey cattle imported from the Channel Island to Tennessee. Here, also, was . . . — — Map (db m188407) HM
On the morning of November 29, 1864, Spring Hill was guarded by a small Union garrison. Throughout the morning this garrison would be strengthened by additional Federal units consisting of the 103rd Ohio Infantry Regiment, and several companies . . . — — Map (db m208542) HM
In this area Forrest's Confederate Cavalry Corps engaged the newly formed Federal Cavalry of Maj. Gen. James H. Wilson. By aggressive action and skillful maneuvering, Wilson was cut off from contact with Schofield and deflected from his mission of . . . — — Map (db m148444) HM
As Forrest's cavalry fought their way to the outskirts of Spring Hill by 2:30 p.m., they observed Brigadier General George Wagner's division marching into the town. Forrest, aggressive as ever, determined to attack quickly to seize the town and . . . — — Map (db m87561) HM
Gen. Hood and staff spent the night in the Absalom Thompson House, 2.8 miles. Advance units of his army, moving by country roads, had contacted Federal units at Spring Hill, but had not gained control of the road to Nashville. In the morning, Hood . . . — — Map (db m151188) HM
At approximately 12:30 p.m. on November 29, 1864, Col. Emerson Opdycke’s veteran brigade known unofficially as “Opdycke’s tigers,” marching in the lead of Wagner’s division, swept through Spring Hill to secure the town from Confederate . . . — — Map (db m82255) HM
In Spring 1863, Confederate Major General Earl Van Dorn established the headquarters of his cavalry command of the Army of the Mississippi at Spring Hill. On March 5, 1863 Van Dorn had commanded his cavalry in a fight at Thompson’s Station, which . . . — — Map (db m201742) HM
Just west of this site is the antebellum Nashville and Decatur Railroad. During Sherman’s Campaign against Atlanta, from May to September 1864, this railroad played a critical logistical role when it served as the northbound or return route for his . . . — — Map (db m188411) HM
Late in the afternoon of November 29, 1864, Hood established the headquarters of the Army of Tennessee at this location. Hood spent part of the evening sitting on a log near the fish pond of the house while officers and generals came and went . . . — — Map (db m212317) HM
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