Bringing Local History to the Classroom

Posted on July 21, 2026 by Clint

The following tool is intended for the use of local teachers and students. I have aligned the state social studies standards with articles I have written pertaining to a similar topic in Lawrence County history. It is my great desire to see the information I have shared here help students engage in local history as well as in their schoolwork. Some of the standards do not have any Lawrence County-specific connections. I will add to this list as I publish more local history research.

TN.01

Describe changes in life in the Tennessee region from the late ice age through the Archaic period.

The Lost Reef
The Shumate Giant Comes to Lawrenceburg

TN.02

Compare and contrast features of life in the Tennessee region during the Woodland and Mississippian periods.

The Excavation of the Danely Mound
Ancient Treasures
Marcella Falls: A Brief History

TN.03

Analyze the customs and traditions of American Indians located in the Tennessee region prior to European contact, including: • Cherokee • Iroquois • Chickasaw • Shawnee • Creek

When Shoal Creek Was Called Indian Creek
The Secret in the Cave Just West of Lawrenceburg

TN.03

Analyze the customs and traditions of American Indians located in the Tennessee region prior to European contact, including: • Cherokee • Iroquois • Chickasaw • Shawnee • Creek

When Shoal Creek Was Called Indian Creek
The Secret in the Cave Just West of Lawrenceburg

TN.04

Describe the impact of European exploration in the Tennessee region, including the significance of Christopher Columbus, Hernando de Soto, and Juan Pardo.

TN.05

Describe the influx of British and French settlers and fur traders in the Tennessee region and their impact on American Indian tribes.

The Legend of Granddaddy Creek

TN.06

Explain the contest between the British, the French, and American Indians for land in the Tennessee region prior to the French and Indian War

TN.07

Describe the effects of migration into the Tennessee region, including the development of the Watauga and Cumberland Settlements.

When Shoal Creek Was Called Indian Creek

TN.08

Identify episodes of fighting that occurred in the Tennessee region during the American Revolution (e.g., Battle of Kings Mountain) and the effects of American victory on the area.

Lawrence County’s Last Revolutionary Soldier
Paid in Full: Lawrenceburg Innkeeper Shows Respect to Revolutionary Veteran

TN.09

Identify reasons for the foundation and failure of the independent state of Franklin in 1784.

Happy Birthday, Tennessee!

TN.10

Analyze the effects of land speculation on settlement in the Territory South of the River Ohio (i.e., the Southwest Territory).

The Man Who Owned Three Square Miles of Lawrence County

TN.11

Analyze the conflicts between early Tennessee settlers and American Indians.

The Intruders on Shoal Creek
The Chickasaw Cession of Lawrence County
The Unclaimed Land Grant that Became Lawrenceburg

TN.11

Analyze the conflicts between early Tennessee settlers and American Indians.

The Intruders on Shoal Creek
The Chickasaw Cession of Lawrence County
The Unclaimed Land Grant that Became Lawrenceburg

TN.12

Describe the events and trace the process of Tennessee achieving statehood in 1796.

Happy Birthday, Tennessee!

TN.13

Describe major features of the Tennessee Constitution of 1796. (T.C.A. §49-6-1028)

TN.14

Analyze the growth of Middle Tennessee in the early 1800s in power and influence, including the relocation of the capital.

Lawrence County’s First Government

TN.15

Describe the distribution of slaves between the three grand divisions of Tennessee, the lives of free blacks and slaves, and the role of Tennesseans in the early abolition movement (e.g., Elihu Embree).

A Snapshot of Slavery in Lawrence County, Tennessee

TN.16

Describe aspects of farm life, work, religion, and community for families in early Tennessee.

Venison, Anyone?
When To Plant: Some Agricultural Folk Wisdom
The Pioneers of Pleasant Garden
Fields of Faith at Mt. Ararat
Crime on the Wild Frontier

TN.17

Describe the economy of Tennessee in the early 19th century.

Napier Iron Works
The Wild Frontier: The 1820 Census in Lawrence County

TN.18

Describe the New Madrid Earthquakes of 1811-12 and the resulting effects on the land and culture of Tennessee.

TN.19

Describe Tennessee’s involvement in the War of 1812 (e.g., Tennessee volunteers, Felix Grundy, Andrew Jackson), and analyze the role of American Indians during the war.

These Veterans of 1812 Were Still Living in Lawrence County 70 Years Later
When the President Came to Lawrenceburg
The General Richard Allen Home of Ethridge

TN.20

Describe the significance of the Mississippi River, the Jackson Purchase, and the introduction of cotton in the rapid growth of Memphis and West Tennessee.

The Man Who Owned Three Square Miles of Lawrence County

TN.21

Explain the importance of transportation, technology, and geography in Tennessee’s growing involvement in the national economy after the War of 1812, including the significance of: • Cash crops (e.g., cotton, tobacco) • Natchez Trace • Road improvements • Steamboats

How the County Got Its Shape
The New Jackson Highway Goes East
A Brief History of the Central Turnpike
The Lost Stand of Alexander Springs
A Traffic Jam in Downtown Lawrenceburg
The Lost Village of Laurel Hill

TN.22

Describe the contributions of Presidents Andrew Jackson and James K. Polk to Tennessee and American history.

When the President Came to Lawrenceburg
A Presidential Barbecue: Lawrenceburg’s Celebration of James K. Polk
The Lawrenceburg Postmaster Who Was Fired by the President

TN.23

Describe the impact of the Indian Removal Act and the Trail of Tears on Tennessee.

The Trail of Tears in Lawrence County

TN.24

Discuss the contributions of important figures during Tennessee’s “golden age,” including: • John Bell • David Crockett • James C. Jones • Newton Cannon • Ephraim Foster • Sequoyah • William Carroll • Sam Houston • Hugh Lawson White

Lawrence County’s First Government
Three Reasons Why Lawrenceburg is Right to be Obsessed with David Crockett
Remembering David Crockett
David Crockett’s Debt
When David Crockett Became Colonel Crockett
Happy Birthday, Colonel Crockett!
That Time David Crockett Killed 105 Bears in One Winter
The Destruction of Crockett’s Mill
The Dedication of Lawrenceburg’s David Crockett Statue
How Lawrenceburg’s Location Was Chosen
David Crockett Falls in Love

TN.25

Identify the significance of the Tennessee Constitution of 1834. (T.C.A. §49-6-1028)

Lawrence County’s First Civil Districts

TN.26

Describe the development of slavery in Tennessee from 1800 to 1860, including the distribution of slaves and conflicting attitudes among the three grand divisions.

A Snapshot of Slavery in Lawrence County, Tennessee

TN.27

Discuss the importance of the Nashoba Community and Free Hill as settlements for freed slaves.

William Hicks and the Struggles of Lawrence County’s Free People of Color

TN.28

Explain the causes of the Civil War and how geographic and political divisions impacted Tennessee’s secession.

When Lawrence County Voted to Leave the United States
Caleb Davis: A Unionist Black Sheep in Civil War Lawrenceburg
Jeff Davis is Coming For Your Guns?

TN.29

Describe Tennessee’s role in the Civil War, including: • Sieges of Fort Henry and • Chattanooga Campaign Fort Donelson • Johnsonville Campaign • Battle of Shiloh • Battle of Franklin • Battle of Stones River • Battle of Nashville

The Great Lawrenceburg Bacon Raid of 1862
The Tragic Death of William Rowland
Billy Pierce: Lawrence County’s Little Giant
A Different Kind of Rebel Flag
A Yankee Spy in Lawrenceburg
The Battle of Lawrenceburg
The Army of Tennessee Moves North: How Hood Road Got Its Name
Veterans’ Accounts of the Battle of Sugar Creek
The Army of Tennessee in Western Lawrence County: A Veteran’s Account
The Bombardment of Lawrenceburg
The Nashville Campaign Comes to Lawrence County
Fightin’ Joe Fights in Lawrence County
The Re-Establishing: Lawrence County’s Wartime Unionist Government
The Execution of Andrew Blakemore
Lawrenceburg’s Mysterious Cannonball
The Daring Escape of John Bell Hollis

TN.30

Identify the contributions of Tennesseans during the Civil War, including: • Sam Davis • Isham Harris • William Driver • Andrew Johnson • David Farragut • Sam Watkins • Nathan Bedford Forrest

In His Own Words: Forrest in Western Lawrence County
Ambush in the Fog: The Fight at Sugar Creek
Andrew Johnson Hits the Campaign Trail in Lawrenceburg

TN.31

Describe how the Civil War impacted various populations in Tennessee (e.g., African Americans, American Indians, and women).

Lawrence County and the Vote to Abolish Slavery
The Fearsome Rolling Pin of Sarah Dearing Kimbrough
The Judgment at Gipson’s Spring
A New Birth of Freedom: Lawrence County’s USCT Soldiers
The Military Career of Corporal Silas Smith, USCT

TN.32

Explain William Brownlow’s role in the development of Reconstruction.

When Lawrenceburg Voted at Bayonet-Point

TN.33

Discuss the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson and its impact both nationally and in Tennessee.

TN.34

Describe the rise, influence, and opposition of the Ku Klux Klan in Tennessee.

Raash Sowell: The Freed Slave Who Wasn’t Afraid of the Klan
When the Klan Showed Up at Cumberland Presbyterian Church
A Racist Spectacle: The Unplanned Klan Rally of 1990
The Death of John Bicknell
When a Founding Klansman Killed a Former Confederate Spy in the Street in Lawrenceburg
Klan Violence in Lawrence County

TN.35

Explain the development and efforts of the Freedmen’s Bureau schools, including Fisk University.

Caleb Davis: A Unionist Black Sheep in Civil War Lawrenceburg

TN.36

Identify early elected black lawmakers and leaders in Tennessee (e.g., Sampson Keeble and William Yardley), and determine their significance.

TN.37

Explain the development of the 1870 Tennessee Constitution. (T.C.A. § 49-6-1028)

The Life of Captain Deavenport

TN.38

Identify exodusters (e.g., Benjamin “Pap” Singleton), and describe their experiences.

Lawrence County’s First Century: A Story in Numbers

TN.39

Explain developments in Tennessee’s farming during the late 19th century as a result of industrialization.

The First Tractor in Lawrence County
The Origins of the Middle Tennessee District Fair
The Alabama Migration to Lawrence County

TN.40

Describe the social, economic, and political changes to Tennessee in the postReconstruction era, and identify the laws put in place to exclude black lawmakers by 1890.

What’s in a Name? Lawrence County’s German Catholic Heritage
The Excavation of Holy Trinity Cemetery
St. Mary’s Cemetery: A National Register Property
An Immigrant Girl’s Story: The Adventurous Life of Louise Hovelmeier
Honoring the Dead: The Origins of Decoration Day
Lawrence County Votes to Build a Railroad
When There Was a Depot on Depot Street
Lawrenceburg’s Oldest Buildings: The Kerr Hotel

TN.41

Discuss the impact of the yellow fever epidemic on Memphis.

Smallpox in Lawrence County

TN.42

Describe the events that led to the Coal Creek Wars in Anderson and the surrounding counties over the state of Tennessee’s decision to replace coal miners with prisoners.

TN.43

Describe Tennessee’s Centennial Exposition, and explain its significance.

TN.44

Analyze the effect of Jim Crow laws on Tennessee, and identify the efforts of advocates for African Americans, including the significance of: W.E.B. Du Bois, James Napier, and Mary Church Terrell.

The Rebirth of West Gaines School
Watch Night in Lawrenceburg
The Lynching of Bull Williams

TN.45

Summarize the influence of and reactions to the temperance movement in Tennessee, including the murder of Senator Edward Carmack.

A Drunk History of Lawrenceburg

TN.46

Describe Tennessee’s impact on the suffrage movement, including the following: “Perfect 36,” Harry Burn, Anne Dallas Dudley, and A.H. Roberts.

Lawrenceburg Gives Women the Vote

TN.47

Explain Tennessee’s connection to World War I, including the impact of Alvin C. York and the Alcoa plant.

General Pershing Takes Up for Local Boy
Battery F Comes Home to Lawrence County
Armistice Day in West Point
The Battle of Fairside Park: An Early Reenactment in Lawrenceburg

TN.48

Identify Governor Austin Peay and his influence on Tennessee’s infrastructure and education.

Labor of Love: The Birth of Lawrence County High School
The LCHS Bible Department

TN.49

Analyze how the Scopes Trial reflected societal tension between tradition and modernity.

TN.50

Describe major developments in country music (e.g., Grand Ole Opry, WSM, and the Carter family) and blues music (e.g., W.C. Handy and Bessie Smith) in Tennessee during this era.

A Christmas Classic First Published in Lawrenceburg
The Father of Southern Gospel Music
How the Democrat-Union Got Its Name

TN.51

Describe how the Great Depression and New Deal programs impacted Tennesseans, including the significance of: the Agricultural Adjustment Act, Civilian Conservation Corps, Tennessee Valley Authority, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Lawrenceburg’s New Deal Post Office
Answering Reader Questions: Some Dam History

TN.52

Analyze the impact Tennessee innovators (e.g., David Crosthwait and Clarence Saunders) had on the nation.

Some Lawrence County Inventors

TN.53

Evaluate Tennessee’s contributions during World War II, including the impact of Camp Forrest, Camp Tyson, and Oak Ridge as well as the influence of Tennesseans during the war (e.g., Cornelia Fort and Cordell Hull).

Lawrence County Man Becomes First Tennessee Casualty of World War II

TN.54

Describe major agricultural shifts in Tennessee post-World War II and their impact economically and socially

The First Tractor in Lawrence County
Four Hogs For Every Person: Early Agriculture in Lawrence County

TN.55

Analyze the significance of key Tennesseans on both the state and national level during the 1950s and 1960s, including: Frank Clement, Ed Crump, Al Gore, Sr., Estes Kefauver, and John Seigenthaler.

When the King Became a Colonel
Happy Birthday, David Crockett State Park!
The First Murray Bicycle Built in Lawrenceburg

TN.56

Describe Tennessee’s role in the Civil Rights Movement (e.g., sit-ins and Diane Nash, Highlander Folk School, Tent City Movement of Fayette County, Columbia Race Riots, and the Clinton Twelve). (T.C.A. § 49-6-1006)

The Integration of Lawrence County’s Schools

TN.57

Identify major Tennessee figures involved in the Civil Rights Movement (e.g., Rev. James Lawson, Kelly Miller Smith). (T.C.A. § 49-6-1006)

Thurgood Marshall Wins in Lawrenceburg

TN.58

Describe the purpose of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s presence in Memphis, the circumstances leading to his assassination, and the significance of the placement of the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel. (T.C.A. § 49-6-1006)

TN.59

Discuss the development of rock ‘n’ roll music in Tennessee and its impact on the changing American culture, including the significance of: Elvis Presley, Stax Records, and Sun Studio.

National Register Briefs: Crockett Theater
When the King Became a Colonel

TN.60

Describe cultural developments in Tennessee during the 1970s and 1980s, including: Country Music Hall of Fame, Music Row, Opryland, and the 1982 World’s Fair.

The Origins of the Middle Tennessee District Fair

TN.61

Identify the contributions of influential Tennesseans of the era, including: • Lamar Alexander • Alex Haley • Pat Summitt • Howard Baker • Dolly Parton • Fred Thompson • Al Gore, Jr. • Wilma Rudolph • Oprah Winfrey

Fred Thompson: Lawrenceburg’s Actor-Politician

TN.62

Identify major attractions and events that fuel the tourism industry in Tennessee, including the impact of: • Bristol Motor Speedway • Pigeon Forge (Gatlinburg) • Civil War sites • State and national parks • CMA Music Festival • Tennessee Aquarium • Graceland

Happy Birthday, David Crockett State Park!
How Lawrence County Became Amish Paradise
Going Old School…VERY Old School
Living on Amish Time

TN.63

Discuss the impact of major businesses in Tennessee, such as: • AutoZone • Nissan • Eastman • Toyota • FedEx • Volkswagen • HCA

The First Murray Bicycle Built in Lawrenceburg

TN.64

Describe significant and/or unique products from Tennessee (e.g., Cracker Barrel, Goo Goo Cluster, Moon Pie, Mountain Dew).

How the Democrat-Union Got Its Name

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Thurgood Marshall Wins in Lawrenceburg

Posted on July 8, 2026 by Clint

Did you know that Lawrenceburg was the scene of a high-profile civil rights trial?

In 1946 a fistfight between James Stephenson, a black Navy veteran, and Billy Fleming, a white store clerk, in neighboring Columbia, Tennessee escalated into a pitched urban street battle between members of the black community, a mob of angry whites, and white police officers.

After the violence ended, twenty-five black men were charged with the wounding of four white police officers. The incident and the trial made national headlines. One of the attorneys for the defense was none other than a young Thurgood Marshall, who was destined to become the first black Supreme Court Justice in American history.

Marshall argued that the defendants could not receive a fair trial in Maury County, and he won a change of venue. The trial was held in Lawrenceburg.

Marshall and the other black defense attorneys were inconvenienced by the small number of ‘colored’ hotel rooms and restaurants in Lawrence County. To compensate, they had to commute each day from Columbia, and they relied heavily on the charity of black churches in Maury County for their meals.

Although the national media lampooned Judge Joe Ingram as a backwoods buffoon and painted Lawrenceburg as a run-of-the-mill stronghold of southern racism, many were shocked when the all-white local jury acquitted 23 of the defendants. Two others were found guilty, but the charges were later dropped.

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Klan Violence in Lawrence County

Posted on June 18, 2026 by Clint

In the autumn of 1926, groups of masked vigilantes conducted a campaign of terror in Lawrence County. They dragged nine men out of their beds, blindfolded them, beat them in front of their homes, and then left with a bone-chilling warning: “The next time we come, we’ll put a rope around your neck.”

The victims said that their assailants identified themselves as members of the Ku Klux Klan.

Before it was over, five men would be arrested, a local newspaper would take a public stand against the hate group, and the Grand Dragon of Tennessee would pay a visit to Lawrenceburg.

The original Ku Klux Klan was formed in neighboring Pulaski, Tennessee in 1865 by Confederate veterans–including John B. Kennedy, who is buried in Lawrenceburg’s Mimosa Cemetery. That original group was a vigilante terrorist organization which used violence and intimidation to discourage newly-freed African Americans from exercising the freedoms granted to them by the postwar Constitutional Amendments. They wore outlandish costumes, often rode by night, and played on the superstitions of the formerly enslaved. That first iteration of the Klan dissolved after conservatives regained control of the state governments of the former Confederacy and implemented Jim Crow laws intended to make black people second-class citizens in the South. When its goals became law, the Klan was no longer needed.

The Klan was re-established in the 1910s. While the second Klan oftentimes resorted to the old vigilante tactics of intimidation and violence employed by the first Klan, the 20th-century Klan had more of the hallmarks of a racist social club than its predecessor. Much like modern clubs, the Klan of the early 20th century in Lawrence County had a ladies’ auxiliary and a post office box. It sponsored public lectures in school gymnasiums and organized public cross-burnings which ended with fireworks demonstrations. They wore matching robes and pulled off elaborate displays of giving money to local churches in order to make prospective members think that they were an upright and civically-conscious organization. They supported causes such as Prohibition, racial segregation, and restrictive immigration policies. There is also evidence that some of the city’s most prominent and powerful leaders were members of the organization.

It was a social club that dealt in intimidation and narrow-mindedness, but there is little evidence that the Lawrenceburg klavern did much else than hold parades, dress up in their matching robes for funerals, and regurgitate familiar racist talking points.

That is, until October 11, 1926.

According to G.M. Harmon, at around 11 pm on the night of October 11, a group of men wearing ladies’ stockings over their faces forced their way into his house on Fall River Road at gunpoint and demanded that he get dressed.

As Harmon pulled his pants on, the men told him that they were Klansmen from Giles County sent there by leaders of the Lawrenceburg klavern to teach him a lesson. They pulled his two sons out of their beds, blindfolded Harmon and the two boys, and drug them into the yard, where Harmon was beaten three times with a whip across the small of his back.

After the beating, one of the men said to Harmon, “Now I guess you won’t talk about the Ku Klux anymore. The next time we come, we’ll put a rope around your neck.”

Meanwhile, inside the house, Mrs. Harmon and their daughter were terrified. Forced to remain in her bed and warned not to light a lamp, Mrs. Harmon was almost hysterical. “I was crying and badly frightened,” she told the ‘Democrat-Union,’ when one of the masked men said, “If you hear a shot, you will know it went through somebody’s brain.” One of the men told Harmon’s frightened daughter, “We are going to show some of these wicked daddies how to do, little girl.”

Harmon told the ‘Democrat-Union’ that he “knew of no reason that he should be the subject of such an attack.”

Across the county, the scene repeated itself eight more times. Tom Guthrie of Summertown and two of his sons reported being flogged that night by a group of about 65 men.

On October 19, the ‘Democrat-Union’ published an op-ed entitled ‘The Time to Unmask.’ The article challenged the Lawrenceburg Klan to have the courage to and to publish its membership rolls. While acknowledging that the paper would treat members of the organization with as much fairness as possible in their paper, the D-U wrote, “As is well known, the Democrat-Union is no sympathizer with the ideas of the Klan. It does not believe that a man’s Americanism is measured by the accident of his birth or the church to which he may belong. To us, such a doctrine contradicts every right conception of real American ideals.”

Monte Ross, the Grand Dragon of the Tennessee Klan came to Lawrenceburg on October 23 on the auspices of investigating the floggings. While there, Ross paid a visit to the offices of the ‘Democrat-Union,’ and claimed that the Klan had no part in Lawrence County’s “outbreak of gang rule.” Ross told the ‘Democrat’ that the “keeper of the robes” of the Lawrenceburg klavern reported to him that “none of the regalia was out of the boxes in which they were locked the nights of the raids.”

Ross’s assertion did not address the fact that the victims noted that their assailants were not wearing Klan robes, nor did he address the fact that the assailants claimed to be from the Pulaski klavern. The Lawrence County beatings were far from an isolated incident; just months later, five members of the Pulaski klavern were put on trial for the flogging of a black man in Giles County in January 1927. A similar public flogging occurred in Florence, Alabama in July 1927 with initial suspicion placed on Klan members there.

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The Death of John Bicknell

Posted on June 16, 2026 by Clint

Not long after the Civil War ended, a young man was murdered on the Central Turnpike on the approach to the then-abandoned village of Summertown. What followed was a forgotten, sad–and bizarre–chapter in local history.

In those days, wild men roamed the Turnpike, terrorizing outsiders who dared hunt or fish in the region and then disappearing into the unbroken forest. One of the most noteworthy acts of violence committed in Lawrence County occurred on the Turnpike about half a mile from Summertown Spring. As the Columbia Herald published in an 1870 article, “about half a mile beyond Summertown, in the county of Lawrence, there are five trees on the roadside with crosses made of oak lathes, nailed on them, marking a circle in which the noble John Bicknell was murdered.”  

John Bicknell, a Confederate veteran and founding member of Columbia’s Pale Faces–a Klan-adjacent white supremacist organization–traveled to Lawrenceburg in February 1868 to sell some “Southern books.” Bicknell was the agent for Maury and surrounding counties to sell copies of the popular book Lee and His Generals by William Parker Snow, a Lost Cause hagiography of various Confederate generals and their exploits during the Civil War. According to fellow klansman William J. Andrews, writing in 1897, Bicknell told a potential customer named Walker that he would be returning home to Columbia via the Turnpike. Andrews said that Walker “took his seat on a log on the roadside, a few miles west of Summertown, and awaited the arrival of young Bicknell.” When Bicknell arrived, Walker killed him in cold blood and stole “his boots and pocketbook and, mounting the horse, rode on to Mt. Pleasant.” 

The sheriff of Maury County captured Walker and brought him back to Columbia while Bicknell’s remains were interred in what can best be described as a bizarre Klan funeral, complete with ridiculous costumes and vows of revenge. According to an 1868 article in the Pulaski Citizen, “at the hour of 10 o’clock on Monday night, a party of about twenty horsemen, well mounted and completely disguised in the Kuklux mask and mantle, rode into Columbia, and proceeded directly to the County Jail.” After bickering with the jailer about wanting Walker, one of the klansmen said, “We are the law, and this (presenting a [pistol] at the head of the Jailer) is our order.” 

The jailer handed Walker over to the night riders, who, after losing him and then regaining custody of him, summarily hanged him over the grave of Bicknell. By 1870, the spot where Bicknell had been killed at Summertown was apparently a landmark of sorts, and was noted in more than one newspaper description of the place in the years following the murder.

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Lawrence County’s First Civil Districts

Posted on June 13, 2026 by Clint

We take it for granted today that each county in Tennessee is subdivided into smaller civil districts. These districts each contain a relatively equal proportion of the county’s population. Our county commission is made up of representatives elected by the people from each of these districts. Lawrence County currently has eighteen civil districts.

Tennessee’s first civil districts were mandated by the 1834 Constitution. The 1834 Constitution is best remembered today for stripping free people of color of voting rights that had existed under Tennessee’s first constitution.

However, the 1834 Constitution also reformed the state’s judicial system and mandated civil districts in each county for the first time. Article 6, Section 15 of the 1834 Constitution says, “The different counties in this State shall be laid off, as the general Assembly may direct, into districts of convenient size, so that the whole number in each county shall not be more than twenty five, or four for every one hundred square miles. There shall be two Justices of the peace and one Constable elected in each district, by the qualified voters therein, except districts including county towns which shall elect three Justices and two constables…”

Justices of the Peace wielded considerable legal authority in Tennessee until the mid-twentieth century. Assembled as a body, they comprised the county courts, which met regularly and served as the county government as well as the state’s lowest court for settling minor disputes and crimes. They could issue warrants, perform marriages, and serve as notaries.

Prior to the 1834 Constitution, Tennessee counties were often subdivided for administrative purposes according to companies in the local militia regiment. This can be seen in many of our nation’s early Federal census records, where individuals were said to live in a particular company as opposed to in a particular district. The requirement for new civil districts meant that a commission appointed by the General Assembly had to plot the boundaries of each new district in each county and submit those boundary descriptions to the state. Lawrence County’s first civil district boundaries were set in 1836, and their descriptions still exist in the Tennessee Library and Archives. The legal descriptions of those boundaries and the very rough map that accompanied them can be seen at this link: https://tinyurl.com/3hv87sad

As can be seen in the accompanying image of that map, the county was initially subdivided into twelve civil districts. Beginning in the county’s extreme southwestern corner, the southernmost three districts were numbered sequentially from west to east, then the fourth, fifth, and sixth districts (which formed a tier above the southernmost districts) were numbered from east to west. The pattern was repeated in this zig-zag manner until it reached the tenth district, which–due largely to the unusual size of the ninth district–was sandwiched between the seventh and the ninth districts, with the eleventh and the twelfth left to complete the pattern above the tenth, in the county’s northwesternmost corner.

The Military Road serves as a boundary between many of the districts running north to south. Shoal Creek also serves as a boundary in several places. The map also names the location of each district’s precinct, or polling location, in 1836.

The metes and bounds of Lawrence County’s first civil districts are described in just eight pages, but they are a rich source of the names of people, places, and landmarks from a very early period of Lawrence County’s history. While some of our civil districts remain relatively close to where those first districts were, the boundaries have changed and shifted as the county has.

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Lawrenceburg Gives Women the Vote

Posted on May 13, 2026 by Clint

On this day in 1919, women got the vote in Lawrenceburg–more than a year before the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment!

Locally, the cause of women’s suffrage enjoyed support in high places. The Lawrence ‘Democrat’–which was the forerunner of today’s ‘Democrat-Union’–was a champion of many early-20th century progressive causes, and its editors consistently supported giving women the right to vote.

The women of Lawrenceburg won the right to vote in municipal elections more than a year before the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. The first time women voted in Lawrenceburg was on May 13, 1919. Mrs. C.T. Crawford was the first woman to arrive at the polls soon after they opened that morning, followed shortly thereafter by Docia Spann. Many of “the prominent society women of the city” went to the polls as a group in the early afternoon.

Overall, the ‘Democrat’ reports that 161 women participated in that first mixed-sex municipal election in 1919. This number, according to the ‘Democrat,’ included several black women, whom it says “were allowed to [vote] the same as the [black] men.”

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When To Plant: Some Agricultural Folk Wisdom

Posted on April 19, 2026 by Clint

Have you ever heard of planting by the signs?

The right time to plant is the subject of a great deal of folk tradition. In preindustrial times, Lawrence County farmers and gardeners relied on received wisdom from their elders to know when to plant and when to reap–and many local folks still swear by these methods.

Some old-time gardeners do not plant warm-weather crops until after Mother’s Day, a tradition which probably doesn’t go back much further than 1908, when the first Mother’s Day was celebrated in the United States.

One popular old aphorism is that most seeds should be planted either by or on Good Friday. On April 10, 1880, Lawrenceburg court official W.T. Nixon noted in his journal: “During the night the wind shifted around and got in the S.W. but not until after frost had formed…the peach crop cut down to one half, some damage done to grape vines…I see my corn is coming up which was planted on good Friday.” In 1880, Good Friday was on March 26.

Nixon did a great deal of work planting the week of Good Friday, recording that he “spent almost the entire evening in garden” on March 25, “having planted Carrots, Okra, corn, and running beans together (Mexican corn – a new kind of sweet corn) then a bed of E. Val. beans.” However, due to a series of hard freezes over the ensuing weeks, he also wrote that he had to replant several of his vegetables.

What Nixon recorded about replanting many of his veggies is the great drawback of planting on Good Friday. The holiday could occur as early as March 20 or as late as April 23, a range of dates that can contain a wild variety of climatological conditions in our zone.

Some traditionalists consult the Farmer’s Almanac to know when to plant. The Almanac’s formula for determining when to plant is a combination of last-frost dates for a particular area combined with a much older tradition of planting by the phases of the moon.

The Almanac’s lunar tradition of planting is very old, and adheres to a formula which says that above-ground crops such as corn and beans should be planted during the waxing moon–when adherents believe the moon’s gravity is drawing moisture out of the earth–and below-ground crops such as carrots and potatoes should be planted during the waning moon, when the moon’s dissipating gravity allows moisture to return deep into the soil.

Similar to planting by phases of the moon, many old-timers and old souls believe in consulting the signs of the Zodiac, sometimes combined with phases of the moon, to know when to plant particular things. This is known as planting “by the signs.” When the sun is “in” a particular constellation, or sign, it is considered to be that sign’s time.

A detailed explanation of this is found in Foxfire 4, a collection of mountain lore edited and published by Eliot Wiggington and his students. Pauline Henson told the Foxfire editors “if you want a lot of cucumbers, plant [the seeds] when the signs are in the twins.” This indicates that, according to Ms. Henson’s estimation, cucumbers should be planted between May 21 and June 20, during the time when the sun is in Gemini.

Lizzie Lovin told Foxfire that “Mamma planted beans when the signs was in the arms. They’d never plant corn when the signs was on the new of the moon; it would grow so high you couldn’t reach the ears. They planted corn on the full moon, and it’d grow short and the ears would be full.”

Planting by body parts adds another wrinkle to the equation. According to the Farmer’s Almanac website, “ancient astrologers believed that each astrological sign of the zodiac influenced a specific part of the body.” The Almanac illustrates this belief with “The Man of the Signs” a diagram which shows which sign of the zodiac is represented by which body part. The arms referenced by Ms. Lovin would indicate that beans should be planted under the sign of Gemini.

Lon Dover told Foxfire “the best time in the world to make Irish potatoes is when the signs are in the feet.” This is under the sign of Pisces, from February 20 to March 20.

What folk wisdom have you heard about planting? Do you follow it? 

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When the King Became A Colonel

Posted on March 9, 2026 by Clint

Sixty-five years ago yesterday, the King of Rock ‘n Roll became a Tennessee colonel, and he was escorted by Lawrence County’s own Greg O’Rear.

At 6’9″ and nearly 300 pounds, Lawrence Countian Greg O’Rear was a legendary Tennessee lawman who is remembered almost as much for his extraordinary stature as he is for his extraordinary career. A favorite local expression today is still that a snow is “knee-deep to Greg O’Rear.”

At the beginning of his career with the Tennessee Highway Patrol in 1939, O’Rear had a borrowed desk and a filing cabinet at the county courthouse. He was one of only 65 state troopers then, and he had to cover an area of 85 miles of highway on a motorcycle. O’Rear worked his way through the ranks of the THP and was appointed Tennessee Commissioner of Safety in 1958.

At the dedication of the Lawrenceburg Highway Patrol building which bears his name, Governor Frank G. Clement said of O’Rear that he “doesn’t know the meaning of the word ‘disloyalty.'”

O’Rear met many famous and infamous people through his law enforcement career, from politicians to celebrities to assassins. One famous photo shows O’Rear escorting James Earl Ray into custody after he was arrested for the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

However, on March 8, 1961, O’Rear had a much different duty. In this photo, O’Rear (white hat, foreground) is seen escorting Elvis Presley away from the state capitol after the King of Rock ‘n Roll addressed the Tennessee legislature and was made an honorary colonel on the governor’s staff.

The halls and balcony of the capitol were filled with screaming teenage girls who, according to one newspaper account, “almost pulled his coat off.” Elvis made some brief remarks and thanked the legislators for the honor–which he called “the greatest honor I’ve ever received”–as well as “those who have skipped school” to be there.

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Ancient Treasures

Posted on February 26, 2026 by Clint

How long have people lived in Lawrence County? Quite a long time.

Most anthropologists believe that Native Americans first came to Tennessee a little more than 12,000 years ago, at the end of the last Ice Age.

For context, if Native presence in Tennessee were an hour on a clock, with the arrival of Native people at 11:00 P.M. and present day at midnight, then David Crockett settled here and Lawrence County’s government was formed a little after 11:58 P.M. and the bulk of our recorded local history has happened in the two minutes since.

That’s a lot of years unaccounted for, and untold thousands of stories which we will never know. The closest we can usually get to knowing anything about the people who lived here in those years is the material culture they left behind. Our county is rich in artifacts left behind by Native people. Generations of Lawrence Countians have turned them up by plow, found them near creeks, and seen them sticking out of hillsides after heavy rains.

In March, I will share the story of a local archaeological dig and what it discovered about local Native people from the things they left behind.

The images above all show arrowheads that I have found in Lawrence County, myself. Have you ever found a Native American artifact in Lawrence County? Share some photos in the comments!

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When There Was a Depot on Depot Street

Posted on February 19, 2026 by Clint

It’s been a while since there was a depot on Depot Street in Lawrenceburg. In fact, it’s been 53 years today.

On February 19, 1973, the old L & N Depot in Lawrenceburg was demolished. The contract was awarded to Hagan Brothers for $2,500, with Hagan Brothers agreeing to assume responsibility for all insurance and liability.

Workmen recovered “old bottles, coins, and papers” at the site of the old depot. The building’s destruction marked the definitive end of the era of passenger rail travel in Lawrenceburg, a chapter which began with the arrival of the railroad in 1883.

Built where Depot Street meets the railroad tracks, the Depot was witness to many pivotal events in Lawrenceburg’s history. From the arrival of the first passenger train in the county’s history, to the victorious return of Battery F of the 1st Tennessee Field Artillery from World War I, to the brief stop made by Henry Ford and Thomas Edison in 1922 on their way to Muscle Shoals, to the last run of the Huckety Buck, the county’s last passenger train, the Depot was a hub of activity and a focal point of local history for many years.

The Huckety Buck made its last stop in Lawrenceburg in 1954, when passenger rail travel was discontinued. All that remains of the Depot today is a stretch of grass alongside the track and an old sidewalk where the ticket office once was.

But imagine what long-lost scenes of excitement, dread, anticipation, and anxiety that spot has witnessed. If only it could talk, what secrets it might tell.

The color photo of the Depot was shared with me by John M. Mabry in 2014. He found it in his parents’ photo album.

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