Susan Harber, The Daily News Journal, July 31, 2017 Sewart Air Force Base, originally Smyrna Army Airfield, began operations in 1942 as a B-24 training facility. The base ceased operations after World War II in 1947, only to re-activate in 1950 and eventually close in 1970. The namesake for the…
Greg Tucker, the Murfreesboro Post, July 25, 2017 “The ‘law’s delay,’ as exemplified in the courthouse, is the cause of these illegal executions. A reform in court proceedings is badly needed.” Editorial from The Fayetteville Observer (September 12, 1878), regarding a Rutherford County lynching. Abner Dement was born in 1848 in the northeastern…
The Dixie Flyer, the Official Newsletter of the NC&StL Preservation Society, Spring 2016 The following are excerpts from the NC&StL Bulletin, March 1945 Carnation Co., Murfreesboro In the above picture of Carnation’s beautiful plant at Murfreesboro, Tenn., we’re only given a glimpse of its size. When the war clouds have…
Greg Tucker, The Murfreesboro Post, June 26, 2017 The origin and history of Rutherford County and its people are deeply rooted in the Rucker surname. The Rucker migration into Tennessee began in or about the same year as Tennessee statehood. Benjamin Rucker, a wealthy Virginia landowner and Revolutionary War veteran,…
Susan Harber, The Daily News Journal, June 19, 2017 The term “slaughter” emanates cold chills down the spine of any individual in Rutherford County. Yet, slaughter was unending on December 31, 1862, with the perilous, bloodiest encounter of Union and Confederate troops in a heavy forest near the Stones River.…
Susan Harber, The Daily News Journal, May 15, 2017 Henry Shaw of the Coleman Scouts was the son of Thomas Shaw, who came to America from Scotland and settled in both Lancaster, Pa., and North Carolina. Thomas established roots in Robertson County in 1821 and made Clarksville his home. Living…
Greg Tucker, Murfreesboro Post, April 25, 2017 Sophie took care of Sophie! Educated in Philadelphia, Alfred H. Dashiell came to Tennessee in the 1830s as president of the Nashville Female Academy. After four years at the Academy, he entered the ministry and served four years as pastor of the Presbyterian…
Susan Harber, the Daily News Journal, April 17, 2017 While there are unprecedented records on file in the history of our county in the past 200 years, the study of our primeval history is limited and vague. Therefore, the events in our county over 1,000 years ago is elusive. Yet,…
Frank Caperton, Rutherford County Historical Society, April 8, 2017 Jefferson Springs native Toby Francis conducted a tour of Old Jefferson for a few former residents of the community once known as Jefferson. The weather was warm and beautiful as were the memories shared by all.
Greg Tucker, The Murfreesboro Post, March 22, 2017 Even the fences tell tales in Rutherford County. Devil’s fence Virgil Pitts and Ellis Peyton, neighbors on Trimble Road in the eastern portion of Rutherford County in the 1940s, raised sheep. Their respective sheep pastures shared a common fence, and for years…
