Bethany Hawkins of the Sam Davis Home
Macon’s Traveled Divergent Paths
As published by the Daily News Journal, Sunday, January 9, 2011 By Greg Tucker, President Rutherford County Historical Society The legendary David Harrison Macon (1870-1952), a Rutherford County icon known far and wide as Uncle Dave Macon, was the first “full-blown star” of WSM’s Grand Ole Opry. He also fathered…
War on Mind During Christmas
As published by the Daily News Journal, Sunday, December 26, 2010 By Greg Tucker, President Rutherford County Historical Society The local power companies reminded customers that outdoor Christmas lighting was prohibited, a service flag with 300 stars hung in the Central High School (CHS) auditorium, and housewives were being urged…
True Grit Remake Touches Home in Lascassas
As published by the Murfreesboro Post, Sunday, December 19, 2010 By Ken Beck, Special to the Post The bed that John Marion Pickard Jr. was born in still remains in the corner of the room from where he first saw the light of day on June 25, 1913. His home…
Strict Women’s College Entertained Local Community, Letter from Mark Womack
As published by the Daily News Journal, Sunday, December 18, 2010 By Greg Tucker, President Rutherford County Historical Society To the editor, Greg Tucker’s Remembering Rutherford column in the issue of Nov. 28 on the former Tennessee College for Women sparked some memories of my own. In the mid-’30s, I…
Strict Women’s College Entertained Local Community
As published by the Daily News Journal, Sunday, November 28, 2010 By Greg Tucker, President Rutherford County Historical Society The sweater ban and window prohibitions were eventually eased, but car rides and movies still involved chaperones, and any contact with the State Teachers College required “special permission.” For nearly four…
Vandals cause damage at Greenland Cemetery
November 17, 2010, The Murfreesboro Post Over the weekend someone entered the cemetery on Greenland Drive and pushed approximately 25 headstones off their foundations. Vandals struck Greenland Cemetery again. Over the weekend someone entered the cemetery on Greenland Drive and pushed approximately 25 headstones off their foundations, causing thousands of…
Confederate soldier/shoemaker given U.S. citizenship
November 14, 2010, Greg Tucker, The Daily News Journal Although technically a ‘rebel’ and ‘enemy combatant’ while his application for U.S. citizenship was pending, Frederick Henry Crass eventually achieved the citizenship and prosperity that America promised immigrants fleeing European poverty and political turmoil in the 19th century. Crass was born…
Warfare changed forever in Hoovers Gap
Greg Tucker, ‘Rutherford for Real’, published 2010 (‘Rutherford for Real‘ may be purchased for only $20 by contacting [email protected]) By Greg Tucker, President Rutherford County Historical Society A significant moment in the history of warfare and weaponry occurred very quickly in Hoovers Gap, the southeastern tip of Rutherford County, in…
Lebetter’s Manufactory armed Rutherford Rifles
Greg Tucker, ‘Rutherford for Real’, published 2010 (‘Rutherford for Real‘ may be purchased in the online store. https://rutherfordtnhistory.org/product/rutherford-for-real ) By Greg Tucker, President Rutherford County Historical Society When hostilities began between the Union and Confederate forces in 1861, Tennessee funded the opening of several ‘county armories’ to manufacture ordnance for…
Picnic sets Murfreesboro Bicentennial Date
Greg Tucker, ‘Rutherford for Real’, published 2010 (‘Rutherford for Real‘ may be purchased for only $20 by contacting [email protected]) By Greg Tucker, President Rutherford County Historical Society In the midst of the upcoming Civil War sesquicentennial observance (2011-15), the Rutherford County seat (Murfreesboro) will celebrate its bicentennial — but on…
Moving County Seat Quieted Village
Ann Betts, The Nashville Tennessean, June 20, 1984 Old Jefferson – The summer quiet of this rural community was broken only by two youngsters bicycling by the church. Old gaunt cedars shade the antebellum homes from the dust of the road, where newer homes stand. But according to a…
Pickled Apple Fueled School Rivalry
As published by the Daily News Journal, Sunday, September 19, 2010 By Greg Tucker, President Rutherford County Historical Society “It was in a big, old glass jar,” says Bobby Huddleston, remembering his years from 1946 to 1949 at Murfreesboro Central High School. “And it looked like a pickled apple.” In the…
First County ‘Poorhouse’ on Cripple Creek
As published by the Daily News Journal, Sunday, September 5, 2010 By Greg Tucker, President Rutherford County Historical Society Rutherford County’s first tax-funded “welfare program” was initiated over 170 years ago on Cripple Creek. The Tennessee General Assembly enacted legislation in 1826 authorizing all Tennessee counties to levy a tax…
Beware the curse of Davis’ Market
The Murfreesboro Post, August 29, 2010 There are many legends surrounding it. Many who have been around Murfreesboro for long know at least one of them, but no one, not even the owners, have any idea where they sprang from. It is the legend or the curse, some might say,…
Famous Writers Made This Home
As published by the Daily News Journal, Sunday, August 22, 2010 By Greg Tucker, President of the Rutherford County Historical Society From different generations, they both knew fame. One came to Rutherford to establish her legacy, and left only litigation. The other came to die. Andre Norton was a prolific…
Bradley Academy has Confusing History
As published by the Daily News Journal, Sunday, August 15, 2010 By Greg Tucker, President Rutherford County Historical Society Even married historians Homer and Mable Pittard could not agree. Mable reported that Samuel Black, the first teacher, came from Gallatin, and that a Jefferson area land owner donated the land…
Former Smyrna mayor Knox Ridley dies
The Murfreesboro Post, August 7, 2010 A service celebrating the life of Knox Ridley will be held Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 10:00AM at Woodfin Funeral Home in Smyrna. Officiating will be Father Joseph P. Breen. A visitation for family and friends will be held Monday, August 9th from 5:00PM…
Held for Ransom
Murfreesboro Post, July 27, 2010 Long, overgrown blades of grass reach for the sky as they creep in around the sides of the small dilapidated domicile. Warped sheets of plywood struggle to stay wedged in old window frames, the only barriers to the outside elements. Sad red bricks sag from…
KKK March Protested New Church
As published by the Daily News Journal, Sunday, July 25, 2010 By Greg Tucker, President Rutherford County Historical Society A Union general, a New York donor and the Ku Klux Klan were involved in the early years of the Catholic Church in Rutherford County. According to local church history, the…