Tennessee, the 16th state, is a state that has quite a varied landscape from relatively flat and swampy land in the Mississipi Embayment area of West TN, the rolling hills in Middle TN, and the ridge and valley landscape of East TN. The state of Tennessee also contains two mountainous areas one is the Cumberland Plateau area that separates Middle and East TN and the other is the Great Smokies that occur in the far eastern part of the state. The next several highlighted communities will explore some of the communities in the middle and eastern parts of the state. Today we will cover the small town of Woodbury in Middle TN, a community that contains some Civil War history, popular arts, and crafts attraction, and is nestled in an area with gently rolling hills with its own little short mountain.
Location:
Latitude: 35.82 degrees N
Longitude: 86.06 degrees W
Woodbury is the county seat of Cannon County which is located in Middle Tennessee with a population of just over 2,000 people. Cannon County is considered to be part of Nashville Metro. Even though Nashville is 55 miles away from Woodbury this area maintains a rural nature. The western half of Cannon County is part of the Central Basin (Geologists call it the Nashville Dome because this is where the oldest rocks are exposed in Tennessee west of the Cumberland Plateau). The eastern half of Cannon County is part of the Eastern Highland Rim which is where Mississippian limestone and shale units occur and where a gradual increase in elevation occurs prior to the Cumberland Plateau. If you are from Kentucky, pretty much the Highland Rim = The Pennyroyal or what is often called the Pennyrile region. See Figure 1 for a map of these landform features which comes from the UT press and the book entitled “A Geologic Trip Across Tennessee Interstate 40. Woodbury has a typical Humid Subtropical Climate with mild winters for the most part and hot and often very humid summers. Woodbury is located along the East Fork of the Stones River.
Geologic History:
Cannon County’s geologic history spans at least 450 Million years. In the Ordovician period (around 450 million years ago or maybe even a little bit earlier) Cannon County was part of a shallow sea that covered much of North America at that time due to a rise in sea level. Cannon County due to the plates motion over time was situated in a tropical environment which allowed for a variety of sea life (at that time) to thrive. There were times when sand and mud who filter into the environment as well. There was another similar period of time when this occurred around 315-350 Million Years ago (Mississippian) where another shallow tropical sea covered the area. Both these instances of inundation led to the formation of vast qualities of limestone in the area. The Ordovician limestone is exposed at the surface in the Central or Nashville Basin or from Woodbury and points west. The Mississippian limestone is exposed in the eastern half of the county in the Eastern Highland Rim. A little bit later (around 300 million years ago) the sea level fell across Cannon County and the area became a land-based and tropical river/delta system (think southern Mississippi or southeast Louisiana but with mountains nearby) due to the rapid rise of the Appalachians to the east. Those mountains began to erode sediments such as sand and clay which began to flow down from the Appalachians to the west across a river delta/floodplain feature (in modern Cannon County) and off to sea somewhere to the south or west. We can see evidence of this with the sandstone exposed peak of Short Mountain, the highest point in Cannon County and I believe the highest in the state west of the Cumberland Plateau at 2,074 feet in elevation. This provides geologic evidence that the depositional environment of the Cumberland Plateau extended out into Middle TN. There are also the younger sediments that the rivers like the Stones bring into the area, which has been deposited during various floods. Over Cannon County has evidence of varying time periods in our Geologic past.
Human History:
http://www.cannoncounty.net/index.html
^^ This website will provide much more information about Cannon County’s history so I will just summarize briefly about this section. ^^
Cannon County came to be in 1836 and was formed from the land from surrounding counties. This area was popular for farming, thoroughbred horse raising (remember from the Louisville post that the minerals in Limestone provide rich nutrients that help create ideal race horses) and mills along rivers. There were two major events that influenced Cannon County’s history and those were The Trail of Tears and the Civil War. The Trail of Tears was the route that the Native Americans (mainly Cherokee) were forced to take when they were removed from their land in NE GA, SE TN, and W NC and forced to Oklahoma. Several thousand Native Americans died during the hard and tough journey and Woodbury, TN was a stop on the Trail of Tears (see Figure 4). The second was during the Civil War in the Summer of 1863 where the Union imprisoned several of the townsfolk and accused them of helping out the Confederate troops before the first battle of Murfreesboro. After a victory by Nathan Bedford Forrest and his men, he then rescued the men from Woodbury and is seen as a hero by several in Cannon County despite his controversial acts at Fort Pillow and during Reconstruction. The Confederate Army would lose the second battle of Murfreesboro also known as the Battle of Stones River six months later.
Interesting Facts About Woodbury and Cannon County:
- Cannon County contains Short Mountain in the eastern part of the county which stands at 2,074 feet and on clear days can provide a view of Nashville (55 miles away). Much of Short Mountain is under private property so if you decide to head that way make sure that you do not trespass. I never support any sort of trespassing. There is plenty of public scenery to enjoy without having to commit a crime. There is a distillery called the Short Mountain Distillery that makes small batch moonshine and bourbon. This distillery is known for its Apple Pie Moonshine and Short Mountain Shine.
- Cannon County is well known for its antiques and arts and crafts, especially white oak baskets and chairs
- According to Cannon County’s government website over 40,000 visitors go to the Art Center of Cannon County Annually, which includes live theater, art crafts, and art education.
Conclusion:
Woodbury and the surrounding Cannon County area is a classic charming rural southern community. This area is not that far from Nashville and is just a 25-minute drive (if that) to Murfreesboro. There are some charming arts and crafts and nice Middle TN scenery available, but don’t expect to find a lot of bigger city amenities here. If you want to take a break from the city life of Murfreesboro or Nashville then this is a great place to do that, but if you are not a small town/rural type of person then Cannon County is not going to be your cup of sweet tea (remember in Tennessee and across the South the tea is sweet). To conclude, I will show you all a few more pictures of the area. Be on the lookout this weekend (either Saturday Night or sometime Sunday) for the next highlighted community. If you like waterfalls then you do not want to miss the post next weekend.
Upland-South Science 