FOGBEE Tour of Bell Witch

BELL WITCH TOUR

Ride Back into History of Robertson County

We start at Springfield's Greenway at 9AM and ride to Port Royal State Park, a thirty-four-acre site that preserves one of Middle Tennessee's earliest settlement areas. The first permanent settlers arrived in 1784. The town was incorporated in 1797, and during the nineteenth century it grew to a population of over twelve hundred.

In the fall of 1838 the Cherokee removal to Oklahoma, enforced by the Indian Removal Act of 1830, crossed the Red River at Port Royal. We ride on one of the Trail of Tears were 8 out of 11 detachments followed this scenic and nearly abandoned cano-pied road. Listen closely. Some say they can hear the sounds of Cherokee anguish frozen in time.

By the mid 1800s, a principal stagecoach route had been located through Port Royal. This was for a time, the main route to the west from the southeast. Newspaper articles from the mid 1800s mention Port Royal being on the "Great Road to the West".

A renovated Masonic Lodge (1859) is the park's headquarters and it has exhibits about Port Royal's significant role in late eighteenth- and nineteenth-century river transportation.

The park also contains the historic Sulphur Fork Bridge, built in 1890. The original covered bridge at the park was constructed in 1903, but collapsed as workers removed its false support timbers. Rebuilt in 1904 it survived until 1972 when it fell into the river from deterioration. The State built a reproduction in 1978, but heavy rains and tornado-strength winds demolished a large portion of it on June 10, 1998.

From the State Park we ride to Adams and the Bell Witch Cave. Tennessee historian Goodspeed write in 1886,

A remarkable occurrence, which attracted wide-spread interest, was connected with the family of John Bell, who settled near what is now Adams Station about 1804. So great was the excitement that people came from hundreds of miles around to witness the manifestations of what was popularly known as the "Bell Witch." This witch was supposed to be some spiritual being having the voice and attributes of a woman. It was invisible to the eye, yet it would hold conversation and even shake hands with certain individuals. The freaks it performed were wonderful, and seemingly designed to annoy

the family. It would take the sugar from the bowls, spill the milk, take the quilts from the beds, slap and pinch the children, and then laugh at the discomfiture of its victims. At first it was supposed to be a good spirit, but its subsequent acts, together with the curses with which it supplemented its remarks, proved the contrary. A volume might be written concerning the performances of this wonderful being, as they are now described by contemporaries and their descendants. That all this actually occurred will not be disputed, nor will a rational explanation be attempted. It is merely introduced as an example of superstition, strong in the minds of all but a few in those times, and not yet wholly extinct.

Arriving at Noon, we will wait for those who want to tour the Cave (costs $10). Be sure to bring tennis shoes, clipless bike shoes could be a problem.

From here we ride back to Springfield. We'll ride back on a portion of the Greenway to where we parked the cars.

Lunch is at the Depot Bar & Grill. (1/4 mile away)

Tom Evans who has published historical analysis of the Bell Witch and appeared on Discovery Channel's "Mystery Hunters" is available to answer questions of those who want to know the facts about the Bell Witch.

EARLY HISTORY OF ROBERTSON COUNTY

The surface of Robertson County is generally bro-ken, except near the Kentucky line, where it becomes a level plain. A small strip of level plateau land also bounds the southern and eastern borders. The middle belt is more broken, but is quite fertile. Geologically the county belongs to the lower carboniferous and to the upper or Lithostrotion bed of that group. The St. Louis limestone abounds in the county and crops out all along the streams in high bluffs. Innumerable springs furnish pure water in abundance. The principal streams are Red River and Sulphur Fork. Buzzard Creek, Miller's Creek and Elk Fork are tributaries of Red River, the latter entering from the north. Red River also has two branches, known as Middle and North Forks. Carr's Creek empties into Sulphur Fork three miles west of Springfield, and the two form a V, Springfield being in the fork. Sycamore Creek forms the southern boundary of the county and empties into the Cumberland River in Cheatham County.

The soil is similar to that of Montgomery County. A strip of thin porous land, with siliceous soils, begins on the Kentucky line, near the northwest corner of Sumner County, and rims the county on its east, south and half of its western boundaries. This land has a whitish sub-soil. The best soils for tobacco lie on Sulphur Fork, Buzzard Creek and that part of the county east of Miller's Creek. Almost all kinds of timber known to this latitude are found in abundance. Corn, wheat, oats and tobacco are the staple productions.

The first settlement in Robertson County was made by Thomas Kilgore on the waters of the Middle Fork of Red River, three-fourths of [p.829] a mile west of Cross Plains. The Legislature of North Carolina passed a pre-emption law securing to settlers of Tennessee 640 acres of land provided the settlement was made prior to 1780. In the spring of 1778 Kilgore left North Carolina with some ammunition, some salt, and a few grains of corn. Traveling on foot he passed through East Tennessee, and plunged into the wilderness beyond. Guided alone by the sun and the north star, he pushed on, seeing no white people until he reached Bledsoe's Lick, where he found a colony of six or eight familes. After resting a few days, he went on some twenty-five miles west where he located. As a safe hiding place from the Indians, he selected a cave a mile west of where Cross Plains now is. It had a bold stream of water running from it into the Middle Fork of Red River, and by wading the stream he could enter the cave without leaving a trail.

After finding a location to suit him he kicked up some of the rich alluvial soil of the cane brake, and planted a few hills of corn. It is said that in order to secure his land it was necessary for him to remain until the corn matured, that he might carry a few ears back to North Carolina. He spent the summer in watching his little crop, meeting with several narrow escapes from the hostile savages. During this period he had no other food than the game which he killed. In the fall he gathered two or three ears of corn, returned to North Carolina, and had the title to his land confirmed. In the spring of 1779, with a few families besides his own, he returned to the spot, where he had passed the previous summer. A stockaded fort, "Kilgore's Station" was at once erected to protect them from the Indians. This fort was situated on a commanding eminence about three-fourths of a mile from Cross Plains. Kilgore's Station, from that time for years, was a land-mark in the overland emigration to Tennessee.

In 1780 or 1781 Maulding's Station was built. It was located one mile west of the present Louisville and Nashville pike, and four miles east of Kilgore's. That was the next settlement in Robertson County, but the Indians were so hostile that they abandoned it for a time and united with the people at Kilgore's. The first Indian massacres in the county occurred in 1781. A small colony had located in Montgomery County, near where Port Royal now is.

In 1782 the Indians became very hostile. The condition of the occupants of Kilgore's Station having by this time become so perilous, they abandoned it, and joined those at the Bluff, where they remained during 1783. The next year the colony, augmented by new accessions, returned. There they remained until Indian hostilities ceased, when they separated, and began forming independent settlements. Thomas Kilgore, after living half a century on the land which he had acquired by his heroic daring, died at the advanced age of one hundred and eight years.

The years 1793 and 1794 closed the Indian massacres in Robertson County. The forts were generally the nuclei around which the earliest settlements clustered. They extended west from Kilgore's and east from Sevier's, now Clarksville. About 1781 Caleb Winters settled on the farm. It is said that he, like Kilgore, subsisted entirely upon meat during the first season. Ezekiel Polk, grandfather of President Polk, located on Sulphur Fork, about three miles south of Adams Station, during the same year, but the Indians were so hostile that he remained only about a year. A fort known as Miles' Station was built in Sulphur Fork.

In 1788 Samuel Crockett built a block-house or fort on the place where his son, Capt. M. D. Crockett, now lives. This served as a defense in times of danger for all those who had settled in that neighborhood. The Indians finally became so troublesome that the women and children were sent away to the stronger forts, while the men remained to [p.831] look after the crops.

In the same year that Crockett located, the Forts formed a settlement on the north side of Red River, not far from where Adams Station now is. Others who found homes in this part of the county within the next few years were John and James Johnson, Thomas and James Gunn, Corbin Hall, Jesse Gardner, Isaac Menees, Jeremiah and Benjamin Batts and John Bell.

After the removal of the Indians from this part of the State, the settlement went on very rapidly, and in 1812 there were 852 able-bodied men in the county divided into fifteen militia companies.

The many streams of the county afforded ample water-power and invited the erection of mills, which was begun at an early date. The first was probably built by Thomas Kilgore on the middle fork of Red River, three-fourths of a mile northwest from Cross Plains, some time between 1785 and 1790. At a little later date one was erected by Thomas Woodard on Beaver Dam Creek. It is also stated that Maj. Charles Miles erected a water-mill on Sulphur Fork as early as 1793. They were especially numerous along Red River. During the first fifty years after the settlement of the county, cotton was a crop of some importance. Nearly every farmer raised enough to clothe his own household, and after the invention of the gin, considerable quantities were shipped. Among the gins and presses in use in 1804 were those of Archer Cheatham, in Springfield, and John McMillan near Cross Plains. About 1830 the cultivation of cotton began to decline, and it was not long until its production practically ceased.

The manufacture of whisky and brandy has always been an important industry in Robertson County. In the earlier days small distilleries were found in al-most every hollow, and it is asserted that on some streams there was a still-house at every 100 yards. These establishments had a capacity of not more than thirty or forty gallons per day, and the whisky was manufactured by what is known as the sour-mash pro-cess. The honesty and care used in making it gave it a high reputation which it has since maintained. One of the first distilleries in the county was erec-ted by Daniel Holman, near Cross Plains, about 1798. Another was built by Mr. Grider, near Turnersville, in the same year. The Woodards were also among the first distillers of the county.

In 1799 Elisha Cheek, with whom is connected one of the most thrilling incidents in the history of the county, settled on Red River, near the Sumner County line. Cheek, though an octoroon, had a white wife, and brought several slaves with him from Virginia. He purchased about 400 acres of land, upon which he built a mill and distillery, and living upon the road leading from Louisville to Nashville, he kept a hotel known as "Cheek's Stand." Many traders, laden with the proceeds of their sales in the shape of Spanish milled-dollars, returned from New Orleans by the overland route. The trip was a perilous one, as the country was infested with highwaymen. On Cheek's land was a cavern, said to be unfathomable, descending perpendicularly from the surface into the bluff. On a certain night the dogs of the neighborhood set up a terrific barking and howling, and in the morning they were found around the cavern. Attempts to drive them away only increased their excitement. They would occasionally go home for food, but would immediately return. Among them was a strange dog that never left the spot. On the twelfth day the commotion ceased, and the dogs returned to their homes. Upon examination the strange dog was found to be dead. It was believed by many that a trader had been murdered by Cheek, and that his body had been thrown into the cave to conceal the crime, as a man riding a horse with a dog following had been seen near Cheek's place on the night when the disturbance began. A superstitious dread of the cave existed from that time forth, and it was asserted that the ghost of the murdered man had been repeatedly seen in that vicinity, and that Cheek, for several years before his death, never ventured from his house after dark.

Previous to the organization of the State in 1796, Robertson County formed a part of what was known as Tennessee County. The first General Assembly convened at Knoxville March 28, 1796, and among the first acts passed was AN ACT TO DIVIDE TENNESSEE COUNTY INTO TWO COUNTIES (Robertson and Montgomery).

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, That the county of Tennessee be divided and distinct county by the name of Robertson in honor of Gen. James Robertson, the founder of the Cumberland settlements. William Johnson, Sr., James Norfleet, John Young, John Donelson and Samuel Crockett were appointed locating commissioners. By an act passed April 20, 1796, these commissioners were authorized to purchase fifty acres of land centrally located, lay out lots and sell them, and apply the proceeds toward erecting "a court house, prison and stocks." The same act provides that the town "shall be called and known by the name of Springfield."

The original site for the town of Springfield was obtained from Thomas Johnson and Archer Cheatham. Probably the first store in Springfield was conducted by George Bell, who was in business as early as 1799. Nothing definite is known as to how long he continued in business, but in 1808 there was no store in the town. The first persons licensed to keep a tavern in Springfield were John Pankey and Lucy Parker, in 1800, and Archer Cheatham, in 1801. The first physician to locate in Springfield was Levi Noyes about 1809.

Springfield was incorporated by an act of the General Assembly passed November 14, 1825. When incorporated the limits of the town were quite restricted, and were not greatly enlarged until 1881.

The first paper published in the county was The Cumberland Presbyterian . It had previously been published in Nashville, and was removed to Springfield in 1839. In April, 1866, M. V. Ingram and Archer Thomas, under the firm name of M. V. Ingram & Co. established The Robertson Register, a little folio only fourteen by eighteen inches in size. In October 1868, Ingram removed the material to Clarksville, Tenn., leaving Thomas with a small job office. April 16, 1869, the first number of The Springfield Record was issued by Thomas Bros. who continued its publication until 1881 when B. F. Thomas withdrew leaving Archer Thomas as sole editor and proprietor. March 6, 1882, his office with all its contents was burned. With characteristic energy, Mr. Thomas immediately procured a new outfit, and on March 23 The Record appeared again. In November, 1883, he sold the office to the Record Publishing Company, but on April 1, 1885, repurchased it, and is now sole proprietor.

Adams Station is situated on the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, about one mile east of Red River. Previous to 1858 the site of the town was owned by Reuben Adams. In that year the railroad was completed, and a depot was erected by the people of the surrounding country. The first store-house was built and occupied by Adams & Holloway, who carried on a grocery business.

Adapted from History of Tennessee, published in 1886 by Goodspeed Publishing Company