The First People ^Top of page
It's possible that the first hunters came through the Crow Creek Valley more than 9,000 years ago. Russell Cave National Monument is just a few miles across the plateau to the east, and charcoal from ancient campfires at that location have been carbon dated to around 6,500 B.C. The Tennessee State Legislature created Franklin County in 1807. Goodspeed's History of Tennessee, 1887, reports that George Grey settled on Crow Creek in 1809.
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Mannequins in Russell Cave depict a lifestyle that may have been familiar to the first people of the Crow Creek Valley. |
Before Sherwood^Top of page
There was no Sherwood before 1875, and Civil War maps of the Crow Creek Valley show the town of Tantallon, south of the tunnel, and Anderson, just north of the Alabama state line. The settlement at Catchings Station, named for station master Meredith Catchings/Kitchens Jr. also predated the town. |
Tantallon, Cowan, and the tunnel are shown on this Civil War era map.
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Sherwood Springs^Top of page
One of the most alluring features of the region is the presence of mineral springs. These sites were especially popular in the 1800s. Promoters touted the benefits of "taking the waters," and wealthy patrons endured long stagecoach rides to reach destinations such as Beersheba Springs in neighboring Grundy County. In 1875 C. D. Sherwood, impressed by the natural beauty of the valley, formed the Sherwood Land and Emigration Company and began to build his Sherwood Colony. Unfortunately Sherwood was not able to realize his dream and in 1893 he sold most of his property in the valley to Byron Gager.
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Charles D. Sherwood, former lieutenant governor of Minnesota, believed the springs in the Crow Creek Valley would be a good draw for a resort community.
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NY Times, July 3, 1895 -- distraught over ill health and financial problems, Sherwood took his own life. |
Gager Lime Company^Top of page
In 1892, geography once again played a major role in Sherwood's destiny. Just three days before Christmas of that year, the state issued a charter of incorporation to Gager Lime and Manufacturing Company. Byron Gager, the company's founder, had been successful in the lime business near Sandusky, Ohio. Gager died in 1926, but his company continued operating until 1949.
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Gager's Sandusky operation was bought out in 1891. |
Gager chose Sherwood as the site of his new company because of the exceptionally pure limestone deposits there. |
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<Gager logo from the company notepad.
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Blasting at the Gager quarry. The company began drilling mine shafts into the mountainside in the 1920s. |
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around 1900
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The architecture of the company's buildings changed from functional to ornate during its first three decades. In 2002 the Tennessee Preservation Trust included the Gager ruins on the list of the ten most endangered sites in the state. |
early 1920s
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Sherwood Today ^Top of page |
2003
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The town has lost more than two-thirds of its population since the early 1900s, but each September people return for the annual homecoming. |
1940s
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2011
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The Sherwood Mining Company was established in 2005. Although it's not yet as big an operation as Gager, the opening was the best economic news for the people in the valley in more than 60 years. |
1930s
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