Tennessee was a remote place in 1810. During the next forty years, the state produced some of the most influential Americans, including Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, Sequoyah, David Crockett and the international filibuster William Walker. Learn about the state’s first steamboats, its initial telegraph message and its many abandoned ghost towns. Read newly discovered accounts of the Trail of Tears. Explore the glory and tragedy of the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad. Join author Bill Carey as he digs up tales of Tennessee from the early 1800s.
Bill Carey was a reporter in the 1990s and at various times worked for the Tennessean, Nashville Scene and nashvillepost.com, which he cofounded. He has authored, among other books, Fortunes, Fiddles, and Fried Chicken: A Nashville Business History and Runaways, Coffles and Fancy Girls: A History of Slavery in Tennessee. In 2004, Carey started Tennessee History for Kids, a nonprofit organization that helps public school teachers with Tennessee history and social studies. Somehow, he also finds time to write a monthly history column for Tennessee Magazine and a weekly history column that is published in about forty-five Tennessee newspapers. Bill has two grown children and lives in Williamson County with his wife, teenage son and cattle dog Riley, with whom he jogs every day.