Roads & Routes

Camp Forrest was a training, induction, and combatant prisoner-of-war (POW) facility located on the outskirts of Tullahoma, Tennessee.

It was a self-sustaining city where over 70,000 soldiers were stationed and approximately 12,000 civilians were employed throughout World War II. In 1942, the camp transitioned to an enemy alien internment camp and was one of the first civilian internment camps in the United States. By the middle of 1943, it had transitioned into a POW camp and housed primarily German and Italian prisoners. After the war ended, the base was decommissioned and dismantled in 1946. In 1951, the area was recommissioned and expanded into the US Air Force's Arnold Engineering Development Complex. Few remains of this important World War II facility exist today; however, the images within provide a glimpse into the effects and realities of a global war on American soil.

This pictorial history of Natchez Trace illustrates the people, places, and events that have shaped the area's cultural and natural history.

The Natchez Trace is one of the oldest trails in North America. In 1801, President Jefferson ordered the Army to build a road along the trail to provide a route for moving troops and delivering mail. Jefferson dispatched soldiers down the road in 1803 to protect the Louisiana Purchase, and Andrew Jackson and his troops followed it to battle the British in the War of 1812. As an 1800-era link between Nashville, Tennessee, and Natchez, Mississippi, the road served as a pathway for settling much of what we now know as the South. Twentieth-century writers such as Eudora Welty later embellished its lore of heroes, bandits, and spies, inspiring Southern leaders to revive the Natchez Trace.

Established in 1856 by the Shelby County Agricultural Society, the Mid-South Fair celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2006. Memphis, known as the cotton capital of the South, depended on agriculture for much of the 19th century, and the fair offered farmers and the general public a venue to learn of new products and to compete with others from the region. Through the Civil War, yellow fever epidemics, and two world wars, the fair has prevailed to become one of the largest in the nation. It has been a part of many lives and formed many memories of rides and rodeos, cotton candy and pronto pups, and that first big drop on the roller coaster. The Mid-South Fair: Celebrating 150 Years brings back those memories through words and photographs, taking the reader back to a time when excitement was only a ride away on an old wooden roller coaster.

The late-19th- and early-20th-century vision of the New South relied upon economic growth and access. The development of the Dixie Highway from 1914 to 1927--with its eastern and western branches running from Ontario, Canada, south to Miami, Florida--would help facilitate this dream attracting industry, tourists, and even new residents. Images of America: Tennessee's Dixie Highway: Springfield to Chattanooga tells the story of people, places, politics, and organizations behind the construction of the road from Springfield, Tennessee, to Chattanooga. This section is particularly important, as it was roughly the halfway point of the route and contained the headquarters of the Dixie Highway Association in Chattanooga. It also included the seemingly insurmountable Monteagle Mountain in Marion County--the very last portion of the national north-south highway to be completed.

In 1941, Paris, Tennessee, became the home of Camp Tyson. The 2,000-acre camp named for Knoxville World War I veteran Brig. Gen. Lawrence Tyson was built by some 800 laborers and consisted of 450 buildings including barracks, a hospital, and a theater. Over the course of World War II, the camp grew to about 6,000 acres in size and served as a training ground for as many as 25,000 servicemen, as well as a POW camp for many Germans and Italian prisoners. At Camp Tyson, soldiers trained to construct, maintain, and operate barrage balloons. These balloons were successfully used to provide anti-aircraft protection during World War I and again in World War II with the help of those trained in Henry County. However, the atomic bomb made barrage balloons obsolete, and after the war, Camp Tyson was decommissioned.

The Dixie Highway Association met in 1915 to plan a highway route from Chicago to Miami, later extending it to Canada. Tennessee's Dixie Highway: The Cline Postcards traces the path of the Dixie Highway along its western and eastern branches through the state, showcasing the works of photographers Walter M. Cline Sr. and Jr. The journey begins in Nashville and travels south to Chattanooga. Chattanooga served as both headquarters of the Dixie Highway Association and home to the Cline family. Moving north of the city, the eastern route arrives near the Kentucky border in Jellico. Many of the places that fascinated the Clines during the 1930s and 1940s are still popular destinations today.