Tennessee

Enter the forest with author F. Carroll McMahan as he tells dramatic, fascinating and sometimes humorous stories of a man who lived truly on his own terms.

Born in 1889 in the Smoky Mountains, Lem Ownby became one of the region's most recognized figures. Sight-impaired from an early age, Lem spent his life logging, bear hunting, farming and tending his beehives. He welcomed the arrival of logging operations into the pristine wilderness but became an eyewitness to the devastation it brought to land, streams and wildlife. As the last leaseholder living within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Lem became a legend, selling his honey and offering pearls of wisdom to hikers, writers and even the governor. Lem's principles remained solid, his opinions so unwavering that he once refused to entertain two Supreme Court justices.

Take a fascinating journey through the history of Dyersburg, Tennessee with more than 200 vintage photographs and anecdotes from the locals who experienced it.

In the early 1800s, West Tennessee was wild country, covered with dense hardwood forests and rich soil, with clear rivers and creeks winding through. In 1818, a final treaty was signed with the Native American tribes in the area, bringing white settlers from East Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia.

In 1825, the town of Dyersburg was laid out and quickly began to thrive. By 1911, the present courthouse was completed, anchoring a classic Southern town square that now belongs to the National Register of Historic Places. Just a few months before the historic crash of the stock market in 1929, Dyersburg became the site of a cotton mill transplanted from Oswego, New York. Nearby, the mill built about 100 small houses for its workers, and this neighborhood became Milltown, a name that still shines in residents' memories.

The Dyer County Historical Societyhas offered the best of its photo collection, along with images from the Tennessee State Library and Archives, for Images of America: Dyersburg. In addition, the warm-hearted residents of Dyersburg have supplied photographs from their personal albums.

Author R. Scott Williams details the spectacular exploits of a true adventurer.

Richard Halliburton ran away from his hometown in Memphis at the age of nineteen to lead an extraordinary and dramatic life of adventure. Against the backdrop of the Golden Age, the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression, Halliburton's exploits around the globe made him an internationally known celebrity and the most famous travel writer of his time. From climbing Mount Olympus in Greece to swimming the Panama Canal and literally flying all the way to Timbuktu, Halliburton experienced and wrote about adventures that others never even believed possible. His youthful spirit and bohemian lifestyle won the hearts of millions.

The 1925 case against high school coach and science teacher John Scopes, arrested for teaching evolution in defiance of a Tennessee state law, was America's original "Trial of the Century." The proceedings began as a publicity stunt but grew into a landmark event in the nation's history. The trial featured three-time presidential candidate and fundamentalist leader William Jennings Bryan, who argued on behalf of the prosecution, and famed agnostic attorney Clarence Darrow, who helped defend Scopes. Although the Scopes case produced no legal precedent, the trial has been analyzed by historians, praised and vilified by politicians and preachers, cited in countless legal, political, and theological skirmishes, and retold in plays, movies, museum exhibits, and television documentaries. Images of America: The Scopes Monkey Trial examines the events that captured the attention of the world and still have much to teach us today.

Uncover the history of Old Butler, Tennessee in this pictorial history recounted by authors Michael and Lanette Depew.

In 1820, Ezekial ""Zeke"" Smith built a gristmill on the bank of Roan Creek, forming the community known as Smith Hill. Following the Civil War, it was renamed Butler in honor of Col. Roderick Random Butler. Much of the city's early development can be attributed to the establishment of the Aenon Seminary in 1871 and the advent of the Virginia and South Western Railroad, which provided transportation for residents and the developing logging industry. In 1933, the scenic landscape of the Watauga Valley was altered forever when the Tennessee Valley Authority was created by Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal legislation. TVA provided electric power for the state and controlled the flooding of the rivers in the region. In December 1948, the gates of the Watauga Dam were closed and water began to fill the Watauga Reservoir until Butler, Tennessee, was laid to rest at the bottom of Watauga Lake. The residents of Butler and the surrounding communities were forced to relinquish, demolish, or relocate more than 125 homes and 50 businesses.

Enjoy this all-access pass to more than a century of sports in the Music City packed into one exciting volume Watch from the bleachers as Ty Cobb practices with the Vanderbilt football team and Babe Ruth blasts home runs out of the old Sulphur Dell Ball Park, or go all the way back to 1843 and witness what was then the richest horse race in the world at the Nashville Race Course. These are but a few of the stories compiled by local award-winning sportswriter Bill Traughber in this one-of-a-kind collection no sports fan should be without. Included are excerpts from local sportswriters like the legendary Grantland Rice and over forty historic photographs from the playing field.

Nashville's main industry is music. But where good tunes go, good booze follows, so it's no surprise that the city enjoys a lively local beer scene, as well. The city's brewing history dates back to the 1800s, when German immigrants first settled in the area. The rise and fall of Gerst Brewing Company, one of the first established Nashville breweries, left people thirsting for local beer after the company closed its doors in 1954. In the last decade of the century, a boom of brewpubs brought the drinking class some newer, more exotic styles of beer, and the people of Nashville have been under the influence" of creative brewing ever since. Food, beverage and travel writer Chris Chamberlain tells the story of beer from the Music City and introduces us to the breweries and beer lovers that make up a local scene well worth raising a glass to."

Robert J Crawford was one of the first 12 black firefighter hired by the City of Memphis. He came through the ranks as the first black battalion chief, deputy chief and deputy director. This book details his experiences as a boy growing up in Memphis and as a black firefighter.

This is a first hand personal experience of what black firefighters faced from a systemic manipulation to deny them opportunity and examples of tactics used to "get rid of them."

Johnson City's growth was transformed through development of transportation in East Tennessee. Trails first blazed by migrating buffalo and Native Americans evolved into trails for stagecoaches, tracks for rail lines, and paved roads for automobiles. Henry Johnson realized the potential for the area and took a risk in 1854 when he bought a parcel from Abraham Jobe at the junction of the proposed East Tennessee & Virginia Railroad and the stage road to build a home, store, and depot. The community that arose around this complex was known by many names in its early days, including Blue Plum, Haynesville, and Johnson's Depot. However, on December 1, 1869, Johnson City received its first charter of incorporation from the State of Tennessee. As Johnson City approaches the 2019 sesquicentennial of the city's incorporation, this collection of postcards provides a look back at the people, places, and scenery around Johnson City.