TNWILLIA-L Archives
Archiver > TNWILLIA > 1999-05 > 0927859085
From: <>
Subject: [TNWILLIA-L] Re: TNWILLIA-D Digest V99 #142
Date: Thu, 27 May 1999 22:38:05 EDT
Gale,
My one and only bit of Wiliamson County reference is the 1996 book BACK HOME
IN WILLIAMSON COUNTY by Lynn Sullivan Pewitt. It is filled with all sorts of
interesting information. In the book, she discusses Fernvale Springs as
originally being called Smith Springs. It was a resort area but there is no
mention of a Smith Hotel . (There surely was one.) After the Civil War, the
property was bought by John B. McEwen, a Franklin attorney, further
developed and renamed Fernvale Springs.. "Log cabins were built on the
hillside for families, and a large two-story hotel was built on both sides of
the road, with a connecting passageway under which traffic could pass. There
were thirty-two white columns and porches both upstairs and down." It was
apparently a very grand resort and pages 71 and 72 in the book describe it in
detail. It had 114 rooms, 3 mineral springs and many entertainments for
guests, but no gambling or intoxicating beverages were allowed. In 1905 it
was sold to William Pepper Bruce and in 1910, it burned. It was never
rebuilt.
Hope this helps you a little. I would suggest that anyone interested in
Williamson County history purchase this wonderful book. Ms. Pewitt and her
many contributors have put together a great piece of work. Strangely enough,
I did not find it when I visited Wiliamson County, but bought it in a book
store in Blount County, Tennessee.
Doris
This thread: