Scottsville, Kentucky

Bell Buckle Civil War Gathering | Tennessee

The origin of the town's unusual name is not known. According to the local chamber of commerce, one story says that one of the first white men to travel through the area found a tree with carvings of a cow bell and a buckle, possibly carved by Indians to warn white settlers away, or possibly carved by surveyors to mark the area as good pasture. Another form of the legend holds that a bell and buckle were tied around a tree. In any case, the nearby creek was named Bell Buckle Creek, and the town later took the name of the creek.

The Bell Buckle area was settled in the early 19th century. A bustling town grew up after the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad came through the area in 1852. A railroad depot was built in 1853 and the town was incorporated in 1856. Bell Buckle had its period of greatest prosperity after about 1870, becoming the major stockyard between Nashville and Chattanooga and growing to a population of more than 1,000.

King Of Leon's video "Back Down South" was filmed around Bell Buckle, Tennessee.

 

Sam Davis

Sam Davis (1842–1863) is called the Boy Hero of the Confederacy. He was born in Rutherford County, Tennessee. He served in various combat roles in the Confederate army in 1861 through 1863 during the American Civil War. As a Confederate courier, he was captured on November 19, 1863, and upon suspicion of espionage was executed by the Union Army after a captivity of only seven days.

Davis' story, and its parallel to that of Nathan Hale during the American Revolution, became a rallying point for the Southern cause in the waning days of the Confederacy.

Postbellum, he was commonly spoken of by clergy as well as laity as a Christ figure.

His boyhood home is preserved in Smyrna as a museum, and the spot of his hanging in Pulaski is likewise marked by a monument and a small museum which, as of 2004, was open by appointment and request only. A statue of Sam Davis was erected on the grounds of the Tennessee state capitol at Nashville.

[Source: Wikipedia]