In the year 1828, a German traveler, Traugott Broome, passed through several parts of Tennessee. His published account paints a very favorable picture of the area presently covered by Roane, Anderson, Morgan, and Cumberland Counties. In 1839, five years after the first publication of Broome's book, large tracts of land in the Cumberland Plateau region were offered for sale in New York City. George F. Gerding was among the first buyers.
The intended use he had for this land was for his project of a "New Germany" in Tennessee. Gerding saw this as a profitable account. He helped organize a company called "East Tennessee Colonization Company". When the new settlers arrived in New Orleans, they traveled up the Mississippi to the Emory River to what is now the Wartburg settlement. Gerding stayed in New York and returned in 1847 to find his project with many problems. Upon finding these problems, he moved his family to Wartburg and took charge himself.
According to the marker, George Frederick Gerding was "born in Germany in 1800, be became a successful businessman after moving to New York. He was decorated by Belgium King Leopold I for establishing the first ship line between Antwerp and New York. He was U. S. Consul to Baden-Baden 1845-47. Acquiring 300,000 acres of land, he established the East Tennessee Land Colonization Co. for Swiss, German, and French immigrants. In 1844 he founded Wartburg, and gave land for the town square, a church, and a cemetery. He died in 1884."
