Things to do / Travel Guide
Central Kentucky and Tennessee's colorful history is best understood by looking at central Kentucky and central Tennessee separately, to get a broad sense of the overall region's rich past.
Central Kentucky History
Until the 1700s Mingo (Seneca-Iroquois), Cherokee, and Shawnee made the rich, fertile lands of central Kentucky their home. Frontiersmen Daniel Boone, among others, encouraged settlers from the East Coast to take advantage of the region's abundant game and agricultural promise and, by 1774, James Herrod founded the first permanent central Kentucky settlement in what is now Harrodsburg. From the time of the American Revolution, the British instigated the remaining Native American tribes to attack these early, pioneer settlements. And, as a counter-response, General George Rogers Clark founded Louisville in 1778 with the explicit purpose of undermining the British troops' capacities. Agriculture, particularly tobacco and corn, grew easily during the 1800s leading to the development of “corn whiskey,” what we now call bourbon. Developed by an unlikely candidate, Baptist minister Reverend Elijah Craig, bourbon whiskey was developed in Bourbon County and distributed throughout central Kentucky.
From 1800-1860, three-time presidential candidate Henry Clay claimed central Kentucky as his home, as did the 12th U.S. President, Zachary Taylor. But this tie to political leadership led to trouble with the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. While Kentucky declared itself a neutral state, Union President Abraham Lincoln hailed from central Kentucky (near Hodgenville) as did Confederate President, Jefferson Davis (Christian County). An upshot of this obviously complicated conflict was that one of the bloodiest of Civil War battles took place in Perryville, when the Union soldiers drove out the Confederacy.
Whereas the time after the Civil War was characterized by economic and social turbulence, the tobacco industry began to prosper greatly and a horse breeding industry began to blossom. Tobacco farms thus flourished and central Kentuckians began raising and racing horses. The first horse race took place in 1875, and Kentucky continues to produce thoroughbreds until today.
Around the same time, Kentucky was becoming famous for its role in another sport: Baseball. In 1884, J. Fred Hillerich's woodworking company made its first bat. Shortly after, Hillerich's “Louisville Slugger” became the official bat of Major League Baseball, and for the past 120 years, the company has been making bats for major league pros. Babe Ruth as well as countless other historic baseball hitting legends, like Tony Gwynn have used the company's bats. Baseball's best hitters of today, including Ken Griffey Jr. and Derek Jeter continue to make Louisville Slugger the premier player in the nation's bat making and baseball industry.
The first half of the 1900s was marked by large-scale coal mining and, with the arrival of the railroad and the use of the Ohio River for transporting cargo, Louisville became a major center for trading and industry. During World War II, central Kentucky's shift toward manufacturing and away from agriculture continued; recent lawsuits against the region's tobacco industry have further put a dent in the agribusiness. Nonetheless, the resilient central Kentucky economy continues to grow. Horse breeding and racing remains prevalent and tourism is the region's third-largest industry.
Central Tennessee History
The Choctaw, Shawnee, and Chickasaw tribes were the first inhabitants of the Cumberland River Valley. Nearby, the fierce Cherokee lived near the Tennessee-Georgia border, and used central Tennessee as hunting grounds. In 1779, American farmer James Robertson built Fort Nashborough on the banks of the Tennessee River, and the small settlement successfully defended itself against attacks from local Native American tribes. Given its ideal location as a river port, the small settlement, later called Nashville, quickly burgeoned and, by 1806, became a prosperous transportation, shipping, and trading center and, later (in 1843), the capital of Tennessee.
The Civil War that tore the country apart ravaged Nashville and, in fact, the entirety of central Tennessee. By 1862 Nashville had fallen to the Union troops and Chattanooga, a growing town with steamboat traffic and a railroad, became the site of many bloody Civil War battles. Confederate soldiers successfully defeated Union troops at Chickamauga, but Abraham Lincoln sent General Ulysses S. Grant more artillery and troops to drive the Confederate soldiers out of their strategic position at Lookout Mountain. After one of the bloodiest battles in Civil War history, the Union troops claimed Chattanooga - a pivotal battle that determined the outcome of the entire war by eliminating Confederate control of Tennessee and opening the way for General William Tecumseh Sherman's Atlanta Campaign.
The rebuilding times of the early-1900s were optimistic in that manufacturing and industrial growth blessed both Nashville and Chattanooga. Nashville's country music scene began with a bang when the Grand Ole Opry opened in 1925, five years after the birth of commercial radio in the country. When Nashville's National Life and Accident Insurance Company began its own “public service” radio station with the intention of promoting their own insurance policies, they hired 30-year-old George D. Hay (a Memphis reporter and successful Chicago radio host). Hay immediately assumed the nickname “The Solemn Old Judge” (despite his young age) and, together with award-winning fiddler Uncle Jimmy Thompson, began the WSM Barn Dance. By 1927, the program was so popular that Hay renamed the program the Grand Ole Opry, poking fun at the then-popular Grand Opera. National Life was obliged to build a hall to accommodate the fans who swamped the station to hear and see the performers. Five years later, a large majority of the U.S. and Canada was tuning into the Grand Ole Opry - the original auditorium (and several subsequent homes) were not big enough to hold the ever-growing number of fans, thus the famous and beloved Ryman Auditorium was built in 1943, where the Grand Ole Opry remained for 30 years. Now it's housed in the 4,400-seat $15-million Grand Ole Opry House on Opryland Drive. After more than eight decades of top-notch, live country music, bluegrass, and performances in other genres by superstars such as Uncle Dave Macon, Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks, and Trisha Yearwood, the Grand Ole Opry continues to be a cornerstone of Nashville's culture and the signature establishment of the city.
The Great Depression hit hard in the region, but the strategic positioning of both Nashville and Chattanooga on the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers and the presence of the railroads, meant that central Tennessee again became an important manufacturing center during World War II. Though post-war times again meant economic slumps, over the last 50 years central Tennessee has been on the upswing. Nashville, while known for the music industry and tourism, is also home to one of the largest health care networks in the country and Chattanooga is becoming revitalized with an ever-growing service and tourism industry.
|
|
|