Sumner County Trivia

Johnny and June Carter Cash

Long time residents of Hendersonville, this well known couple entertained many famous individuals in their beautiful lakefront home. After their deaths in 2003, Barry Gibb of the BeeGees purchased their property. Sadly, the home was destroyed by fire during renovations, but Barry does have plans to rebuild. Johnny and June Carter Cash are buried in Hendersonville's Memory Gardens along with members of the family including Mother Maybelle Carter.

 

Portland Creates World's Longest Strawberry Shortcake

Portland, once the Strawberry Capital of the World, is host to the Middle Tennessee Strawberry Festival each May. In 2008, festival organizers created the World's Longest Strawberry Shortcake to be included in the Guiness Book of World Records. It took 150 volunteers to assemble the shortcake, which measured 325 feet. The ingredients included 329 boxes of cake mix, 288 quarts of strawberries, and 96 pounds of sugar!

Music Legacy

Many stars, performers and songwriters have called Sumner County home.  Greats like Bill Monroe, Johnny & June Cash, Mae Axton, Roy Orbison, Barbara Mandrell, Mel Tillis, Trisha Yearwood, Conway Twitty, Clint Black and others are former residents. Many others still call Sumner County home: The Oak Ridge Boys, Marty Stuart & Connie Smith, Taylor Swift, John Conlee, Eddy Raven, Ricky Skaggs & Sharon White and more. See links to some of their websites on our links page.

USS Sumner County (LST-1148)

Commissioned on June 9,1945, the LST-1148 served in the Pacific Theater. On July 1,1955, the LST was formally named USS Sumner County to honor counties in Kansas and Tennessee. It was decommissioned to reserve in October 1969. A model of the USS Sumner County is on display at the Sumner County Museum in Gallatin.
 

Confederate Submarine Designer Born in Sumner County

Horace Lawson Hunley was born on December 29, 1823 in Sumner County. Hunley designed and built at least three submarines during the Civil War, including the H.L. Hunley, which was the first submarine ever to sink an enemy warship, the USS Housatonic. The Hunley also sank off the coast of South Carolina, and was recovered and raised in 2000. Read more about the Hunley at www.hunley.org and see a display on the sub at the Sumner County Museum.
 

Former Mayor of Gallatin is Acclaimed Author

Don Wright, who served two terms as Mayor of Gallatin, has authored several historical romance novels, including The Woodsman, The Captives, The Last Plantation, and Gone to Texas.  The Last Plantation is set in Sumner County during the Civil War and features several of our historic homes. 

Sam Houston Married in Gallatin

Despite a seventeen year age difference, Sam Houston married  Eliza Allen  on January 22, 1829 at Allenwood Plantation on the Cumberland River. Their marriage lasted only eleven weeks, when she left Nashville to return to Gallatin. This was a political embaressment to Houston, who resigned as Governor of Tennessee a week later on April 16, 1829. He returned to the Cherokee Nation, where he spent time in his youth. While there he took an Indian wife, Diana Rogers. He later left her, migrated to Texas where he later became Governor. The reason for his divorce from Eliza is still a mystery.

Interesting note: Eliza and Sam didn't divorce until 1837. Houston married Margaret Moffett Lea in May 1840. Eliza married Dr. Elmore Douglass of Gallatin in November 1840. Eliza is buried in the Gallatin City Cemetery beside one of her daughters.


Confederates Destroy Big South Tunnel
On August 12, 1862, Confederate forces under the command of General John Hunt Morgan destroyed the railroad tunnel south of Portland. This completely disrupted rail service to the Union controlled Gallatin. South Tunnel Road is located between Hwy 109N and Hwy 174 (Dobbins Pike). Morgan then destroyed the railroad bridge south of Gallatin to completely cut off the Louisville Nashville line.  The Union forces had to unload the supplies north of the tunnel, then transport them on wagons down the ridge to another train south of the tunnel. 

Randy's Record Shop

This well known mail order and retail record store, owned by Dot Record producer Randy Wood, opened in 1945 in downtown Gallatin. It's last location was on the corner of Hwy 31E and Hwy 25, where it closed in the summer of 1991. The neon sign and other memorabilia are on display at the Sumner County Museum. 

Training Ground for World War II

The military held maneuvers in Middle Tennessee from 1942 to 1944 to prepare for the D-Day invasion. The land in Sumner County is much like that of France and Germany, and the Cumberland River was used as practice for crossings.  General Patton was here along with many young soldiers.  Local families made them feel at home by taking them to church, then home for Sunday dinner.  Trousdale Place was the site of USO parties to entertain the troops.  A marker is located in Portland (Hwy 31 & College Street) near the site of the 35th Evacuation Hospital where soldiers injured during that time were treated.
 

Graball

This small community along Dobbins Pike, northeast of Gallatin, bears one of the county's more interesting names. According to local legend, some men were heavily involved in a card game, chicken fight or other questionable activity when the sheriff pulled up. One of them yelled, "Grab all you can get & run!" and the area has been named Graball ever since.
 

Jim Varney

The late comedian Jim Varney lived in White House. Varney was best known for portraying the character Ernest P. Worrell in several movies and commercials.

Bigfoot Was Here?

Thomas "Bigfoot" Spencer, a longhunter, spent the winter of 1778-79 in a giant hollow sycamore tree on the creek near what is now the grounds of Wynnewood. We don't know his shoe size, but with a nickname like that, they must have been quite large.