Middle Tennessee Grows

While still part of North Carolina, settlers began streaming into northern Middle Tennessee by the 1780s. Many families came along the trail blazed by Daniel Boone and other longhunters crossing the Cumberland Gap into the new western wilderness.

The Robertson and Donelson parties made their way by land and by river to a point on the Cumberland River called Cedar Bluff. French trapper Timothy Demonbreum (Anglicized name) lived nearby in a cave on the bluff. Fort Nashborough (Fort Bluff, Fort French Lick, Fort Cedar Bluff) was built and established a settlement.

In stages, various pioneer settler families made their homes in northern middle TN - Sumner, Robertson and Montgomery counties - and filtered down to the fertile lands in Davidson, Williamson, Maury, Wilson, Rutherford counties. 

​

In doing research, it has been fascinating to understand how much travel was done by these settlers and later residents within middle TN and within the Southeast in general. Quite a few families had properties across the state as well as in Arkansas and Louisiana. 

​

Homes are grouped according to the era in which they were built and by county.

Please see Blog section for the story of a home, its owners and its history.