Here is an old letter that was written in the late 1800's or early 1900's by my Great, Great, Great Grandfather. It was found among the papers of the Lawrence County Archives. The article was to a prospective buyer in the late 1800's or early 1900's describing Lawrence County. Here is the article:
"It is situated in the south central part of the State, on the Nashville and Tuscumbia branch of the great L & N R.R system on the Cumberland Plateau, which is 1,200 feet above sea level, which altitude gives us a very healthy climate. Our soil is very diversified, ranging from very best to very poor lands. However, by proper selection one can obtain a good home farm of good producing qualities. Population about 16,000, of which about one-half are from Northern State. Our water is the very best quality of freestone and supplied mostly from springs. We have fine stock water in all our creeks. As for crops we grow everything named in the United States census reports to a greater or less degree, and many things do better than in any other part of the United States.
We grow corn, wheat, oats, both winter and spring variety; rye, peas, tobacco, sorghum, Irish and sweet potatoes, clover, timothy, red top millet, broomcorn and all kinds of garden vegetables. Fruits and berries all do well. Tennessee is the home of the watermelon, and the delicious persimmon is everywhere to be found. For stock raising no better place can be found, as we have vast tracts of free range in the open woodlands and stock of all kinds can be raised at a minimum cost. Livestock, cattle, and sheep run on the range almost the entire year, and hogs become almost fat enough for the knife on mast. Poultry, bees, and dairy all pay well here and succeed with little effort. Horses and mules always find a ready market and at fair prices and can be raised as cheap as at any other point. Our timber is yet plenty for all purposes, and there is much exported in lumber and logs. Our public improvements are good, as we have railroads, two good telephone systems, rural mail routes, steel highway bridges, post office, stores, churches and free schools handy to all. Our roads are fair and are improving very fast. We have factories, planing and saw mills, good roller girst mills, iron mines, iron furnaces, etc. We have a live little city, our county seat - Lawrenceburg - with 2,000 population, and two banks, all interests well represented and up-to-date, and it can truly be said of our county that it is a New South county - Our farmers are prosperous and contented and use all kinds of modern machinery and carry on general farming now, where they used to grow cotton or tobacco or do specialty farming. We also have the secret society represented here, Masonic I.O.O.F and k and P.
Our morals are of the very highest type. No saloons, and a big warm-hearted people who welcome all desirable immigrants from every quarter of the United States, our lands are still very cheap, in most cases worth much more than is asked for them. Unimproved land is worth from $2.50 to $10 per acre, and improved farms vary from $8 to as high as $50, and even higher in some cases, and there is room here for many thousands of families to make themselves cheap, pleasant homes in a healthy, genial climate. Average temperature is 58 degrees; annual rain fall 51 inches. We have long, cool summers, no sunstrokes, and short, pleasant winters. You do not have to feed in winter all you can make in the summer. Besides you can raise two crops of many things each year, and almost every day in the year you can work out, thereby keeping well up with your work. The writer came here eighteen years ago from Indiana and is farming and knows the conditions both North and South and wishes to say for the man of moderate means our country offers him better and more opportunities than the overcrowded Northern and Eastern States. Visit us and judge for yourselves. Everybody is cordially invited to come; we will entertain and show you around free of cost provided you purchase.
Very sincerely your farmer friend,
E. W. Crews"
I thought I would share this little gem from a little over a century ago. It is very interesting to see how things were perceived back then and what the main attractions were.
Hope you enjoyed this!
Todd Lewis
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