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AIRPORTS

ATTRACTIONS

EDUCATION (Higher)

Robertson County Vocational School

5240 Hwy 76 E

HIGHWAYS

HISTORICAL

Robertson County Distilleries
During the Civil war, occupying Union forces banned the distillation of whiskey because corn and other grains were needed to feed both humans and livestock. In Robertson County, distilling was one of the first businesses to start up after Federal troops pulled out in April of 1865. It was late spring, the favored season for distilling. Limestone water, corn, and firewood were readily available and a still could be set up easily and cheaply. It seemed as though nearly everyone in the county went into making whiskey for the simple reason that it was the fastest way to make money and required virtually no capital.

A major advantage was the fine reputation that Robertson County distillers such as Wiley Woodard already enjoyed. The 249 gallons of whiskey Woodard shipped to Lyon & Company in Nashville on September 21, 1865, commanded $3.75 a gallon, compared to forty cents a gallon before the war.12 Clearly his success would have been a stimulus to other producers.

Although Woodard continued to produce the finest Robertson County whiskey and apple and peach brandies, his production was eventually surpassed by aggressive new contenders, many of whom were his relatives. By 1874, these and other Robertson County distillers were producing 45,000 barrels of whiskey annually. They consumed so much corn that it became necessary to import large amounts from St. Louis and other markets. Before the war, there had been no wholesale whiskey dealers in Springfield, but by 1874 the business had grown to nearly one million dollars in annual sales. The barrel business that had grown up at Coopertown now produced $125,000 in business annually. In 1872 the Springfield National Bank was established to cater to the liquor industry. Because of the whiskey deposits-the average deposit was over $100,000-the newly established bank never wavered during the financial panic of 1873.

The Robertson County distillery that grew to be the largest was located at Greenbrier. When it was started about 1867 by Charles Palmer of Springfield, its capacity was a modest five gallons a day. In 1870, Charles Nelson, a native of Mecklenburg, Germany, who had come to Nashville from Cincinnati, bought it to supply his wholesale grocery business in Nashville (at that time grocers sold whiskey). The whiskey was manufactured in Robertson County, but it was both bottled under the Greenbrier label and distributed from his Nashville warehouse on Second Avenue North. At its peak, the distillery employed a work force of fifteen to twenty-five men, including government inspectors and gaugers as well as the operators. By 1885 the Greenbrier Distillery manufactured 8,000 barrels of whiskey or a little less than 380,000 gallons a year, and paid annual taxes of over $341,000.

In 1886 the Nashville Union reported that the distilling industry was the largest manufacturing industry in the state of Tennessee, annually consuming 750,000 bushels of corn and 500,000 bushels of apples and peaches. By the late 1880s, however, the industry had begun to decline. Smaller and less successful distillers had gone into other businesses, faced with intense competition from the larger distillers on the one hand, and mounting pressure from church and temperance groups on the other. The Women's Christian Temperance Union had organized in the state in 1874 and would be joined by the Anti-Saloon League in 1899.13

In Robertson County, by 1894, only five distilleries were still depositing whiskey in warehouses, and two of those were run by widows: Louisa Nelson for Charles Nelson's Greenbrier Distillery, and Josephine Woodard Brown for J. S. Brown Distilleries on Wartrace Creek. As the distilleries closed down, the distillers or their families tended to transfer their considerable assets into banking.

In 1903, the Adams Law, which extended the Four Mile Law first passed in 1877 to towns of 5,000, closed the saloons of Springfield.14 In 1909, with the state-wide prohibition on the manufacture of whiskey, the two remaining Robertson County distilleries, Nelson's Greenbrier and Pitt's Cave Spring, and all others in Tennessee went out of business, although some tried to conduct sales through retail and manufacturing activities in other states.

PEOPLE

Named for General James Robertson(1742-1814)	Was leader in the establishment of Watauga Settlement of East Tennessee Explored the Cumberland country 1778 Founded Cumberland Settlements Led an expedition to found Nashborough Known as "Father of Tennessee"
Thomas Kilgore	Settled on Red River 1779 First lived in cave which now bears his name Established fort called Kilgore Station Cross Plains now occupies area where fort stood Mauldin's Station second settlement, 1780

CHURCHES

HOOLS

Liberty Academy was first school

Established 1811

Post Offices

HISTORICAL TIME LINE

HOSPITALS

Northcrest Medical Center	100 Northcrest Dr
Oakwood Center	Springfield

MOTELS / BED & BREAKFAST / CAMPGROUNDS

BED & BREAKFAST William Stringer Home	Located 3.5 miles off I-65 on Hwy 52 Built 1858 Now serves as Aurora Inn Bed & Breakfast Inn
CAMPGROUNDS Red River Valley Park	Trail of Tears Museum chronicles heritage of Robertson County Live Country Music RV hookups Canoeing and camping

RAILROADS

SPECIAL DAYS

STATISTICS

ADAMS

ATTRACTIONS

HISTORICAL

SPECIAL DAYS

STATISTICS

CEDAR HILL

HISTORICAL

CROSS PLAINS

ATTRACTIONS

Carr's Wild Horse & Burro Center	2nd oldest town in the County 4844 Couts-Carr Rd Bureau of Land Management, Department of Interior Adoptions of wild horses and burros must meet government requirements Free
KD Orchard	6900 Blackberry Lane Largest peach & blackberry orchard in Middle Tennessee You pick your own peaches and blackberries Group tours for children and others by appointment only Free

HISTORICAL

SCHOOLS

Neophogen College

Founded in Cross Plains 1873 Originally called Stonewall College Frame structure burned and replaced by brick building

STATISTICS

GREENBRIER

HISTORICAL

GENERAL	Youngest town in the County Was known as Cheatham's Station 1857, railroad came, town became Greenbrier Incorporated in 1937
Old Distillery Building	Built by Nelson's Distillery Shut doors in 1909 Used as a tobacco warehouse

CHURCHES

STATISTICS

ORLINDA

HISTORICAL

RIDGETOP

HISTORICAL

GENERAL	Incorporated in 1935
Ridgetop Museum	Obrien St History of Ridgetop displays

STATISTICS

POPULATION

1960	372
1970	858
1980	1,225
1990	1,132

LOCATION CODES

Zip: 37152

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