Finding Landmarks

Finding Historical Civil War Landmarks in Tennessee

I love the Tennessee Civil War Trails tour. There are hundreds of sites that have been interpreted with great displays. The only problem, is there are no specific locations on this tour map. Sometimes I have found the road sign, but have been unable to find the interpretive pedestal associated with it. For example, there is a road marker on U.S. 31 for Hood’s Retreat near Richland Creek, but I have yet to find it’s tour point*. It may have been stolen. The Sugar Creek marker down the road disappeared a few years ago.

I have found many historical sites not present on Google, the worlds largest digital map. Some them are fairly significant places. A few that I have listed are: the Corinth Earthworks (MS), Davis Bridge and the Sherman Reservation, just to name a few. As I travel around the state, I verify these places on Google Maps. If missing, I am able to get them listed (I am a Google Local Guide).  

There is a wonderful resource available that most travelers probably aren’t aware of. It’s a digital map called the Tennessee Civil War GIS Project. It’s a powerful digital map designed on ArcGIS. Some of the content are listed on the image to the right. There are subcategories with most of them. Best of all, for the traveler, it’s mobile friendly.

This is a powerful resource. It even includes narrative copy of the historical signs. The Civil War Trails icon references a PDF file, organized by county, that details the street address location of the site. I have yet to find the Richland Creek information, but I think this is not the norm. From what I can tell, it’s a very comprehensive database of historical sites in Tennessee.

Another great reference is the Historical Marker Database. It includes locations, maps, signage copy and photo’s of historical signs and interpretive displays.

• Tennessee Civil War Trails PDF
• Tennessee Civil War GIS Link
• Historical Marker Data Base – Link

 

 

*Problem solved. The road sign points to the right down Kerr Hill Road. At the end take another right on Campbellsville Road, to Campbellsville, where the sign is clearly visible on the right.