This article, to a great extent, is duplicated in another section but contains a more detailed record of the times.(hs)

Lewis County, situated on the Highland Rim, is bounded north by Hickman, east by Maury, south by Lawrence and Wayne, and west by Perry.  It contains about 325 square miles, or 208,000 acres of land, only a small portion of which is under cultivation.  The county is located on a plateau, higher than the adjoining counties, and is drained from the center outward toward nearly all points of the compass, by the Buffalo and Big Swan Creeks and their tributaries.  Bordering the valleys, the lands lie in ridges, and the soil is flinty and sterile, and in many places under laid with slate.

These ridges are covered with a dense growth of red and white oak, chestnut, poplar, etc.  the soil of the valleys is alluvial, and equally productive with other bottom lands, being well adapted to the growing of corn, wheat, oats, peanuts and grass.  This class of lands compose a very small portion of the area of the county, and are about the only lands under cultivation.  Passing from the valleys over the ridges we come to the "barrens" which are flat and open and lightly covered with scrubby oaks.  The soil of the barrens is thin and naturally sterile, but large portions of it have a good foundation, and could be made productive by proper fertilization.  Other portions of the barrens, and also of the ridges, are so leachy that they will not hold fertilizing matter, and consequently, cannot be made productive.  However, all portions of the high lands, so far as they have been tested, are especially well adapted to the raising of all  kinds of fruit.  There is a strip of barrens about three miles wide, extending through the county from the southeast to the northwest.  Iron ore abounds in great quantities in the ridge, especially in the southern part of the county. about two-thirds of all the lands in the county are charged with iron ore, the greater portion, however, being confined to the hilly and rolling lands.  There are many excellent springs of freestone water, and some mineral.  The elevation of the county is so great, and the fall of the streams so rapid, that it is a remarkably healthy location.

The first settlement in the county was made on Big Swan Creek about 1806-1810, by John Sharp and his sons, William Edward, Nehemiah, Samuel and Joshua, Elijah, Samuel and James Mayfield, all from Kentucky; James Rhoads and Bryson B. Venable, from south Carolina; Ambrose Blackburn, from Georgia; Daniel Garrett, Larkin Hensley and his brothers, William, Samuel and James, Edward Dycus, John Johnson, John Clayton, the Kirkseys, the Condors and Benjamin Lankford, all from North Carolina.  Mr. Dobbins was proprietor of "Dobbins Stand", on Big Swan Creek.  Robert Grinder was proprietor of "Grinders Stand" on the Natchez Trace, near where it crosses Little Swan Creek, and about two and a half miles west of Newburg.  Wlliam Johnson, Daniel Sims and Young Simmons were among the first settlers on Pond Creek.  John McClish, a half-breed Indian, lived on a reservation in 1812-1815, and kept a "stand" on the Natchez Trace, where it crosses the Big Buffalo Creek.  The Natchez Trace was opened by General Jackson and his army, on their way from Nashville to New Orleans, during the war of 1812.  The stands above referred to were places where travelers were entertained.

The early settlements were made along the streams, and to the present day have been mostly confined thereto.  But very little of the upland was brought into cultivation.  By keeping away from the streams and valleys, one may now travel for hours without seeing a human habitation.  Deer, wild turkey, wild cats and venomous snakes still abound in the extensive forests.

The first water mills built in the territory composing Lewis County was Tom's Mill, on Cathay Creek, and the Widow Cavitt's mill, on Swan Creek, both being built about the year 1812, but which was completed first, we are unable to say positively.  An Iron Forge was built on Buffalo Creek, at the crossing of the Natchez Trace, and operated in an early day.  It was afterward moved to the site of the Napier furnace, erected in 1834, by Napier and Catron.  Mr. Catron died over forty years ago, and the Napier's have owned the property ever since.  The furnace has been operated part of the time by the proprietors and part of the time by lessees.

Since 1880, its operation has been suspended.  When operated, it required about twenty-five hands, and produced about ten tons of pig iron per day.

The Rockdale Cotton Factory was erected on Big Bigby Creek by Skipwith and Nightengale about the year 1825.  It manufactured cotton yarn only, and about twenty-five persons, mostly women, were employed to run it.  It suspended operations during the late civil war, and has not been run since.  There are now no manufacturing establishments in the county, except a few saw mills and grist mills, and a barrel factory at Carpenters Station.

The first court house was a log building erected at Gordon, and afterward moved to Newburg.  It was torn down in 1857, and the present one was erected at a cost of $1,500.00.  It is a two story frame building, 40x40 feet, with the court room on the first floor and county offices on the second.  A log jail, 18x20 feet, was erected at Newburg, but there has not been a prisoner incarcerated therein since the late war, and for several years last past the authorities, in their annual report, have said "no jail".  The paupers are supported by appropriations made by the county court, there being no "poor asylum" in the county.

The annual receipts from taxation, and otherwise, are about $1,500.00, and the expenses of the county about the same.  The indebtedness of the county is about $500.  The tax-duplicate for 1886 shows 161,387 acres of land assessed at $217,188 and personal property at $4500.00, making the total assessment of taxable property in the county $221,688, and the total tax charged thereon $2,689.61.

The Nashville and Florence Railroad passes through the eastern part of the county, and has one station within the county at Carpenter. The survey of the Nashville and Tuscaloosa Narrow-gauge Railroad passes from north to south through the center of the county, and about two and one-half miles west of Newburg. 

The first term of county court was held early in 1844, at the house of John Blackburn, at Gordon, and the court continued to hold its regular sessions, at the places provided for holding the courts, until December, 1861, when it suspended its sessions through the war period, and until June 1865, since which time it was held its regular sessions..  The first term of circuit court was begun and held at the house of said Blackburn on Monday, March 25, 1844; Edmund Dillahunty, judge presiding, and Robert M. Cooper, clerk, and Nathaniel Baxter, attorney-general.  The business of this court was also suspended during the war period.  The first term of chancery court was begun and held on Monday, April 24, 1871, at Newburg, with Hon. George H. Nixon, as chancellor, and William H. Flanigan, clerk and master.  By an act of the General assembly, passed January 31, 1844, Lewis County was attached to the chancery district of Maury County.  But the citizens of Lewis were allowed to file their bills, either at Columbia or in the chancery court at Lawrenceburg.  Consequently, all business in chancery for Lewis county, was conducted in those counties until the Lewis County chancery court was organized.

The first dwelling house in the town of Newburg was erected by William H. Flanigan, who kept the first hotel.  The post office was established in 1848, and Mr. Flanigan was the first postmaster.  James Patton, the first merchant, opened his store in 1849, and John H. Cooper taught the first school the same year.  Dr. John Bowman was the first physician, and located in 1853; John L. Miller, the first attorney, located in 1850.  Newburg was incorporated in 1852. The charter of incorporation has since been abolished.  The town had its greatest prosperity in 1854-55, when it contained four stores, two saloons, two hotels, and several mechanic's shops.  It began to decline before the war, during which, at one time, it was wholly deserted.  It now contains the court house, one store, the post office, one school house, one hotel, five dwellings and a population of about thirty souls.  It has neither lawyer, doctor nor preacher.  Hohenwald has two stores and a post office.  Napier Furnace, one store and post office.  Voorhies, one store and post office.  Nutt, two stores and post office.  Carpenters Station, one store, saw-mill and barrel factory.  Palestine, on Swan Creek, six miles northeast of Newburg, was established in 1835, and had its prosperity about 1860, when it contained a post office, store, grocery, school, church and about a dozen dwellings, and fifty inhabitants.  It now contains only one store, a church and a few dwellings.

About a mile north of the Lewis Monument, on the old Natchez Trace, and on the east bank of Little Swan Creek, is where Gen. William Carroll disbanded his troops on his return from New Orleans in 1815.  An eye witness states that he made them a farewell address, and bid them adieu, crying like a child.  the following veterans of the Mexican War are now residing in the county: Abel T. Hensley, Samuel L. Tarrant, A. W. Weatherly and William C. Story.  In the late civil, the county furnished three companies for the Confederate Army, as follows:  Company H, Third Tennessee Infantry, Capts. Samuel L. Tarrant and R. T. Cooper (the latter was killed at Raymond, Mississippi) Company C. Forty-eighth Tennessee Infantry, commanded by Capt. Samuel Whiteside, and company H, Ninth Tennessee Cavalry, commanded by Capt. Thomas H. Beatty.  It is claimed that with these companies, and the individuals who joined organizations outside (the county furnished in the aggregate for the Confederate Army, about 400 men), a number equal to its voting population.  The farmers of this county suffered considerably during the war, by the loss of property seized by foragers.

Education in Lewis County had been very much neglected.  To show the condition of the schools is given a synopsis of the report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction for the year ending June 30, 1885.  Scholastic population--white, male 353; white, female, 364; colored, male, 71; colored, female, 72; total, 860.  Number of pupils enrolled-white, male, 160; white, female, 200; colored, male, 30; colored, female, 16; total, 406.

This shows that less than one-half of the scholastic population of the county attended the schools.  The number of schools taught and the number of teachers employed, 14; teachers average monthly wages, $22, average number of  days taught during the year, 80; amount of school funds received during the year, $1,760.75; amount expended, $1,031.98; balance on hand, $728.77.  

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