CHEATHAM COUNTY

The lower side of the Narrows of the Harpeth

County Seat: Ashland City
The Harpeth River is so curvy that there is a place here where the river twists around and comes back to within a few hundred yards of itself. In 1818, a man named Montgomery Bell financed and oversaw the creation of a tunnel to connect the so-called Narrows of the Harpeth. (The actual work was done by hand, most of it by African-American slaves.) In doing so a waterfall was created that Bell then used to operate water wheels. The water wheels powered hammers that turned iron into pots, pans, and other things.


Mound Bottom
Cheatham County is also the site of a Mississippian mound known as Mound Bottom. As we explain in the fourth and eighth grade sections, the Mississippian period went from about 1000 AD until 1500 AD. During that time there was an active Native American community at Mound Bottom. In that era there would have been structures on top of, and around Mound Bottom, and there would have been crops such as beans and corn planted all around it. Today Mound Bottom is abandoned.
The Harpeth River State Historic Park
Narrows of the Harpeth and Mound Bottom are located very close to each other and are both part of the Harpeth River State Historic Park. Click here to take our virtual tour of this fascinating place.


Here's the Cheatham County Courthouse.

design by ineo studio | powered by sitemason