Lawrence County is home to a large Amish community, especially near the town of Ethridge.
The Amish are a religious group that, among other things, refuses to go along with the changes that the industrial age has brought to the world. That means that they don’t have things such as cars, television sets and phones; in fact, they usually don’t use electricity at all!
The Amish make their living as farmers and craftsmen, and people actually come from far away to visit Ethridge and buy things such as quilts, rocking chairs and hand-woven baskets at family-run stores there.
Most Amish do not like to have their photograph taken. Therefore we do not post any photographs of them here.
Lawrenceburg is the county seat of Lawrence County. A quick look through Tennessee maps and newspapers reveals that, in its early years, there was confusion about where it was and how to spell it.
When the creation of the town was first announced in this newspaper article in 1821 (above and on the left), the town was spelled Lawrensburgh.
The 1822 Tennessee map by Fielding Lucas (above and on the right) has the community spelled Lawrenceburgh, and shows the main road to Nashville a few miles to the east.
This 1825 Tennessee map by Anthony Finley (on the left) shows that the community is called Lawrenceboro, and still shows the main road to Nashville a few miles to the east.
Matthew Rhea’s 1832 map (on the right) has the place back to being called Lawrenceburgh, but now the main road to Nashville goes right through town.
The 1839 David Burr map (on the left) finally uses the present-day spelling of Lawrenceburg.
Lawrence County was also the native home of the late U.S. Senator Fred Thompson.
Thompson was an attorney in Nashville who first became famous as an actor in the 1980s, when he portrayed himself in a movie called Marie. He later starred in several movies such as No Way Out, Hunt for Red October and In the Line of Fire.
In 1994, he was elected to be one of Tennessee’s two U.S. Senators, and he held that post for about eight years.
Thompson died in 2015. The federal courthouse now being built in Nashville is named for him.