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Cheekwood was originally a monumental country estate designed by leading American landscape architect Bryant Fleming between 1929 and 1932 for the family of Leslie Cheek. Cheek had made his fortune from his extended family's wholesale grocery and coffee-making businesses. Joel…

The Cherokee National Forest, Tennessee’s largest wildlife management area and single largest tract of public land, is the only national forest in the state. Its origin dates back to the Weeks Act of 1911, which gave the federal government the…

Among the many accomplishments of the Cherokees was the publication of the first Native American newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix, from 1828 to 1834. Soon after the adoption of the Cherokee Constitution in 1828, the National Council provided for the establishment…

The last county formed in Tennessee was Chester County, created by the Tennessee General Assembly from parts of neighboring Hardeman, Henderson, McNairy, and Madison Counties. In 1875 this land was used to create a county named Wisdom County, but Wisdom…

The Chester Inn is a historic tavern building in Jonesborough, Washington County; it is one of the oldest extant buildings in Tennessee's oldest town. Dr. William P. Chester built the original Federal-style inn circa 1797-98. The frame building measures eighty-two…

The battle of Chickamauga (September 19-20, 1863) developed from the struggle to control the strategic railroad town of Chattanooga, the gateway to the Deep South, the seizure of which President Abraham Lincoln viewed as comparable to the capture of Richmond.…

The Chickamaugas were a diverse group of Cherokees, Creeks, dissatisfied whites, and African Americans who stymied white settlement in Tennessee for approximately nineteen years. On March 19, 1775, one month before the outbreak of fighting in the American Revolution, Richard…

Sometimes called the Memphis, or Millington, Ordnance Plant, this huge explosives manufactory had its origin in 1940, when the Anglo-French Purchasing Board formed the Tennessee Powder Company to produce munitions for the Allied war effort. After the French surrendered, the…

Chickasaw State Park is named for the Chickasaw Indians who once inhabited West Tennessee and North Mississippi. It includes approximately 1,400 acres. It is located in West Tennessee along the border of Hardeman and Chester Counties and was one of…

The Chickasaws, a small but courageous tribe with principal towns headed by local chiefs, were located in northern Mississippi and Alabama before European contact. These Muskogean-speaking Indians subsisted by a combination of hunting, gathering, gardening, fishing, and trading with neighboring…

The Choctaws of West Tennessee are the only native-speaking American Indian community in Tennessee. In fact, they have retained their language to a greater extent than virtually any other Native American group. The importance of being Choctaw is best expressed…

The Overhill Cherokee village of Chota was located in the Little Tennessee River valley of eastern Tennessee in present-day Monroe County. Chota, or Itsa'sa, is also spelled Echota and Chote. The original meaning has been lost. Chota probably developed from…

In 1864 the Brothers of the Christian Schools applied to begin a school "of higher education" in Memphis, but yellow fever epidemics in Galveston and New Orleans killed several Brothers, and they canceled the project. Another attempt in 1871 succeeded,…

The earliest recognized Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) church in Tennessee is Capers Memorial CME Church in Nashville. It dates to 1866, and its leaders had a prominent role in the creation of the formal CME convention in 1870. In that…

Amos U. Christie, nationally known medical educator and pediatrician, was born August 13, 1902, the only child of Edna Davis and Frederick Absolom Christie, in Eureka, California. His father, a lumberman, died when Christie was only four years old; his…

Influential labor leader Paul Revere Christopher was born in Easley, South Carolina, the son of Clarence Christopher, a craft unionist. Christopher graduated from high school in 1930 and attended Clemson Agricultural College. In 1931 he returned to the textile mills,…

Chucalissa Village is an important Mississippian Period archaeological site located within T. O. Fuller State Park in Memphis. Workers from the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) discovered the site during the park's initial development in 1939. According to the Memphis Press-Scimitar…

Chuqualataque, one of the lesser known Cherokee chiefs, was born into the Paint Clan as "Blue Hawk," probably in the early 1760s. This clan was the kin group of many noted Cherokee chiefs, including Dragging Canoe and Hanging Maw. Chuqualataque,…

Robert R. Church Jr., a prominent Republican, civil rights leader, and businessman, was born in Memphis on October 26, 1885. He was the son of millionaire Robert R. Church Sr. and his wife Anna Wright Church. Robert Church Jr. married…

With a current worldwide membership approaching three million, this denomination grew from humble beginnings in the mountains of eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina. The doctrines of the church combine traditional Protestant tenets with others that are Pentecostal. Believers must…