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James M. Safford was a geologist, chemist, and professor in Tennessee from 1848-1900. Originally, his highest qualification was training in the famous chemistry lab at Yale, but his fame is from geology. Safford was a professor at Cumberland University from…

In 1792, according to tradition, a North Carolina Revolutionary War veteran named Andrew Kennedy settled with his family on a parcel of land along Little River near Maryville in Blount County. Sometime after his arrival in Tennessee, probably in 1794,…

Born in 1850 in Indiana, Newell Sanders moved as an adult to Chattanooga at the encouragement of General John T. Wilder. Recognizing the need in the South for reliable farm machinery, Wilder encouraged Sanders to produce plows. His Chattanooga Plow…

An influential Tennessee lawyer, civic leader, orator, and U.S. Supreme Court justice, Edward T. Sanford was born in Knoxville on July 23, 1865, the eldest of six children whose wealthy parents stressed education and achievement. He had received two bachelor's…

Attorney, U.S. Senator, and Ambassador to the People's Republic of China James R. Sasser was born in Memphis in 1936, the son of Joseph Ralph and Mary Nell Gray Sasser. He attended the public schools of Nashville and was enrolled…

On July 31, 1985, Governor Lamar Alexander announced that a new General Motors company--Saturn--would build a giant industrial complex in Spring Hill, a small town located thirty miles south of Nashville on U.S. Highway 31 in northern Maury County. Spring…

Clarence Saunders changed the way people buy their groceries. In his innovative Piggly Wiggly self-service stores no clerks fetched groceries for customers. Instead shoppers selected from items placed on shelves within easy reach. While Saunders did not open the first…

The largest and most significant portion of the South Cumberland State Recreation Area is the Savage Gulf State Natural Area. Located on the Cumberland Plateau in Grundy County, Savage Gulf contains approximately 11,500 acres, and its wide ecological diversity has…

John H. Savage, congressman, state legislator, and veteran of three wars, was born at McMinnville on October 9, 1815, the son of George and Elizabeth Kenner Savage. Savage attended common schools and the Carroll Academy at McMinnville before studying law;…

International president of the United Furniture Workers, W. Carl Scarbrough was born in Henderson, the son of Joseph Scarbrough, a farmer. Scarbrough graduated from Chester County High School in 1952 and married his wife Faye that same year. They had…

Scarritt College was moved from its original home in Kansas City, Missouri, to Nashville in 1923. Established as an institution to train women missionaries by the United Methodist Church, the school was dedicated in 1892 as the Scarritt Bible and…

Music director and conductor for the Nashville Symphony Orchestra (NSO) from 1983 until his death in 2005, Kenneth DeWitt Schermerhorn is credited with leading the orchestra to national prominence. His tenure with the NSO included critically acclaimed recordings (including four…

The history of science and technology in Tennessee dates to the early settlement era when explorers recognized the geological and botanical diversity of the state. Soon after the initial tasks associated with homesteading were completed, a survey of the mapping…

The location of Scott County on the Cumberland Plateau abutting the Tennessee-Kentucky state line makes for beautiful landscape, poor soil for farming, and a small population. The region is blanketed with forests and parks, both in neighboring counties and Scott…

Novelist and essayist Evelyn Scott was born Elsie Dunn in Clarksville on January 17, 1893, the only child of Seely and Maude Thomas Dunn. After living in Clarksville as a young child, she moved to New Orleans and enrolled in…

In the autumn of 1942, the War Department decided to resume field maneuvers in Middle Tennessee. Large-scale war games had been conducted in an area around Camp Forrest, near Tullahoma, the previous summer, and General George S. Patton had perfected…

Seeing Eye, Inc., a New Jersey-based corporation that enhances the independence and dignity of blind people through the training and use of "Seeing Eye" dogs, traces its roots to Nashville and the effort of Morris Frank, a Nashville native. In…

Dewitt Senter, farmer, state legislator, and governor, was born in McMinn County on March 26, 1832, the son of William T. Senter, a Methodist minister, and Nancy White Senter. He attended the public schools in Grainger County and the Strawberry…

On December 9, 1857, the Tennessee General Assembly created Sequatchie County from a section of Hamilton County and named Dunlap as the county seat. Europeans first settled in the area in 1806. The land in the Sequatchie Valley was highly…

Sequoyah, the originator of the Cherokee syllabary, was born in the Cherokee town of Tuskegee (or Taskigi) on the Little Tennessee River in what is now Monroe County. The son of Nathaniel Gist (or Guess), a Virginia fur trader, and…