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Big Bigby Project Area
The project will consist of an inventory of all historical, agricultural and natural resources in the area. Properties will be recorded on standard state historical survey forms for the Tennessee Historical Commission, and will be used to prepare a National Register of Historic Places nomination for one of the largest rural historic districts in Tennessee. The Cross Bridges Community Association and local landowners are seeking National Register designation to emphasize the historical character of the neighborhood, which contains resources dating to the early years of Maury County, and to provide another tool to encourage the long-term protection of the area. The project is a southward extension of the Duck River Highlands Project, conducted in 2005 and 2006 by the Land Trust for Tennessee. The project is being conducted by architectural historian and conservation planner Richard Quin, a Maury County native who headed the Duck River project for the Land Trust. The Big Bigby valley is an area of incomparable beauty, with a wide range of historic and natural resources. Historic sites range from early log homes to federal style brick homes, including the first brick house constructed west of Columbia, to imposing Greek Revival plantations. Many of the farms retain their original dependencies, including barns, smokehouses, servant’s quarters and other dependencies. Other resources include churches, schools, country stores and residences in the villages of Cross Bridges and Williamsport. Numerous other resources are associated with early African-American settlement.
The Big Bigby Project began in April and should be completed in late summer. Funding support has been provided by the Cross Bridges Community Association, the Jonathan Webster Association, the Maury County Historical Society, the Jennie Southall Foundation, and local landowners. For more information, contact project manager Richard Quin at 931- 797-554 |
Working with the Cross Bridges Community Association and other local landowners, the Land Trust for Tennessee is conducting an inventory project in the Big Bigby Creek watershed of Maury County, extending north from the village of Cross Bridges to the historic town of Williamsport on Duck River. This is an 11,000-acre area of agricultural lands comprising some of the finest farms in southern Middle Tennessee, with historic resources dating from the first decade of the nineteenth century.
Big Bigby Creek, formerly known as the Bigby River, is one of the chief tributaries of the Duck River, and the phosphate-rich bottom lands along its course allowed for the establishment of some of the most productive farms in the state. Big Bigby flows into the Duck River, recognized as the most biologically diverse river in all of North America, on the western edge of the district, which then extends several miles upriver to Williamsport. Other natural resources include smaller tributary streams, wetlands, woodlands, and escarpments from the Western Highland Rim.
