A Brief History of Nashville, TN
Nashville, TN – a city of intense fear, unexplained phenomenon, and tears. These intense emotions are felt every day by people living within this historic settlement. The first permanent occupation came when James Robertson and John Donelson left the Watauga settlement in northwestern North Carolina, traveled overland for two months, and arrived on the banks of the Cumberland River near the center of present downtown Nashville on Christmas Day, 1779.[1] They cleared the land and built a log stockade they called the Bluff station. Richard Henderson had planned to call the settlement Nashborough in honor of General Francis Nash, who won acclaim in the American Revolution. For a brief time, court records did use the Nashborough designation but there is no evidence that any of the settlers did. Robertson’s friend and fellow Watauga settler John Donelson, along with some 60 families, including women and children, came in 30 flatboats and several pirogues down the Tennessee River and up the Cumberland, arriving April 23, 1780.[2] They founded a new community that was then a part of the state of North Carolina. The town was officially created and named Nashville in 1784, by an act of the North Carolina legislature.
As the northern terminus of the Natchez Trace, the town quickly developed as a cotton center and river port and later as a railroad hub. It soon became the commercial center of the entire Middle Tennessee region.[3]
In 1806, Nashville was chartered as a city. More than 30 years later, it was selected as the permanent capital of Tennessee on October 7, 1843. Several towns across Tennessee were nominated; all received votes, but Nashville and Charlotte were the top contenders. Nashville won by only one vote. Previously, the cities of Kingston (for one day) and Knoxville in Eastern Tennessee, and Murfreesboro, like Nashville located in Middle Tennessee, had each served as the temporary capital.
The Tennessee State Capitol building was constructed over a period of fourteen years from 1845 to 1859.[6] It was designed by Philadelphia architect William Strickland, who modeled it after a Greek Ionic temple. It houses the Tennessee legislature and the Governor‘s office and has been referenced as haunted by many staff and legislators.
The rich history of early-settlers, charismatic people and historic structures combine to form the overall haunted history of Nashville, TN – a city saturated with documented, supernatural phenomenom.