{"id":1211,"date":"2026-05-11T16:50:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T16:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/bedford\/?p=1211"},"modified":"2026-05-11T16:50:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T16:50:13","slug":"bedford-county-location","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/bedford\/bedford-county-location\/","title":{"rendered":"Bedford County Location"},"content":{"rendered":"

HISTORY OF TENNESSEE ILLUSTRATED<\/span>
\nNashville, The Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1887<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

BEDFORD COUNTY lies in the great Central Basin of Tennessee. The prevailing rocks are limestone generally thinly bedded and flaggy, but with some fine building stone. The limestones belong to the Nashville and Lebanon formations, limestones low geological series. West of Shelbyville excellent building stone abounds.  Two other varieties of limestone are found in the county, called white rock and sandstone or fire rock.  The white rock, found in the northwest corner of the county, bears a good polish and makes a good appearance in buildings, standing the weather well. The sandstone or fIfe rock occurs in thick beds eight miles west of Shelbyville, and is coarse, soft and easily worked, but in thin slabs is flexible. The sandstones which cover the knobs are of little value.<\/p>\n

    The surface of the county is undulating and is interspersed with hills and valleys.  West of the road that leads from Shelbyville to Murfreesboro, and north of Duck River, the country is comparatively flat, and east of this road it is undulating, with lines of rounded hills.  These hills rise in some instances to an elevation of 200 or 300 feet, and are usually capped with sandstones, and together with the slopes and crests, are heavily wooded. The soil is comminuted limestone and sandstone, with an intermingling of rich black humus, and is exceedingly fertile, durable and generous.  South of Duck River, and running west as far as Sinking Creek, the surface continues much the same, while west of Sinking Creek the hills rise much higher than anywhere else in the county.  Gentry Hill is about 850 feet above the valley lands below.  Another hill, and probably the most noted elevation in this part of the country, is Horse Mountain, three miles east of Shelbyville and in plain view from the town.  One side of Horse Mountain is heavily timbered, while on the other flourishes an excellent vineyard. At the base of the mountain is a fine spring, and which years ago was the location of a camp ground.  During the late war Horse Mountain was used as a signal station by both the Northern and Southern armies.  Zinc or copper was supposed to exist in the mountain, and during the war a party of Federal soldiers leased the property for a term of years, and had an Indiana geologist make a visit to the mountain for inspection. Nothing ever came of the venture.  There are several varieties of soils, different in color and productiveness.  They may for convenience be called the mulatto, the red and the black.  The mulatto predominates and is the characteristic soil of the county , and the best of clover, wheat, oats, sweet potatoes and cotton grow well on it. The red soil is confined chiefly to the cedar belt, on the north side of Duck River.  The black soil is found upon all streams and on the hill sides.  Corn, wheat, oats, cotton, clover, potatoes and all the grasses grow well in the county, and all kinds of fruit, such as apples, peaches, pears, plums, cherries and all the smaller fruits and berries, grow in abundance.  The timber of the county is made up of ash, poplar, walnut, butternut, elm, buckeye, sugar, maple, oaks, red bud, sumac, dogwood, hickory, beech, box elder, gum, cedar and mulberry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HISTORY OF TENNESSEE ILLUSTRATED Nashville, The Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1887 BEDFORD COUNTY lies in the great Central Basin of Tennessee. The prevailing rocks are limestone generally thinly bedded and flaggy, but with some fine building stone. The limestones belong to the Nashville and Lebanon formations, limestones low geological series. West of Shelbyville excellent building stone abounds.  Two other varieties of limestone are found in the county, called white rock and sandstone or fire rock.  The white rock, found in the…<\/p>\n

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