Ozone is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

Cumberland County Cumberland County may refer to: Australia * Cumberland County, New South Wales * the former name of Cumberland Land District, Tasmania, Australia Canada *Cumberland County, Nova Scotia United Kingdom *Cumberland, historic county *Cumberlan ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, United States. Ozone is the location of

Ozone Falls State Natural Area Ozone Falls State Natural Area is a state natural area in Cumberland County, Tennessee in the southeastern United States. It consists of centered on Ozone Falls, a plunge waterfall, and its immediate gorge along Fall Creek. Because of its pic ...

, which was established in 1973 to protect Ozone Falls, a 110-foot (33 m) plunge

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...

, and its surrounding gorge.

Geography

Ozone is located at (35.88194, -84.80917). The community is situated atop the

Cumberland Plateau The Cumberland Plateau is the southern part of the Appalachian Plateau in the Appalachian Mountains of the United States. It includes much of eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, and portions of northern Alabama and northwest Georgia. The terms "Alle ...

, roughly five miles west of the plateau's eastern

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''escar ...

Walden Ridge Walden Ridge (or Walden's Ridge) is a mountain ridge and escarpment located in Tennessee, in the United States. It marks the eastern edge of the Cumberland Plateau and is generally considered part of it. Walden Ridge is about long, running gen ...

and five miles east of the

Crab Orchard Mountains The Crab Orchard Mountains are a rugged, detached range of the southern Cumberland Mountains. They are situated in East Tennessee atop the Cumberland Plateau just west of the plateau's eastern escarpment, and comprise parts of Morgan, Anderso ...

. Fall Creek passes through the western part of Ozone before spilling over Ozone Falls and cutting a gorge that forms the community's southern boundary. Both

Interstate 40 Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west Interstate Highway running through the south-central portion of the United States. At a length of , it is the third-longest Interstate Highway in the country, after I-90 and I-80. From west to ea ...

and

U.S. Route 70 U.S. Route 70 or U.S. Highway 70 (US 70) is an east–west United States highway that runs for from eastern North Carolina to east-central Arizona. It is a major east–west highway of the Southeastern United States, Southeastern, Southern Unite ...

traverse Ozone, connecting the area with

Knoxville Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state's ...

to the east and

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

to the west.

History

What is now Ozone was once situated along the

stage Stage or stages may refer to: Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly British theatre newspaper * Sta ...

route built in the late 18th century between Knoxville and Nashville. Around 1806, the widow of Elijah Haley, an early Cumberland settler, established a

tavern A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food such as different types of roast meats and cheese, and (mostly historically) where travelers would receive lodging. An inn is a tavern that h ...

in the Ozone area, and would later be instrumental in the establishment of Crab Orchard Inn a few miles to the west. A small community grew up in the tavern's vicinity, although it consisted of only a few families. In 1880, when a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

was established, the community adopted the name "Mammy" after a nearby creek. In 1896, the community of Mammy changed its name to "Ozone," which referred to the area's excellent air quality. Ozone is where

Myles Horton ] Myles Falls Horton (July 9, 1905– January 19, 1990) was an American educator, socialist, and co-founder of the Highlander Folk School, famous for its role in the Civil Rights Movement (Movement leader James Bevel called Horton "The Father o ...

began his practice as a popular education, popular educator in 1927, helping poor people in Ozone talk out their problems and find solutions together. This deeply informed his organizing practice and helped lead to his founding the Highlander School.Myles Horton
" 13 February 2007. Retrieved: 12 March 2008.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Cumberland County, Tennessee Unincorporated communities in Tennessee Coal towns in Tennessee