Readyville, Tennessee
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Readyville [] is an
unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
located primarily in Cannon County, Tennessee, United States and secondarily in Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States. It lies approximately halfway between
Murfreesboro Murfreesboro is a city in Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Its population was 165,430 according to the 2023 census estimate, up from 108,755 residents certified in 2010 United States census, 2010. Murfreesboro i ...
and Woodbury with an assigned zip code of 37149. Readyville is not a
Census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...
but has a zip-code based population estimate of 2,500-3,000 residents.


History

Prior to the settlement of
European Americans European Americans are Americans of European ancestry. This term includes both people who descend from the first European settlers in the area of the present-day United States and people who descend from more recent European arrivals. Since th ...
, the region was occupied by the
indigenous peoples There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...
of the
Yuchi The Yuchi people are a Native American tribe based in Oklahoma, though their original homeland was in the southeastern United States. In the 16th century, the Yuchi lived in the eastern Tennessee River valley. By the late 17th century, they had ...
and
Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...
Nations. The Yuchi left the region in the 1700s and the Cherokee were forcibly relocated in the late 1830s by the
United States government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct ...
in the
Trail of Tears The Trail of Tears was the forced displacement of about 60,000 people of the " Five Civilized Tribes" between 1830 and 1850, and the additional thousands of Native Americans and their black slaves within that were ethnically cleansed by the U ...
. The current community was founded by and named for Colonel Charles Ready, an early settler who arrived in the area in 1802.Larry L. Miller (2001),
Tennessee place-names
',
Indiana University Press Indiana University Press, also known as IU Press, is an academic publisher founded in 1950 at Indiana University that specializes in the humanities and social sciences. Its headquarters are located in Bloomington, Indiana. IU Press publishes ...
. Page 174.
In 1811, Ready established the first community post office, currently located in Rutherford County. The following year, while mayor of
Murfreesboro Murfreesboro is a city in Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Its population was 165,430 according to the 2023 census estimate, up from 108,755 residents certified in 2010 United States census, 2010. Murfreesboro i ...
, he constructed the Readyville Mill on the east fork of Stones River in
Cannon County Cannon County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,506. Its county seat is Woodbury. Cannon County is part of the Nashville–Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin, TN Metropolitan S ...
. The mill was destroyed in a fire of unknown origin during the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
, rebuilt in the 1870s, and added to the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
on June 12, 1973. After a 2006 restoration, one of the auxiliary buildings was operated as a restaurant on most weekends from 2009 until February 2023 under three different owners. Colonel Charles Ready's son, also named Charles Ready, was born in Readyville in 1802, elected to the
Tennessee House of Representatives The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. Constitutional requirements According to the state constitution of 1870, this body is to consis ...
in 1835, and elected to the
United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...
for
Tennessee's 5th congressional district The 5th congressional district of Tennessee is a congressional district in Middle Tennessee. It has been represented by Republican Andy Ogles since January 2023. In the past, the fifth district has been nearly synonymous with Tennessee's capi ...
in 1853. Their former home, the Charles Ready House, is located in
Cannon County Cannon County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,506. Its county seat is Woodbury. Cannon County is part of the Nashville–Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin, TN Metropolitan S ...
, directly on the Rutherford County border across from the post office. The house was added to the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
on July 2, 1973. The house is currently under private ownership, but was formerly available to the public as a bed and breakfast and multipurpose venue. Readyville is also home to the
Uncle Dave Macon House The Uncle Dave Macon House is a historic house in Readyville, Tennessee, U.S.. It was built as a log cabin in 1843. It was purchased by country music performer Uncle Dave Macon in 1900. He resided there until his death in 1952. It has been lis ...
, located in Rutherford County, purchased by
Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a regular live country music, country-music Radio broadcasting, radio broadcast originating from Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, on WSM (AM), WSM, held between two and five nights per week, depending on the ...
star Uncle Dave Macon in 1900, and added to the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
on November 15, 1973. The house is currently under private ownership. It is also claimed by the
unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
of Kittrell but has a Readyville mailing address. Pilot Knob, Readyville's notable landmark that rises about in elevation from its base, is referenced in the Uncle Dave Macon song "The Fox Chase" and is viewable from the Uncle Dave Macon House. Pilot Knob is privately owned, and trespassing is explicitly prohibited. Two racially segregated schools were once in operation in the community during the twentieth century but are no longer standing. Construction on John Bragg Highway, which provides a direct connection between Murfreesboro and Woodbury while circumventing the central portion of Readyville, was completed in approximately 1992, causing traffic through the center of Readyville to drop significantly. The community's earliest confirmed
tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the ...
touchdown happened on April 10, 2009, at 12:19 p.m. An EF0 tornado was on the ground for 0.8 miles and caused minor damage while it moved east across Locke Creek Road, which lies to the east of the downtown area. On April 1, 2023, at approximately 1:55 a.m., Readyville was struck by a strong
EF2 tornado The Enhanced Fujita scale (abbreviated EF-Scale) is a scale that rates tornado intensity based on the severity of the damage a tornado causes. It is used in the United States and France, among other countries. The EF scale is also unofficially ...
with winds estimated at . The bulk of the downtown area was heavily damaged or destroyed, including the Readyville Mill, Charles Ready House, post office, market, and numerous homes. Two people were injured. The following day, the
American Red Cross The American National Red Cross is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Humanitarianism, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. Clara Barton founded ...
and nearly 800 volunteers showed up for recovery efforts.


Photo Gallery

Several buildings in town, as photographed in 2020: Image:readyvillemill4.jpg, Readyville Mill Image:lumberyard4.jpg, Former lumberyard Image:readyvillemarket4.jpg, Market Image:readyvillebusiness4.jpg, Business Image:postoffice4.jpg, Post Office Image:readyhouse4.jpg, Charles Ready House Image:uncledave4.jpg, Uncle Dave Macon House Image:pilotknob4.jpg, Pilot Knob


References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Cannon County, Tennessee Unincorporated communities in Tennessee