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Sherwood 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 ...
in Franklin County,
Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...
, United States. It is located along
Tennessee State Route 56 State Route 56 (SR 56) is a state highway that runs south to north in Middle Tennessee, from the Alabama state line near Sherwood to the Kentucky state line near Red Boiling Springs. SR 56 is secondary south of Sewanee. It is primary (but u ...
southeast of
Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...
, and just north of the
Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...
state line. Sherwood has a
post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...
with ZIP code 37376.


Demographics


Geography and location

The Crow Creek Valley, in which Sherwood is situated, is a relatively narrow valley surrounded on three sides (north, east, and west) by 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 " Al ...
(including Lost Cove), with the southern end of the valley opening toward Alabama. Crow Creek, which flows from Lost Cove Cave, drains the valley and flows through the western part of Sherwood, emptying into the
Tennessee River The Tennessee River is a long river located in the Southern United States, southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. Flowing through the states of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, it begins at the confluence of Fren ...
at Guntersville Lake near Stevenson, Alabama, several miles to the south. Sherwood lies at an elevation of . State Route 56, the only major highway that passes through Sherwood, traverses the valley from north-to-south. To the north, the road ascends more than to Sewanee atop the Cumberland Plateau. To the south, the road continues into Alabama as State Route 117, eventually reaching Stevenson. Railroad tracks run alongside the highway for much of its stretch in the valley.


History

Human habitation in the Sherwood area is very ancient as evidenced by the many thousands of Native American projectile points in the nearby fields. The town location is at the intersection of many old Native American routes which the modern trails and roads often follow. It is located on an old
Stagecoach A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...
route approximately midway between Sewanee and Anderson, Alabama and is representative of the hamlets and villages that were once commonplace in the area coves and valleys. A small community called Kitchen's Station or Catchings Station had existed as a
Stagecoach A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...
stop earlier at the location. Named for station master Meridith Catchings, the small community began appearing on railroad maps after the Civil War. The town of Sherwood was named for Charles D. Sherwood, lieutenant governor of Minnesota during the Civil War. The Tennessee State Legislature approved his charter for the ''Tennessee Immigration and Land Company'' on April 15, 1878. That same day, Sherwood purchased the 1,410 acres of land for his northern colony from John F. Anderson. On June 19, 1878, a local paper announced that the name of Kitchen's atching'sStation would be changed to Sherwood. A number of sources have erroneously reported that Charles Sherwood was lieutenant governor of Wisconsin and that the town was established in 1875. This information probably came from the ''Goodspeed History Tennessee: Giles, Franklin, Lincoln, and Moore Counties.'' In 1989 the Sherwood Elementary School was closed and approximately 25-28 children from Sherwood, a teacher, and several aides became part of the Sewanee Public School community.


The Railroad

With the construction of the strategically important Cowan Tunnel to the north in 1852, train stops were created through the Crow Creek Valley, including at Catchings Station (Sherwood). Notably, at this station there were and continue to be pusher engines which are required to assist with train ascents up the steep mountain grade to the tunnel. Correspondingly, on the other side of the tunnel in
Cowan, Tennessee Cowan is a city in Franklin County, Tennessee, Franklin County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 1,737 at the United States Census, 2010, 2010 census. It is part of the Tullahoma, Tennessee Tullahoma micropolitan area, Micropolitan St ...
, there are also pusher engines. In 1915, a passenger train and a freight train collided in Sherwood, killing fifteen and injuring twenty-two.


Gager Lime Company

The Gager Lime Manufacturing Company was established by Byron Gager in 1892 and operated a
limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
quarry and
lime kiln A lime kiln is a kiln used for the calcination of limestone (calcium carbonate) to produce the form of lime called ''quicklime'' (calcium oxide). The chemical equation for this reaction is: CaCO3 + heat → CaO + CO2 This reaction can tak ...
s in the community. The lime production facilities operated until 1949. As of the 1930 census, Sherwood had 1,700 residents, but the community's population declined to 900 in the 1950s as its economy stalled after the closing of the limestone plant. The castle-like ruins of the lime production facilities and
silo A silo () is a structure for storing Bulk material handling, bulk materials. Silos are commonly used for bulk storage of grain, coal, cement, carbon black, woodchips, food products and sawdust. Three types of silos are in widespread use toda ...
s, which are unusual for their
Egyptian Revival Egyptian Revival is an architectural style that uses the motifs and imagery of ancient Egypt. It is attributed generally to the public awareness of ancient Egyptian monuments generated by Napoleon's French campaign in Egypt and Syria, invasion of ...
and
Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...
styling, remain in the community. The Tennessee Preservation Trust included them on its Ten in Tennessee Endangered Properties List for 2002–2003, citing their architectural distinctiveness and expressing concern that a "continued lack of maintenance" threatened their survival.


Epiphany Mission

In 1899, the Epiphany Episcopal Mission was established in Sherwood after the Episcopal church began to provide schooling for local children. The church structure was built in 1902, replaced in 1928, burned in 1960, and then rebuilt in 1967. The 1928 structure is maintained as a partial ruin on the grounds of the modern structure. During the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
, the Episcopal priest Father George Jones began a publishing a series of pamphlets to raise funds and awareness of the impoverished community; these pamphlets were later republished in 1954 as book entitled ''Candles in the Dark Boreen''. In 1956, the mission helped train a group of women and opened a shirt factory in Sherwood in an attempt to create local jobs.


Threatened snail species

The painted snake-coiled forest snail is only found in the Sherwood area. The snail was first found in the area in 1906 and was designated as a
threatened species A threatened species is any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which is vulnerable to extinction in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensatio ...
in 1978. Anguispira picta has the common names of painted snake-coiled forest snail and painted tigersnail and is a rare species of air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Discidae, the disc snails.


Gallery

SherwoodTNUSA-OldLogCabin.jpg, Old Log Cabin File:SherwoodTNUSA-CrowCreek.jpg, Crow Creek File:SherwoodTNUSA-EpiphanyMissionFirePlace.jpg, Epiphany Mission Ruined Fireplace File:SherwoodTNUSA-EpiphanyChapelCentralRuin.jpg, Epiphany Mission Central Ruin File:SherwoodTNUSA-EpiphanyMissionPlaque.jpg, Epiphany Mission Historical Plaque File:SherwoodTNUSA-EpiphanyMissionOldBellTower.jpg, Epiphany Mission Old Bell Tower File:SherwoodTNUSA-MiningCompanyEntrance.jpg, Gager Mining Company Ruins Entrance


References


External links


Sherwood, Tennessee history by the Crow Creek Heritage Preservation Society
* {{authority control Unincorporated communities in Franklin County, Tennessee Unincorporated communities in Tennessee Lime kilns in the United States Quarries in the United States