Summertown 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 ...

and

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 ...

(CDP) in Lawrence 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. The population of Summertown was 866 at the 2010 census. The community has a ZIP Code of 38483. Some rural areas in neighboring

Lewis Lewis may refer to: Names * Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname Music * Lewis (musician), Canadian singer * " Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohe ...

and Maury counties also use a "Summertown" mailing address, but their population is not included in the Census figures.

Geography

Summertown is in northeastern Lawrence County and is bordered to the north by Lewis County and to the northeast by Maury County.

Tennessee State Route 20 State Route 20 (SR 20) is a long east–west primary state highway that begins in Dyersburg and ending near Summertown. SR 20 is unsigned and concurrent with U.S. Route 412 (US 412) for its entire length, except fo ...

passes through the center of town, leading east to

U.S. Route 43 U.S. Route 43 (US 43) is a north–south United States Highway in the Southern states of Alabama and Tennessee. It travels from Prichard, Alabama, to Columbia, Tennessee. The highway's southern terminus is in Prichard, at an interse ...

and northwest to Hohenwald. US-43 leads south to Lawrenceburg, the Lawrence

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

, and northeast to Columbia. According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the Summertown CDP has an area of , all of it recorded as land. The community is drained by the North and South Forks of Saw Creek, a west-flowing tributary of the Buffalo River, which in turn flows northwest to the Duck River shortly before that river's mouth at 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 ...

Demographics

Education

Summertown is home to three public schools. Summertown Elementary School educates students from kindergarten through 6th grade, Summertown Middle School educates 7th and 8th grade, while Summertown High School educates students from 9th through 12th grade. They both have the same mascot which is an eagle. Summertown athletic programs have been historically competitive on the state level, with state championships in volleyball, tennis, golf, softball, and baseball. Some of extra curriculars included band, cheerleading, tennis, basketball, and football. The School also always students to join other schools teams like a soccer team to the school not having enough people of interest in said sport.

Tornadoes

The Summertown area historical tornado activity is slightly above Tennessee state average. It is 108% greater than the overall U.S. average. On May 18, 1995, an F-4 (max. wind speeds 207-260 mph) tornado a mile away from Summertown killed 3 people, injured 32 people and caused between $500,000 and $5,000,000 in damages. On April 16, 1998, an F-5 (max. wind speeds 261-318 mph) tornado right on Highway 43 in Summertown killed 3 people, injured 36 people and caused $13 million in damages. There have been several other tornadoes to come through Summertown but these are two of the worst.

Attractions and areas of interest

The following are located in or near Summertown: * The Farm, an quasi-intentional community * Plenty International, an environmental and human rights organization * Stillhouse Hollow Falls State Natural Area, a Tennessee natural area * Turtle Hill Sangha is a small community of the

Nyingma Nyingma (, ), also referred to as ''Ngangyur'' (, ), is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The Nyingma school was founded by PadmasambhavaClaude Arpi, ''A Glimpse of the History of Tibet'', Dharamsala: Tibet Museum, 2013. ...

school's

Tibetan Buddhist Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Darjeeling, Sikkim, and Arunachal Prades ...

students of Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche & Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche * Spiral Ridge Permaculture, A permaculture education and research center, nursery and design firm. * Wheelin in the Country An Off-Road Four-Wheelin Park for rock and hill climbing * McKamey Manor A horror attraction which became popular due to the horrific things which are alleged to happen inside of the manor. Locals are also supposedly described as hating the attraction for disturbing the reputation of the town.

References

Unincorporated communities in Tennessee Unincorporated communities in Lawrence County, Tennessee Census-designated places in Lawrence County, Tennessee Census-designated places in Tennessee {{LawrenceCountyTN-geo-stub