Save Buck Mountain Environment
Oppose TVA Power Line
Buck Mountain Images
Area of Impact
The proposed route of the power transmission line will cut across Buck Mountain from the south near the Poplar Grove/Hidden Hollow Area and cross Buck Mountain Road just North of the Brotherton Church, angling toward Paragon Road and then coming down the mountain near Algood.
This area of Buck Mountain includes many beautiful, thickly forested acres with many caves, sink holes, and bluffs. There are large areas of contiguous forest each over 100 acres that would be affected. The numerous caves and sink holes feed underground aquifers connected to Booger Swamp, Hidden Hollow, and other bodies of water around Cookeville and Algood. The area supports considerable wildlife and was used by Native Americans for hunting (supported by numerous artifacts).
History
There is also archeological evidence that prehistoric Native Americans populated the area during the Archaic and Paleoindian Period (10,000-6,000 BC). TVA's own reports indicate that there is evidence of this earliest known era of human occupation in North American in the Highland Rim region (includes Buck Mountain).
Pictures of Small Rock Shelters Thought to be used by Prehistoric Indians (Dr. Franklin's Website)
In more recent times, Buck Mountain is known for the Old Walton Road which represented one of the earliest roads to the western frontier.
The Cumberland Turnpike Company operated the Road as a toll road from 1802 to 1811 under charter from the Tennessee General Assembly, but the State resumed control of the road in 1811. http://www.tngenweb.org/putnam/putnmigr.htm
An article in the Nashville Tennessean Magazine from June 29,1947 chronicles the rural delivery of mail from Brotherton Mountain by Willis H. Hyder (father of Clyde Hyder - see Hyder-Burks Pavilion). In 1947, Willis Hyder may have been the last mail carrier in Tennessee to deliver the mail by horseback. Hyder delivered mail to people in Popular Grove and Macedonia from the Brotherton Mountain Post Office. His mail route followed the Old Walton Road to an old horse and carriage road that took him from Buck Mountain to the Falling River Valley. Although the Old Walton Road has been replaced by a wider paved Buck Mountain Road, the old unpaved horse and carriage road that Willis Hyder traveled to deliver mail is still in existence and largely unchanged (see pictures below). This historic road will be a casualty of the proposed TVA high power transmission line.
An expert on local history, TTU Professor Calvin Dickinson examines the old horse and carriage route used by Willis Hyder to deliver mail by horse.
View of Falling Water Valley (Poplar Grove) that Hyder probably saw as he arrived to deliver mail at the Rockwell farm on the old mail road.
Threats to Animals
As noted above the area of impact is heavily forested and has numerous caves, sink holes, and springs. There is considerable wildlife in this area ranging from cave dwelling species to lizards, snakes, small rodents, bobcats, deer and many species of birds. Although many of these animals will be negatively impacted by the proposed transmission line, there are three species that are either endangered or threatened by extinction that could be impacted. The Cerulean Warbler, the Gray Bat, and the Indiana Bat may be found in this area.
Threatened Cerulean Warbler Gray Bat Indiana Bat
Buck Mountain Community Organization
