Sunday Drive Series...Halltown Bridge
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The town of Halltown is not much more these days than a “blink & you’ll miss it” spot, but in it’s day it was a thriving little place. Halltown has been in existence since about 1833, when original founder I.V. Morris and the first settlers came to the area from Lawrence County, Tennessee. The first Halltown business was built by George Hall in 1876. This was later known as a drug store. George Hall lent his name to Halltown.
In her writing of "Our Town, Halltown as I knew it," Matilda Winfrey gave the following report: "In 1925 our town boasts three churches, three general stores, one drug store, one bank, one feed mill, one telephone exchange, one canning factory, one blacksmith shop, two garages, one lumber yard, two barber shops, nine filling stations, three private homes in which one can procure rooms and comfortable beds at reasonable prices, two cafes, and Harvey's Chili Hut."
With the completion of Route 66, Halltown received much business from the tourists who were passing through. The new highway passed right through Halltown, and the town became known as the "Antique Capitol of the World" while the highway was in it's prime.
The history of the Turnback Mill begins in 1848 when William Likens, Sr. came to Turnback Creek and built a water mill at the point where the two branches of the stream flow together. The large dam was constructed of native rocks and was built by Wash Smith's slaves. These slaves also built the mill race and made the first water wheel by hand. This mill soon became too small to serve the community, and in 1857 William Likens built the big two-story mill, which still stands today. The first miller was assisted by his son, William Likens, Jr., and for many years the place was known as the Likens Mill.
Following the Likens' ownership of the mill, it was known as McCoy's Mill, or Turnback Mill. Around the turn of the century, Mr. McCoy sold the mill to John Wesley Britain, who operated it for a few years, and was succeeded by his son, Wash Britain. Wash is the grandfather of the present owner of Britains Store in Lawrenceburg. He ran the mill continuously, keeping the race and building in good shape, until the spring of 1945, when someone dynamited for fish and broke the mill dam, stopping the water power.
Following the destruction of the dam, Mr. Britain considered repairing it so he could continue operating, but the need for an old water mill was passing, and in a few years his health began to fail, so the mill was silenced forever. The weatherbeaten old mill now stands.
About our Sunday Drive Series of caches…
Back in the 60’s & early 70’s, there was nothing, in my young mind, better than piling into the family car to go for a Sunday drive. Gas was cheap but so were wages, so it usually meant we had to scrounge around the house for whatever change we could come up with to fund our adventure. We’d take off in one direction or another, with one of us kids hollering, “left, Daddy, left!” and go wherever the day would take us.
We would drive down dirt country roads or highways that still weren’t paved at that time, looking at how the others live. We would explore cemeteries, parks, bridges, and occasionally a roadside fruit & vegetable stand. If we had enough money, the day usually ended at some Mom & Pop drive-in where we’d buy nickel (then dime, then quarter…) ice cream cones. Life was good and those memories are precious to me to this day.
We started talking about a cache route with the Sunday Drive theme a few months ago and finally have had time to put something together. We wanted a concentrated area of caches so that people could come out to our neck of the woods, enjoy the scenery away from the hustle and bustle of the city, but have enough caches to log to make the drive here worthwhile. The caches aren’t fancy, often the most interesting view is of the stream in the holler, an old tombstone, or the farmhouse across the way. We’ve tried to vary the degree of difficulty so they’ll be fun. The main idea is to relax and enjoy a little taste of Americana that has slipped away with our busy lives and three dollar a gallon gasoline.
So set the radio station to the oldies, roll down your windows, and let your GPS take you back to a simple time and place. We hope you enjoy the ride!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Yvxr Nhfgenyvn’f avpxanzr.