Why is it “Coopertown” when no one by that name has ever lived here?
A “cooper” is a highly skilled craftsman who makes wooden casks, most notably barrels. The 1850 Federal census counted 33 persons who listed their occupation as “cooper” out of the 67 working people in the entire district. Why so many coopers? Answer: whiskey, gunpowder and tobacco!
There was and still is a lot of white oak in this area, perfect for aging wine and spirits. Add Scots-Irish settlers, land ideal for corn (but not cotton) and year around limestone springs and you get some of the best whiskey ever produced. The Nelson Brothers Greenbrier distillery about 10 miles East alone produced 8,000 barrels of fine whiskey annually! And there were several other distilleries as well shipping Robertson County whiskey throughout the nation.
About 10 miles West, just outside the Ashland City, stood the Sycamore Powder mills, one of only two gunpowder mills in the entire South when the Civil War began. Once production resumed after the war, the mills produced up to 400 kegs of gunpowder every day.
Robertson and Montgomery counties in Tennessee and Todd and Logan counties in Kentucky form one of the few areas in the entire world that can grow dark fired tobacco, with Robertson county long recognized as producing the finest dark fired tobacco available. This tobacco is mostly used to make snuff, but sometimes a small amount is blended into cigars. This type of tobacco must be aged in wooden casks just like wine or spirits. The tobacco is aged in massive barrels called hogsheads (pronounced hawz-heads, from middle English). Even today, tobacco companies will not accept dark fired tobacco aged less than two years in wooden casks.
So where are the coopers today? In 1903, long before national prohibition, Robertson county voters banned the production, distribution, sale and consumption of alcohol. In 1904, Du Pont Chemicals, now owner of the gunpowder mills, shut them down. The mills produced black powder, which was no longer being used. The massive casks that age tobacco are very simple to make, unlike barrels that to this day must be made by hand. Modern industrial machinery began producing the hogsheads. And modern materials like steel barrels were cheaper and easier to make, eliminating the need for wooden barrels for storage or shipping.
Today, there are no coopers in Coopertown.
This cache placed with the permission of Mayor Glen Guyer. All of the LEOs know about it, but please, DAYTIME CACHING ONLY. Park in the lot, not on the road. Room for small trade items, but BYOP and close the lid tightly!