This Geocache is part of an annual Geocache Challenge put on by the Heritage Program at Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area as part of our outreach to the public, to get people to explore their forest and their history, and to share the unique heritage of the families from Between the Rivers.
This Geocache is part of the “2020 Land Between the Lakes Heritage Geocache Challenge: Trigg County Bicentennial Celebration”. There are 6 geocaches placed in Trigg County in Land Between the Lakes related to the Trigg County Heritage of the area. If you locate each geocache, and collect a numbered aluminum tree tag from each cache, you can turn them in at the Golden Pond Visitor Center for one of 200 Challenge Coins created for this event.
The Geocache is a 6.” x 6” orange watertight plastic box marked “Heritage Geocache” on the top. The geocache is placed next to a large tree, north of where the Ironton Post Office once stood.
The Ironton Geocache
Ironton was located in Trigg County some eleven miles north of Golden Pond and eight or nine miles south of Star Lime Works. It was so named because at one time it was the center for the shipment of iron ore by way of the Tennessee River.
Ironton was previously known as “Stringtown” and “Hell’s Half Acre.” The last term was given it because the workers who lived in the vicinity were particularly rowdy. A long time postmaster a Ironton was William Henry Rhodes. Rhodes was blind but he operated his store and post office at the village for many years. He was postmaster from October 10. 1899 to July 18, 1912, when he was succeeded by his widow, Mrs. Cora A. Rhodes.”