Rutherford County in 1884

The Rutherford county of Robert K. Hollifield’s boyhood days in the 1880s would be unrecognizable to the eyes of those living in this modern day. We happened upon a little booklet of facts about the county in 1884, which lists the businesses, churches and many people in the area: officials, tradesmen, farmers, preachers, some of whom are mentioned in the Hollifield stories. There were four gold mines and four distilleries in the county at that time, three of each around the village of Cuba. Corn was far and way the largest agricultural crop grown (32,000 acres), providing food for the 15,000 inhabitants and 36,000 head of livestock, and there were 10 mills in the county to grind it. It’s an interesting assortment of statistics.

Read and let your imagination wander (PDF format).

Booklet found in the effects of Byron R. Bailey .