Names give a sense of place to a location.

That’s how I used to teach the concept to my geography students. Location is where it might be found on a map, while place is what you see when you get there. A name that marks a location often tells a story within itself; if not outright, then by merely peeling back the layers of time to reveal the meaning of the name on the sign. What follows is the first installment of some brief stories behind some local signs.

Ernest Cates Road: Ernest Fountain Cates was born in Macon County in 1902, the son of John Wesley “Johnnie” Cates and Mary Jane Lyles. After the death of his father in 1914, Mary Jane took her son and the rest of her family to live on Coley Town Road in Sumner County. Vernon “Vernie” Cates, a bother to Ernest, would live most of his life on that road, while Ernest, who married Lilly Myrtle Troutt in 1924, would settle on a farm on the road that still bears his name. He was reputed to be a moonshiner on the side – “pretty good tasting!” – as one old-timer recently told me. He died in 1987 and is buried in Siloam.

Ada Coates Road: Lee Adren Coates was born in March, 1917 in Sumner County. His parents were Elijah “Lige” Coates and Azzalee Calvert. No one ever called him “Ada” except mistakenly so by the folks at the county road department. Though the misnomer bothered him greatly, Adren never asked for it to be changed, and thus it remains unchanged today, twenty-three years after his death.

Adren and his wife, Aline Graves, purchased land along the road that would eventually bear a portion of his name in 1947 from Dock Graves, a relative of Aline. Here, the family would, like most of the area’s farmers, be largely self-sufficient through hard work in farming: cows, hogs and chickens raised on the farm provided the protein while tilling the soil supplied bountiful vegetables. Adren supplemented the family’s income by doing what so many of that time period did in Sumner County, working at the Genesco plant in Gallatin – the “shoe factory”. He died in 1992 and was survived by Aline by 29 years, she passing away just shy of her 102nd birthday. Both are buried in the cemetery at Roberts Tabernacle. Adren and Aline lived in a white house that sat at the corner of Calvert Ridge and Ada Coates Road. Descendants still reside on the original farmland.

It was said that Adren Coates was a “hard-nosed Republican” when it came to politics.

Bryant Perry Road: Bryant Mayford Perry was one of three Perrys by the name of Bryant who were associated with Westmoreland in the 20th century. Readers of the Westmoreland World in the 1970s and 80s may recall colorful letters to the editor from Bryant Perry. This individual was Hurtal Bryant Perry and was not the namesake of Bryant Perry Road. The second individual was Loy Bryant “Mack” Perry who was, in fact, a son of Bryant Mayford Perry. The namesake of Bryant Perry Road was a son of Caleb Woodson Perry and Lula “Gertie” Key.

Bryant Mayford Perry lived on “Bryant Perry Road” on a small farm with his wife, Allie May Davenport. Allie May was a daughter of James Cephus “J. C.” Davenport and Polly House. (Once, at a revival at the nearby Forrest Chapel Church, during the altar call, a somewhat inebriated J C passed out from his excess in front of the altar. After being revived, he sulked away, only to return sober the following night, whereupon he admitted the error of his ways and joined the church! It should be noted that contained within the annals of the court records of Sumner County, many an individual was arrested for public drunkenness, fighting, or otherwise disturbing a church revival.)

Bryant Mayford Perry died of a massive heart attack on January 3, 1964. He was only 47 years old. He is buried at Forrest Chapel where he was joined by his son, Pfc. Loy Bryant “Mack” Perry, just four years later, in 1967, who died in Anchorage, Alaska, from “non-hostile wounds”.

Rabe Coats Road: This road was named for Robert Coats who was a son of Samuel Coates and Sarah Rippy. He was born in December, 1879. Robert was nicknamed “Rob”, but never “Rabe” – again, an example of a road department misnomer. Rob married Arraminta Brown, a daughter of James Peter Brown and Nancy Ellen Keen, in 1902. The couple eventually lived on a farm on the road, and, like several farmers in the area, used a portion of their harvest to make moonshine. Rob Coats said it was the “only way to make a living” during the hard times of the Great Depression.

As for the spelling of his last name, Robert seemed to have favored “Coats”. That’s how he signed his draft card in 1917 and is what appears on his tombstone. His death certificate uses “Coates”.

Robert “Rob” Coats was found lying in his yard beside his lawnmower on July 30, 1959, dead from an apparent heart attack. He was just shy of his 80th birthday and was laid to rest at Forrest Chapel. His house still stands at 1560 Rabe Coats Road.

Mill Street: Running east off Pleasant Grove Road in the old downtown portion of Westmoreland, one can find this street. Sometime prior to 1920, businessman Clay Law, the father of Jimmy and Johnnie Law, and their sister, Jessie Law Caldwell, constructed a flour mill at the end of this street. It was a large structure, three stories tall and was powered by oil brought in on the train. It was both a flour mill and a corn mill and was called the “Westmoreland Milling Company”.

Soon, Law quit the flour milling business and became the “L” in the L & B Lumber Company. (Clay Law had only one hand, having lost the other to a sawmill’s blade at the age of 21). After the departure of Law, switchboard operator Mordecai Bransford would become associated with the mill. In due time, he would depart from the mill to become a lumberman of cross ties. While associated with the mill, Bransford would serve as a councilman and then as the mayor of Westmoreland, a post that was later held by Clay Law, as well.

Following Bransford, Peyton Bryant ran the mill for awhile before it was taken over by Eslie Gilliam, the father of Thelma Gilliam Dotson, and a son-in-law of Mordecai Bransford. Eslie Gilliam was listed in the 1940 Census as being a Miller, operating a Grist Mill and residing on Mill Street. Between then and Gilliam’s death in April, 1944, the mill was destroyed by fire which was caused by the fuel source that operated the mill.

Regarding the mill, the floorboards inside the building were tightly fitted together in almost a dovetail fashion, which kept the grain from falling through any cracks and onto the ground below. There was a loading dock on the front of the building, higher than the height of a wagon. This permitted wagons to be pulled up to the dock and unloaded / loaded. The building faced the north with a large, covered platform running the length of the structure on its west side. The interior was divided into three sections with the offices running the width of the building on its northern-most end, the flour mill doing the same in its central section and being the largest portion of the structure, and the corn mill being on the southern end. A small shed was attached to the building’s exterior in the center of its north end.

Park Street: The original “first street” of the town of Westmoreland, created by the Chesapeake and Nashville Railroad in 1886 and named for the park or commons area that ran the length of the street from north to south. The park originally contained the railyards and depot. Prior to 1974, the downtown parks were shaded by large trees and the grassy areas played host to numerous celebrations, political gatherings, and tent revivals. The local Justices of the Peace would often hold court there when the weather permitted. Today, northern and southern ends still contain a few trees and the vision of the early railroad pioneers who created the place. The immediate downtown, save for the gazebo and Veteran’s Memorial areas, are now parking areas. It should be noted the destruction of the original park in 1974 was very unpopular at the time and the photograph that follows, taken in 1948, offers a glimpse of what the community lost in its efforts to appease those individuals who wanted more parking spaces.

Rock House Hollow Road: This county road, south of Westmoreland, connects with Old Highway 31E in a sharp curve in an area of bottomlands, snug against rocky bluffs that rise sharply just beyond the roadbed. It takes its name from a combination of two structures that once sat in the area. In the early 1800s, the family of Peter Staley and possibly the Zeb Davis family was said to have inhabited a portion of a bluff outcropping nearby as a temporary dwelling. Wood was placed over the opening, affording them shelter from the elements. This unusual dwelling was originally referred to as the “Rock House”.

In 1810, Peter Staley constructed a two-story log building that sat rather oddly in the curve on the east side of the road. The house faced the southwest and sat somewhat diagonally to the Rock House Hollow Road. This structure came to be called the “Rock House Tavern” and stood until December, 1967 when it was destroyed by fire. Staley’s tavern served as a way-station along the Nashville and Bardstown stagecoach line. A frame addition was later added and significantly increased its size. The addition was clapboard and the log portion of the home was covered with this feature, as well. Blood stains were visible in the upstairs hallway, likely a reminder of the residence having served briefly as a makeshift hospital caring for the victims of an 1899 train crash on the nearby railroad. The home also served as a recruiting site for both the Confederate and Union armies during the Civil War. Union General Ebenezer Dumont possibly stayed here when his division of Union soldiers briefly encamped in the area around the house in November, 1862.

Peter Staley is still alive at the time of the 1859 Census, where he is listed as 70 years of age and living next door to his sons, William, who’s occupation was “clerk”, and Oscar (spelled “Auschar” by the census taker), who was listed as a farmer. Oscar’s real estate holdings were valued at $8,000, a substantial amount at the time and likely indicative of the importance of the tavern and adjoining tanyard, both valuable entities of that era.

Bishop Troutt Road: This road predates its namesake by many years, following virtually the same route today as it did in the mid-1800s. It appears on the D. G. Beers Map of Sumner County in 1878, running from its intersection with Old Highway 31E west up the hill through some excellent grasslands and back down into a hollow where it intersects with today’s Rabe Coats Road. Here, it now ends, but in the past, it continued further west and following Dutch Creek along its narrow bottomlands to a point near where Scott Rippy Road intersects with Dutch Creek Road, just a few yards away from the seat of “Troutt’s District”, the mid-1860s home of George Troutt, Justice of the Peace. “Squire” George Troutt was a grandfather of Bishop Troutt.

Bishop Henry Troutt was born in 1906, a son of Coley Troutt and Ruth Atkinson. Bishop Troutt married Annie Smith on July 24, 1926 at the Pleasant Grove home of Philip Rice Creasy, Justice of the Peace, “in the presence of a number of friends”, according to the Sumner County News. Bishop and Annie lived on their farm across from the Fred West place. Bishop Troutt died in 1998 and is buried at New Hope Cemetery.

Sugar Grove: The name of the “spot in the road” just north of Turners Station on Old Highway 31E was given as a result of a seemingly large number of maple trees that could produce maple syrup. The Chesapeake and Nashville Railroad opened a depot along its line here in 1886 and a post office also served the little community from July 18, 1894 with James R. Griffin serving as the first postmaster. Luther Fykes was the postmaster at the time of the office’s closure in 1914. Fykes was the father of long-time Westmoreland Elementary teacher Nadine Fykes McKinney.

In May, 1938, the county purchased two acres from Romelia Turner Thurman for use by the state of Tennessee and the construction of a “$12,000 building to serve as a bureau of information for tourists entering Tennessee on 31E” (Sumner County News, May 26, 1938). That building still stands today as the Sugar Grove Tavern.

Marty Robbins Road: The iconic singer of El Paso, A White Sport Coat, and numerous other hits once owned a large farm along this road. Rumor holds that it was won by Robbins in a poker game. Others say that the singer thought oil might be located there. Regardless of the origins of ownership by Marty Robbins (I remember two families of us piling up in trucks on a Sunday afternoon sometime in the mid-70s and driving along the road, hoping to catch a glimpse of the singer!), Wendell and Bonita Akins found themselves sitting in an office in Nashville with Marizona Robbins, the widow of Marty, and, in a leap of faith, purchasing the farm that had belonged to Marty Robbins. The year was 1983, and Marty Robbins had unexpectedly passed away the previous December. After taking ownership, the Akins family spent a great deal of time removing trash and debris that had accumulated on some parts of the farm. The family continues to own and work the farm today.

Smiley Troutt Road: Smiley Cantrell Troutt was born on March 9, 1895 and was a son of Robert Henry Troutt and Erma Woods. He was the third out of eleven children born to the couple. Like so many born in this generation, Smiley Troutt was destined to don the uniform of a soldier. On June 5, 1917 in Westmoreland, he signed his Draft Registration Card “Smilie Troutt” and stated there was no reason for his exemption from the draft. In just a few short months, he found himself “over there” and in the service, but not before finalizing vows with his sweetheart, Lola Mae Perry. Lola was a daughter of William Joshua Perry and Lou Katie Babb. The young Troutt couple were united in marriage on August 1, 1917 by Rev. R. T. Huntsman.

Smiley Troutt would serve his country as a soldier in Company I, 117th Infantry, 30th Division – the “Old Hickory Division”- and remained unscathed until September 29, 1918. For three days prior to that fateful day, he had lain in the trenches as a massive Allied artillery barrage hurled shells over his head and across the No Man’s Land into the German’s formidable Hindenburg Line. When the orders were finally received to attack on the 29th, Troutt didn’t hesitate, storming into the mist and smoke that blanketed the battlefield to such a degree that a man could scarcely see his hand in front of his face. The fog was so suffocating that many of the attackers held hands in an effort to avoid separation from their command.

As the attack progressed, bullets began striking soldiers near Smiley and German artillery shells rained down from the skies above. When one of those shells exploded nearby, a piece of shrapnel hurled in the direction of Smiley, striking him in the chest with such force that it passed completely through his body and out of his back. He instantly fell to the ground, shot “through and through”. To add insult to his injury, mustard gas drifted nearby, causing his lungs to spasm violently. As the battle continued to rage around him, those who could attempted to tend to Smiley. They stabilized him as best they could but determined his wound was likely mortal and they laid him in a nearby trench for a salvage unit to collect his body after the battle. It was in this trench that Smiley would lay and suffer for the next three days until he was discovered barely clinging to life by another soldier. Smiley Troutt would go on to recover and return to Westmoreland where he and Lola Mae raised a family on their farm on today’s Smiley Troutt Road.

Among the artifacts brought back from the war by Smiley was his personal, military issued Bible. Pictured in the photographs that follow is that Bible with stains that are visible on the edges as a result of the blood shed from his wound.

Smiley’s close brush with death in 1918 helped him to appreciate his chance to live each day thereafter; he and his wife were active members of the church at New Hope, where he often led singing and he served as a Deacon. He enjoyed impromptu gospel singings on Friday nights and he and Lola Mae would bring twelve children into this world, the descendants of whom number in the hundreds today.

Smiley Troutt was found dead in his barn on today’s Smiley Troutt Road by his youngest son, Rammie Troutt, on October 15, 1958. The elder Troutt had apparently suffered a heart attack while tending to his livestock. He had complained of heart issues for much of his life and attributed the problem to his exposure to gas in World War I. Smiley Cantrell Troutt is buried at Forrest Chapel Cemetery where the grave is marked “Smillie Troutt”. He lived in a house that still stands today between 1261 and 1271 Smiley Troutt Road.