A-Z

Rollin A. Daniel Jr., a pioneer in cardiac and thoracic surgery, was born June 14, 1908, in Georgia. Shortly thereafter, his parents moved to the Nashville area, and he grew up in Middle Tennessee. Daniel graduated from Goodlettsville High School…

Hoping for relief from economic hardship, tobacco growers in western Kentucky and northern Middle Tennessee formed the Dark Tobacco District Planters' Protective Association of Kentucky and Tennessee (PPA) on September 24, 1904. A steady decline in dark-fired tobacco prices since…

Martha Craig Daughtrey, attorney, law professor, and judge, was born on July 21, 1942, in Covington, Kentucky. She received a B.A. (cum laude) from Vanderbilt University in 1964 and graduated from Vanderbilt University School of Law in 1968. Her academic…

With sixty-six acres situated along the scenic Nolichucky River valley in Greene County, the David Crockett Birthplace State Park features a reproduction of the log cabin where Crockett was born near the confluence of the Big Limestone Creek and the…

David Crockett State Park, located outside of Lawrenceburg on over one thousand acres of land, includes the original sites of a gristmill, distillery, and powder mill once owned by Davy Crockett, the legendary frontiersman, antebellum politician, and martyred hero of…

David Halberstam was a nationally significant late-twentieth-century journalist and writer, who chronicled the Nashville student movement during the early years of the Civil Rights movement in Tennessee. His book The Children (1998) is an influential study and recollection of the…

Davidson County is the oldest county in Middle Tennessee. It dates to 1783, when the North Carolina legislature created the county and named it in honor of William L. Davidson, a North Carolina officer who died in the Revolutionary War…

Poet, essayist, and social critic Donald Davidson played a major role in shaping southern Agrarianism and left a distinguished body of writings based on Tennessee and southern materials. Born in Campbellsville, near Pulaski, in 1893, to William Bluford Davidson, a…

Located at Brunswick, Davies Manor is recognized as the oldest extant dwelling in Shelby County and perhaps West Tennessee. The west section of the two-story, white oak log, central hall plan house dates to circa 1807 and has been attributed…

Maria Thompson Daviess, artist and author, was born in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, in 1872 to an upper-middle-class family. Before she was eight years old, her sister and her father died, and her mother moved the family to Nashville. Daviess became active…

Davis Bridge was a small yet fierce battle in the Civil War. Taking place near Pocahontas, Tennessee, on October 5, 1862, the battle served an important role in the Corinth Campaign. Had it been a major Union victory, the battle…

Anne M. Davis was a native of Louisville, Kentucky, who moved to Knoxville in 1915 with her husband Willis P. Davis, the president of Knoxville Iron Company. She soon developed a lifelong love for the Great Smoky Mountains, and she…

Clifford Davis, U.S. representative from Memphis, was born in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, on November 18, 1897, to Odom A. and Jessie Davis. In 1911, the family moved to Memphis, where the elder Davis worked for the Illinois Central Railroad and Clifford…

Louise Littleton Davis, historian and journalist, was born in Paris, Tennessee, one of five children of LaRue Lucetta Littleton, a musician, and Grover C. Davis, a career U.S. Army officer. Davis's scholarly bent took her first to Murray State College…

"Boy Hero of the Confederacy" Sam Davis was born on his family's farm near Smyrna on October 6, 1842. A frail child, Davis grew up playing on the land around his home and learned the landscape of Middle Tennessee, knowledge…

John De Brahm, engineer and cartographer, was a native of Germany. A military engineer in the army of Charles VII, he resigned his commission in 1748 and three years later led a group of immigrants to America, settling in the…

The wealthiest Nashvillian of his time, George M. Deaderick was a wholesale merchant, real estate dealer, and pioneer banker. Born of German stock (the family name was originally Dietrich) in Winchester, Virginia, George and his younger brother Thomas already enjoyed…

Decatur County borders the Tennessee River in West Tennessee and was established in 1845. Its name honors Commodore Stephen Decatur, naval hero of the War of 1812. Carved from land originally claimed by the Chickasaws, the area was part of…

Charles Decker Sr., master potter and proprietor of Keystone Pottery, was the largest producer of utilitarian and folk art ceramics in East Tennessee between 1873 and 1906. Decker was the binding influence behind a family business that produced items made…