Sagetown Part 1
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Community history written in 1986
Sagetown
Compiled by Lorene Woody Beard
May 1986
SAGETOWN: Named for the wild grass called Sage. Sagetown with Taylors School and Antioch Baptist Church. Our valley 5 miles North of Benton, Tennessee, bordered on North and West by the curving Hiwassee River and South East to South by Chilhowee Mountain.
From the rich river bottom lands to the rolling hills, a beautiful land of plenty in the 1800s. When early pioneers began to settle here the well watered valley of streams and springs of fresh water with fish in the streams and wild game in the mountains were a golden land of promise for farms.
When Polk County was organized, from what was then Bradley County in 1839, Abraham Lillard I was district manager. There were 20 families and 14 children in this area. There were already 5 log cabin schools in Polk County and Taylors School was one of them.
Josiah Harrison was one of the earliest settlers here. Early land owners were Lillards, owning a large area here, the Taylors, Harrisons, Biggs, Harbisons, Guinns, Parris, Greens, Jenkins, Woodys, Rymers, Brown, Lanes, Hoods, Runions, Wises, Lingerfelt, Thomas, Joyce, Stone, Dunken, Calmon, Weavers, Wilsons, Morgans, Kilpatricks, Grooms, Albrittons, Culbersons, Tripplets, Lankfords.
This valley along the Hiwassee River was the land of the Cherokee Indians. As they were moved out more settlers moved in. The family of William D. Woody and his son James Jasper Woody began a settlement, building log homes, a grocery store and general merchandise to meet the farmers’ needs. As family buildings built up around big barns, cribs, spring houses, shed and a blacksmith shop and a corn mill added later it became Sagetown. Then in 1899 a post office was added in the store, until 1909 when it was moved to Benton.
The first mail carriers remembered were Charlie Stone, Andy Wiley, James Shelton, who carried by horseback or buggy. The early roads were wagon trails. The Federal Road was built in 1803. There was a river crossing called Savannah Ford until a ferry service was built and operated by Andrew Harbison family.
Then the Benton to Wetmore Pike was built in 1903. As large families grew and more farmers came to Sagetown, large crops of cotton fields, corn and other grains were grown. Farmers came to trade with Jasper Woody. He gave credit to farm families from spring until fall. When cotton ginning time came big lines of wagons lined up at the Cotton Gin. Bobbie Harrison built a cotton gin and grocery store. Later J.N. Woody bought the gin.
Many days in the fall long lines of cotton was lined up in wagons by daylight for a day’s ginning while all the others of the family were busy picking the fields of white cotton. It was something to see, rows of cotton pickers with sacks tied around their waist, dragging the long sacks. Every child that was big enough to go to the fields picked cotton. Many large farmers had several rental farmers, farming on the shares. In the early 1800s, many had slaves, and the seed was picked out by hand before the cotton gin was built.
Sagetown boomed in numbers as many came to trade their eggs, butter, and chickens, honey, syrup for needed home supplies. Little children going to the store enjoyed a penny or two worth of candy if they were lucky. One lady remembers gathering eggs in the big barn for her grandma and she decided to hide one egg each day in the fence row by the road to the store. So when Saturday came, her grandma wrote out her list to get with her basket of eggs and she stopped by her hidden place she had her hidden eggs for candy. Oh! what a big bag of candy 5 eggs bought. On her way home she ate and ate but couldn’t eat it all so she hid it in the grass along the road. But oh! she went the next day to get her candy and the ants had found her candy. She felt like she was being punished,
Sagetown’s goods were first brought in by boat on the Hiwassee River and wagons with supplies traveled across the country. It was a treat for early pioneers to go to the store for supplies and for ladies to see cloth, thread, and other sewing supplies they were to use to make things by hand. There was also farm tools, and hardwares. Then the railroad came to bring supplies to Wetmore. Many remembered getting new furniture by boat or train. Farmers were hard workers but it was a happy life to make your own way in peace and freedom. Lots of cane was grown for molasses. George W. Harbison I built the first corn and grist mill on the big spring creek on his farm and a grocery store, later called Waldrops or Doshia Clure Mill. Nancy Harbison Wiley was once owner of that property. She married Franklin W. “Bill” Wiley and raised 9 children.
(Continued next week)
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