Austin Peay

Peay paid for his roads at the gas pump. He pushed a new tax on gasoline for highways and one on tobacco products for schools, then cut the property tax. Paved state highways grew from 244 miles to more than 4,000, and seventeen new bridges crossed major rivers. A deficit of about three million dollars turned into a surplus of 1.2 million. He is also the governor who signed the Butler Act against teaching evolution, and under him Reelfoot Lake became Tennessee's first state park.

What the plaque says

Austin Peay Born near Hopkinsville, Kentucky, on June 1, 1876, he moved to Clarksville in 1896. Governor Peay practiced law here until he was elected governor in 1922. He was re-elected in 1924 and again in 1926 and served until he died in Nashville on October 2, 1927. Among his achievements as governor were an extensive highway construction program, establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the reorganization of state government.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Defiance Civil War Park and Interpretive Center — 1.3 mi
  An intact earthwork fort above the Cumberland and Red Rivers in Clarksville, begun with forced Black labor and later a contraband camp and recruiting center for Black soldiers.
• Dunbar Cave State Park — 3.6 mi
  A Clarksville cave with 800-year-old Mississippian artwork, later a resort and Roy Acuff's dance stage, now a state park with seasonal guided tours.
• Cross Creeks National Wildlife Refuge — 24 mi
  An 8,862-acre refuge on the Cumberland River floodplain near Dover, made in 1962 to replace habitat Lake Barkley flooded, wintering tens of thousands of waterfowl.

More markers nearby

• Pioneer Newspaper — steps away
• Montgomery County Courthouse — steps away
• Horace H. Lurton — steps away
• Clarksville's Slave Market — steps away