Brownsville

The square grew on cotton worked by enslaved people, who made up most of the town and county population before the war. The log courthouse gave way to a brick one in 1845, and in 1868 the county added a west wing so the state Supreme Court could sit here for West Tennessee. The panic of 1837 left only two of the town's ten stores open. German Jewish merchants such as the Tamms and Felsenthals later ran stores here for generations, and their congregation built Temple Adas Israel in 1882, believed to be the oldest synagogue building in Tennessee.

What the plaque says

Brownsville Col. Richard Nixon, veteran of the New Orleans campaign, War of 1812 , settled four miles east of here in 1821. First county court met in his house. Brownsville became the county seat in 1823 and the first courthouse was built of logs in 1824.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Tina Turner Museum at Flagg Grove School — 3.8 mi
  The one-room Black school Tina Turner attended in Nutbush, moved to Brownsville in 2012 and opened as a museum in 2014 beside Sleepy John Estes's house.
• Alex Haley House Museum — 18 mi
  The 1919 bungalow in Henning where Alex Haley heard the family stories behind Roots, now a state historic site and museum with his grave in the front yard.

More markers nearby

• Fighting for Freedom (Haywood County African American Soldiers) — steps away
• The Brownsville Raids — steps away
• Elbert Williams — steps away
• Golden Circle Life Insurance Company — steps away