Buford Ellington

Ellington governed twice, and the two terms did not sound alike. In his first campaign he called himself an old-fashioned segregationist from Mississippi. By his second he spoke of burying segregation, and in office he named H. T. Lockard Tennessee's first African American cabinet officer and created the Tennessee Human Relations Commission. He and Frank Clement alternated the governorship for eighteen years, and the partnership soured: Clement reportedly called a special session in 1966 to spend a surplus rather than leave it for his successor. Ellington held the line on taxes in both terms.

What the plaque says

Buford Ellington 1907-1972 A native of Holmes County, Mississippi, he married Catherine Cheek in 1930. Ten years later he moved to Verona where he farmed and operated a general store until 1953. He was elected to the General Assembly in 1948. Appointed commissioner of agriculture in 1953, he served until 1958. He was elected governor in 1958 and again in 1966. He held the post of director of the Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization under President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Henry Horton State Park — 5.6 mi
  A Duck River park on Governor Henry Horton's former farm in Marshall County, with a mill ruin from 1845, kayak floats and the grave of a governor the House declined to impeach.
• The Mink Slide and East 8th Street — 16 mi
  Columbia's Black business and church district south of the courthouse square, where on the night of February 25, 1946 a white mob gathered and Black veterans stood guard.
• James K. Polk Home and Museum — 16 mi
  The 1816 brick house in Columbia where Polk practiced law and campaigned for the legislature, now a museum that also tells of the people the Polk family enslaved.
• Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration — 18 mi
  The Shelbyville show grounds where the Tennessee Walking Horse has been crowned world grand champion each late summer since 1939, and where the practice of soring is part of the story.

More markers nearby

• Henry Hollis Horton — 5.7 mi
• Colonel Sidney Post and General John Bell Hood at Loftin Hill — 12 mi
• Culleoka Institute — 13 mi
• Side by Side — 16 mi