Clay Faulkner April 11, 1845-August 26, 1916

Clay Faulkner's wealth came from cloth. The Central Cotton factory at Faulkner's Springs helped drive Warren County's growth. His mansion, Falcon Rest, covered about 10,000 square feet when it was finished in 1896. In the 1940s it became a hospital and nursing home, eventually renamed Faulkner Springs Hospital. George McGlothin bought the house in 1989 and renovated it to its 1896 appearance. Faulkner had already turned the mineral springs on his grounds into a health resort, so a house built by a manufacturer later served the sick.

What the plaque says

Clay Faulkner April 11, 1845-August 26, 1916 In 1873, Clay Faulkner opened Mountain City Woolen Mills. He built a mansion in 1896 named Falcon Rest, which had indoor plumbing, electricity, central steam heat, and a telephone. After finding mineral springs on the grounds, he converted the woolen mills into Faulkner Springs Hotel health resort. Faulkner also led in building McMinnville Methodist Church and the Great Falls Cotton Mill at Rock Island.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Rock Island State Park — 9.2 mi
  A park where the Collins, Rocky and Caney Fork rivers meet at the head of Center Hill Lake, with a gorge of waterfalls below a 1917 dam and the remains of a cotton-mill town.
• Savage Gulf State Park — 20 mi
  Roughly 19,000 acres of gorge and sandstone bluff on the western edge of the Cumberland Plateau, a state park of its own since 2022, with the Stone Door and a National Natural Landmark.
• Fall Creek Falls State Park — 23 mi
  A New Deal park on the western edge of the Cumberland Plateau, where Cane Creek has cut a gorge and a 256-foot waterfall drops into it.
• Burgess Falls State Park — 24 mi
  A day-use park on the Falling Water River, where a short trail passes three smaller falls on its way to a drop of more than 130 feet into a limestone gorge.

More markers nearby

• Morgan's Headquarters — 2.5 mi
• Anthia Brady Hughes 1868-1949 Willie Huges 1895-1986 — 2.6 mi
• Bernard School — 2.6 mi
• Carl T. Rowan — 2.6 mi