Edward F. Geers

Geers made his name behind a sulky with bicycle wheels. In 1892 he drove Nancy Hanks to a 2:04 mile in a featherweight rig with ball-bearing wheels and pneumatic tires, a design that reshaped harness racing. He had won his first race at the Wilson County Fair, and in 1916, at sixty-five, he drove his first mile under two minutes. His career winnings approached two million dollars. After he died of injuries from a racing fall in 1924, the city of Columbia dedicated a park in his name.

What the plaque says

Edward F. Geers Here was born one of America's greatest horsemen. Interesting himself in Standardbred horses while in his teens, he soon became a trainer and race-driver distinguished alike for technique and sportsmanship. He was killed in a racing accident at Wheeling. W. Va., in the 74th year of his age. He is buried in Columbia Tennessee.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Wynnewood State Historic Site — 12 mi
  A National Historic Landmark log inn at the Bledsoe's Lick springs, beside a Mississippian mound center and tied to the domestic slave trade.
• Andrew Jackson's Hermitage — 15 mi
  Andrew Jackson's cotton plantation east of Nashville, where visitors can walk to the quarters, Alfred's Cabin and the Enslaved Cemetery as well as the mansion.
• Ryman Auditorium — 24 mi
  The 1892 brick tabernacle in downtown Nashville that was the Grand Ole Opry's home from 1943 to 1974, now a National Historic Landmark and working concert hall.
• Fort Negley — 24 mi
  The largest inland stone fort of the Civil War, built in 1862 on St. Cloud Hill by more than 2,700 conscripted Black laborers, hundreds of whom died.

More markers nearby

• Camp Bell — 2.5 mi
• Castle Heights Military Academy — 2.5 mi
• Judge Nathan Green, Sr. — 2.7 mi
• Cumberland University — 3.1 mi