Old Jefferson

Jefferson was the first seat of Rutherford County, and today its site lies beneath Percy Priest Lake. The county seat moved to Murfreesboro in 1811, but the river settlement did not vanish at once. James and Mary Watkins Richardson moved there in 1814, and their son John, a physician, later practiced in Murfreesboro. Their grandson James D. Richardson, born in the county in 1843, rose from the Confederate army to Congress, where he was Democratic minority whip in 1894 and later compiled the Messages and Papers of the Presidents.

What the plaque says

Old Jefferson William Nash opened the first store here in 1803; first county courthouse was here in 1804, following first meeting of court at Thomas Rucker's house. It was a stopping place on the Georgia Road, & an important river port & trading post. In 1811, the county seat moved to Murfreesboro; thereafter, until 1815, the courthouse housed Jefferson Seminary of Learning.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Stones River National Battlefield — 8.9 mi
  The Murfreesboro battlefield of December 1862, with a national cemetery built by Black soldiers, a Trail of Tears route and the story of the freedmen's settlement called Cemetery.
• Andrew Jackson's Hermitage — 17 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.
• Fort Negley — 19 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.
• National Museum of African American Music — 20 mi
  A downtown Nashville museum, opened in 2021, tracing gospel, blues, jazz, rhythm and blues and hip-hop through Black history from 1619 to 2016.

More markers nearby

• Wheeler's Raid around Rosecrans, December 30, 1862 — steps away
• Sam Davis — 1.7 mi
• Smyrna Railroad Depot — 1.7 mi
• Sewart Air Force Base — 2.5 mi