Poe's Tavern

Hasten Poe's tavern sat at a crossroads at the foot of Walden's Ridge, and the county's first courts met there. Hamilton County was created on October 25, 1819, a product of the 1817 Hiwassee Purchase, in which the Cherokee yielded the Sequatchie Valley and the land that became the county. It reached south of the Tennessee River only after the disputed Treaty of New Echota in 1835, which led to Cherokee removal and the Trail of Tears. After Poe's, the courts went to John Mitchell's farm, then to a log courthouse at Dallas.

What the plaque says

Poe's Traven Hasten Poe, a veteran of the War of 1812, moved from Virginia and built a log structure on this site in 1818. The area became known as Poe's Cross Roads, later Daisy and in 1969 Soddy Daisy. The structure was used as a tavern and inn. On October 25, 1819, Hamilton County was formed from the southern section of Rhea County. The tavern served as Hamilton County's first courthouse and county seat.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Walnut Street Bridge — 14 mi
  An 1890 truss bridge now open to walkers, and the place where Alfred Blount in 1893 and Ed Johnson in 1906 were lynched, the case that led to the Supreme Court's only criminal trial.
• Tennessee Aquarium — 15 mi
  A river-themed aquarium that opened on May 1, 1992, on the Chattanooga bank where John Ross kept a trading post, tracing a raindrop from the Appalachians to the Gulf.
• Ross's Landing — 15 mi
  The Tennessee River landing where Chattanooga began and where Muscogee (Creek) and Cherokee people were put on boats and ferried out in 1837 and 1838.
• Bessie Smith Cultural Center — 15 mi
  Chattanooga's African American museum and performance hall on the old Ninth Street, named for the Empress of the Blues, who started out singing for change on that same street.

More markers nearby

• Old Dallas — 4.9 mi
• Old Harrison — 8.2 mi
• Chickamauga Mound — 11 mi
• Tennessee Valley Railroad and Museum — 12 mi