Promise Land

Promise Land began with a decision to stay. Its founders' ancestors were enslaved in Dickson County, on farms and at the Cumberland Furnace ironworks, and after emancipation many Black residents left for cities such as Nashville. The Bowen, Redden and Vanleer families bought a thousand acres around 1870, and the Nesbitt brothers used their war pensions to buy land nearby around 1880. By 1900 the village had Baptist, Methodist and AME congregations, and its school enrolled ninety-three pupils in 1905. The Great Migration emptied it over six decades.

What the plaque says

Promise Land In this locality shortly after the Civil War, freed slaves established Promise Land, the first African-American community of Dickson County. Early settlers were Nathan Bowen, Washington Vanleer, and two brothers, John and Arch Nesbitt. In time, the community encompassed about 1000 acres, included 50 homes, several stores, two churches and a school. Although only the St John Church and the schoolhouse remain, heirs of the original African American landowners still own much of the land.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Defiance Civil War Park and Interpretive Center — 23 mi
  An intact earthwork fort above the Cumberland and Red Rivers in Clarksville, begun with forced Black labor and later a contraband camp and recruiting center for Black soldiers.
• Dunbar Cave State Park — 24 mi
  A Clarksville cave with 800-year-old Mississippian artwork, later a resort and Roy Acuff's dance stage, now a state park with seasonal guided tours.

More markers nearby

• Theodore and Lizzie Vanleer Edmondson — steps away
• Fighting for Freedom (Promise Land Civil War Heroes) — steps away
• Civil War In Charlotte — 2.3 mi
• Cumberland Furnace Iron Plantation — 4.2 mi