Ruskin Cave

The colony was run like a company in which every colonist held a share. Julius Wayland, an Indiana newspaper editor and socialist, founded it, and his paper The Coming Nation had about 60,000 subscribers at its peak in 1896 and took most of the colony's money and time. Members made pants, cereal coffee, a vapor bath cabinet, chewing gum, belts and suspenders, replaced cash wages with scrip, and kept time for crafts and theater. The site of its second settlement in Dickson County is on the National Register.

What the plaque says

Ruskin Cave Near here, in the late 19th Century, disciples of John Ruskin, under J. A. Wayland, established a colony to practice Ruskin's socialistic teachings. In a short while it moved to Ruskin Cave, 8 mi. N., where several buildings were erected. The colony soon failed, its buildings were used by boys' school until 1917.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Johnsonville State Historic Park — 26 mi
  A Tennessee River park on the site of a Union supply depot shelled in November 1864 and of the town later drowned by Kentucky Lake, with earthworks, a railroad bed and an African American cemetery.
• Cross Creeks National Wildlife Refuge — 28 mi
  An 8,862-acre refuge on the Cumberland River floodplain near Dover, made in 1962 to replace habitat Lake Barkley flooded, wintering tens of thousands of waterfowl.
• Fort Donelson National Battlefield — 29 mi
  The earthen fort above the Cumberland River where Grant's demand for unconditional surrender ended the February 1862 siege, with the Dover Hotel, a national cemetery and the story of the freedom seekers who came to the lines.

More markers nearby

• Camp Gillem (Gillem Station) — 4.8 mi
• James Worley — 7.8 mi
• Frank Goad Clement — 9.5 mi
• Fighting for Freedom (Promise Land Civil War Heroes) — 11 mi