Weakley County

Weakley County was corn country before it was anything else. By 1880 it was the state's largest corn producer, and the surplus fed cattle and hogs. Dark-fired tobacco was first planted in 1832, sweet potatoes were a major crop by 1850, and in 1944 the county ranked tenth nationally in them. Soybeans replaced cotton after 1960. Gleason, nicknamed Tater Town for its shipments, still has a New Deal post office mural of the sweet potato trade, and its ball clay goes into china, brick and tile.

What the plaque says

Weakley County Weakley County was established Oct. 21, 1823, and named for Robert Weakley, then Speaker of the State Senate. In 1825, John Terrell gave 39 acres for the county seat. Martin Lawler, Richard Ridgeway, John R. Shultz, Perry Vincent, and Mears Warner, Commissioners, planned the town of Dresden, named for the German birthplace of Warner's father. Weakley County was one of the homes of Davey Crockett. Present courthouse, built in 1950, is the fourth building to serve that function.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Big Cypress Tree State Park — 12 mi
  A small floodplain park on the Middle Fork of the Obion River, named for a bald cypress that stood 175 feet tall before lightning destroyed it in 1976.
• Davy Crockett Cabin — 19 mi
  A restored cabin and museum in Rutherford for the last Tennessee home of David Crockett, who broke with Andrew Jackson over Indian removal.
• Mt. Zion CME Church — 21 mi
  Union City's 1896 brick church built by its Black congregation, the oldest surviving example of African American craftsmanship in town, listed on the National Register.
• Discovery Park of America — 23 mi
  A large museum and 50-acre heritage park in Union City, built on the old Obion County Museum, with Native American, earthquake and regional history galleries.

More markers nearby

• The University of Tennessee at Martin — 9.2 mi
• Bethel College — 15 mi
• Camp Tyson — 19 mi
• Site of B-17 Crash — 19 mi