MURFREESBORO — MTSU alumni and faculty will
share their research and insights on significant people and events from
Rutherford County’s 200-plus-year history each Tuesday in October at the Heritage
Center of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County.
To
celebrate October as “Heritage Month” in Rutherford County, the Heritage Center
is hosting free weekly lunchtime lectures beginning Tuesday, Oct. 7, at 11:30
a.m. at its location off the Public Square in Murfreesboro, 225 W. College St.
The Oct. 7
lecture, “Rutherford County Cemetery Project,” will be presented by MTSU alumni
John Lodl, Rutherford County archivist; Michael Fletcher, a graduate research
assistant in MTSU’s Center for Historic Preservation; and Catherine Hawkins of
the Rutherford County GIS Lab.
They’ll
highlight some of the findings of a countywide cemetery survey currently
underway by Rutherford County government with the assistance of the Center for
Historic Preservation and the Bradley Academy Museum and Cultural Center. The
goal of the project is to digitally map and record all the cemeteries in the
county.
Alex
Collins, a student in MTSU’s public history program and the director of
collections and education at the Historic Sam Davis Home and Plantation in
Smyrna, will discuss “Davis Women in Mourning: Customs and Practices of the
Victorian Age” Tuesday, Oct. 14.
Collins’ 11:30
a.m. talk will discuss the Victorian mourning rituals prevalent at the time Sam
Davis, a Confederate Army scout, was hanged and how the women in his family
would have observed the practices.
MTSU
alumnus Patrick “Pat” Cummins, president of the Native History Association, and
association
vice president Toye E. Heape will discuss the organization’s research into the
Trail of Tears during their Tuesday, Oct. 21, lecture at the Heritage Center.
Their 11:30
a.m. talk, “Forgotten Footsteps: Exploring the Cherokee Trail of Tears
Alternate Route in Rutherford County, Tennessee,” tracks a little-known route
of the forced relocation of the Cherokee people that travels from Readyville, Tennessee,
along the east fork of the Stones River to the site of the former Old Jefferson
community near Smyrna and on to Nashville.
Tennessee
state historian Dr. Carroll Van West, an MTSU alumnus who also serves as
director of the Center for Historic Preservation, will speak Tuesday, Oct. 28,
on “Murfreesboro’s Historic Architecture.”
His 11:30
a.m. talk will address how the city's historic buildings and places add to a sense
of identity and community and remind us of landmarks lost.
“MTSU
always gives back so much to the community,” West said. “We are proud to share
our research with everyone in Rutherford County to emphasize how much
significant history has happened here over the decades."
The
Heritage Center of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County is a partnership between
Main Street Murfreesboro, the MTSU Center for Historic Preservation, the city
of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County Government. The facility is open to the
public from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays.
For more
information on Heritage Month activities at the Heritage Center, please call
615-217-8013 or visit http://www.hcmrc.org.
For more information on Heritage Month events in Rutherford County, visit http://www.nps.gov/stri/planyourvisit/sharingprograms.htm.
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