page_title: Grassy Cove
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Grassy Cove / History
caption_attribution_description: English: The Grassy Cove United Methodist Church in Grassy Cove, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The church was first established in 1803 by the cove's first Euro-American settlers.
context_page_description: Grassy Cove is an enclosed valley in Cumberland County, Tennessee, United States. The valley is notable for its karst formations, which have been designated a National Natural Landmark. Grassy Cove is also home to a small unincorporated community.
  Grassy Cove is located atop the Cumberland Plateau, approximately 5 miles east of Crossville and 5 miles west of the plateau's Walden Ridge escarpment. The mountains that surround the cove are part of the southern fringe of the Cumberland Mountains. The cove is geologically related to the Sequatchie Valley, a large narrow valley stretching just opposite the mountains to the south. Tennessee State Route 68 passes through the northern part of Grassy Cove, providing the valley's only major road access.
context_section_description: Although no extensive archaeological work has been conducted in Grassy Cove, early farmers found projectile points and other prehistoric artifacts when plowing fields, suggesting that Native Americans were living in the cove during prehistoric times. Also, early 19th-century settlers reportedly found the cove bottom cleared and containing only high grass upon their arrival.  Hence the name:  Grassy Cove.
  The first Euro-American settlers arrived in Grassy Cove in 1801. This early caravan consisted primarily of families from Fluvanna County, Virginia. In 1803, they completed a log church and formed the Grassy Cove United Methodist Church, one of the first congregations in the Cumberland Plateau region. Prominent early settlers included John Ford, the community's founder, and Weatherston Greer, who arrived circa 1830. Greer set up the first post office in the cove, operated a sawmill and gristmill, and owned large tracts of land in the cove until the Civil War. Kemmer's descendants own much of the land in Grassy Cove today.
  During both the War of 1812 and the Civil War, Grassy Cove's caves were an invaluable source of saltpeter, which was used in the manufacture of gunpowder. William Kelly mined saltpeter in Grassy cove Saltpeter Cave in 1812, according to a manuscript written by Richard Green Waterhouse. According to a local legend, the body of a Confederate soldier (in full uniform) was found in a petrified state in one of the caves shortly after the war. When no one claimed the body, it was buried in the Grassy Cove Methodist Cemetery. Several residents claimed to have seen the soldier's ghost in the church, however, and when church attendance began to drop as a result, the soldier's body was disinterred and reburied in an undisclosed location.
caption: Grassy Cove United Methodist Church
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