Mount Granger

Mount Granger was a community located in what is now Putnam County, approximately where the current-day community of Brotherton is. The community was initially called "The Forks of the Road" due to its status as the terminus of the Cumberland Turnpike. Coming from the east, a traveler arriving at Mount Granger could pass the toll gate and either take a right towards Fort Blount (on the Cumberland River in present-day Jackson County) on the Fort Blount Road, or a left towards Carthage (at the confluence of the Caney Fork and Cumberland Rivers in Smith County) on the Walton Road.Wirt, Alvin B. The Upper Cumberland of Pioneer Times. 1954.
== Postal distribution center ==
Beginning in 1797, mail was carried from Knoxville to the Cumberland settlements around Nashville about once every sixty days. In 1806, the community was chosen as a convenient spot to locate a mail distribution center, named after the U.S. Postmaster General, Gideon Granger. At that early point in the settlement of the state, mail would be delivered to Mount Granger, and postmasters or carriers serving areas to the west would have to make the twice-monthly journey east to pick it up.
In that same year, Congress authorized a postal route from Lebanon to Mount Granger, described as follows:"From Lebanon, by Kavanaugh and Carthage, to Mount Granger, once in two weeks. Leave Lebanon every Tuesday at 6 a.m., and arrive at Mount Granger by 6 p.m. Leave Mount Granger every other Wednesday at 6 a. m., and arrive at Lebanon by 6 p.m.""Kavanaugh" was the original name for the town of Alexandria.Key, F. Carmack. "Post Offices of Smith Co. With Officers". n.d. Web. Accessed 15 April 2017. James Lyon, of Carthage, won the initial contract to operate this route, at a salary of $240 per year. 
The center was in operation until about 1813. From 1814 to 1818, a man named James Eddington carried the mail directly from Knoxville to Nashville, likely because of increased volume and improved roads, making Mount Granger obsolete.
== References ==
Category:Brotherton
Category:Defunct Overton County communities
Category:Defunct Overton County post offices
Category:Defunct Putnam County communities
Category:Defunct Putnam County post offices
Category:Walton Road