History of Wayne County

Wayne County was created by an act of the legislature in 1817.  It was named for “Old Mad Anthony Wayne”, one of the heroes of the Revolutionary War. More than half of the present county of Hardin was originally embraced within the territory of Wayne.

Wayne County is on the extreme western side of the Highland Rim, with its northwestern corner extending into the valley of the Tennessee. The county presents a generally broken surface, with parallel and transverse ridges and intervening hollows, the ridges usually radiating from the center in all directions, except to the east, the general surface of the county being a plateau of about 800 feet elevation. Wayne is the largest rural county in Tennessee with 739 square miles. Approximately 95% of Wayne County is still undeveloped today.

There are several rivers in the county including the Green, Buffalo and the Tennessee. There are dozens of creeks and streams. The Columbia Central Turnpike (Clifton Turnpike) passing through the county from Columbia, Tennessee to Clifton, Tennessee was completed in 1844. The historic Natchez Trace Parkway, which runs north and south through the county, was begun by animals and Native Americans, later by trappers and traders and business men traveling from Nashville to Natchez or somewhere in between. Natchez, before the Civil War, was one of the wealthiest cities in the nation. The entire length of the Trace is 444 miles. U. S. Highway 64 and State Highway 13 intersect in the county at Waynesboro.

Between the years of 1835 and 1873 iron ore was extracted from Wayne County. A blast furnace and forge were built in 1835. At its height, there was a seventy-one person workforce producing seventeen hundred tons of metal that they shipped to a rolling mill in Ohio for the manufacture of boiler plates. Today there is an Iron Furnace Trail of all the locations along the West Highland Rim.

The county has three towns. Collinwood is the southern most town, although it is almost in the middle of the county, on the Natchez Trace. Historic Clifton, rich in Civil War history, is located in the northwestern part of the county and sits on the Tennessee River. Waynesboro sits in between Clifton and Collinwood and is the county seat. Just outside Waynesboro is the historic site of the only double span natural bridge formation in the world. Indians used this site, with the last Indians being the Cherokees. Another popular creation of nature on the grounds is the “Ice Cave”. The temperature in the cave is a cool 58 degrees year round. The stream coming out of the cave is stocked with rainbow trout. The property is privately owned by Tennessee Fitness Spa but gives tours on Sunday afternoon.

The Bell’s Party, Trail of Tears, came through Wayne County. They followed what is now Highway 64, veering to the south or north a couple  of times.

Wayne County is beautiful with all the hills, hollows, trees, streams, rivers and rock formations. With a little imagination you could feel as if you were in the Great Smoky Mountains.