It would not be accurate to say that land determines life, but the forms of the land have an important bearing upon the forms of life. The great varieties of land forms and the vivid differences in resources were reflected in the occupations and patterns of life upon the land throughout Franklin County and the surrounding area. While the coves offered natural corrals to the early settlers, these coves also offered both seclusion and isolation. In many coves a single family or group of families would settle and often these coves are known today by these family names. In fact, most of the local coves are named for persons rather than for natural or political features. The relatively sharp line between the rockfall of the escarpment and the valley floor defined a clear boundary on the land, a boundary that could be proclaimed and defended more clearly than a fence.
At the same time, the dendritic branching pattern of the coves led to patterns of fragmentation and isolation in settlement. A careful study of the topography of the coves reveals many parallel coves that are separated by only a few miles but may be separated by dozens of miles by road. In a line, Lodge in Sweeten's Cove and Sherwood in Crow Creek are about 6 miles apart but by road it is 32 miles between them. In the pre-electric world the domestic vigil of life in such coves was austere and lonely. The Sunday gathering at a nearby church assumed an importance for cove dwellers that it is now hard to understand. The separations between communities caused by the coves and fingers of the plateau and by the broken drainage of the Elk below Winchester produced a strong sense of local identity that has not been completely overcome in county government or politics. Older people are still much more inclined to say, "I live in Van Zandt Bend" or "I live in Sinking Cove" than to say, "I live in Franklin County." Local land form is a powerful symbol of community and place reference of the self for older people.
The agricultural and subsistence modalities generated by the natural forms and resources of the plateau and valley were reflected not only in specific differences of occupation, but also in attitudes and political philosophy. The southwestern end of the county--the broad lands reaching toward Lexie Crossroads and toward Huntland--were the local scene of cotton planting. These areas also had a tolerance of African-American presence while this presence was minimal or absent altogether in the coves and eastward on the plateau. Cultural and political differences related to cotton culture and the use of African American slaves led to sharp political division in the county in 1860. The county was not uniformly pro-Confederate. Strong pockets of pro-union, anti-slavery [and anti-African American] sentiment developed in many of the coves and across the plateau reaching back through Grundy County toward east Tennessee.
The topography has had some effect upon the distribution of churches. The Church of God and the various Pentecostal-holiness churches have fared well in the coves and along the rural areas of the plateau. More town-oriented denominations such as the Southern Baptists and United Methodists fared poorly in the world of the coves and plateau. Oddly, the generally urbane Episcopal Church fared reasonably well in the coves despite the high formality of its catholic liturgy. Episcopal churches were planted in Crow Creek, Roark's Cove, Ladd Cove, and on the plateau at Tracy City, Coalmont, and Midway. In general, the coves and deeply wooded areas have produced churches that are insistently congregational or independent in their affiliation while the churches that are affiliated with larger regional or national bodies tend to be found in and close by the towns.
The Elk River winds diagonally through the county from northeast to southwest and for more than a century, the experiences related to this river provided a thread of narrative for many of the rural people. Before the hydro-electric and flood control daming of the Elk River, the natural flow of the stream sustained a form of rural recreation, leisure, and spirituality that has now mostly disappeared. Most of the upper Elk was drowned under the double impoundments of Tims Ford and Woods Reservoirs. For about twenty miles below Tims Ford Dam the character of the Elk has been changed from a warm to a cold water stream. The lowering of the water temperature made possible a cold water trout fishery, but eclipsed or suppressed many of the native warm water fishes. With these changes in the Elk, the old rhythms of fish fries and baptisms and swimming holes gave way to boat ramps and public beaches and new kinds of anglers.
Currently there is a large scale transformation of social and cultural patterns occurring in this area. The once remote escarpment edges have become attractive and often expensive building sites for individuals seeking the grand views afforded by the bluffs. In the valley there is some trend--although this is not yet as strong in Tennessee as in midwestern states--toward the consolidation of farms into larger agricultural units. For the most part, the pattern of old field edges is similar to what existed a half century ago, but now several farms may be owned by or leased to the same farmer. The number of plots has not changed much, but the number of farmers has declined. At the same time, much of the field acreage near the towns has begun to be transformed into residential or light commercial use and we have particularly around Winchester the dissonance of factories and wheat fields, of tiny wedges of corn projecting between rows of houses, of tractors rolling hay in fields next to shopping center parking lots. On the once isolated knolls above the bends of the Elk River, the Tims Ford Reservoir has created thousands of acres of lake properties, and isolated and attractive neighborhoods have developed on narrow ridges that separate the old bends of the river.
With a continuing emphasis at the county level of seeking new industrial and commercial locations to the county, more land is set aside for industrial growth. This growth is supported by the building of many new residences and the proliferation of shopping strips, convenience centers, gas stations, and even a few new churches. In general the pattern of the county at large is shifting from agricultural to commercial-residential. The aerial views suggest the creeping, but not compact, spread of houses to virtually every area of the county. On the plateau and in the valley, in the coves and in the timbered areas, houses have become so familiar that the county now has the appearance of a completely settled area. With improved roads and many more cars, the sense of distance and isolation has lessened within the county. Traffic congestion has become a problem along the Dinah Shore Boulevard between the courthouse square and the Wal-Mart complex, and quiet country lanes that perhaps counted a half dozen cars per day may now see a dozen or more pass each hour.
In Franklin, Marion, and Coffee counties and to a lesser extent in Grundy, Moore, Lincoln, and Bedford counties, the social patterns arising from and imposed upon the local topography have begun a rapid shift toward development. In general, when compared with the kind of development that has occurred around Nashville, the local patterns are benign. In comparison with the intensively agricultural occupations and rural values of a half century ago, for older residents the current patterns are radical and disturbing. In many ways, these older residents are now experiencing the loss of a familiar world.