Meigs County Historical Museum

A new building on Smith Avenue in Decatur, Tennessee, of Meigs County, Tennessee was built to house the collection of the Meigs County Historical Museum. The groundbreaking for this new site was in July 2002.^[1] The Meigs County Historical Museum houses many court and family records. On permanent display is a mural depicting Main Street Decatur in the 1930s. The mural was funded by grants from the Tennessee Arts Commission and the VEC Customershares program and painted by Bill McDonald, a local artist.^[2]

Quilt

In 1985, the Meigs County Family and Community Education (“FCE”) Club began a large quilt to commemorate the early history of Meigs County, for a state project, the Tennessee “Homecoming 1986." The quilt includes images of fourteen sites representing the early history of Meigs County. The central quilt design, including a map of the area to locate the various sites represented, was created by the late Flossie Bennett, a longtime leader of the FCE. A committee of representatives from Ten Mile, Peakland, Concord, Goodfield, and Decatur, decided which sites would be included in the quilt. The sites chosen were the Elisha Sharp House (also known as the Sharp-Wasson-Worth House, c. 1825), the Stewart House (1830), the R.H. Johnson Stable, the Mount Zion church and Cemetery (1830), Zeigler's Mill (1850, previously 'Gettys Mill'), the Washington Ferry (1808), the Pisah Church (1818), the old gymnasium (c. 1822), the old Meigs County Courthouse (1904), the old Volunteer Electric Cooperative Building (1935), the Ashley House (1885), and the Sam Eaves Store (c. 1861). Nell Jeannette Fields Worth also insisted that images of Hereford cattle be included throughout the quilt, since Meigs County is noted for its beef cattle. The quilt was awarded the “Best Original Design” at the McMinn County Living Heritage Museum's Quilt Show. The quilt initially was displayed at the Meigs-Decatur Public Library, and as of 2010, now hangs in the Meigs County Historical Museum, in Decatur, Tennessee.^[3]

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Meigs County, Tennessee
• Meigs County Historical Museum

References

1. ^ Paulette Jones, “Meigs Historical Society Praises Nell Worth,” The Daily Post Athenian, Athens, Tennessee, (July 23, 2010); Johnny, Hutshell-Royster, “$100,000 gift gives museum a boost,” The Daily Post-Athenian (Thursday, February 15, 2001); and Ron Clayton, “$100,000 gift boosts Meigs museum fund,” Chattanooga Times Free Press, Chattanooga, Tennessee (Friday, February 16, 2001), B2; and Johnny Hutsell-Royster, “Meigs Museum continues to grow and educate,” The Daily Post-Athenian, Athens, Tennessee (Friday, March 26, 2004), C4
2. ^ http://www.meigscountyhistoricalmuseum.com/id5.html
3. ^ Johnny Hutsell-Royster, “Meigs history told one stitch at a time,” The Daily Post-Athenian, Athens, Tennessee (Wednesday, February 28, 2001), 12-13; “Meigs County historical quilt on display at library” The Daily Post-Athenian, Athens, Tennessee (date unknown, “1986 revisited”).