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History of Buffalo Cove

Civil War

With the advent of land grants to United States citizens, deeds were first offered in the area (then called Rock House Creek) in 1825. Many locations further west of the Cumberland Platuea had already been settled by that time, but the countryside surrounding Buffalo Cove remained a wilderness removed far from 'civilization.' This endeared it to rugged individualists like Davy Crockett who lived near the mouth of the Cove in 1817. Even by the time the Civil War began the area was still wild, untamed country populated only by a few stout-hearted settlers living miles apart.

The plateau farmers, unlike the owners of large river valley farms below, raised only small table gardens to supplement the abundant supply of game and fish available. This meant there was no reason to use slaves to work the land, so it is not surprising that these independent settlers were sympathetic to the North, even though they were surrounded by people willing to secede from the Union.

In the wilderness of the Cumberland Plateau, the War was fought much like battles in Viet Nam. Guerilla tactics were used to attack government outposts and private citizens whose loyalties were well known. A cave on the grounds near where Beggar's Castle stands today was a potassiium nitrate mine used to make gunpowder. The ambusihings and bushwhackings that comprised Civil War fighting in the area became the subject of many legends and folk songs that are still being handed down from one Buffalo Cove generation to another.

After the War, the homesteads of the Cove gave way to land speculators who bought and sold large portions of the valley. One of the earliest of theses was John M Clemens, father of Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain.