40/95 - Humphreys County

In which I toured a tiny home...

Humphreys County was the first of three runs on “Christmas Adam” on my way to my parent’s house for a Christmas Eve service. Humphreys is probably in my top 20 favorite county names. I think it looks like its name!

Quick Facts

County: Humphreys

City: New Johnsonville

Route: Johnsonville State Historic Park

Mileage: 1.2

Date: 12/23

The County

Humphreys County has a fascinating history that I’ll get into more throughout this post. Jesse James possibly lived in the county under the name John D. Howard. James and his bro also lived in Scott County for a short time.

I’m going to start sharing my favorite unincorporated communities in each county. Humphreys County is home to Polecat, TN.

The Route

I combined the African-American Cemetery Loop Trail with the Old Railway Trail. The Old Railway Trail juts out into Kentucky Lake aka the Tennessee River aka my favorite river in the state. (You always gotta go to the end of the peninsulas!) It was a gray and cloudy day, but Kentucky Lake was MOVING.

(It’s March 5, and I had the brochure for this park in my car until last week when I threw it away because “I won’t need it,” and now, dear reader, I do…)

Johnsonville (currently chillaxing under the waters of Lake Kentucky) was a railroad depot and Union supply base. It was named after Andrew Johnson, military governor of Tennessee and future impeached president of the USA, who rode into Humphreys County on the newly developed railroad in 1863, broke a bottle of wine over the tracks, and promptly named the development after the most fitting person he could think of….. himself. 😐

Johnsonville was attacked by the Confederate army in 1864 by Tennessee’s “good ol’ boy” Nathan Bedford Forrest. He used a flotilla on the river and caused a crap ton of damage with only a few losses to his men. NBF State Park across the river looks at the battle from the Confederate side while Johnsonville State Historic Park looks at the Union’s depot.

Highlights

The museum at the Welcome Center was definitely a highlight. It told such a thorough story of the Battle of Johnsonville and had a lot of artifacts and even interactive exhibits. I was kind of speed-reading my way through it, but I felt I got a good understanding of the railway and the battle.

There were four replica soldier huts similar to those that Union soldiers would have lived in at Johnsonville Depot. One of them was unlocked so of course, I had to go in. They were like the original tiny houses with a bunk bed and a fireplace. High key think I could live in one of those.

Misadventures

I honestly can’t remember any misadventures, but I did eat almost all of the snickerdoodles I made with my friend’s family so that was sad :/

Points of Interest

Loretta Lynn’s ranch is in Humphreys County at Hurricane Mills. It’s (One time I think I saw Miss LL at a cemetery.) They call it the 7th Largest Attraction in the state (unverified), and you can camp there. There’s a lot of events at the ranch, including country and gospel concerts and motorcross events.

I would love if you would share this newsletter and/or post with anyone who you think would be interested! Only 55 more counties to go!