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Basic Story of the Jefferson Springs Project

The Interdisciplinary Collaborative Research and Creative Writing Experience (Honors 460H) class will offer MTSU Honors students a unique opportunity to synthesize their previous classroom experiences in a capstone course. So often, what students learn in a particular class is left in that class when the semester ends. Sure most students will retain aspects of their classes, but how often during their college careers can they apply what they have learned in all of their classes to a singular project? This course, by its very design, will promote a synthesis of a variety of subjects while providing students the chance to exhibit and exercise their individual strengths in a group setting.

The goal of the course is to produce a collaborative novella-length creative piece based on a piece of local history. The students who comprise this group will research the event, conduct interviews, and participate in the creation and editing of the final product. Each group member will also have responsibilities based on their own experiences and interests. There are many possible ways for a student to aid the group, yet the division of labor should be equal in the end. The class has a limit of 15 students—this will ensure a group of manageable size but with enough members to make the workload bearable.

The historical topic we will be investigating in Fall 2000 will be the resort town of Jefferson Springs. In its heyday, from the mid teens to the time just before World War II, the resort in northern Rutherford County (just East of Smyrna) flourished, attracting families and young people from Murfreesboro, Nashville, and beyond. In addition to the more “traditional” family activities such as swimming, riding down the water slide, or relaxing in one of the many cabins that dotted the grounds, some of the people who came to Jefferson Springs participated in other activities that flourished during the “Roaring 20s.” There were two dance halls at the resort, both of which played host to many important local musicians, as well as some nationally known acts (this would be the type of research that could interest a RIM or Mass Comm major). And as there was dancing, there were also reports of gambling, bootlegging, and young people acting as young people sometimes do. When the area roads improved enough for people to be able to travel to other vacation spots, the numbers of campers at Jefferson Springs declined to the point that the area ceased to function as a resort after the end of World War II. When the Army Corps of Engineers created Percy Priest Lake and Dam, they bulldozed the remaining structures and left very few traces of the place that had entertained so many people.