The Monkey Trial

Dayton, Tennessee. I have always enjoyed a good spin, and when I find something incredibly famous that turns out to be about spin, well, so much the better. The Scopes Trial. Spin, spin, spin and more spin.

There were a couple of historic places that caught hold of me when I moved to Tennessee. I fell in total love with the Secret City, but I also harbored a quiet crush on the Scopes Trial. It amazed me that I had moved so close to a place where evolution and the bible collided. However, I was misguided. Here I thought the whole Scopes Trial was all about two impassioned sides - one holding fast to religious doctrine, the other side, science barging in with good old evolution. Quite a fight to sink one's teeth into.

But no. It was not so simple, or rather it was even more diluted than my beliefs. Rather, the trial was a publicity stunt. Can you imagine? Who knew? The Scopes Trial was the brainchild of George Rappalyea, the manager of a local coal company in Dayton, TN. To encourage the economy of the town, he instigated the whole deal. The American Civil Liberties Union had publicized they would help defend anyone who rose up against the Butler Act of Tennessee (a law that mandated that teachers would give the biblical interpretation of the the rise of man as opposed to Darwinian evolution). Rarralyea saw an opportunity and realized that if he could find a teacher willing to include evolution and the ascent from primates to man in the science curriculum, well, the trial that would happen would be huge. It would bring attention to the declining town. (1)

And so John Scopes, a football coach, took his seat in history and while substitute teaching for a science teacher at Rhea County High School, had his students read about evolution in Civic Biology. Cue the circus.

The court case was huge, incredibly famous and yes, it did all that Rappalyea had hoped. Spin, spin, spin.

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• MUSEUM LOCATION:
• Latitude: 35.493167
• Longitude: -85.012444
• 1475 Market Street - Dayton, TN 37321

• A LITTLE HISTORY:
• The Scopes Trail happened in July 1925.
• William Jennings Bryan prosecuted the case.
• Clarence Darrow defended the case.
• Scopes was found guilty.
  
• The court room was restored in 1979.
  

• STRUCTURES:
• Rhea County Courthouse
  
• Basement is a museum.
• The original court room is on the second floor.
  

• CURRENT USAGE:
  
• Court House
  
• Museum

• REFERENCE
1. UMKC
2. PBS
3. www.tnhistoryforkids.org
   

The Old Roane County Courthouse

Kingston, Tennessee. Suddenly as I drove into the town proper of Kingston everything began to take on familiar hues. Instinctively I knew exactly where I was and where I was going. For a late afternoon, the parking lot to the Old Roane County Courthouse seemed fairly deserted, and yet the doors were open and in-taking and expelling the hot air of the day.

Inadvertently, I had not put two and two together. In planning my small journey, I had not realized that I was returning to a previous site I had already photographed. Yes, the Kingston Courthouse and the Roane County Courthouse are one and the same. Finding humor in this, I figured there must have been a reason for my return trip and pulled out my camera to re-investigate this site.

It was much the same, but lurking in the shadows of the portico, something moved. My heartbeat faster and I squinted to see what it was. For a few moments, I wondered if I should worry about my security and had I told anyone I was coming out here today?

Then two little green eyes appeared out of the gloom and erased any sense of doom I had felt. I had been scrutinized, it seemed, and found acceptable for I was greeted by a very friendly host. This beautiful (and healthy, I must say) cat did his best to lure me into the confines of the building. Ever so tempting, I knew daylight would be fleeting, and another site beckoned me (one of which I still have not found, but that is another story for another time).

Only the picture of the cat was taken during this second photographic session. The other images were from my first attempt.

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• LOCATION:
• Latitude: 35.870083
• Longitude: -84.501479
• 119 Court Street, Kingston, TN 37763

• A LITTLE HISTORY:
• The Old Roane County Courthouse has been a site of strained emotion. The land on which the structure stands was owned by the Cherokee, and became a sore spot in the history of American settlement. The Cherokee signed an early treaty to allow these lands to become the capitol of Tennessee. For one day, Monday, September 21, 1807, indeed the first meeting of the General Assembly was held here. When the meeting adjourned, it was stated that the next meeting, the following Wednesday, would be held in Knoxville. (2)
• During the Civil War, the structure served as a hospital for both the confederate and the union sides. Graffiti can be found on the walls written by soldiers who were hospitalized there. (1)
• Until 1974, this was the site of the active Roane County courthouse, which then moved across the street to a new facility. At that time the older structure was deeded to the Roane County Heritage Commission.(1)

• THE STRUCTURE
• This combined Greek Revivalist and Federal Style antebellum courthouse features no nails. It is comprised of bricks, native lumber and was made by slaves between 1854 and 1855. The architect was Augustus Fisher and was designed by Fredrick B. Guenther (1)
  

• CURRENT USAGE: Museum, Library and home of the Roane County Heritage Commission
  

• REFERENCE
1. http://www.roanetnheritage.com/courthouse/index.htm
2. http://www.roanealliance.org/community/community_history.html