What’s in a name? It’s such a simple question, but one that our town may get more than any. After most folks learn that the name isn’t BELT Buckle, the very next thing they want to know is why it’s called Bell Buckle in the first place! The answer isn’t as cut and dry as we’d like it to be. In fact, way back in August of 1883, a man by the name of Bill wrote to the Nashville Banner, inquiring how the town got its name. To which the paper responded, “that is the hardest question that we have ever been called upon to answer.”
The Nashville Banner, at one point in the 1800s, even offered a $100 reward (which was quite substantial back then) to obtain the actual information of how Bell Buckle got its name.
There are many variations to the story of how it got it’s name. Many have been passed down over the years, though never confirmed with any real documentation. I thought it best to simply share as many of them as I could find.
Nashville Banner – August 11th, 1883
“We have heard it stated that when the road first located, there was a beech tree in the neighborhood with the cut of a bell on it and a buckle for a clapper, and hence the name given the station. This may or may not be the origin. A. D. Fugitt, of that place, can probably settle the question.”
Nashville Banner – August 14th, 1883
“Since answering the inquiries propounded by a corresponent touching the origin of the name of this famous railroad station and flourishing village, the Banner has come into possession of other facts. In regard to the bell and buckle indented on a beech tree, tradition says something about this discovery in the long ago; that two explorers left the point indicated, going in the opposite directions, and the one that arrived back first should make his mark as an indication of his safe return.”
“This story, however, was not generally credited, but old settlers give this statement: In the year 1803 or 1804, a horse was found running loose in the neighborhood, and afterwards near by a bell and buckle was picked up, but whether the bell and buckle belonged to the horse was known, and it was never afterwards discovered where the horse came from, and to whom it belonged. Anyhow, the singular discovery was talked about, and the huge hill that rises from the bed of the creek was named Horse Mountain, and the running stream named Bellbuckle. When the railroad tapped that section, and a station located at that point, these old memories were revived, and Bellbuckle was the christening name.”
Nashville Banner – August 16th, 1883
“In answer to inquiries in the Banner, concerning the origin of the name of this village, your reporter has interviewed some citizens. Mr. Elkins, an old citizen, says it originated from the fact that in its early settlement a large cow-bell with strap and buckle was found near there. He also reports it as a legend that the world was finished at that point, and that a supply of dirt and water being still on hand, they were thrown together at this point. Hence the immense amount of mud there prior to the building of turnpikes.”
Goodspeed History – Published 1886
“Bell Buckle takes its name from a small creek by that name, which runs near the town, and the creek derived its name from the fact of a representation of a bell and buckle, which are carved on a large beech tree, which stands near the head of the stream. The carving was discovered on the beech by the earliest settlers, and as to the carver; when the work was done, or the reason thereof, is one of the mysteries, though many traditions concerning the same have been handed down.”
Nashville Banner – April 23rd, 1895
“As many of the readers of the Banner may not be familiar with Bell Buckle a brief description of it will be of interest. The origin of the name “Bell Buckle” is accounted for in various ways, the most plausible and authentic one being as follows: The first settlers here found a large cow bell and a buckle, which had evidently been used to fasten the strap which attached the bell to the cow or animal wearing the same. The bell had been lost by some of the hardy pioneers passing through the then uninhabited wilds and the strap or leather had moldered to dust, leaving nothing but a bell and buckle, hence the name “Bell Buckle.”
Potluck Pickin’s and Picturesque Places of Bell Buckle, Tennessee – 1970
“In the early 1800s the first settlers found a cow’s bell and a buckle on a tree by a creek. There are several theories as to the reason for the bell and the buckle being on the tree. Whatever the reason, the settlers named the creek Bell Buckle; and the village that grew in the 1850s when the railroad came through the area also acquired the name.”
This image is from the Nashville Banner – December 31st, 1922. It pictures a springhouse that was said to have been built over the Bellbuckle spring. That springhouse can still be seen today on Hinkle Hill behind the Hinkle Hill Inn!
Bell Buckle’s National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form – 1979
“A variety of local legends offer explanations for the town’s unusual name, and while no one of these theories has been documented there is one that is widely accepted as truth. According to this tradition, the first white men to traverse the area known as Bell Buckle discovered carving in the shape of a cow bell and buckle on a tree near a free-flowing creek. This carving was interpreted as a warning from Indians that the domesticated animals of white civilization were intruding upon theirlands. Thereafter the creek was referred to as Bell Buckle Creek and, logically enough, the town which grew up on the banks of that creek adopted its name.”
Bedford County, Tennessee Family History Book – Published 2002
At a spring on the stage road there was a place called Trickem, although the name has long ago faded from the memories of most Bedford Countians this was about two miles from the present Bell Buckle which got its name from a spring of the same name. Early settlers called the spring “Bell Buckle Spring” because, as legend has it, a likeness of a bell and a buckle were found carved on a beech tree beside the spring. One version of the tradition has it that an actual bell and buckle were found there. If the carving tradition is the correct one, it has been thought it was done by Indians to alert other Indians that white settlers who had cows with bells buckled around their necks by a strap were in the area. Pick the version which seems most logical to the reader. When the town began at the location years later, it was called Bellbuckle for the spring.”
Perhaps one of the most interesting accounts of Bellbuckle aquiring its name comes from The Tennessean newspaper in October of 1885 from the town’s actual founder! This is the same account which mentions a desire to give it Bible name. The newspaper asked the founder to recall his knowledge of the naming of the town. It says “Mr. A. T. Fugit” was founder, but it’s my suspicion that it meant A. D. Fugit because A. T. Fugit was his son and was born after the founding of the town. Here’s what the article from October 2nd, 1885 had to say.
The Tennessean – October 1885
“Our Tennessee historian recently inquired of me how Bellbuckle happened to be so named. The inquiry revived some interesting reminiscences of the place. Various persons recalled the story that when the first white people settled in the vicinity there was, well known over, the carving of an old-fashioned bell, with strap and buckle. It was carved on a beach tree near a spring at the head of a creek, which was given the name. It was thought the carving had been done a score of years. Mr. A. T. Fugit, founder of the village, confirmed the legend and explained as follows:
He and Dr. Armstrong, of Fairfield, were each applicants of the railroad authorities for the location of the first station north of Wartrace. Dr. Armstrong wanted it where the turnpike crosses the railroad, near Mr. J. H. Cunningham’s residence, that being nearest the village of Fairfield, and he wanted to call it some Bible name. Mr. Fugit wanted it near his residence, and the two men came to Nashville, endorsed by very large petitions, and each persisted in behalf locating the station at his chosen place. John Eakin, John T. Neal and Jerry Cleveland, directors, interested in Wartrace, succeeded in getting it located by Mr. Fugit’s place and he and Dr. Featherstone each gave four acres to the railroad for a public square – Mr. F. did not think a Bible name suitable for a railroad town and called it Bellbuckle.
How to spell it is as much a question as it had been to pronounce Arkansas, and it was intended to discuss the matter at a meeting of the Council last night so as to command uniformity. There was no meeting, however, for lack of quorum. Editor Wilson of the Tullahoma Guardian, spells it in his characteristic way Belle Buckle. This is the sentimental way adopted by some of the young people. The Postoffice Department puts in the list of offices as Bellbuckle, while it prints the stationary for that place Bell Buckle. This last manner will prevail doubtless at the meeting of the Council.”
I think it’s safe to say that a bell and a buckle of some sort were involved. And the simplified way that Bellbuckle received its name was from a creek that was given that name first. That very creek still runs through Bell Buckle today.
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