Existing comment:
Town of Cumberland:
The Town of Cumberland (1810-1843) was sited at the confluence of the Cumberland and Red Rivers as a projected river port for farming communities north of the Red River. It began as a keelboat landing slightly up the Red River to serve the original 640 acre grant dating from the 1780s. Despite the establishment of warehouses and a sawmill, the town never fully developed as planned. The landing, however, was a valuable location for loading flatboats and later, steamboats. By the 1840s, the area was called Red River Landing.
A major road ran up the hill and between what is now Fort Defiance and Trice's Landing. Another road paralleled the Red River to a ford, and later, a bridge connecting to Clarksville. By the early 1840s, the towns of Meachamsville and New Providence developed along these routes and their connecting roads at the top of New Providence Hill. The area was a flourishing commercial center prior to the Civil War. |