Port Royal

Founded in 1797, Port Royal was an early economic hub for the tobacco market of the Red River Valley. Home to a tobacco inspection point and flatboat construction yard, the town served a crucial role in the early development of Montgomery and Robertson Counties. Port Royal also served as a resupply town on the Great Western Road, which was the only direct route into Missouri and the West from Nashville during the early 19th century. Between 1837-1838 over 12,000 Cherokee people marched through and encamped at Port Royal on the Northern Route of the Trail of Tears. After 1859 Port Royal suffered from economic hardships caused by railroads replacing flatboats as the main transportation method for tobacco in the region. The railroad bypassed Port Royal, taking with it the tobacco market and much of the town's population. By 1908 Port Royal was a declining community but made newspaper headlines as the only town in Tennessee attacked by Night Riders during a civil unrest known as the Black Patch Tobacco Wars. In 1940 the post office closed, and Port Royal became a small crossroads community. In 1978 the State purchased and preserved the townsite and the Port Royal Bridge as a State Park. Continued: From the 1840s to the 1860s Port Royal experienced its greatest economic period. In 1844 the Tennessee Manufacturing Silk Co. & Agricultural School built a silk mill here. Gov. James Jones delivered his inaugural speech in a suit made from Port Royal silk. While only the 1859 Masonic Lodge stands today, stores of all sorts, inns and hotels, manufacturing companies, and educational institutes were in the old town of Port Royal. After the Civil War, Port Royal provided prospects for newly freed African Americans. In 1867 Mt. Zion Baptist Church was built south of town, which was pastored by the Rev. Horace Carr, who purchased his freedom before the Civil War. A carpenter, Carr ran the local ferry. Other local Black business owner included Tom Dortch-shoe and boot maker and John McGowen-broom maker. In 1872, Benevolent Society No. 7, a Black fraternal society was established nearby. In 1893 they built their first lodge hall on Main St. in Port Royal. The church and lodge are active organizations today.