Would someone please tell me a little about the Barrens....what they were, where they were located and if they still exist? Why were they called the Barrens? Thanks, Sandra

The best examples of articles about the geographic feature known as "barren(s)" are to be found on "Google". Not a day goes by where I don't use it to explain something to myself. Of course the barrens you are referring to are in the northern half of Sumner County on up across the Kentucky border to Elizabethtown. As you will read in the attachment, Fort Campbell's acreage in KY/TN has the largest barren in the country. The one that extends into Sumner County is on the Highland Rim, the beautiful high land that one must cross when traveling from Gallatin to Portland, then westward to Clarksville in Montgomery County, to Stewart County and south toward Nashville. Limestone lies below the soil with few outcroppings. But very few tall trees exist because the common theory as to how barrens developed was by Native Americans burning thousands of years ago. A barren is not a prairie. An estimate of age is between 3000-4000 years ago. Grasses and and other wildlife, some totally unique to a particular barren, developed. Some are endangered and protected today. Restoration of the barrens areas and reintroduction of certain species of grasses, shrubs, flowers and fish is being undertaken today. The earliest map of KY drawn in 1784 and one drawn in 1795, show the barrens our ancestors settled on. The Middle Tennessee barrens extend into western Davidson Co. TN, as well as into Montgomery, Humphries, Maury and Stewart Counties. There are other barrens in Tennessee, Kentucky, as well as in other states. Rivers such as the Red, the Green and the Duck drain the barrens areas northwest and west of Sumner Co. Many of our Sumner settlers arrived on the Red River from Kentucky in the late18th century. Linda Read Chesser Former Teacher of Geography and Lifetime Member of GENI, Geography Educators Network of Indiana ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, June 25, 2005 12:19 PM Subject: [TNSUMNER] The Barrens > Would someone please tell me a little about the Barrens....what they were, > where they were located and if they still exist? Why were they called the > Barrens? > > Thanks, Sandra > >