In the early 1900s, my grandfather, C. W. Armstrong, purchased the land adjacent to that on which the Cheek Tavern had stood almost one hundred years before. The tales persisted, but there was more evidence. Whenever the Red River flooded, which was almost annually, large bones, the size of small cattle, or perhaps human bones, would be found along the banks of the Red River, as would an occasional gold coin. In my lock box, I have a gold coin of the early 1800s that my grandmother found along the banks of the Red River where it crossed the Carter farm. My Mother researched the story to use in a creative writing class that she took at Peabody College in the late 1940s/early 1950s, and she found that, even then, the legend of Elisha Cheek was very much alive. Helen Gant Donald DianePay@aol.com wrote: > For more information see > http://www.rootsweb.com/~tnsumner/sumnotcm.htm > > Here is some of it: > "Approximately seven miles north of White House was Cheek's Tavern, a stand > on the road between Nashville and Lexington at Red River, a natural location > for the development of a town or small community. But the rumors and > developing legend about the suspicious purposes of its owner Elisha CHEEK, > were enough to thwart settlements in the area...." > > Diane