Memorial Bridges & Structures
Scott County has a number of memorial bridges and other structures, named in honor of deceased members of the community. Most are named for law enforcement officers or soldiers. In 2026, the county named its first bridge for a private citizen — Christian Wright, a Glenmary man who lost his life in an ATV accident in 2025 and saved the life of a fellow Scott Countian with the donation of his kidney. (A bridge in Huntsville was previously named by the State of Tennessee for a private citizen, Eric Brent Strunk, who died of cancer at age 29.)
While most of the memorial structures are state-owned or county-owned, and in both cases were named by Scott County Commission, some are owned by other organizations, such as Huntsville Middle School’s Jack M. Diggs Field, Oneida High School’s Jim May Stadium and Dr. M.E. Thompson Field, and Tennessee College of Applied Technology’s Arvis Blakeley Campus in Huntsville.
William Baird Memorial Bridge
The William “Bill” Baird Memorial Bridge is located on Straight Fork Road in Scott County’s 1st Civil District, in Pioneer.
Bill Baird (1908-1969) was the son of Joseph S. Baird (1885-1962) and Sarah “Sallie” Lay (1886-1960) of Pioneer. He spent his entire life in the Straight Fork and Pioneer areas. He married Lassie Marie Adkins in 1929, and they had five children, two of whom died in infancy. Their surviving children were Iva Lee Baird (1932-1970), Artie Mae Byrd (1936-1985), and Ruth Alene Baird Litton (1942-2012).
Prior to World War II, Baird worked for the railroad. After World War II, he worked for Tennessee Valley Authority. He and his wife are buried at Adkins Cemetery in the Straight Fork community.
The William “Bill” Baird Memorial Bridge is a two-lane, 85-foot bridge over Straight Fork Creek. It was built in 2019.
PFC Oliver Jeffers Memorial Bridge
The PFC Oliver Jeffers Memorial Bridge is located on Norma Road in Scott County’s 1st Civil District, near Norma.
Oliver Jeffers (1913-1944) was a Scott County man killed in action in World War II. He died on Nov. 10, 1944, in Germany’s Hürtgen Forest. He was assigned to Co. L, 3rd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division. His body could not be recovered due to the fierce fighting that was ongoing. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced in April 2020 that Jeffers’ remains had been accounted for. A funeral was held in October 2020, and Jeffers was buried at Fairview Cemetery.
Jeffers was the son of Daniel Jeffers (1882-1936) and Syrinda Foster (1887-1983).
The PFC Oliver Jeffers Memorial Bridge is a two-lane, 143-foot bridge over Straight Fork Creek that was built in 1989.
Walter ‘Smokey’ Lowe Memorial Bridge
The Walter “Smokey” Lowe Memorial Bridge is located on Swinging Bridge Road in the Norma community.
Sgt. Lowe (1921-1992) was a decorated soldier in World War II. Born at Smokey Junction, he was the son of Joe Lowe and Arizona Mason. He served in Gen. George Patton’s Third Army in Germany and France. He single-handedly captured 32 German soldiers after crawling to a bunker and tossing a grenade inside after his unit was pinned down by heavy fire.
Lowe was involved in many other exploits during the war, and would later become known as the most decorated military veteran in Scott County’s history, with more than a dozen honors.
Following the war, Lowe married Eva Helen Lowe (1922-1988). They’re buried at Black Creek Crossroads Cemetery near Robbins.
The Walter “Smokey” Lowe Memorial Bridge is a two-lane, 342-foot bridge over New River that was built in 2001.
Capt. Bill Hembree Memorial Bridge
The Capt. Bill Hembree Memorial Bridge is located on Smokey Creek Road near Smokey Junction.
William Alexander “Bill” Hembree (1836-1928) was a Union veteran of the Civil War who lived at Smokey Creek. He was the son of Meshack Hembree (1812-1885) and Martha Katherine “Kissiah” Carroll (1812-1879). The Hembree family lived beyond the Lowe family at Smokey Creek, beginning with Bill’s father.
During the Civil War, Bill Hembree served as a captain in the Scott County Home Guard. It is said that he was wounded on 13 different occasions during the war. According to historian David Jeffers, there was a cave on Smokey Creek to which he would return after being wounded. There, his mother and wife nursed him back to health. At one point late in the war, he was severely beaten by Confederate soldiers at New River. They attempted to force his horse to trample him. When the horse refused, the soldiers shot the horse and left Hembree to die.
After the war, Hembree became a noted leader in the Smokey Creek community. He ran a grocery store and a boarding house, donated the property where the Hembree School was established, and was the first postmaster at the Hembree Post Office.
Hembree married Emaline “Emily” Shoopman (1838-1921). They had 10 children: Ezekiel, Sarah, Mary Jane, Jemima, Hannah, Rebecca, Luvirna, Louisa, Alvis, and John. He and his wife are buried at Hembree Cemetery.
The Capt. Bill Hembree Memorial Bridge is a two-lane, 52-foot bridge over Smokey Creek that was built in 1994.
Cpl. Rusty Washam Memorial Bridge
The Cpl. Rusty Washam Memorial Bridge is located on S.R. 63 just east of Huntsville.
Rusty Lee Washam (1985-2006) was the last military service member from Scott County to die in combat. He died near Al Qa’im, Iraq, on Valentines Day in 2006 when his humvee was struck by an improvised explosive device. He was a member of the 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
Sgt. Washam was the son of retired Army Master Sgt. Sonny Washam and former Scott County Board of Education member Beverly Washam. He was survived by a wife and two sons. He is buried at Fairview Memorial Gardens.
The Cpl. Rusty Washam Memorial Bridge is a two-lane, 608-foot bridge over Buffalo Creek that was built in 1983.
Sgt. Brian Boshears Memorial Bridge
The Sgt. Brian Boshears Memorial Bridge is located on S.R. 63 in Huntsville.
Brian Eddy Boshears (1962-2013) was a well-known trooper with the Tennessee Highway Patrol, who died of pneumonia on April 22, 2013, at the age of 50. He was the son of Paul Boshears and Patricia Jane “Patsy” Hatfield (1939-2006). He was survived by a wife and five children. He is buried at Carson Memorial Park.
The Sgt. Brian Boshears Memorial Bridge is a two-lane, 519-foot bridge over Paint Rock Creek and the former Tennessee Railroad that was built in 1983.
Eric Brent Strunk Memorial Bridge
The Eric Brent Strunk Memorial Bridge is located on S.R. 63 in Huntsville.
Strunk (1979-2009) was a Huntsville business owner who died of cancer on March 23, 2009, at the age of 29. He owned Brent’s Tire & Truck Center. He was the son of Leo Strunk and Sharon Chitwood. He was survived by a wife and four children. He is buried at Chitwood Cemetery in Winfield.
The Eric Brent Strunk Memorial Bridge is a five-lane, 57-foot bridge over Flat Creek that was built in 2001.
Christian Wright Memorial Bridge
The Christian Wright Memorial Bridge is located on Coal Hill Road in Glenmary.
Christian Michael Wright (2002-2025) was the son of Kirby Wright and Martha Byrge of Glenmary. He died in an ATV accident on Aug. 19, 2025, near his home. He was an organ donor, and his organs provided a gift of life to six people throughout the eastern United States — including a former EMT in Scott County.
The Christian Wright Memorial Bridge is a two-lane, 58-foot bridge over Webb Creek that was built in 1940.
Colonel Joe Cecil Bridge
The Colonel Joe Cecil Bridge is located on U.S. Highway 27 at New River.
Joseph Samuel Cecil (1878-1940) was a sergeant in the Spanish-American War, a commanding officer in the Philippine Insurrection, and a colonel in World War I. He is Scott County’s only Medal of Honor winner, which was awarded by President Calvin Coolidge for his gallantry in the Philippine conflict, after he saved the lives of men under his command.
He was the son of Beaty Cecil (1849-1931) and Pauline Elmira “Polly” Buttram (1858-1938). His father was a Scott County sheriff, county judge, and later served in the state legislature. He rode his horse from Scott County to Nashville to enlist in the Union army during the Civil War, and all of his sons served in the U.S. armed forces. Collectively, they became known as the “Fighting Cecils of New River.”
Joe Cecil married Caroline Schenck (1877-1942). He died of suicide in 1940 when he jumped from the sixth floor of a hotel in Hartford, Conn. He is buried at Reed Cemetery in the New River community.
The Colonel Joe Cecil Bridge is a two-lane, 409-foot bridge over New River that was built in 1990.
Sheriff Mike Cross Memorial Bridge
The Sheriff Mike Cross Memorial Bridge is located on U.S. Highway 27 in Oneida.
Michael David Cross (1957-2013) was an Oneida chief of police and Scott County sheriff remembered as the person who started the Scott County County-Wide Prayer Meeting effort. The son of Dorothy Cross, he began his career in law enforcement in 1989 as a deputy with the Scott County Sheriff’s Department. He was appointed chief of police in Oneida by newly-elected Mayor Jack E. Lay in 1995. He served in that capacity until 2010, when he was elected Scott County Sheriff, defeating incumbent Anthony Lay (who did not actively campaign after accepting a role with the U.S. Marshal Service) and former sheriff Jim Carson.
Cross fell ill in 2012, and was diagnosed with a rare form of skin cancer. He died on Dec. 8, 2013, at age 56. He was the first Scott County Sheriff to die in office since 1928, when Isham Chambers died of influenza. He was survived by a wife and two children. He is buried at Fairview Memorial Gardens.
The Sheriff Mike Cross Memorial Bridge is five-lane, 497-foot bridge over Norfolk-Southern Railroad in Oneida that was built in 1996.
C.W. Wright Memorial Bridge
The C.W. Wright Memorial Bridge is located on U.S. Highway 27 in Winfield.
Clifford Winfield Wright (1886-1961) was elected mayor of Oneida in 1937, and served as the town’s seventh mayor. He was a charter member of the Oneida Kiwanis Club, started in 1925, and had mounted an unsuccessful campaign for governor of Tennessee as a Democrat in 1936. He later ran for Scott County Judge in 1942 and was certified the winner of the election. However, Roscoe Byrd contested the results of the election, and a court ruled that Byrd was the legitimate winner. Nevertheless, Wright served as Scott County Judge for more than 19 months while the dispute was being settled.
Wright was born in Daviess County, Ky., the son of Denton Winfield Wright and Mary Alice Spalding. He married Sarah Louise Gosney and they later moved to Oneida. He had four children: Thelma Gentry, Charles Denton, Mary Sue Sexton, and Doris Jean Schneider. He was editor of the Scott County News when he died in 1961. He is buried at Hazel Valley Memorial Cemetery.
The C.W. Wright Memorial Bridge is a two-lane, 173-foot bridge over Roaring Paunch Creek that was built in 1959.
Jack N. Diggs Field
Jack N. Diggs Field is the football field at Huntsville Middle School in Huntsville, which is now primarily used as a practice field and for soccer games. It is formerly the football field for Huntsville High School, though it was not named in Diggs’ memory at that time.
Jack Diggs (1924-2016) was the son of Fred and Nell Diggs, and a native of Lake City, Tenn. After serving in the U.S. Navy in World War II, he lettered in baseball at Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tenn. He coached football for 58 years, beginning at Jefferson City High School, where he went undefeated in his first season. He later coached in Sevier County and Knox County in Tennessee before returning to his native Lake City. From there, he coached at Huntsville High School, spent a tenure at two schools in Georgia, and then was named head coach at Scott High School. His 1968 team set a national scoring record and was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated. He was named the head coach at Scott High in 1977, and remains the school’s all-time winningest coach. He won the school’s only district championship in 1984.
Following his career as a high school head coach, Diggs coached middle school football at Huntsville, and later served as an assistant at Oneida High School and at McCreary Central High School in Kentucky. The field at Huntsville Middle School was named in his honor in 2001.
Dr. M.E. Thompson Field
Dr. M.E. Thompson Field is the football field at Oneida High School. It is also used by Oneida Middle School for football.
Milford Elcaney Thompson (1877-1963) was the son of Lewis Thompson Jr. (1832-1916) and Elizabeth Armelda “Meldy” Blakley (1852-1927). He married Mary Etta Boshears (1888-1941) and they had five children: Vivian Volkmann (1904-1973), Mae E. Johnson (1905-1941), Dr. Milford E. Thompson (1912-1980), Bertie Dell Richey (1915-1991), and Ewell Smith Thompson (1919-2003). Milford Thompson served on the Oneida Special School District Board of Education, as did his son, Scott Thompson. He is buried at Marcum Cemetery.
Legend has it that Dr. M.E. Thompson Field was constructed over a junk yard; that old cars are buried beneath the turf.
Jim May Stadium
Jim May Stadium is the stadium enclosing Dr. M.E. Thompson Field at Oneida High School.
James E. “Jim” May (1940-1997) began his coaching career in 1969 at Petersburg High School. From there he moved to Cornersville High School, and to Crossville High School in Alabama. He was named the head coach at Oneida in 1981, and served in that capacity until his death of a heart attack in 1997, which occurred on the sideline during a game. He also coached girls’ basketball and baseball. He is the school’s all-time winningest football coach, with a record of 218-101, including 12 district or region championships and the 1992 state championship in Class A. In girls’ basketball, he had a record of 127-50, including three district titles, three region titles, and three state tournament appearances in the 1980s. He was named to the TSSAA Hall of Fame in 2006.
Arvis Blakley Campus
The Arvis Blakley Campus of Tennessee College of Applied Technology Oneida/Huntsville is located on Scott High Drive in Huntsville.
Arvis Glynn Blakley was born in 1929, the son of John Hamilton Blakley and Edith Pearl Stonecipher. He married Frankie June Strunk and they had four children: John, Mark, Spencer, and Joe.
Blakley served in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. He began his career in education as a teacher at a one-room schoolhouse in the Cherry Fork community near Helenwood. He worked in both the Oneida Special School District and the Scott County School System. He served as director and president at TCAT Oneida/Huntsville for 30 years, from 1975 to 2005. The school was named the Tennessee Area Vocational School when he began his tenure, and later the Tennessee Technology Center. He was instrumental in seeing the school’s new campus built in Huntsville in 1997. The administrative offices moved to Huntsville from the Oneida campus, and it was later named the Arvis G. Blakley Campus in his honor.
Blakley died on April 11, 2026, and is buried at Mossop Cemetery in Huntsville.
W.H. Swain Scott County Center
The W.H. Swain Scott County Center is the Huntsville satellite campus of Roane State Community College. It is named for the First National Bank president who was instrumental in bringing RSCC to Scott County.
William H. “Bill” Swain (1922-2015) was a native of Detroit, the son of John and Helen Swain. In 1942, at age 19, he moved to Scott County to oversee the family’s lumber business — Swain Lumber Mills — in Helenwood. In 1959, he was elected president of First National Bank of Oneida, and served in an executive role at the bank until his death. He was a director of the Federal Reserve Banks in Nashville and Atlanta, and director of the Tennessee Bankers Association for eight years. He played an instrumental role in the opening of St. Jude’s Church in Helenwood in 1980, and Highland Telephone Cooperative in 1953. He also helped establish the Huntsville Utility District, and the Scott County Rescue Squad.
Swain was married to Martha “Marcy” Lay, and later to Tomilee Manis. His children included Michael B. Swain, Marianne Gallagher, Kathleen Cameron, Martha “Missy” Wallen, Timothy Swain, and Nancy Elaine Watters.
In 2016, Roane State Community College named the Huntsville campus in Swain’s honor. He was described as the “driving force” in bringing Roane State to Scott County, first offering his old hardware store in Helenwood to the school (it is now the Scott County School System’s C. Michael Lay Technology Center), and helping raise more than $2 million to build a permanent location on property he donated along S.R. 3.
Swain died on June 23, 2015, and is buried at Cooper Memorial Gardens in Oneida.
C. Michael Lay Technology Center
The C. Michael Lay Technology Center is the Scott County School System’s technology department in Helenwood. It was formerly Roane State Community College’s first home in Scott County, and before that a hardware store.
Charles Michael Lay (1955-2020) died of pancreatic cancer on Dec. 5, 2020. He was the son of Charles David Lay and Ocia Helen Duncan. He married Barbara Billings. His children included Catherine Lay-Shirk, David Lay, and Meagan Lay. He was a teacher and coach in the Scott County School System before becoming the school system’s first technology director. He retired from that role in 2009 and entered the private sector.
The school system’s technology center was renamed in his honor just three weeks before his death in 2020.
Reason ‘Pete’ Branim Athletic Field
The Reason “Pete” Branim Athletic Field in Robbins is the former football field of Robbins School. Although Robbins High School, which closed in 1971, never had a football team, the field was used for middle school football practices and games for many years. The school no longer has a stand-alone football program, but the field is used for middle school soccer games. It once included a softball field on one end that was used by students.
Reason Willard “Pete” Branim (1922-1983) was the son of Perry Huston Branim (1879-1966) and Lucinda Clemantime “Cindy” Gentry (1881-1948). He married Martha Jeffers (1924-2018) in 1945, and their children included James Marshall Branim, Thomas Willard Branim, Debbie Blair, Beverly Whaley, Felicia Walker, James Branim, Michael Branim, Donald Branim, Alfred Branim, and Gary Branim. His son, Donald, served as a coach and principal at Robbins School until his retirement.
Pete Branim died in 1983 of prostate cancer. He is buried at Black Creek Crossroads Cemetery.
John J. Duncan Memorial Mile
The first mile of S.R. 63 from its terminus at U.S. Highway 27 in Huntsville, eastward to near Tennier Industries, is named the John J. Duncan Memorial Mile, after U.S. Sen. John J. Duncan Sr.
Duncan (1919-1988) grew up along what is now S.R. 63, just west of Tennier Industries, about where Heritage Hills Apartments are now located. He was the son of Flem and Cassie Duncan, who owned a farm there. His siblings included Joe Duncan, who went on to serve as a judge on the Tennessee Court of Appeals. As a boy, hoeing corn on a hot summer day, Duncan is said to have thrown down his hoe and told Joe that he was going to go to Knoxville, become mayor, and someday run for Congress.
With $5 in his pocket, Duncan hitch-hiked to Knoxville to attend the University of Tennessee. He later graduated law school and opened a practice in Knoxville with Joe Duncan. When their first client paid his bill, John Duncan is said to have looked at his brother and said, “This sure does beat hoeing corn, don’t it, Joe?”
Duncan served as Knoxville mayor in the 1960s and was credited with convincing downtown lunchrooms to integrate, which eased racial tensions and helped the city avoid racial violence that plagued other areas of the South during the Civil Rights movement. He was later elected to Congress in 1965 and served until his death of cancer on June 21, 1988. He is buried at Duncan Family Cemetery in Huntsville.
The federal courthouse in Knoxville is also named in Duncan’s memory. His son, John J. “Jimmy” Duncan Jr., succeeded him in Congress and served until 2019.
Baker Highway
S.R. 63 is named Howard H. Baker Highway, or Baker Highway for short, from its terminus at U.S. Highway 27 in Huntsville east to the Scott/Campbell county line at Pioneer.
The highway is named for Howard H. Baker Sr. (1902-1964). He was an attorney who lived in Huntsville most of his life and was later elected to Congress. He was the father of U.S. Sen. Howard H. Baker Jr., who also lived in Huntsville.
Baker was the son of James Francis Baker (1864-1924) and Helen Blanche Keen (1869-1944). His maternal grandfather, Maj. A.T. Keen, was the man who convinced Union Gen. Ambrose Burnside to march his Army of the Ohio through Scott County en route to liberate Knoxville from the Confederacy in 1863. Baker married Dora Ann Ladd of Oliver Springs, Tenn. His mother-in-law was the first woman to serve as sheriff in Tennessee.
Baker’s father established a law office in Huntsville in 1909, and also served as a newspaper editor. Baker followed in his father’s footsteps, both as an attorney and as a newspaper editor. He was elected to the state legislature in 1928, and to the Scott County Board of Education in 1931. He also served as district attorney general before being elected to Congress in 1950. Prior to that, he mounted unsuccessful campaigns for governor and the U.S. Senate. He served in the House of Representatives until his death of a heart attack on Jan. 7, 1964. His second wife, Irene Bailey, finished his term in Congress, and John J. Duncan Sr. was elected to Baker’s seat in the 1964 election.
The Pine Creek watershed lake in Oneida is also named for Baker.