New River
This Encyclopedia of Scott County entry refers to the community. For the stream, click here.
New River is an unincorporated community in south-central Scott County, located along U.S. Highway 27 in the New River valley, just outside the Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area. Today it is a lightly-inhabited residential community, though it was once home to large timber-cutting operations, railroads, and was one of the busiest industrial hubs in Scott County.
See Also: Communities of Scott County
Geography & Demographics
Located directly on New River, which has headwaters near Frozen Head in Morgan County and merges with Clear Fork to form the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River (Big South Fork River), the New River community was the largest settlement on New River. It is also one of two places typically referred to as New River, the other being the settlement near Fork Mountain in Anderson County.
Today, the old New River settlement is located on the U.S. Highway 27 corridor.
It was once located directly on the Cincinnati & Southern Railroad (today the Norfolk-Southern Railroad), as well. The railroad was rerouted between Helenwood and Robbins in 1963 as part of a project by Norfolk-Southern to eliminate the tunnels that remained along the route. A new bridge was built over New River downstream of the New River community that stands as the tallest railroad bridge in the state — a cantilever truss bridge that is 389 feet above the river and spans 1,622 feet. Three tunnels were eliminated as a result of the project: two between Helenwood and New River, and one between New River and Robbins.
New River was home to another railroad, as well. The Brimstone Railroad was chartered in 1942 by the W.M. Ritter Lumber Company and later purchased by Georgia-Pacific Corporation and then by Norfolk-Southern. It left the Southern Railroad at New River and crossed the river near Low Gap, traveling along Brimstone Creek to Lone Mountain, near the head of Brimstone. When Norfolk-Southern’s new route opened in 1963, the rail was left intact from New River to Helenwood for the sake of the Brimstone Railroad. However, the last coal mine at Brimstone closed in 1980, and train traffic ceased soon thereafter. The railroad was scrapped in 2015 by Scott County businessmen David Brewster and Dwayne King.
The New River community was primarily located inside a U-shaped bend in the river between Low Gap and the end of the ridge at Mountain View. Brimstone Creek empties into the river on the east end and Phillips Creek empties into the river on the west end.
New River today is primarily part of the 37755 (Helenwood) zip code. However, everything on the south side of New River is located in the 37852 (Robbins) zip code.
Post Offices
Much of what was once the old New River community is served by the Helenwood Post Office as part of the 37755 zip code. However, the river itself serves as the dividing line between the 37755 zip code and the 37852 (Robbins) zip code.
The New River Post Office opened in October 1871 with James Buttram serving as postmaster. It closed in February 1974 and moved to Helenwood. The last postmaster was Clyde Reed.
Schools
Traditionally, there was a K-8 school located at New River, and another just up the river at Low Gap. The nearest high schools were in Huntsville and Robbins, except for a brief period of time between 1893 and 1900 when the New River Academy was open. It was formed by the New River Baptist Association and had an initial enrollment of 171 students. The school closed in 1900 due to a lack of funding.
Today, students are primarily served by Huntsville Elementary School and Huntsville Middle School, though students on the south side of the river are zoned into Robbins School. All students are served at the high school level by Scott High School, which opened in 1971.
Churches
The primary church at New River is the New River Missionary Baptist Church. It is the only church located in the community, though there are nearby churches located just up the river (Low Gap Missionary Baptist Church) and on top of the hill (Trinity Baptist Church).
New River Missionary Baptist Church is one of the oldest churches in Scott County. It is one of the few churches that predate the 1849 foundation of Scott County itself. It was first located at Huntsville, given the land in 1819 and officially deeded by Thomas Lawson in 1826. The first court for Scott County was held at the New River Missionary Baptist Church on July 22, 1850, when the church was still located in Huntsville.
The church joined the Clinton Association of the United Baptist Association in August 1870. In 1886, at the 34th annual session of the Clinton Association, New River — along with Baptist churches at Jellico, Straight Fork, Smokey Creek, Sugar Grove, Winfield, and Pleasant Grove — was dismissed from the association to form the New River Baptist Association. Also joining the new association were Baptist churches at Black Creek, Glenmary, and Clear Creek, which left the Big Emory Association. An organizational meeting was held at New River Missionary Baptist Church on April 3, 1885.
The New River Missionary Baptist Church doubled as the community’s school and was located on the hill above the current church building. The current church building was build at its present site in the late 1940s, on land donated by George Cecil. The building was first used in July 1850.
Business & Commerce
There are no major businesses located in New River today. In fact, the community is only sparsely settled today. The key business — the one that gave rise to the community itself — was the
New River Lumber Company, which operated a sawmill operation on the river. There were company houses along Rough Street and Mudd Street above the river, a company store, a boarding house, a motel, and even a soft drink bottling company.
The Thomas Hall Lumber Company owned the sawmill for many years. It was purchased in 1928 by the W.M. Ritter Company, based in Columbus, Oh. At its peak, the Ritter mill employed as many as 300 people.
The original mill burned in 1946 and was replaced by a new circular mill that could produce 20,000 board feet of lumber per day. In 1960, the W.M. Ritter Lumber Company merged with Georgia Pacific Corporation, and in 1961 the mill closed, and timber was rerouted to a Georgia Pacific mill near Oliver Springs, Tenn. The Brimstone Railroad was sold by Georgia Pacific to Southern Railroad in 1965.
Origins & First Families
Settlement in the New River community can be traced back to when the Buttram family arrived on the scene in the early 1800s. Later, families like the Hurtts, Cecils, and Reeds helped define New River. Then the community became a bonafide town with the opening of the mill in the 1890s — at one point even voting to incorporate.
The Buttram family
John Buttram and Jane Stephenson were the first of the Buttram family to settle at New River, owning vast amounts of land, although they didn’t arrive until sometime between 1820 and 1830 — long after families had begun to settle other parts of the New River valley.
John Buttram, born circa 1773, was originally from North Carolina, the son of William Buttram and Margaret Willis. He later married Jane Stephenson (1764-1865), the daughter of James Stevenson and Sarah Kelly. Among their children were William, James Andrew, Margaret, William, Rebecca, Bailey, and Mary.
Both Bailey Buttram, who served as the second sheriff of Scott County, and his brother William were highly successful, owning large farms in the New River area. But the success started with their parents. John Buttram had died by the time the 1850 and 1860 slave censuses were taken, but his widow, Jane Stephenson Buttram, was the most prominent slaveowner in Scott County in 1860, owning 22 of the 59 total slaves that were owned in the county.
William Buttram married Rachel Reed. Bailey Buttram married Lucinda McCoy.
The Hurtt family
The Hurtt family was another prominent early family in the New River community. It dates back to John Crawford Hurtt (1807-1883) and his wife, Francis “Fanny” Bruton (1810-1883). John was originally from South Carolina, and she was born in Kentucky. They moved to New River at some point after their marriage. Among their children were Melissa Duncan, Mildred Smith, Martha McCoy, Mary Buttram, Suffrona Hurtt, William M. Hurtt, Isham Hurtt, Syrena Newport, Moses Hurtt, and Reuben Hurtt.
Mary Hurtt married John Buttram, the son of William Buttram, creating the first link between the Buttram and Hurtt families. Moses Hurtt married Ellen Buttram, the daughter of Bailey Buttram.
The Hurtt Cemetery is located near the end of the ridge above New River off of Mudd Street. Both Buttrams and Hurtts, along with other early residents of New River, can be found buried there. (New River Cemetery also helps tell the story of the community, while the Buttram Cemetery is located further up-river at Low Gap.)
The Reed family
There is perhaps no more prominent New River family through the years than the Reeds. The Reed Cemetery, located at the top of the hill above the river, is the community’s largest cemetery. There is another Reed Cemetery across the river in the Mountain View community.
The Reed family dates back to Isaac Reed (1790-1854), who married Phariba Hatfield (1795-1865), the daughter of Revolutionary War veteran Joseph Hatfield. They had at least 15 children.
The Cecil family
Still another prominent New River family was the Cecils. This was a different branch of the Cecil family that was prominent in the early days of Helenwood.
James Timothy Cecil (1805-1871) moved to present-day Scott County and settled in the Helenwood area after marrying Pharaba Reed (1810-1881), one of the daughters of Isaac Reed and Phariba Hatfield. They had around 17 children, and were the ancestors of the Helenwood family of Baptist preachers that included Virgil Cecil and his sons, Roger and Milford, long-time pastors of Helenwood Baptist Church.
One of James and Pharaba’s children was Samuel Cecil (1824-1895), who married Priscilla Martha Thomas (1827-1889). One of their children was Beaty Cecil (1849-1931), who became a well-respected Scott County citizen, serving as both sheriff and county judge, and later being elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives and the Tennessee Senate.
Beaty Cecil was born in Helenwood, home of the Cecil clan, but eventually settled in New River. He married Polly Elmire Buttram (1858-1938), the daughter of Bailey Buttram, and became the father of the brothers who are collectively known as the Fighting Cecils of New River.
Cecil himself served in the military, hiking from Helenwood to Nashville to join the Union army in 1864. Four of his sons served in the armed forces, including Col. Joe Cecil (1878-1940), who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor for his courage in the Philippine Insurrection. He is Scott County’s only Medal of Honor winner, and the U.S. Highway 27 bridge over New River is named in his honor. Comm. Henry Barton Cecil (1888-1933) was killed in action aboard the U.S.S. Akron in 1933, and a naval air station in Florida is named Cecil Field in his honor. Lt. Col. Tom Cecil (1885-1974) served in World War I, and Col. James J. Cecil (1893-1976) served in both World War I and World War II.