Winona
Winona is an unincorporated community in central Scott County, located near where Buffalo Creek empties into New River. It is a gateway to the remote mountain valley communities of Bull Creek and Cordell.
See Also: Communities of Scott County
Geography & Demographics
Winona is located at the mouth of Buffalo Creek, where it empties into New River. In its prime, it was a small community located in the Buffalo Creek valley, where River Road — which connected Huntsville to Bull Creek — and the Tennessee Railroad crossed Buffalo Creek. Near present-day S.R. 63, River Junction Road emerged at the Annadell community. It connected Huntsville with Annadell and points further east. The Litton Covered Bridge over Paint Rock Creek was located on this road. Today, the eastern portion of River Junction Road that remains open to vehicular traffic is called Railey Lane and intersects with Winona Road near the S.R. 63 intersection.
Winona is a gateway to the Bull Creek, Little Bull Creek, Cordell, and Byrges Creek communities further south, on the south side of New River. There’s also Hurricane Road, which was the old road connecting Cordell to Norma. While these were all separate settlements in the 19th and early 20th centuries, they’re being presented here as one community.
The entire Winona area is part of the 37756 (Huntsville) zip code.
The main road through the community is called Winona Road until just past the former Winona settlement, where it crosses Buffalo Creek. Beyond Buffalo Creek, it is called Cordell Road until it reaches the Byrges Creek Road intersection just beyond New River. At that point, it is called Bull Creek Road.
Business & Commerce
The Winona community was historically a residential community. Today its commerce is centered around the ATV industry. Brimstone Recreation and North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area are both nearby. Winona is home to the Winona/New River Campground, which started as a KOA campground. Nearby on River Road is the Trails End Campground. Both campgrounds are owned by the Howard family, including Steve and Marla Howard.
There are also several short-term rental homes in the Winona area.
Schools
Today, students in the Winona area are served by Huntsville Elementary and Huntsville Middle Schools, as well as Scott High School.
Traditionally, there were schools at Winona, Cordell, and Bull Creek. There was also a school at Little Bull Creek called Glendale, and a school at Mill Branch on the east side of Hurricane. There was also the Bridge School near the old Litton Covered Bridge.
Churches
The only church at Winona itself is Buffalo Bridge Missionary Baptist Church. However, there are additional churches deeper into the foothills of the Cumberland Mountains, including Byrges Creek Baptist Church and Bull Creek United Baptist Church. Across Hurricane is Mill Branch Baptist Church.
Post Offices
The post office at Winona opened in August 1904, but was originally called Griffith. Its first postmaster was John N. Chambers. The name changed to Winona in June 1909. The post office remained until October 1983. The last postmaster was Florrie H. Hamblin. It was the last of Scott County’s rural post offices to close.
Origins & First Families
Settlement at Winona dates back to the earliest days of Scott County, though it was not called Winona until the early 1900s.
Writing for the Cumberland Chronicle in 1904, Jehu Phillips said that the first school in present-day Scott County was built at the mouth of Buffalo Creek in 1826. He said it was a one-room log building, and the first teacher “was a man named Brawhill who came here from Virginia.”
Phillips also said the first store in Scott County was located on Buffalo Creek and run by Jim Williams. “When I was about 10 years old I went with father to this store and Williams had a few men’s shoes (but no boy’s shoes), some calico and a few other dry goods,” he wrote. However, this appears to be a reference to a store further up Buffalo Creek.
Phillips said the first settlers on Buffalo Creek, beginning at the mouth of the creek, where it empties into New River, were “one Ledgerwood, Billie Jeffers, Joshua Duncan, Billie Hughett, Absolum Cross, one Robinson, two Marcums, Tommie Chambers and Ben Dagley.”
The McDonald Family
One of the first people to settle in the Winona area was James McDonald, a Revolutionary War veteran who moved to present-day Scott County after the war. He was originally from North Carolina and served in the North Carolina militia during the war.
Following the war, McDonald married Sarah Cox and moved to Tennessee. They had at least six children, including Allen McDonald, who was elected Scott County’s first clerk in 1850.
McDonald died in 1848, before Scott County was created, and was buried at Winona Cemetery.
The Chambers family
Another Revolutionary War veteran, William Chambers, settled further up Buffalo Creek, in the Buffalo community, but some of his descendants made their way to Winona.
John Riley Chambers (1815-1894), William Chambers’ grandson, was the first of the family to live at Winona. He served as an early Scott County elected official and married Margaret Sharp (1817-1879) in 1833. She was the daughter of Isham Sharp (1780-1850) and Sarah Joyce (1785-1870) of Buffalo. They had at least 10 children, including Elmira Jeffers, Silas Leander Chambers, Sally Ann Hamblin, Isham Thomas Chambers, Francis Marion Chambers, Burnettie J. Chandler, Charnatty Potter, Margaret Potter, Nancy Elizabeth Potter, and John U. Chambers.
John Riley’s parents were Thomas Chambers (1777-1871) and Catherine Lakie “Katie” Lawson (1792-1838) of Buffalo. His mother was the daughter of Revolutionary War veteran Randolph Lawson, who settled at the mouth of Paint Rock Creek in the early 1800s.
The historian Robert Bailey documented a stone at Winona Cemetery that was engraved with the initials “S.W.M.C.” and the date “1837.” It was the first burial at the cemetery. Although no further information is available, this would seem to possibly be a member of the Chambers family.
The Jeffers family
The Jeffers family was another early family at Winona, dating back to John Jeffers (1820-1903) and Milly White (1815-1880). John Jeffers died in March 1903 after nearly drowning as he attempted to save his livestock from the barn amid a spring flood that sent New River out of banks.
The Chandler family
Burnettie Chambers, the daughter of John Riley Chambers and Margaret Sharp, married William F.P. Chandler (1845-1927). They and several of their children are buried at the Winona Cemetery.
The Lawson family
Further into the mountains, at Bull Creek, the Lawson family was among the first settlers. Randolph Lawson, the Revolutionary War veteran who settled near the mouth of Paint Rock Creek in the early 1800s, had at least two other brothers who served in the war and moved to present-day Scott County after it was over: David Lawson and John Lawson.
It was David Lawson (1758-1852) who settled in the Winona area. He married Elizabeth Jeffers in Hawkins County, Tenn., before the move to Scott County. They had five children: Samuel (1802-1880), Serepta (born 1805), David William (1811-1880), Thomas (born 1812), and Jacob Lee (1824-1891).
It was through Jacob “Jake” Lawson that most of the Lawsons at Bull Creek descended. He married Lavicy Ann “Vicy” Lewallen on Jan. 7, 1844, and they had 12 children. She was the daughter of Joel Lewallen (1803-1892) and Rachel Sue Taylor (1798-1892) of Brimstone. Her grandfather, Anderson Grant Lewallen, was one of the first settlers of the Glenmary area. Her brother, John Lewallen, served as the first sheriff of Scott County.
The Harness family
Another prominent early family at Bull Creek was the Harness family, which dates back to John Harness (1745-1845) and Mary “Polly” Wilson. Brothers Samuel Harness and David Harness — sons of John and Polly — both moved to Bull Creek. David married Elizabeth Hughett, while Samuel married Elizabeth Harness.
The Bowling family
Yet another prominent early family at Bull Creek was the Bowling family. Greenberry Bowling (1828-1901) married Sylvestia Brown (1832-1864) and they had at least five children. Following her death, Berry remarried to Christina Lawson, and they had several more children. Christina was first married to Allen McDonald, Scott County’s first clerk, who lived at Winona.
The Brown family
Finally, the Brown family was prominent at Bull Creek, dating back to John and Nancy Brown. Their son, also named John Brown, married Margarett Lawson, one of the daughters of Jake and Vicy Lawson. John’s brother, Moses Brown, married into the Jeffers family. His wife was Lakey America Jeffers.
Descendents of the Harness and Brown families were victims of a gruesome double-murder at Bull Creek in the 1880s, when two men murdered Talitha Brown Harness and her son, Peter Harness. The suspects were later lynched in Huntsville.
Separately, William Harness and his wife, Mary Jane Lawson, were murdered in 1921. The suspect in that double-murder, Berry Bowling, grandson of Greenberry Bowling, was also lynched.
The Phillips family
One of the first families to settle at Little Bull Creek was the Phillips family. Joseph Phillips, the father of Jehu Phillips, was born in Virginia and married Elizabeth “Millie” Lawson, daughter of Randolph Lawson who settled at Paint Rock Creek. Joseph Phillips was part of a caravan to present-day Scott County in the early 1800s, along with Abraham Goad and his older brother, Thomas Phillips, who was married to Goad’s daughter.
Millie Lawson Phillips was the first person buried at the Phillips Cemetery at Little Bull Creek.
The 1915 train crash
One of the key historical events to happen at Winona was the 1915 train wreck that occurred when the 50-foot-high trestle over Buffalo Creek collapsed while a train was crossing. One person was killed and four were injured after Engine #24 and Caboose #201 plunged into the creek.