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1936 Map of Bethesda

Name: 1936 Topographic Map of Bethesda
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1969
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1969

About this map

Bethesda and the surrounding rural communities of southern Williamson (Williamson County) are documented here during a period of significant regional mapping by the Tennessee Valley Authority. The landscape is defined by the Divide separating the Basin, where small family-named cemeteries such as Steele Cem, Smithson Cem, and Knott Cem serve as vital markers of early Tennessee settlement patterns. The social life of the area centers on the village of Bethesda, anchored by the Bethesda Ch and Bethesda Sch, while the crossroads at Cross Key marks the eastern edge of this agricultural district.

Watercourses like Rutherford Creek and Aenon Creek carve through the terrain, with Thompson Lake providing a rare still water feature. To the east, the elevation rises toward Pull Tight Hill, where the Mt Zion Ch overlooks the drainage divide. This survey, compiled from aerial photography, captures the network of ridge lines and hollows, such as Johnson Hollow, that dictated the placement of homesteads and churchyards before mid-century modernization changed the rural character of the county.