1936 Map of Guinn Cross Roads

About this map

Dempsey and the namesake Guinn Cross Roads anchor this rural landscape in Franklin County, captured just as the Tennessee Valley Authority was reshaping the region's infrastructure. The map depicts a rugged interior defined by the winding paths of Chickasaw Creek and Hurricane Creek, where early 20th-century life centered on family-named schools, churches, and small-scale milling operations. The presence of Sparks Mill along the McAfee Branch and the Sparks Sch to the south suggests a localized pocket of settlement dependent on the area's many spring-fed tributaries.