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1936 Map of Ovoca

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

USGS Topo · Published 1936

About this map

The Ovoca Orphans Home and the adjacent Ovoca Lake serve as a central landmark in this 1936 Tennessee Valley Authority survey of the Coffee County area. The landscape is defined by the winding course of the Duck River, which is traversable at numerous named crossing points including Beckman Ford, Richardson Ford, and Waite Ford. These fords, alongside a dense network of country schools such as Fourth Model Sch and Flower Town Sch, reveal a rural society still deeply reliant on local water crossings and neighborhood-level institutions before the widespread modernization of the mid-20th century.

In the south, the Nashville Chattanooga and St Louis Railway cuts through The Barrens, connecting the settlements of Hickerson and New Antwerp. The map records several waterfalls, including Rutledge Falls and Baker Falls, which punctuate the numerous creeks feeding into the main river valley. For genealogists, the survey is particularly useful for locating family-named cemeteries like Holland Hill Cem and Bashaw Cem, providing a precise record of the local population's footprint.