EXPLORING ALTAMONT

 

Altamont was established in 1848 as the Grundy County seat thanks to the efforts of Gen. Adrian Northcutt, a local farmer who served for ten years in the Tennessee legislature. The first county courthouse was in Northcutt’s original home, a small log cabin. It was in this cabin that Northcutt and several other men signed Grundy County into being in 1844.

Early stagecoach roads, connecting the area to Beersheba Springs and what would later become Tracy City, were constructed as far back as 1833. The Firescald Creek Stone Arch Bridge, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is located on Northcutt’s Cove Road, off Highway 56, just north of town.

Much earlier, the Chickamauga Trace, an ancient Native American trade trail, also traversed this part of the Cumberland Plateau. Portions of the Trace can be seen alongside the hiking trail to Greeter Falls.

Altamont’s Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was built with mountain stone in 1946 by Lewis Fults. It served the congregation until a new ward was built in the 1980s.

Today, Altamont is the gateway to the Firescald Creek area of Savage Gulf State Park. From the Savage Gulf West trailhead, you can reach Greeter Falls, the site of the historic Long’s Mill, the Greeter Homestead and the Alum Gap Campground.