Join fine art photographer Keith Dotson on a visit to the beautiful historic district at Reliance, Tennessee
Reliance, Tennessee
The Hiwassee Meeting Hall was built in 1899 by a partnership of the local Hiwassee Union Church and the Masons. The church used the first floor and the second floor served as the Masonic meeting hall. During the week, the first floor also doubled as a school.
The building remained in use until the 1960s.
Reliance straddles the Hiwassee River. The name is derived from a Cherokee word meaning savannah or meadow. This was Cherokee territory until they were forced onto a deadly march to Oklahoma in the 1830s.
The automobile bridge across the river is considered historic too — it was built in 1912.
History of Reliance, Tennessee
One of the first non-indigenous settlers in the area was a man named T.A. Toomey, who built a water-powered mill on the river near the location of the bridge. He ground corn for the local farmers and sawed lumber, and his mill helped make the local community possible. Toomey’s mill was eventually bought out by a man named Dodson and the mill became known as Dodson’s Mill. The mill burned down in 1915.
By the 1880s there was a post office and about 400 people in the vicinity.
Higdon Hotel
In 1888, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad bought the easement to build a track and bridge through Reliance. A man named Calvin Higdon bought some shady hillside property and built a hotel in 1890 in anticipation of the trains coming through. Some sources say he bought an existing house and expanded the size of it, but the National Register makes no mention of that.
Higdon’s family also lived in the hotel.
The hotel went through some fairly recent rehab work that hasn’t been completed.
In the early 1900s, a lumber camp was established deeper back in the mountains and that brought business to the Higdon Hotel. By that time, the Higdon Hotel was also drawing travelers to the area as a summer resort, with people enjoying the leafy views and quiet of the Hiwassee River Valley.
With passenger cars supplanting railroad travel, the hotel closed in 1920.
Watchmen’s House
I didn’t get any photos or videos of it, but there was a railroad watchmen’s house built in 1891 with the purpose of the watchman to keep an eye on the bridge to make sure passing trains didn’t spark on its timbers. But my favorite thing about the story is that the watchman’s name was Mr. Pickle.
Sources and Links
National Register of Historic Places. “Reliance Historic District.”
Tennessee River Valley Tourism. “Reliance Historic District.”
WBIR 10 News Today. “Abandoned Places: Higdon Hotel.”