Greetings from Lynnville, Tennessee. Hope everyone is enjoying the nice sunny days along with some rain. We hope all Mothers had a great Mother's Day on Sunday, May 8.

The Easter Egg-travaganza held on Saturday, April 16, was a great success. We appreciate everyone who entered items for the judging and all who had their pictures made with the Easter Bunny. We thank Cristen Gibson Smith for being the photographier. The pictures were very good. The bake sale held in front of Soda Pop Junction was a great success. We thank everyone who gave to the bake sale.

The children enjoyed the Easter Egg Hunt that was held in the Railroad Park. The hunt was over before the rain came.

We thank everyone who participated in the Lynnville Easter Egg-travaganza and hope everyone will participate next year.

Decoration Day was observed at Mars Hill Cemetery in the Robertson Fork Community on Saturday, May 7, and at the Lynnwood Cemetery in Lynnville on Sunday, May 8.

It is that time again to be making plans to attend the Annual Lynnville Blackberry Festival to be held on Saturday, June 25, all day. To reserve a booth to sell your wares, contact 931-527-3922 or 931-527-0032. There will be something for everyone at the festival. More details soon on the festival.

Several of the store fronts on the Lynnville Square are getting a new coat of paint. They really look great.

News from the campus of Richland Middle and High School:

The 33rd yearbook of Richland High School was given out on Monday, May 9, to students and staff who had purchased them. There are extra yearbooks for students to purchase. Students should come by the high school library to buy a yearbook.

Congratulations to all who worked on the yearbook.

The high school student council is collecting items for the tornado victims in Alabama.

Congratulations to Lindsey Perkins and Stonie Read. Lindsey placed 20th in the National VFW Voice of Democracy competition. Stonie placed 2nd in the State Pole Bending. Lindsey will be going to Valley Forge, Pa. this summer as part of her prize. Stonie will go to New Mexico to compete in the National Finals.

Boys in high school can try out for basketball on Monday, May 23, and Tuesday, May 24, from 2:30 to 4 p.m. Any student wishing to try out must sign up with Coach Loveless. Any student wishing to try out must have a copy of a current physical.

The local Boy Scouts are collecting items for the Alabama tornado victims.

Graduation will be held on Friday evening, May 20, in the Dwight Clark Gymnasium beginning at 7 p.m. Some 90 graduates will receive diplomas.

The Richland High School Drama Class presented their play, "Luau for King Lear" on Wednesday evening, May 11, at 7 p.m. in the school auditorium and on Thursday morning, May 12, at 8:15 a.m. for the high school student body. The play was directed by drama instructor, Delores White.

The Senior Picnic is being held Friday, May 13, on the football field.

From the history files of Sarah Hewitt Dugger:

To continue the History of Lynnville written by Mrs. Dugger: "When the pioneers came they found the county was a vast cane break and forest--the cane being from 20-25 feet high. The settlers united and built log houses for each other, and the same kindness and courtesy was extended to each newcomer for years thereafter.

The first settlers in the northern part of the county on Lynn Creek and Robertson Fork crossed Duck River and came by where Culleoka now is, and they crossed Elk Ridge at Dodson's Gap or went higher up Fountain Creek and crossed further west.

One of the first settlers was John Fry, father of Captain William Fry, who moved from the state of North Carolina in the fall of 1805 and settled on the western prong of Lynn Creek on the eighth of March, 1808.

In 1807, William Dering, George Malone, Gabriel and John Fowlkes, and Daniel Harrison settled on the east prong. In the same year John and William Rutledge, Jacob and Andrew Blythe, Joel Rutledge, and Parrish Simms settled on the middle prong, and on the western prong there settled Nicholas Absolom, Hugh Barren, Thomas Mooney and Andrew Pickens.

John Laird came in December 1809, by way of Dodson's Gap, and built a home on the pike (Hwy. 31). He built a mill on Lynn Creek and started in 1811, the first cotton gin run by water in this part of the county. He opened a store near the house and without previous experience in that business, he became a successful merchant.

Elisha White came in about the time John Laird came, and it was he who owned the land on which Old Lynnville was built. He divided it into lots and sold them and became a very successful businessman. He built the brick house overlooking Old Lynnville. This home and the Laird home on the pike are among the oldest homes in this section.

Andrew Jackson, on his return from one of his Indian campaigns, took breakfast at the Laird Home.

General Jackson was a good friend of Thomas Kennedy Gordon of the Lynnville community.

Just before the Civil War, Old Lynnville was quite a flourishing town.

A long row of business houses once stood in Old Lynnville. There was a large brick hotel located in Old Lynnville.

Much of the town was burned and destroyed during the Civil War, owing to guerrilla warfare. A portion of the 16th Union Army Corp. was stationed at Lynnville, where earthworks were thrown up on the east hill; rifle pits and elevations from cannons can now be easily traced. Hood's army, protected by Forrest's calvary, passed through Lynnville on its retreat south after the Battle of Franklin."

More history of Lynnville next week.