David Crockett Museum - Lawrenceville, Tennessee
David Crockett Museum - Lawrenceville, Tennessee
David Crockett Museum
The museum is housed in a log recreation of the
office where Crockett worked from 1817-1822. It is
located in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee.
David Crockett Museum
Autumn leaves framed the
quaint log structure where
visitors can learn about the
life of the famed frontiersman.
Historical Marker
The marker stands on the
grounds and notes Crockett's
involvement in highlights of
the history of Lawrenceburg.
David Crockett Museum - Lawrenceburg, Tennessee
David Crockett in Tennessee
Copyright 2013 by Dale Cox
All rights reserved.

Last Updated: August 12, 2013
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Frontier Life in the South
Hand-hewed Log Walls
The walls of the museum are
made of hand-hewed logs,
just as was Crockett's original
office.
David Crockett
The "Lion of the West," the
famed frontiersman lived in
Lawrenceburg about 15 years
before he died at the Alamo.
The famed American frontiersman David
Crockett lived for five years in Lawrenceburg,
Tennessee. His legacy there is preserved at
the David Crockett Museum, a recreated log
building that duplicates the appearance of
Crockett's original office.

Although 20th century Americans often refer
to him as Davy Crockett, the frontiersman
always used his full name, David. He has
been called the "Lion of the West" and was
one of the heroes of the Alamo, but during
his time in Lawrenceville he was a justice of
the peace, militia officer, politician and
businessman.

Like his predecessor Daniel Boone, Crockett
was a larger than life figure who fired the
imagination of Americans both in his day and
for generations to come. In the 1950s, thanks
to a popular television program, boys of all
ages donned coonskin caps and reenacted
the siege of the Alamo in their backyards and
neighborhoods.

By the time he came to Lawrence County,
Crockett was already a well-known figure in
East Tennessee. He had served in the Creek
War of 1813-1814, fighting most notably at
the Battles of Tallusahatchee and Talladega.

By 1817, he moved his family to the head of
Shoal Creek in what would soon become
Lawrence County, Tennessee. He had
initially planned to settle across the border in
Alabama, but while on an expedition to scout
lands there became so sick with malaria that
his family received word that he had died.

Crockett became a Justice of the Peace on
November 17, 1817, and by early the next
year was named one of the commissioners
who selected the site for the modern town of
Lawrenceburg.

The log office that the frontier politician built
there no longer stands, but the museum
duplicates its appearance quite well.

In Crockett's time, members of the militia (the
equivalent of today's National Guard) elected
their own officers in often quite contentious
popularity contests. David Crockett was
elected colonel of the Fifty-seventh Regiment
of Tennessee Militia in 1818. He would be
referred to as "Colonel Crockett" for the rest
of his life.

Crocket remained in Lawrenceburg until
1821, when he was elected to represent
Lawrence and Hickman Counties in the
Tennessee Legislature. Following the
conclusion of the session, he relocated his
family to what is now Gibson County in West
Tennessee.

The frontiersman's five year sojourn in
Lawrence County was one of the longest in
one place of his life.

David Crockett went on, of course, to be
elected to Congress in 1827 and in 1831
achieved international prominence as the
model for "Nimrod Doyell" in James Kirke
Paulding's play, "The Lion of the West." His
autobiography was published three years
later, cementing Crockett's reputation as a
rough and tumble frontiersman who could
whip his weight in wildcats.

The real David Crockett, who began his
political career in Lawrence County, was a bit
different than the Davy Crockett of legend and
novel.
A family man and justice of the peace, he
was active in politics, military affairs and ran
a number of businesses. Key among them
were a powder mill, a gristmill and a legal
whiskey distillery. All three were located
along the banks of Shoal Creek in what is
now David Crockett State Park just outside
Lawrenceburg. They were destroyed by flood
in September 1821.

A second museum on Crockett's life can be
explored at David Crockett State Park, which
is on US 64 just south of the Lawrenceburg
City Limits. The park also features cabins,
campgrounds, picnic areas, trails, a pool, a
lake, a restaurant and beautiful Crockett
Falls, a noted waterfall on Shoal Creek near
the site of his destroyed businesses.

The David Crockett Museum itself is located
on South Military Avenue, one block south of
the public square in Lawrenceburg,
Tennessee. Admission is free and the
museum can be visited daily year-round.

Built in a replica of David Crockett's office, the
museum features scrapbooks, memorabilia
and clothing and artifacts of the type used by
Crockett. Some of the artifacts once
belonged to him.

Also of interest is the David Crockett
Cherokee Museum, located at 1 Public
Square in Lawrenceburg. The museum is
free to visit and is open to the public daily
from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. (except Sunday
mornings).

It features exhibits on the life of Crockett as
well as Cherokee art, a dinosaur egg
discovered in the area and more.

The David Crockett Statue is located on the
square in downtown Lawrenceburg. It is
popular for photographs.

To learn more about Lawrenceburg, please
visit www.lawrenceburg.com and be sure to
check out the links below.
Photos by Pearl Cox & Charlotte Cook