Book Explores Spring Hill 's past

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For the past three years, a group of dedicated volunteers has met at the Spring Hill Library to work on a book that tells the story of this community’s unique and diverse history. 

It’s involved an extensive amount of research and fact-checking, canvassing of photos, and then writing, but “Spring Hill: A Pictorial History” is now complete. It offers a fascinating glimpse into some of the people, places, and events that put this small Tennessee town on the map.

"There are some special aspects to this book," says Dana Juriew, Library Director, "and one of them is we were big on racehorses. Racehorses were bred here, and there was a track at Haynes Haven. We had a series of famous horses: Billy Direct, Brown Hal, Star Pointer, and Haynes Peacock. And Trainer Pop Geers, there’s a park for him in Columbia, he trained horses here.”

In fact, during the 1800s, Tennessee was the hot spot for breeding and racing horses in the United States (ahead of Kentucky) until the Tennessee General Assembly banned gambling in 1906. 

Here’s another interesting fact highlighted in the book: Spring Hill was one of the first places to breed jersey cattle.

"There's also a lot in here about education a lot of people aren't aware of," notes Juriew. "In a town this size, you wouldn't have expected it to have had so many academies. There was a military academy here that was world class called Branham and Hughes."

Spring Hill has also been home to numerous individuals who have gained national prominence in their respective fields. 

“Coo Coo and Sterling Marlin were racecar drivers. Coo Coo, whose real name was Clifton, was a four-time track champion at the Nashville Fairgrounds, then began competing in NASCAR in 1968. His son, Sterling, won the Daytona 500 in 1994 and retired from NASCAR in 2010.”

Another local resident had success in the NFL.

“McDonald Oden, who was a Cleveland Brown running back, is in here. He was one of the people who helped us write this book.”

“Spring Hill: A Pictorial History” covers the years from the Civil War to the arrival of Saturn. And it’s the many different photos that make it so interesting.

“We put callouts to the public asking them to bring in photos," Juriew says, "but a lot of them were in the Spring Hill Library collection already. 

"My predecessor, Helen Dark, was the local historian and genealogist, and did a book before this one called "Spring Hill: Everybody Has a Story." So, she gathered a lot of photos for that. She’s featured in this book, also.”

Juriew says creating the book was a labor of love for everyone involved, from Spring Hill natives to newcomers who’d become attached to this community later in life. They all shared a close bond as they worked to bring the book together.

“We formed friendships and became a family," says Juriew. "But when you have a project that goes this long and given the nature of it being historical with many of our members in their eighties, it’s been a rough go because some of our members didn’t get to see it published. And we’re very sad about that.”

Two members who worked on the book and passed away were Naomi Derryberry and Billy Kinnard. 

Juriew is grateful to past and current volunteers who devoted their time and effort to make this book a reality, as well as those who worked on the earlier history book that came before it.

“I think the biggest thing for me has been standing on the shoulders of the previous librarians, and Friends of the Library, who wrote the previous book and gave us all this history,” she says. “And to be able to do it as a tribute to them. I hope they would be proud of us because we had them with us throughout.”

“Spring Hill: A Pictorial History” is available for purchase at the library and local businesses, including the gift shop at Rippavilla Plantation. It costs $30, with the money raised to be used for the construction of a new library.