Bell Town, Tennessee

Bell Town, Tennessee (also known as Belltown) is an unincorporated rural community located in southern Cheatham County along U.S. Highway 70.^[1] Its location is 36°06′46″N 87°09′29″W / 36.11278°N 87.15806°WCoordinates: 36°06′46″N 87°09′29″W / 36.11278°N 87.15806°W.^[2]

Bell Town has traditionally been an African American community. Folk history has it that the traditional residents are descendants of the slaves of Middle Tennessee ironmaster Montgomery Bell; as Bell was widely reputed to have had several slave mistresses, many inhabitants claim descent from Bell via these women. A primary school was located here until it was closed by racial integration in the 1960s; the renovated building now serves as an office for a religious ministry.

In the last two decades there has been considerable growth in the area, including, as racial attitudes have softened, a considerable influx of whites.

Apparently Bell Town has never had a United States Post Office; the community's address is Kingston Springs, Tennessee. As neither Kingston Springs nor the nearby community of White Bluff have traditionally had an appreciable black population, Bell Town has served the purpose of providing these two towns with a black-oriented residential area, a purpose the community still functions in to some degree.

As Bell Town is neither an incorporated town nor a census-designated place, any estimate of its population is of necessarily limited accuracy due to the absence of any well-defined boundaries, but is generally regarded to be less than 200 persons.

References

1. Cheatham County General Highway Map (PDF) (Map). Tennessee Department of Transportation. 2000. Retrieved 2010-12-17.
2. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Bell Town, Tennessee