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Area 2 Open to the Public Guided tours are available upon request by calling (615) 325-3443 or (615) 325-9032.
Cold Springs School is located in Richland Park in Portland. The one-room schoolhouse was built in 1857 in a place near Mitchellville, Tennessee, northwest of Portland near the Kentucky/Tennessee state line. After the Civil War began, the Cold Springs School site became Camp Trousdale, a training camp for Confederate soldiers. The schoolhouse itself became an infirmary where soldiers were treated. After the Civil War, the school was used both for educational purposes and church meetings until it was abandoned in the mid 1930s. It was later moved to a different spot on the same farm and was used as a tenant house, a workshop and a tobacco-stripping building. In 1975, the Cold Springs School was donated to the Highland Rim Historical Society and moved to Richland Park in Portland. With the assistance of a Federal grant, the schoolhouse was restored to its original state including reconstructing the stone fireplace, roofing the building with cedar shingles, repairing the weatherboard siding, and repairing the original floor. A rail fence and landscaping were added around the building. There are many exhibits within the schoolhouse including: a history of the strawberry industry, the Bicentennial Celebration in Portland, early medicine including doctors and midwives, a World War II uniform, quilting displays and period furniture.
Directions from I-65 to Cold Springs School 1. Take exit 117 (Portland/Orlinda) and head towards Portland on TN 52. 2. Cross over U.S. 31-W at the four-way stop. 3. Keep going straight on TN 52. Go about 4 miles into Portland. 4. Turn left on TN 109. There is a traffic light at the intersection. There will be a McDonald's on the right before you turn. 5. Go about three blocks on TN 109. You'll see a Farmers Bank on your right. Ahead on your right is a strip shopping center with a Subway. Turn right on East McGlothlin Street. That's the road between the Farmers Bank and the strip shopping center. 6. Cross the railroad tracks. Keep going straight. The road changes names, and you are now on Wheeler Street. 7. In about two blocks, you'll see McKendree Methodist Church on your left and the Elmer Hinton Library. Turn left just after the church onto Portland Blvd. (The library will be on your right after you make the turn.) 8. The entrance to the school is just past the library on the right side of the road.
Note: there is a state historical marker for Cold Springs School. The marker is located several miles away on TN 109. Please click here to see the marker. |
