Land clearing in South Carthage, TN

Three hundred feet of climb

The town runs along the south bank of the Cumberland, from Goodall Island east to where the Caney Fork comes in. Down at the water the bench sits near 460 feet. Behind it the ground climbs to 750 in about a third of a mile. That rise decides the work. A single lot can hold both kinds of ground. One side is river bench with real soil under it, and the other is hillside where the rock isn’t far below your boot.

The back half of the lot

Off 70N the parcels tend to run long and narrow. House and yard sit down on the flat, then the back end tips up into hardwood with cedar, privet and briars filled in underneath. Ground like that goes quiet fast. A few seasons without a mower and the understory closes the whole slope. Mulching takes that layer out and leaves the timber standing, so the ground opens back up without losing the shade.

Down at the mouth of the Caney Fork

At the southeast corner of town, 70N meets 25 and 53. Just north of that junction the Caney Fork empties into the Cumberland, and the ground goes flat and wet. Bottom like that grows willow, cane and privet faster than a bush hog can stay ahead of, and it won’t hold a loaded truck through a wet spring, which is why tracks matter more down here than they do up on the bench. It’s good dirt once you can see it again.

A little over twenty miles east

Straight out of Lebanon on 70N, through farmland and then Rome, and the road sets you down in town beside the river. Off the interstate it’s exit 258 at Gordonsville, then north on 53. Neither run is long. Smith County sits on the seam between the Nashville Basin and the Highland Rim, and South Carthage is right on it. The town has flat river ground on one side and hillside climbing toward the Rim on the other.