Watermelons on the road

Right on the east side edge of Smyrna is where the 'Old Jefferson' and 'Jefferson Springs were. I've written about them in the past, but thought this story might tickle you. Sam Ridley Blvd is named after one of the Ridley twins, and Knox told of a trip out to the Springs.

Knox shared a “personal story” of one particularly memorable journey from hometown Smyrna out to Jefferson Springs. 

“We had Daddy’s Model T Ford, but due to me and my twin Sam being so short, I had to lay on the floor to work the pedals as Sam drove the car,” Knox recalled. 

“One trip, as we were cruising out along Jefferson Pike on the edge of Smyrna, we came up behind a slow moving flat-bed truck loaded with watermelons,” Knox noted. “Sam told me to get up out of the floor of the car, and go out over the car’s hood as he edged up closer to the truck.” 

“Well, I generally did what Sam suggested, so I crawled out over the car hood, got up in the truck and ‘borrowed’ a watermelon, which we thoroughly enjoyed later that hot summer day we spent out at Jefferson Springs,” Knox concluded. 

Both settlements, Old Jefferson and Jefferson Springs, have faded in Stones River’s  mist of passing time…

The article has more details of the community if you're interested.