Beersheba Springs

Grundy County, Tennessee · Cumberland Plateau

Established

1833

Incorporated

1839

Population (2020)

434

Overview

Beersheba Springs is a small town on the western edge of the Cumberland Plateau in Grundy County, Tennessee, at an elevation of approximately 2,000 feet. The town is pronounced BURR-shuh-buh.

Originally developed in the 19th century as a mineral-springs resort, Beersheba Springs today is best known as the home of the Beersheba Springs Assembly — a United Methodist conference and retreat center — and as a gateway community to Savage Gulf State Park.

History

A summary of the town's documented history, from its founding to the present.

Many communities of the Cumberland Plateau owe their early popularity to the prevalence of diseases that thrived in the humid lowlands of the Southeast. Beersheba Springs offered cooler temperatures, relative safety from those illnesses, and a mineral spring believed to have curative properties — a common health treatment in the 19th century.

1833 Beersheba Porter Cain of McMinnville discovers a chalybeate (iron-rich) mineral spring on the bluff.
1837 Several log structures are built along the McMinnville-to-Chattanooga stagecoach route, later joined together and added to with handmade brick to form an inn.
1839 The Tennessee state legislature incorporates the Beersheba Springs Company.
1854 Col. John Armfield purchases the property and begins developing Beersheba Springs into a destination resort capable of hosting up to 400 guests. Amenities include billiards, bowling, gourmet meals prepared by French chefs, and musical acts from New Orleans.
1857 Armfield enlarges the inn to its present form. The courtyard becomes a gathering place for varied diversions, including missionary services led by Episcopal Bishops Otey and Polk.
1863 The Civil War disrupts the resort. The property is looted and never fully recovers its antebellum scale.
1870s Northern investors reopen the resort, but it does not return to its previous prominence.
1941 The Tennessee Conference of the Methodist Church purchases the hotel and surrounding 22 acres for $3,000.
1942 The property reopens as the Beersheba Springs Methodist Assembly Grounds, beginning its current use as a conference and retreat center.
1980 The Beersheba Springs Historic District is added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Notable historical figure

Mary Noailles Murfree (1850–1922), described as "Tennessee's foremost woman writer of fiction," wrote under the pen name Charles Egbert Craddock for over thirty years. The Tennessee mountains and the Civil War were the settings for her novels and short stories, and she gathered much of her material during summers spent in Beersheba Springs in her youth and early adult years. Her first major work was published in 1878, and she continued to write until 1914.

Outdoor Recreation

Beersheba Springs is the northern gateway to Savage Gulf State Park.

Savage Gulf State Park — Stone Door Trailhead

Savage Gulf became Tennessee's 56th state park after separating from land formerly managed as part of South Cumberland State Park. The park encompasses approximately 19,000 acres of sandstone cliffs, deep gorges, waterfalls, and old-growth forest along the Cumberland Plateau's western rim.

The Stone Door — the park's signature feature — is a natural crack in the bluff roughly 10 feet wide and 100 feet deep, resembling a giant door left ajar. It was used by Indigenous peoples as a passageway between the plateau and the gorge below.

Stone Door Trail: 2-mile out-and-back hike, rated easy, with a paved opening section leading to bluff-edge overlooks.
Laurel Gulf Overlook: Located 0.2 miles in on the paved section, accessible from the North Parking Area, with an observation deck.
Connecting trails descend into the gorge to Big Creek Rim, Big Creek Gulf, Greeter Falls, Ranger Falls, and Alum Gap Campground.

Address: 1183 Stone Door Rd, Beersheba Springs, TN 37305
Phone: 931-692-3887
Facilities: Paved parking, restrooms, gift shop (seasonal), picnic area
Directions: From I-24, take Exit 134 (US 41A toward Monteagle/Sewanee), south on US 41A for 1.2 miles, then left on Highway 56 through Beersheba Springs.
More info: tnstateparks.com/parks/savage-gulf

Historic Sites

Locations within and around the Beersheba Springs Historic District.

Beersheba Springs Assembly

The Beersheba Springs Assembly is a United Methodist conference and retreat center that operates year-round in the restored pre–Civil War inn enlarged by Col. John Armfield in 1857. The Tennessee Conference of the Methodist Church purchased the property in 1941 and opened it as the Assembly in 1942.

The grounds today include the antebellum inn, chapel, dormitories, and dining hall, and are surrounded by individually owned historic cottages. The Assembly hosts retreats, church groups, music camps, and community gatherings.

Address: 55 Hege Ave, Beersheba Springs, TN 37305
Phone: 931-692-3669
Email: BeershebaSprings.Assembly@twkumc.org
Website: beershebaassembly.org

Beersheba Springs Historic District

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, the district includes the Beersheba Springs Hotel complex and more than two dozen surrounding historic buildings. Many of the mid-1800s cottages have remained in the same families for generations.

Beersheba Springs Museum

The Beersheba Springs Museum, operated by the Beersheba Springs Historical Society, preserves and shares the documented history of the town and surrounding area. The museum is housed in a former country store along TN-56 and welcomes visitors during posted hours and by appointment.

Historical Markers

Four Tennessee Historical Commission markers stand within Beersheba Springs, documenting the town's founding, its antebellum inn, and one of its most notable residents.

Welcome to Beersheba Springs

Located at the intersection of TN-56 and Backbone Road (near 19224 TN-56), this marker introduces visitors to the town and its origins.

Beersheba Springs Historic District

Standing alongside the Welcome marker at TN-56 and Backbone Road, this marker documents the district's listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

Beersheba Inn (Marker 2E 25)

Located on Scenic TN-56 just west of Hege Avenue, in a small roadside park. The marker records that several log structures were built in 1837 and later joined together, with additions of handmade brick. Col. John Armfield enlarged the building to its present form in 1857. The marker also notes that the inn's courtyard hosted varied antebellum activities, including missionary services held by Episcopal Bishops Otey and Polk.

Mary Noailles Murfree (Marker 2E 42)

Located at the intersection of TN-56 and Dahlgren Avenue (near 23 Dahlgren Ave). The marker honors Murfree (1850–1922), described as "Tennessee's foremost woman writer of fiction," who wrote under the pen name Charles Egbert Craddock for over thirty years and gathered much of her material during summers spent in Beersheba Springs.

The Original Mineral Spring

The chalybeate spring that gave Beersheba Springs its name once drew visitors from across the South for its iron-rich waters. Following the blasting of Highway 56, the spring no longer surfaces in its original location and is not accessible on the Assembly grounds. Local history places its former outflow near the site of the igloo structure along Highway 56.

Visiting Beersheba Springs

Practical information for travelers and day visitors.

Beersheba Springs sits at the northern edge of Grundy County on TN-56, about 30 minutes south of McMinnville and 20 minutes north of Altamont. Once one of the South's premier mountain resorts, the town overlooks Collins River Gorge and offers easy access to Stone Door, Greeter Falls, and the Savage Gulf trail system within South Cumberland State Park.

Note Hours for shops, the Beersheba Springs Market, and seasonal lodging vary. Please call individual businesses to confirm before visiting. For additional listings or updated information, contact the South Cumberland Chamber of Commerce.