Cumberland Homesteads Tower Museum

In 1934, the federal government selected a site on the Cumberland Plateau near Crossville for one of the most ambitious New Deal homestead communities in the country. The Cumberland Homesteads were designed to provide land, housing, and cooperative economic opportunity for families struggling through the Depression. Over several years, 252 stone houses were built - using local sandstone quarried from the plateau - along with community buildings, a cooperative store, a cannery, a school, and a swimming pool. The families who came were given a fresh start and a chance to build something.

The octagonal stone tower that serves as the museum's centerpiece was built as a water tower for the community and is now the most visible symbol of the Homesteads project. Climbing the tower offers panoramic views across the plateau and the surrounding hills - on a clear day you can see for miles in multiple directions. The tower itself is an architectural curiosity, octagonal stone construction with a distinctive character that stands out even today.

The museum inside chronicles the Homesteads story through photographs, artifacts, and oral history recordings. The experience is genuinely affecting - you come to understand what these families faced, what the community they built meant to them, and what survival looked like in the 1930s on the Cumberland Plateau. Many descendants of the original homesteaders still live in the area, and the Homesteads community has maintained its distinct identity for nearly ninety years.

Many of the original 252 stone houses are still standing and occupied - the Homesteads neighborhood is a living historical community, not just a museum. Driving the Homesteads roads gives you a sense of the scale of the project and the craftsmanship of the stone construction that has lasted nearly a century.