While people come from all over the country to enjoy the quaint walk through history that is Rugby, it's possible that many who are natives to the Upper Cumberland area miss this treasure altogether.

Time stands still at Rugby, Tennessee - the restored Victorian village founded in 1880 by British author and social reformer, Thomas Hughes.

The social experiment was to be a cooperative, class-free, agricultural community for younger sons of English gentry and others wishing to start life anew in America.  At the time, younger "gentry," according to the social norms in England, could not work for wages as did the lower classes.  It simply was not done. 

The young gentry had another problem:  the oldest sons got the money and the property.  So, with no property, money or opportunity to work, younger sons were in a bit of a pickle. 

Social reformer Thomas Hughes was looking for an answer for these young bucks, and found that answer in Rugby. 

At its peak, some 350 people lived in the colony. More than 70 buildings of Victorian design graced the townscape on East Tennessee's beautiful Cumberland Plateau.

This would-be Utopia survives today as both a living community and a fascinating public historic site, unspoiled by modern development.  Twenty original buildings still stand at the southern edge of the Big South Fork National Park, surrounded by rugged river gorges. Four of the buildings are shown daily on tour.

One Sparta business man who moved to the area five years ago, says that Rugby is his favorite spot to take out of town guests.  "There's nothing else I've seen that's like it.  The library is incredible and people are always fascinated by this little village.  It's a must see for members of my family who want to see what region of the world is about.   I'm an avid reader, so I really enjoy the history there."

One other area man reports "My wife and I went there a couple of years ago for a day-long Dulcimer lesson....It was so relaxing and fun.  We paid something like $35 each and learned a great deal about playing the dulcimer.  We stayed in one of the homes there and it was just a wonderful get-away."

Among the things you can do there are take a look at the 32-Foot Mural..."1880s Rugby", view the National Award Winning New History Film  "Rugby - The Power of a Dream"  or take a walk into history through four historic buildings.

Outdoor pursuits are also popular forms of recreation at Rugby:

Thomas Hughes and Rugby's 1880s colonists wrote rapturously of the natural beauty and rich flora and fauna they found in and around their new colony.  And like the historic buildings, the town plan and landscape have also survived, remarkably intact.

Rugby's quite sophisticated town plan was developed upon a plateau lying within the boundaries of the Clear Fork and White Oak Rivers. The "Gentlemen's Swimming Hole" and the "Meeting of the Waters" quickly became favorite recreation sites for the colonists. (When the ladies complained by letters to the Rugbeian newspaper, they got their own swimming hole!) Today these beautiful sites are preserved within the Big South Fork National park and can reached by the oldest continuously used recreation trail in Tennessee.

The townsite, 250-300 feet above these rock bluff-lined rivers, is intersected by numerous picturesque ravines.  Today the plateau and ravines are still covered by a forest of oak, hickory, poplar, white pine, hemlock and walnut.  Rhododendron and mountain laurel thickly blanket the free-flowing river banks.  Wildflowers and ferns abound.

Rugby visitors and lodgers especially enjoy the winding 4/10 mile walk down to the Gentlemen's Swimming Hole on the Clear Fork River - and perhaps a swim.  Continuing downstream to the White Oak confluence, and up and out is an approximately 2 1/4 mile loop.  Rugby's bike paths and back roads offer the cyclist some enjoyable places to ride.

Just across from the hiking trail entrance is historic Laurel Dale Cemetery.  Many of Rugby's early colonists are buried there, including the seven 1881 victims of typhoid and the founder's mother. The cemetery has been the final resting place for many people through the years and is still in use today. Laurel Dale's a wonderful place to visit on a clear night for star gazing.  Wherever you wander in Historic Rugby, watch for abundant wildlife - birds, whitetail deer, turkey, fox and yes, an occasional snake.

In many locations throughout the townsite, original plant materials established by the early colonists have survived, such as Michaelmas Daisies, English Primroses, Lily of the Valley, Yucca and others. Specimen hardwood trees planted by original colonists remain at some homes.

“We have here two beautiful streams which will be a delight forever to those who dwell here, if they are left free for the use and enjoyment of all.  In laying out the town, we have reserved a strip of various widths along the banks, which will remain common property, and along which walks and rides are being carefully laid out."

Thomas Hughes, Opening Address, Oct. 5, 1881.