Cottondale

Duane's take

Here's what the official marker has to say, and I'm gonna give it to you straight with a little room to breathe. Out in Wise County, there's a place called Cottondale, the oldest settlement in the whole area. And if you want to know where that name came from, well, the marker's got a story for you, and it's a good one.

A man named John Bridges (blacksmith by trade) had a plan. He planted cotton. Not for a farm, not for a business empire, just enough of a lush, green-and-white crop to finance a trip to Alabama.

Because John Bridges had a bride to bring back. That cotton was his ticket. And apparently it grew so well, so full and so proud, that when the town was named in 1875, that flourishing cotton patch is what they reached for.

Cottondale. Now, the man who actually put the place on paper was a landowner by the name of B. F.

Banks. He platted the town and went a step further; gave lots away outright for public use. That's the kind of thing that makes a settlement become a community.

Cottondale held its own for a good while. But time has a way of shufflin' the deck. In 1912, Paradise (and yes, that is a real place) took over Cottondale's post office.

Then in 1933, the school followed. So what's left is the name, the marker, and the memory of a blacksmith who grew enough cotton to go fetch the woman he loved. Turns out that was plenty.

What the marker says

Area's oldest settlement. Platted by landowner B. F. Banks, who also gave lots for public use named, 1875, for lush growth of cotton planted by John Bridges, blacksmith, to finance a trip to Alabama to bring back his bride. Paradise took over town's post office, (1912); school (1933).