Cowan

History

The earliest settlers arrived in the Cowan area in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The home of one such settler, William Russell, served as the Franklin County Courthouse until the establishment of Winchester in 1810. The town of Cowan dates from the mid-19th century and developed mostly as a railroad town. It was the site where several branch lines met the main Nashville to Chattanooga trunk of the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway which ran through the important Cowan Tunnel. As the last stop before the uphill climb onto the nearby Cumberland Plateau, pusher engines to assist trains in making the steep ascent were based there, and are still in use today. was restored as a museum, and is a focal point of the downtown area.

Geography

Cowan is located at (35.166668, -86.011839). The city is situated at the western base of the Cumberland Plateau, and is concentrated around the point where U.S. Route 41A crosses the CSX railroad tracks. The edge of the Plateau juts out in a series of ridges creating several small valleys in the area, including Hawkins Cove to the northeast and Keith Cove to the south. Cowan is drained by Boiling Fork Creek, a tributary of the Elk River. US 41A (Cumberland Street) is the primary road in Cowan, connecting the city with Winchester and the Tims Ford Lake area to the west. To the east of Cowan, US 41A ascends nearly to the top of the Cumberland Plateau, where it passes through Sewanee and Monteagle. }}

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,081
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  1,942
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  1,784
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  1,691
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,612
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  1,539
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,432
• Eastern Bluebird

  Sialia sialis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,278

Most recent

• M 2.58 — 2025-02-25
  8 km N of Menlo, Georgia
• M 2.58 — 2024-03-10
  14 km W of Graysville, Tennessee
• M 2.58 — 2024-02-29
  9 km NNW of Graysville, Tennessee
• M 2.5 — 2023-12-23
  7 km ENE of Stevenson, Alabama
• M 2.52 — 2023-06-21
  6 km SSE of Sewanee, Tennessee
• M 2.66 — 2022-08-13
  6 km NW of Hazel Green, Alabama