Human habitation in the Sherwood area is very ancient as evidenced by the many thousands of
Native American projectile points in the nearby fields. The town location is at the intersection of many old
Native American routes which the modern trails and roads often follow. It is located on an old
Stagecoach route approximately midway between
Sewanee and
Anderson, Alabama and is representative of the hamlets and villages that were once commonplace in the area coves and valleys. A small community called Kitchen's Station or Catchings Station had existed as a
Stagecoach stop earlier at the location. Named for station master Meridith Catchings, the small community began appearing on railroad maps after the Civil War. The town of Sherwood was named for Charles D. Sherwood, lieutenant governor of Minnesota during the Civil War. The Tennessee State Legislature approved his charter for the
Tennessee Immigration and Land Company on April 15, 1878. That same day, Sherwood purchased the 1,410 acres of land for his northern colony from John F. Anderson. On June 19, 1878, a local paper announced that the name of Kitchen's [Catching's] Station would be changed to Sherwood. A number of sources have erroneously reported that Charles Sherwood was lieutenant governor of Wisconsin and that the town was established in 1875. This information probably came from the
Goodspeed History Tennessee: Giles, Franklin, Lincoln, and Moore Counties. In 1989 the Sherwood Elementary School was closed and approximately 25-28 children from Sherwood, a teacher, and several aides became part of the
Sewanee Public School community.
The Railroad With the construction of the strategically important
Cowan Tunnel to the north in 1852, train stops were created through the
Crow Creek Valley, including at Catchings Station (Sherwood). Notably, at this station there were and continue to be pusher engines which are required to assist with train ascents up the steep mountain grade to the tunnel. Correspondingly, on the other side of the tunnel in
Cowan, Tennessee, there are also pusher engines. In 1915, a passenger train and a freight train collided in Sherwood, killing fifteen and injuring twenty-two.
Gager Lime Company The Gager Lime Manufacturing Company was established by Byron Gager in 1892 and operated a
limestone quarry and
lime kilns in the community. The lime production facilities operated until 1949.
Epiphany Mission In 1899, the Epiphany Episcopal Mission was established in Sherwood after the Episcopal church began to provide schooling for local children. The church structure was built in 1902, replaced in 1928, burned in 1960, and then rebuilt in 1967. The 1928 structure is maintained as a partial ruin on the grounds of the modern structure. During the
Great Depression, the Episcopal priest Father George Jones began a publishing a series of pamphlets to raise funds and awareness of the impoverished community; these pamphlets were later republished in 1954 as book entitled
Candles in the Dark Boreen. In 1956, the mission helped train a group of women and opened a shirt factory in Sherwood in an attempt to create local jobs. ==Threatened snail species==