Castalian Springs is an unincorporated community

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 in Sumner County

Sumner County, Tennessee

Sumner County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of 2000, the population was 130,449. Its county seat is Gallatin, but its largest town is Hendersonville...

, Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It is located along Tennessee State Route 25

Tennessee State Route 25

Tennessee State Route 25 is a highway that runs through northern Sumner County, Tennessee, United States....

 about seven miles east of Gallatin, Tennessee

Gallatin, Tennessee

Gallatin is a city in and the county seat of Sumner County, Tennessee, United States, along a navigable tributary of the Cumberland River. The population was 23,230 at the 2000 census. Named for U.S...

. The area has its own post office. The Zip Code

ZIP Code

ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...

 for Castalian Springs is 37031. In the early 19th century, it was known locally as Bledsoe's Lick, and was the location of Bledsoe's Station

Bledsoe's Station

Bledsoe's Station was an 18th-century frontier fort located in what is now Castalian Springs, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The fort was built by long hunter and Sumner County pioneer Isaac Bledsoe in the early 1780s to protect Upper Cumberland settlers and migrants from hostile...

.

On February 5, 2008, in the 2008 Super Tuesday tornado outbreak

2008 Super Tuesday tornado outbreak

The 2008 Super Tuesday tornado outbreak was a deadly tornado outbreak which affected the Southern United States and the lower Ohio Valley on February 5 and 6, 2008. The event began on Super Tuesday, while 24 U.S. states were holding primary elections and caucuses to select the presidential...

, the town was hit by a strong tornado

Tornado

A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider...

 (at least EF2) that claimed 7 lives. The structure Wynnewood

Wynnewood (Tennessee)

Wynnewood State Historic Area, also known as Castalian Springs, and located in Castalian Springs, Sumner County, Tennessee, includes the largest existing log structure in Tennessee. It is a National Historic Landmark....

 was heavily damaged by the storm and the post office was completely destroyed. Castalian Springs captivated news headlines when an 11-month-old boy, Kyson Stowell, was found alive in the debris of his house. Originally thought to be a children's doll, the boy moved just slightly when a rescuer, David Harmon, noticed the movement. He had been blown 150 yards. Kyson's mother who was shielding him had died in the storm.

Among the notable natives of Castilian Springs / Bledsoe's Lick was William B. Bate

William B. Bate

William Brimage Bate was the governor of Tennessee from 1883 to 1887 and subsequently a United States Senator from Tennessee from 1887 until his death...

, a governor of Tennessee, U.S. Senator, and Confederate

Confederate States Army

The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...

 major general in the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

, and Humphrey Bate

Humphrey Bate

Humphrey Bate was an American harmonica player and string band leader. He was the first musician to play old-time music on Nashville-area radio, and is generally regarded as the first performer on what would eventually become the Grand Ole Opry. Bate and his band, which had been given the name "Dr...

, an early Grand Ole Opry

Grand Ole Opry

The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...

 string band leader.

Native American history

During the Mississippian culture

Mississippian culture

The Mississippian culture was a mound-building Native American culture that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 CE to 1500 CE, varying regionally....

 period of prehistory, the Castalian Springs Mound Site

Castalian Springs Mound Site

The Castalian Springs Mound Site is a Mississippian culture archaeological site located near the small unincorporated community of Castalian Springs in Sumner County, Tennessee. The site was first excavated in the 1890s and again as recently as the 2005 to 2011 archaeological field school led by...

 was a major local mound center. The site was first excavated in the 1890s and again as recently as the 2005 to 2010 archaeological field school led by Dr. Kevin E. Smith. A number of important finds have been associated with the site, most particularly several examples of Mississippian stone statuary

Mississippian stone statuary

The Mississippian stone statuary are artifacts of polished stone in the shape of human figurines made by members of the Mississippian culture and found in archaeological sites in the American Midwest and Southeast...

 and the Castalian Springs shell gorget held by the National Museum of the American Indian

National Museum of the American Indian

The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum operated under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution that is dedicated to the life, languages, literature, history, and arts of the native Americans of the Western Hemisphere...

.

Notable Mentions

• Wynnewood (Tennessee)
  Wynnewood (Tennessee)
  Wynnewood State Historic Area, also known as Castalian Springs, and located in Castalian Springs, Sumner County, Tennessee, includes the largest existing log structure in Tennessee. It is a National Historic Landmark....
  
   — historic inn located in Castalian Springs.
• Bledsoe's Fort Historical Park
  Bledsoe's Station
  Bledsoe's Station was an 18th-century frontier fort located in what is now Castalian Springs, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The fort was built by long hunter and Sumner County pioneer Isaac Bledsoe in the early 1780s to protect Upper Cumberland settlers and migrants from hostile...
  
  — public park that protects the site of the 18th-century Bledsoe's Station and several other historic structures