Abandoned Towns
Aerial view of the arms and islands of Percy Priest Lake west of the Couchville point, with Hobson Pike, fields and woods to the east and the long, green Couchville Lake at right

Farm and ranch town

Couchville

A farm village at a Stones River crossing, named for the Couch family's store. The Corps of Engineers bought it out in the 1960s and Percy Priest Lake covered its center. The record is thin, and the maps disagree on where it stood.

36°05′52″N 86°33′19″W · ≈495 ft

Aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).

Under the lake · 2023 report

The village center at the old river crossing lies under Percy Priest Lake. In October 2023 the Tennessee State Museum told WKRN that part of Couchville's main road still rests on the lake bottom. The mapped point is on dry land beside Hobson Pike (TN 171), with houses along the roads around it and Long Hunter State Park just to the south. We found no dated report on access to the point itself. Treat the land around the houses as private.

Overview

A river crossing under Percy Priest Lake

Couchville grew up where a road crossed Stones River, about 25 miles of horse-and-buggy travel from Nashville. It took its name from the Couch family, who owned land and a grocery store at the crossing, and it had a post office before 1880. Around it lay small farms: a man who grew up there in the 1940s remembered cattle, goats, hogs and mules, cotton and corn, and cedar logs hauled out to the road.

In 1963 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began the dam that made J. Percy Priest Lake. The Corps bought the farms, the people moved away, and, in the words of the Tennessee Conservationist's history, hundreds of cemeteries were relocated to Mount Juliet Memorial Gardens. When the lake filled in 1968, the land above 490 feet stayed dry, but the community center at the heart of what was by then called Morrow-Headden went under. The Metropolitan Historical Commission's 2019 marker names Couchville among the communities destroyed to make the lake, and the Tennessee State Museum told WKRN in 2023 that part of the main road still lies on the lake bottom.

Where exactly Couchville stood depends on the map. The 1903 and 1932 USGS sheets put it at the river crossing, about a mile west of the point used here; the 1952 sheet moved the name east beside Philippi Church, and Wikipedia and today's USGS map follow that. The upland around it is now partly Long Hunter State Park, which keeps the name in its Couchville section and Couchville Lake.

Timeline

What we know

The 1932 USGS Hermitage sheet: Couchville at the pike's crossing of Stones River, with the Morrow-Headden School and Philippi Church to the east
The 1932 USGS Hermitage sheet: Couchville at the pike's crossing of Stones River, with the Morrow-Headden School and Philippi Church to the east · Map: U.S. Geological Survey, USGS catalog, Public domain
  1. Couchville has a post office on Stones River. Wikipedia cites the 1876 state gazetteer, Clayton's 1880 county history and an 1890 history of Nashville. The Couch family owns land and a grocery store at a river crossing.
  2. The USGS Nashville sheet labels Couchville on the Stones River Pike, on the west bank where the pike crosses the river.
  3. The Hermitage sheet still puts Couchville at the crossing, with the Morrow-Headden School and Philippi Church across the river to the east.
  4. Lawrence Perry, who grew up here, later remembered cattle, goats, hogs and mules, milk for sale, cotton and corn, and cedar logs snaked out to the road.
  5. The La Vergne sheet moves the Couchville label east of the river, beside Philippi Church at a crossroads. Wikipedia and the current USGS map use this spot.
  6. By now, the Tennessee Conservationist's history says, the community is called Morrow-Headden.
  7. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers starts building the dam, authorized as Stewarts Ferry and renamed by Congress in 1958 for J. Percy Priest. Farms are bought and residents move; the Tennessee Conservationist's history says hundreds of cemeteries are relocated to Mount Juliet Memorial Gardens.
  8. The reservoir is finished, covering 14,200 acres, and the dam is dedicated on June 29. Land above 490 feet stays dry, but the community center at the heart of Morrow-Headden goes under. The 1968 La Vergne sheet no longer names Couchville.
  9. The Corps leases 2,400 acres of the east shore to the state for a park. Wikipedia says Long Hunter State Park opened in 1978; one of its sections, and a 110-acre lake that formed in sinkholes as the reservoir filled, carry the Couchville name.
  10. The Metropolitan Historical Commission's Percy Priest Lake marker, on Smith Springs Road in Antioch, names Couchville among the small communities destroyed to make the lake.
  11. WKRN quotes the Tennessee State Museum: part of Couchville's main road still lies on the bottom of the lake.

Site map

Where the village stood

Nothing of the village is known to stand. The Tennessee Conservationist's history says narrow bands of overgrown, wooded upland beside the reservoir are all that remain of these communities, and that they now form parts of Long Hunter State Park.

The old USGS sheets in the historic maps below show the move. In 1903 and 1932 the Couchville label sits on the west bank of Stones River where the pike crosses it; by our reading of the sheets, the river, the crossing and the Morrow-Headden School all lie under the lake now. The 1952 La Vergne sheet labels Couchville east of the old river, at the crossroads by Philippi Church, with houses along the roads. By 1968 the lake fills the valley to the west and the name is gone from the sheet, though Philippi Church is still marked. The 1997 sheet adds the Long Hunter State Park label, and today's USGS map labels Couchville again, beside TN 171.

USGS topographic map of the Couchville point beside TN 171, with Percy Priest Lake to the west and the Long Hunter State Park visitor center to the south
USGS The National Map, topo. The Couchville label sits beside TN 171 at the head of a lake inlet; the Long Hunter State Park visitor center is to the south and the Couchville Lake Trail to the east.
Aerial view of the Couchville point: a lake inlet with pale exposed shoreline at left, a highway running diagonally, and houses and fields along side roads at right
Aerial imagery, same area. The lake inlet is at left, with the highway running up the center and houses and fields along the side roads to the east.

Historic maps

Couchville on USGS maps, 1903–1997

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

USGS topographic map around Couchville, 1903
Nashville sheet, 1903, 1:125,000 · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Map & directions

Getting there

Both routes end on Hobson Pike at the mapped point, which is on dry land. Mt. Juliet is about 15 minutes away by Mount Juliet Road; from downtown Nashville it's about 29 minutes by Murfreesboro Pike and Hamilton Church Road. The older village site at the river crossing is under the lake, and no route reaches it.

USGS topographic map between Mt. Juliet and Couchville with the route drawn on it

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

From downtown Mt. Juliet9.0 miabout 15 min
  1. From East Caldwell Street, turn left onto North Mount Juliet Road (SR 171) and follow it south.6.9 mi
  2. Bear right onto Hobson Pike to the mapped point.2.1 mi
Google Maps directionsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Road and safety notes

  • The routes are computed from OpenStreetMap and haven't been driven by us. We have no dated source on road surfaces.
  • Houses stand along the roads around the mapped point. Don't walk onto private land.
  • The older village site at the river crossing is under Percy Priest Lake.

Photos

Have photos of Couchville?

We haven’t added more photographs of Couchville yet. If you’ve visited, share your photos and a field report below.

Visitor reports

Been to Couchville?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Couchville

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Tennessee index.

Sources

Sources and credits

  1. Wikipedia, "Couchville, Tennessee", retrieved October 2026: the post office before 1880 and its sources (1876 gazetteer, 1880 county history, 1890 Nashville history), inundation in the mid-1960s, the location by Hobson Pike and Couchville Pike from the 1952 La Vergne sheet, coordinates.
  2. John Froeschauer, "A Look At Long Hunter's History", The Tennessee Conservationist, archived copy of July 27, 2003: the Couch family's land, store and crossing, the distance from Nashville, Lawrence Perry's 1940s memories, the Morrow-Headden name, the 1963 start, the buyouts and cemetery moves, the 1968 completion and 14,200 acres, the 490-foot line and the flooded community center, the 1972 lease, and Couchville Lake.
  3. Historical Marker Database, "Percy Priest Lake", read October 20, 2026: the 2019 Metropolitan Historical Commission marker (No. 206) and its text: construction from June 2, 1963, Couchville among the communities destroyed, dedication on June 29, 1968.
  4. Erin McCullough, "The sunken towns underneath Tennessee's lakes", WKRN, October 18, 2023: the Tennessee State Museum's Jennifer Watts on the main road under the lake. The article calls the lake a TVA project; the marker and Wikipedia's article on the dam say the Corps of Engineers built it.
  5. Wikipedia, "Long Hunter State Park", retrieved October 2026: the park's Couchville section, the 1978 opening and the separate Couchville Lake.
  6. Wikipedia, "J. Percy Priest Dam", retrieved October 2026: the 1958 renaming, Corps of Engineers construction from June 2, 1963, completion in 1968, and the 490-foot summer pool.
  7. USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection: Nashville 1903, Hermitage 1932, La Vergne 1952, 1968 and 1997 sheets, read for the label positions described above.
  8. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Not field-checked.

Photo and map credits

Record4 of 9
  • Origin of the name
  • Flooding by Percy Priest Lake
  • Site on USGS topo
  • Historic maps, 1903–1997
  • Post office dates
  • Population
  • Exact village site (maps disagree)
  • Access to the mapped point
  • Photos
Missing items are what we'll ask readers and local sources to fill.