The City of Columbia is the county seat for Maury County, Tennessee nestled along the banks of the Duck River. Maury County was first opened to settlement after the Federal government signed a treaty with the Cherokee Indians in 1805. Almost immediately the area was inhabited by hundreds of pioneers, most of them having waited for years to enter the rich lands through which Duck River meandered on its east to west course. Within a year after the territory was opened up, hundreds of log cabins were constructed throughout the area. At first, the new lands were a part of Williamson County but, so rapid was the increase in population, that by November, 1807 the General Assembly voted to create a new county. It was named Maury County after Abram Maury, a prominent surveyor/politician of the region.” Wikipedia
The self-proclaimed “mule capital of the world,” Columbia annually celebrates the city-designated Mule Day each April. Columbia and Maury County are acknowledged as the “Antebellum Homes Capital of Tennessee”; the county has more antebellum houses than any other county in the state. The city is home to one of the last two surviving residences of James Knox Polk, the 11th President of the United States; the other is the White House.
