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Brownie Spicer, 90, speaks at the dedication.    photo by DIPTI VAIDYA / THE TENNESSEAN - used with permission    Click photo to read The Tennessean article

Read The Tennessean coverage of the Dutchman's Curve Project


photo by Dipti Vaidya / The Tennessean - used with permission



Why We Remember Dutchman's Curve



It will never be known how the train wreck at Dutchman's Curve altered the course of Tennessee's history, when more than one hundred Tennesseans perished in one terrible moment. It will never be known what they might have accomplished if they had lived to see another day.

The NC&StL Railway lost more than thirty men in the head on collision at Dutchman's Curve. It will never be known how that loss affected the upcoming fate of Nashville's railroad.

More than seventy passengers died at Dutchman's Curve. Families mourned their loved ones and the victims communities suffered. It will never be known where those lost souls would have led their families or how their communities would have benefited, if disaster had not struck them down at Dutchman's Curve.

The youngest known victim was seventeen, the oldest was seventy eight. The promise of youth and the sagacity of age were lost in the carnage at Dutchman's Curve. It will never be known what deeds were left undone or what words of wisdom were left unspoken.

Two young brothers from Pegram Station fell victim to Dutchman's Curve. Three youthful cousins from Kingston Springs died together in that terrible moment in time. It will never be known what roads they would have traveled if fate had been kinder to them.

On the ninetieth anniversary of the worst train wreck in U.S. history, we remembered the unfortunate victims and acknowledged their lives and established place in history by dedicating the historic marker commemorating the disaster at Dutchman's Curve.



A Sister of the Dominican Order observes Dutchman's Curve on July 9, 2007   Photo by Cyndea Wendell

The Missing Nuns: Scattered in the wreckage were clothing and habits belonging to Sisters of the Dominican Order. Sisters they were expecting from Memphis (read more)



Dinner guests July 8, 2008: Dinner in honor of Denise Nolan, Patrick Nolan and Nan Cross, hosted by Shoney's Company and St. Cecilia's Academy on  July  8, 2008.     Photo by Kim Hoover

Dinner guests July 8, 2008: Dinner in honor of Denise Nolan, Patrick Nolan and Nan Cross, hosted by Shoney's Company and St. Cecilia's Academy. (read more)



Point of Impact

"X" marks the point of impact on Dutchman's Curve (view image
)


TRAILER: The Railroad Men of Dutchman's Curve




Trailer for the "Dutchman's Curve" documentary.
Coming 2008.






This image is a small section of a photo taken on July 9th, 1918 by NC&StL photographer Henry Hill Sr.     This photo is on loan to the Dutchman's Curve project by the photographers grandson, Henry Hill III.




The mission of the Dutchman's Curve Project, is to:


Memorialize the worst train wreck in U.S. history by establishing, in Nashville, a Metro Historic Marker on White Bridge Road near the accident site.

Tyria Thorpe with Nan Cross, Kim Hoover, Betsy Thorpe, Denise Nolan and Patrick Nolan July 8, 2008
July 8, 2008 - Tyria Thorpe, Nan Cross, Kim Hoover,
Betsy Thorpe, Denise Nolan, and Patrick Nolan

Photo by Paula Underwood Winters, editor of the Westview newspaper.





Preserve the oral history of Dutchman's Curve, by interviewing family members and descendants of victims, and witnesses.


Robert White son of Dutchman’s Curve Survivor Wesley White





Present Nashville history to school children and to encourage them to recognize the significance of their communities past


Adriana and Tyria Thorpe explore local history





To create a Dutchman's Curve tour of graves at Nashville's historic Mt. Olivet Cemetery.


Headstone of Engineer William F Lloyd, Mt. Olivet Cemetery