Abernethy, Thomas Perkins.  This remains one of the best surveys of Antebellum Tennessee; it includes several references to areas along the Duck River in their historical context.

Albright, Edward. This is a dated, chauvinistic, and sometimes inaccurate history of the pioneer history of Middle Tennessee.   

Bergeron, Paul H.  This is a brief overview of Tennessee history.  

Brandt, Robert.  This is a travel book, which includes an entire section devoted to places of interest along the Duck River.

Caldwell, Benjamin H., Jr., Robert Hicks, and Mark W. Scala, comps.  This is the catalog for the eponymous exhibit at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts.  It includes artifacts and artists from the Duck River region.

Carr, John.  This is an interesting, if unreliable, history of Middle Tennessee prior to the Civil War.

Conkin, Paul K.  This work is a fascinating overview of the cultural history of Tennessee.

Corlew, Robert E.  This document was the long-standing standard survey of Tennessee history, but it is now quite dated.

Crawford, Charles W.  This is a good survey of Tennessee history that is quite readable.

Crutchfield, James A.  Crutchfield, James A.  Tennesseans at War: Volunteers and Patriots in Defense of Liberty.  Nashville: Rutledge Hill Press, 1987.  This work is a compilation of brief biographies of key Tennesseans who made their mark on the battlefield.  It is a bit fawning at times but is a good place to begin when wanting to know more about Tennesseans and military conflicts.

Dunning, Natilee, ed.  The book contains brief biographies of women who played an important role in Tennessee history.

Eisenhower, John S.D.  This is one of the most accessible one-volume histories of the Mexican War, the people who fought it, and its importance to U.S. history.  James K. Polk is a central character in the narrative.

Fielder, George F.  Fielder presents a theoretical framework to improve how information is collected concerning folk architecture, one of the most prevalent forms of extant material culture.  This article influenced the historic architecture surveys conducted by the Tennessee Historical Commission.

Finger, John R. The best history of frontier Tennessee, this work not only informs, but it also entertains.  This is “must” reading for anyone wanting to understand how the frontier shaped Tennessee.

Foner, Eric.  Now the standard examination of Reconstruction, it is essential reading.

Hutchens, Turner.  This newspaper article tells of a Hampshire, Tennessee, man who found a WWII-era anti-tank round while fishing on the Duck River.

Klebnow, Anne.  This work is a breezy collection of short sketches concerning Tennessee’s colorful past.  It is an easily accessible, non-academic history.

Smoot, Frederick.  This site is a historical presentation of treaties and cessions of the Chickasaw nation.  It mentions that the Duck River served as a boundary for some of the treaties.

West, Carroll Van.  Tennessee's Historic Landscapes:  A Traveler's Guide.  A handsome, well-illustrated book, this is an appreciation of architecture in Tennessee.

West, Carroll Van, and Margaret Duncan Binnicker, eds.  A History of Tennessee Arts:  Creating Traditions, Expanding Horizons.  This work is an encyclopedic compilation of arts and artists in Tennessee.

Wills, Ridley, II.  This is a cultural history of the governor's mansion.  Henry Horton and Prentice Cooper's days in the mansion are discussed.

Wolfe, Charles K.  A Good Natured Riot:  The Birth of the Grand Ole Opry.  This is the best one-volume history of the origins and success of the Grand Ole Opry.

Wolfe, Charles K.  Tennessee Strings:  The Story of Country Music in Tennessee.  This is a brief and readable overview of the role of Country Music in Tennessee history.  

Religious History

Betterly, Richard D.  The Gothic Revival-style St. John's Episcopal Church in Columbia, Tennessee, was built in the 1840s by the sons of William Polk of North Carolina.  It was the last plantation church built in the South. Behind the church is a cemetery with graves of the Polk family, prominent fellow parishioners, bishops of the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee and, at the rear of the cemetery, the slaves of the Polk family. Inscriptions and images on the grave markers reveal much about planter society, black folk culture, and relations between master and slave.

Cartwright, Peter.  This work is a fascinating trip back in time about Cartwright’s life as a legendary circuit riding minister.  His memoir offers real insight into life on the Tennessee frontier in the antebellum period.  He made numerous trips through the Duck River region.

Conkin, Paul K.  "Evangelicals, Fugitives, and Hillbillies:  Tennessee's Impact on American National Culture."  This is an enlightening, thought-provoking essay about the impact religion made on the culture of Tennessee.

Douglas, Hiram K.  This work is an overview of the career of Bishop James Otey, first Episcopal bishop of Tennessee.

Franks, Henry A.  In 1844, the Domestic Committee of the Board of Missions of the Episcopal Church instructed its secretary, N. Sayre Harris, to explore Indian Territory for the purpose of possible missionary work.  He was accompanied on the tour by Bishop James Hervey Otey of Tennessee. The two missionaries visited numerous missionary stations of other churches among the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians.

Garrett, Jill Knight.  St. John's Episcopal Church, on the plantation of Ashwood in Maury County, Tennessee, was built entirely by the Polk family who donated the land and their slaves.  Inspiration for the Gothic structure, completed in 1842, was that of the most famous of the five brothers, Leonidas Polk, an Episcopal bishop and Confederate general.  Use of the church grew slowly, reaching its peak in 1850 and declining thereafter. Services were discontinued during the Civil War when the church was badly damaged.  Since 1921, services have been held once a year.

General Association of Baptists.  The site describes the formation of the General Association of Baptists, which began with the formation of the Duck River Association in 1826.  It outlines their faith and practice and provides a status of the association.

Green, William Mercer.   Otey was the first Episcopal bishop of Tennessee, and he made his home in Columbia.  His memoir details the difficulties he faced launching and sustaining a new denomination in Tennessee.

MacLeod, Donald.  Seward was President Abraham Lincoln’s secretary of state; Otey was the first Episcopal bishop of Tennessee who was pro-secession.

McBride, Robert M.  This work features the Goshen Church near Cowan, founded in 1809 to serve the many Scotch-Irish Presbyterian pioneers who lived in the area.  Renowned for its continuance of the camp meeting, the Goshen Church represents a "microcosm of rural Tennessee in the 19th century."

McClain, Frank M.  These are biographical sketches and theological studies of John Stark Ravenscroft, first bishop of North Carolina (1823-30); James Hervey Otey, first bishop of Tennessee (1834-63); and William Mercer Green, first bishop of Mississippi (1850-87). The three first met as a group in 1824.  In their writings and sermons, these men indicted various denominations for their unscriptural tests of membership as unjustified violations of liberty of conscience; they endlessly criticized the distortions of the faith by non-Episcopals. They insisted upon the vital connection between the ministry and sacraments and drove home the meaning and importance of Apostolic Succession.  Otey and Green traced the succession of American bishops from Augustine of Canterbury through Bishops Virgilius, Pothinus, and Polycarp to St. John of Ephesus.  Their view on baptism, confirmation and communion illustrate the various stages of the development of the ritual movement which took place in the 19th century.

Noll, Arthur H.  This work is an overview of the Episcopal Church in Tennessee, and this document discusses the importance of Columbia to the church’s history.

Otey, James Hervey.  A Funeral Address upon the Occasion of the Death of Henry Clay: Delivered Before the Citizens of Athens and McMinn County Tennessee, July 3d, 1852, by the Rt. Rev. James H. Otey.  Henry Clay was the most celebrated Speaker of the House, and Otey was the first Episcopal bishop of Tennessee.

Underwood, Allen.  This work concerns a revival held by the legendary frontier preacher Lorenzo Dow in Maury County, Tennessee.

West, Earl Irvin.  This work evaluates the influence of religion on the personality of James K. Polk.  It also discusses his family background, home life and education, adult interest in Methodism in adulthood, and his deathbed baptism by Preacher McFerrin.  Though he attended church regularly, he was not deeply religious. Calvinist training is evident in Polk's humorless personality.  Scots Presbyterianism may account for his lifetime habit of establishing clearly defined goals and striving for their realization.

Wills, Ridley, II.   The Old Boys' Schools of Middle Tennessee.  One of the schools discussed in this document is the Webb School at Bell Buckle, Tennessee.

Wills, Ridley, II.  Touring Tennessee:  A Postcard Panorama, 1898-1955.  This book reproduces a number of historic postcards of Tennessee, including communities along the Duck River watershed.

Wolf, Fred C., Jr.  This article focuses on two letters, a statement, and a report, dated from 1831 to 1834, by Otey, the first bishop of Tennessee.  They concern the work of the Episcopal Church in that state.  

Young, R.A. This work mainly concerns his time with the congregation at Campbell’s Station in Maury County.