This is the story of Rheatown, Tennessee, located in the upper east end of Greene County. It is written for the descendants of the early settlers and for those before the turn of the century, as well as for those born much later to let them know what it is was like to have lived in the early years. The original Rheatown came to an end shortly after the turn of the nineteenth century. You will never know what it was like firsthand, and you will never know the country from which your forebears came and founded the early settlement. You might recognize from hearsay and legend a very few houses, or a hill or stream that still exists; but one thing you will never find is the atmosphere that pervaded the area as it was many years ago. The rest has vanished. Only a few descendants reside in the area. Many live in various parts of the United States, having migrated to greener fields. One thing that still exists is the main street on the old stage coach road leading from Washington, D.C., to Nashville, Tennessee, which time and modernization have altered. Rheatown is the story of a way of living which has largely gone out of fashion. We admonish you to cherish this story. It has been condensed in order to give you some of the high points of the past. The early settlers had two fundamentals which once were and still remain to be intensely American characteristics -- integrity and idealism. This story is sponsored by the United Methodist Women of Rheatown United Methodist Church. Read it and picture yourself as living in those early days.