Rutledge Point; a scenic overlook dedicated to Arthur Middleton Rutledge
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- Legacies Classification
- Memorial Type
- Memorial Context
- Memorialized Subject
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- Background and Context
- Physical Description
- Date created, installed or dedicated
- Historical Period
- Location: Institution, City, State
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Memorial Place
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Space on Campus
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Rutledge, Arthur Middleton
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Rutledge Point; a scenic overlook dedicated to Arthur Middleton Rutledge
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Rutledge Point, so named by the University of the South Board of Trustees in 1859 to honor local trustee Arthur Middleton Rutledge, is a scenic point on the northern edge of the University's "Domain" (or campus). It can be accessed via the Sewanee Perimeter Trail, which circles its large campus.
Arthur Middleton Rutledge (1817-1876), a descendant of the politically powerful South Carolina Middleton and Rutledge families and donor of 410 acres for the University’s initial campus, enslaved at least 49 persons on his properties in the valley at the foot of the Cumberland Plateau. The Rutledge family transferred from South Carolina to Tennessee in 1816 to take possession of a vast land grant of 73,000 acres in Franklin County near present-day Alto, where Arthur was born.
The Rutledge family built their power base in Nashville, where they were instrumental in founding the Episcopal Christ Church; their daughter married the powerbroker lawyer Francis B. Fogg, later one of the University’s founding trustees. President Andrew Jackson appointed their son Arthur to West Point, from which he graduated in 1837 and went on to fight the Seminole tribes for control of Florida.
Returning to Tennessee, Arthur developed his landholdings and was instrumental in the University campaign. In addition to the land gift, Rutledge was a director in the turnpike company that built present-day Roarks Cove (Alto) Road using enslaved labor. Rutledge’s enslaved workers also likely were part of the crews that cleared the mountaintop and prepared for the cornerstone ceremony. Rutledge served as a major in the Confederate Army of Tennessee and, after the war, built a home in Sewanee, where he died in 1876. The land he gave to the University includes the site of the Fowler Center athletic complex.
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A scenic overlook on the northern forested edge of the campus of the University of the South.
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1859
Position: 909 (83 views)