CHARLOTTE, Tenn. (WSMV) – Along the back roads of Dickson County sits a community born out of strength, courage and determination.

In the years after the Civil War, newly freed men and women from the Cumberland Furnace walked a few miles from slavery. They bought their own land and built more than 50 homes, stores, three churches and an elementary school on what would become about 1,000 acres known as Promise Land.

Names like Nathan Bowen, William Gilbert, Joe Washington Vanleer, John and Arch Nesbitt — U.S. Colored Troops veterans — turned former plantation ground into a place where Black families could learn, worship and build wealth for the generations that followed.

“This was freedom. This was their new home and a new start for them,” said Serina Gilbert, a descendant of the early settlers.

Living connection to history

Gilbert is a descendant of the early settlers in Promise Land on both sides of her family.

Her family’s story is written into a red-brick school and white church next door — the only two original buildings still standing more than 150 years later. Both are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

“They set it up so that they would be self-sustaining as much as possible. They built churches. They had this school,” Gilbert said.

For Gilbert, this is not just history on a marker. She was part of the final group of students taught at Promise Land School before it closed in 1957, as the Great Migration and Civil Rights era pulled families to new opportunities.

“It is important to be able to look into your history and to actually see a part of it. These were the icons of the community, the church and the school building that is left,” Gilbert said.

Preserving the story

The Promise Land Heritage Association cares for the site, welcoming students and visitors from across the country. The association hosts music, arts and Juneteenth celebrations that connect a new generation to what happened there.

Gilbert’s mission is to share the story of how formerly enslaved people who fought for their freedom in the Civil War came back, bought land in their own names and built a self-sustaining Black community in rural Tennessee.

“These kind of things are important for students from no matter what background or where in the country. This tells the American story,” Gilbert said.

“This is the American way. And so it’s an American story. It’s the history of not just Promised Land in Charlotte, Tennessee, but it’s U.S. American history,” she said.

The foundation is holding its inaugural gala Friday night, with all proceeds going toward preserving the history of the land.