Rugby's Hidden History
Rugby's Hidden History is a historic site in Tennessee, at a modelled elevation of 435 m. High Knob stands 938 m to the southeast, 15 miles off. The nearest named place is Historic Massengale Homestead Spring, a spring 0.8 miles away. Cumberland Historic Byway passes 0.9 miles off.
The story
Rugby is an unincorporated community in Morgan and Scott counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee. Founded in 1880 by English author Thomas Hughes, Rugby was built as an experimental utopian colony. While Hughes's experiment largely failed, a small community lingered at Rugby throughout the 20th century. In the 1960s, residents, friends and descendants of Rugby began restoring the original design and layout of the community, preserving surviving structures and reconstructing others. Rugby's Victorian architecture and picturesque setting have since made it a popular tourist attraction. In 1972, Rugby's historic area was listed under the name Rugby Colony on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district. The Rugby experiment grew out of the social and economic conditions of Victorian England, where the practice of primogeniture and an economic depression had left many of the "second sons" of the English gentry jobless and idle. Hughes envisioned Rugby as a colony where England's second sons would have a chance to own land and be free of social and moral ills that plagued late-19th-century English cities. The colony would reject late Victorian materialism in favor of the Christian socialist ideals of equality and cooperation espoused in Hughes's Tom Brown's School Days. From the outset, however, the colony was beset with problems, namely a typhoid epidemic in 1881, lawsuits over land titles, and a population unaccustomed to the hard manual labor required to extract crops from the poor soil of the Cumberland Plateau. By late 1887, most of the original colonists had either died or moved away from Rugby. However, a few carried on into the 20th century and the village retained a small, continuous population.
From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wikidata Q7378139, matched on coordinates and name (427 m apart).
What the record says
- Material
- metal
How to reach it
- 0.9 mi off the Cumberland Historic Byway, National
Named places within 25 miles
- Potato Knob: 1.8 mi
- Grassy Knob: 5.4 mi
- Iron Mountain: 6.7 mi
- Grassy Mountain: 6.8 mi
- Big Knob: 7.2 mi
- Red Cliff: 1.5 mi
- Sheep Rock: 2.2 mi
- Briar Point: 4.3 mi
- White Oak Overlook: 5.0 mi
- North White Oak Overook: 5.8 mi
- Needles Eye: 6.4 mi
- Robbins Park: 6.6 mi
- Robbins park: 6.6 mi
- Summers Park: 9.3 mi
- Colditz Cove State Natural Area: 9.3 mi
- Tackett Homesite & Graves: 11.9 mi
- Twin Arch South: 12.4 mi
- Twin Arches: 12.4 mi
- Twin Arch North: 12.4 mi
- Rock Hole: 12.5 mi
- Diocese Arch: 6.4 mi
- Buffalo Arch: 16.9 mi
- Nancy’s Tunnel Arch: 17.1 mi
- Etta's Arch: 17.6 mi
- Amphitheater Arch: 17.7 mi
- Museum of Scott County: 10.0 mi
- Old Jail Museum: 13.5 mi
- Old Jail: 13.5 mi
- Pickett State Park Archaeology Museum & ETSU Archaeological Research Station: 14.9 mi
- Alvin C York Home: 18.9 mi
- Angel Falls: 9.5 mi
- Emory Gap Falls: 19.9 mi
- Debord Falls: 20.0 mi
- Big Spring Falls: 22.0 mi
- Pickett CCC Memorial State Park: 14.3 mi
- Royal Blue Wildlife Management Area: 22.8 mi
- North Cumberland WMA-Sandquist Unit: 24.3 mi
- Montgomery: 18.0 mi
- Fork Mountain: 22.8 mi
- Historic Massengale Homestead Spring: 0.8 mi
- Brewster Bridge Picnic Area: 1.6 mi
- Sgt. Alvin C. York Memorial: 18.9 mi
Summits around it
The highest named summits within 17.3 miles of Rugby's Hidden History. Elevation from each summit’s own record; bearing measured between the two coordinates.
| Summit | Bearing | Elevation | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| High Knob | SE 134° | 938 m | 15.5 mi |
| Sandy Gap Mountan | SE 132° | 929 m | 17.3 mi |
| Signal Mountain | ESE 113° | 887 m | 14.2 mi |
| Gibson Knob | ESE 114° | 887 m | 15.9 mi |
| Landrom Mountain | SE 144° | 884 m | 13.9 mi |
| Justice Mountain | SE 137° | 877 m | 16.3 mi |
| Young Mountain | SE 140° | 872 m | 12.4 mi |
| Flower Mountain | SE 129° | 854 m | 15.3 mi |
When to go
Light through the year
| Date | Sunrise | Golden hour | Sunset |
|---|---|---|---|
| March equinox | 07:43 | 19:17 | 19:51 |
| June solstice | 06:22 | 20:22 | 21:01 |
| September equinox | 07:27 | 19:03 | 19:37 |
| December solstice | 07:47 | 16:48 | 17:28 |
Local time (America/New_York).
Climate normals
Months averaging 50–80 °F: Apr–Oct.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg °F | 36 | 39 | 47 | 56 | 63 | 70 | 74 | 73 | 67 | 57 | 46 | 39 |
| Precip in | 4.9 | 5.0 | 5.7 | 5.4 | 5.2 | 5.6 | 5.7 | 4.7 | 4.0 | 3.2 | 4.7 | 5.7 |
1991–2020 U.S. Climate Normals, NOAA NCEI — Allardt, 10 mi away.
Where this comes from
Location and category confirmed against OpenStreetMap.
OpenStreetMapOpenStreetMap element node/13369643265
Take the scenic way to Rugby's Hidden History.
Byway plans around your taste, verified places, real weather and opening hours — then opens every leg in Google Maps with one tap.