Just north of Chattanooga lies the city of Dayton. The city is well-known for being the site of the famous Scopes Trial, involving a teacher who was prosecuted for teaching about evolution in 1925. Today, Dayton boasts a small-town feel and an annual strawberry festival that always draws many from surrounding cities.
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Dayton Festivals>Tennessee Strawberry Festival: Each May, the city celebrates strawberries with pie contests, a carnival, food and craft vendors and more.>Scopes Festival: Test your knowledge of the Scopes Trial by participating in a scavenger hunt, listen to lectures from various guest speakers and experience a dramatic production reliving the famous trial at this festival, held every July.>PumpkinFest: This alternative to traditional Halloween activities is held at the end of October and features a movie in the park, costume and pumpkin pie-eating contests and food and craft vendors.>Holiday Stroll: Held in mid-November, this event kicks off the holiday shopping season with downtown shops offering sales, refreshments and prizes.>Christmas at the Courthouse: In early December, the city hosts a horse and carriage parade followed by candlelight caroling at the Rhea County Courthouse.
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Fast Facts>Population: 7,387>Area: 6.4 square miles>Directions and driving distance: From downtown Chattanooga, get on U.S. Highway 27 heading north. After 20 miles and about 20 minutes, the route will bring you directly into the city’s center. Located on the Tennessee River, Dayton can also be reached by boat.
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Did you know?>The community was originally settled in 1820 and named Smith’s Crossroads. It was renamed Dayton in 1877 after Dayton, Ohio.>The Butler Act — the Tennessee law John T. Scopes was prosecuted for violating, which prohibited the state’s public school teachers from teaching evolution — was never invoked again, though it remained on the books until 1967.>Prosecutor in the Scopes Trial, William Jennings Bryan, died just a few days after the trial, in which he was awarded a guilty verdict that was promptly overturned by the Supreme Court. His passing occurred upon his return home to Dayton from Chattanooga, where the orator and politician had stopped to give one of many speeches that week. The cause was determined to be a mixture of diabetes and exhaustion, though some called it a broken heart, and Bryan’s known-enemy journalist H.L. Mencken also reportedly claimed responsibility.
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Don’t Miss:>The Rhea County Courthouse, the setting for the Scopes “Monkey” Trial, is full of historical information to interest a variety of travelers.>Jacob Myers Restaurant on the River, which offers the option of dining al fresco with a view of the water and a wide-ranging menu that keeps the restaurant bustling with activity. Jacob Myers even has a pier providing limited boat parking for diners.>Laurel-Snow State Natural Area, named for the 80-foot Laurel Falls and 12-foot Snow Falls, contains a component of the Cumberland Trail, which was the first trail in the state to be designated a National Recreation Trail.