History
In 1905, Claude Caesar Shoulders was a prosperous 31-year-old lumberman and owner of a thriving dry good trade. He erected a grand home for his young family near Lee’s Landing at the busy waterway confluence of the Cumberland River and Jennings Creek. Sadly, just five years later he died of a probable heart attack on a riverboat on the Cumberland.
The death was reported by an up-and-coming young riverboat man named Robert Meadows. In 1916, Robert married Claude Shoulders’ 16-year-old daughter Edna, beginning a large family of their own at Meadowsbend.
At the time, the roads of Tennessee’s Upper Cumberland were frequently impassable and riverboat traffic was the primary means of moving everything from construction materials to heating coal. Lee’s Landing, a short walk from Meadowsbend, was a frequent turning-around point for riverboat traffic coming from the northeast and Robert “Bob” Meadows prospered as a captain of the steamships that navigated the Cumberland.
In 1950, seven years before his passing, an ailing Captain Meadows conveyed Meadowsbend to his daughter Claudine (named for her grandfather Claude Shoulders) and her husband Johnnie Cassetty who developed the surrounding acres with modest brick ranch homes. The road to Lee’s Landing that also loops in front of Meadowsbend was named Cassetty Lane.
The Lumberman
Claude Caesar Shoulder made a great success of his business before his untimely death.
Claude “C.C.” Shoulders found great success in the dry goods and lumber trades before meeting an untimely death at the age of 41. Born in 1874, Shoulders’ young family included his wife and four children when he died suddenly on a riverboat on the Cumberland River from what was presumed to be heart failure.
The Shoulders farm stretched for many acres from the shore of the Cumberland River and across the rocky soil of what is now unincorporated Stone Tennessee. His expanding business included not only farming but a lucrative lumber trade for which he was nationally known and his final venture, a massive resort hotel.
Before his passing he was a partner in the ambitious Red Boiling Springs Water & Realty Company which built the Palace Hotel in Red Boiling Springs, Tennessee. The 185-room, three-story wooden hotel was the largest and grandest hotel in the popular resort location.
Shoulders was on a business trip to Nashville when he went to his stateroom early complaining of not feeling well. His partner
The Riverboat Captain
Robert “Bob” Lee Meadows
Robert Lee Meadows was born on April 22, 1888 in Jackson County, Tennessee was a life-long riverboat man. He and his brother worked the Cumberland between Jackson County and Nashville for decades with Bob eventually becoming a prominent captain in the fleet. He was a navigator on the riverboat that C.C. Shoulders passed away on and reported the death to the coroner. A few years later, he would marry C.C.’s daughter Edna and raise a sizable family at Meadowsbend.
Lee’s Landing
At the Corner of the Cumberland River and Jennings Creek
Situated at the corner of Jennings Creek and the Cumberland River, Lee’s Landing was a popular loading and unloading point for riverboats which were the primary method of transporting goods at the time. Early in his career, a riverboat on which Bob Meadows was working became so overloaded with goods near Lee’s landing that it ran aground just a few hundred yards up river and all of the materials, livestock, and passengers had to be unloaded to the safety of a small island while repairs were made.
The Cassetty Connection
The Meadows Girls got Hitched
Meadows’ fashionable daughter Claudine (named for her grandfather) would have certainly had the attention of the young men in the area. A spirited woman, she had a reputation for being speaking her mind and would later go on to be one of the first women to run for office in the region.
