Tankersley sisters collected tolls on Nashville Road

Published 7:00 am Sunday, January 3, 2021

Sisters Lucy and Dorothea Tankersley collected tolls in the late 1800s from this house on Nashville Road near Lansdale Avenue.

Recalling a story told to him by his father, Wade Campbell told the Daily News of Dec. 28, 1941, about a toll gate house on Nashville Road near Lansdale Avenue, in the late 1800s, run by two sisters, Lucy and Dorothea Tankersley.

They kept a ram’s horn to blow for help in case of robbers, and tested it one night to the displeasure of their neighbors. Help was slow to come the next time they blew the horn, and the thief got away.

According to their gravestone in Fairview Cemetery, Dorothea Tankersley died in 1902 at the age of 78 and Lucy in 1909 at 80.

– “Way Back When in Warren County” is compiled by researchers at the Warren County Public Library and appears twice weekly in the Bowling Green Daily News. For more information about the library, visit warrenpl.org.

Email newsletter signup