Dayton

On the way to Chattanooga I went through Dayton, Tennessee. I could have actually gone a different, slightly shorter way, but Dayton, you may recall, was where the Scopes "Monkey" Trial took place. Dayton is a nice little town, but just by the looks of it and its locations smack dab in the middle of the Bible Belt, you could see a guy like John Scopes not quite fitting in. Scopes taught evolution in the school there, which was against the law at the time. People think he won the case, but he didn't. He clearly was teaching evolution, so it was kind of a slam dunk case. If it was on Law and Order, it would have been a 15 minute episode. He lost, but I believe the conviction was later overturned on a technicality.

The courthouse has a statue of one of the lawyers, William Jennings Bryan. The courthouse itself was all locked up because it was a Saturday. Supposedly there is a museum in the basement. Court is held in the same room the trial took place. Much of the original furniture is still there. You can go in and see it if it is a weekday and the room isn't being used. Seems like they could do a little more to capitalize on its importance. Instead of Bryan, maybe statues on the front lawn of God fighting a giant monkey. Get a  McDonald's across the street and souvenir shops selling crappy merchandise demeaning the whole experience. But that doesn't seem to be Dayton's style.

A little ways farther down the road I saw a road-side historical markers saying that Davy Crockett had lived a time a mile south. How cool is that? Usually those markers are a big disappointment, this one was awesome.