Coe Ridge Colony

Cumberland River

Racial tensions were constantly a problem for Coe Ridge Colony, but were especially prominent during the middle years of the Coe Ridge Colony.[9] Members of the Coe Ridge Colony placed all the blame on the neighboring white communities for the racial feuds that existed. In most instances, their placing of the blame on the white communities was warranted. The young white men of Coe Ridge Colony's neighboring communities would often get drunk, and then would ride their horses through the Coe Ridge Colony, tearing down fences, damaging property, and generally causing a ruckus.[7] Likewise, the neighboring white communities of the Coe Ridge Colony felt that the blame for the racial tension rested on the residents of the Coe Ridge Colony. Due to this, many of the residents of the neighboring white communities tried to do everything in their power to run the outcast group of minorities off of Coe Ridge. Tensions finally erupted into a violent racial feud in 1888.[7] After a group of white men were caught torturing a group of African American children, the members of the Coe Ridge Colony had finally had enough. A massive fight broke out between the members of Coe Ridge Colony and their white neighbors. Members of both sides were killed in the fight, and it eventually calmed down as each side returned to their homes to lick their wounds. After the death of a prominent white man Will Taylor was discovered, all the other white men pledged to go and murder every single man in the Coe Ridge Colony. The residents of the Coe Ridge Colony learned of this pledge and defended themselves by leaving their homes in the middle of the night, which the white folk were ready to set on fire with everyone inside.[7] Upon returning to the Coe Ridge Colony, residents were assigned shifts to protect the borders of the colony against further attacks. Tensions eventually calmed down, though the arrival of more divorced/disenfranchised white women to the Coe Ridge Colony would temporarily flare tensions once again. As the Chestnut trees were lost to the blight, and the Coe Ridge Colony turned to moonshining and bootlegging, the colony became a riotous place to live. Alcoholism, murder, and violence became commonplace even amongst the members of the Coe Ridge Colony themselves.

By 1904, residents of Coe Ridge Colony had established their reputation as moonshiners and by the 1920-30s rumors spread that the Coe Ridge residents were fighting amongst themselves and killing members of their own races. Moonshining and bootlegging were major factors in the extinction of the colony. Judge Wells was the first county law official to confront the Coe Ridge Colony residents about their riotous living, and stated that whiskey was the root of their problem.[7] Moonshining was such an integral part of the culture of Coe Ridge Colony that even the women and children were part of the moonshining business.[7] Children were taught to make whiskey at an early age. The Cumberland County Sheriff Department led frequent raids against the Coe Ridge Colony moonshiners, to the great displeasure of those involved in the moonshining business. The Coe Ridge Colony residents developed a warning system as a means of notifying each other when Law Enforcement officers were nearby, using the catch-phrase “Pig oooey, Pig oooey”.[7] However, despite their best efforts, the moonshiners in Coe Ridge Colony steadily were eradicated. Without any real means of income, residents turned to burglary. However, thieves were often caught, and when caught were punished with exile from the colony, and a warning to never return. A lack of economical resources, a propensity for crime, and a tendency of neighboring communities towards blatant persecution drove out all of the residents of Coe Ridge Colony. Only three houses remain on the 300 acres of Coe Ridge, slowly being reclaimed by the wilderness surrounding it, and forgotten in the annals of history.[7][10]