Couch Cabin in Greene County, Tennessee
Couch Cabin in Greene County, Tennessee

All photos on this page are courtesy of Bob Conlee,
great-great-grandson of Enoch Conlee & Anna Couch,
grand-daughter of Jacob Couch


Sign to the Couch Cabin
Notice the reference to the "State of Franklin."  This was an attempt by the inhabitants of the northeastern corner of Tennessee to break away from the distant, unresponsive government of North Carolina and form a new state.  This political unit operated for about four years, but was never recognized by Congress as a state.  Originally intended to be named "Frankland" ( from the German for "Freeland"), it was changed to "Franklin" as part of an effort to convince Benjamin Franklin to lobby for the recognition of this state in Congress.  The former Franklin area reverted back to North Carolina and then largely became part of the new state of Tennessee.


The Couch Cabin of Greene County, Tennessee
As I understand it, this cabin was built by Jacob Couch (my 5th great-grandfather), and/or his sons, presumably around 1780, or so.  It is believed that the cabin was moved when the state of Franklin was formed, in order to ensure it was located in this new state, probably for military protection.  Sometime around, or prior to, 1980, Ralph Neas Couch of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma bought a two-story framed house, said to be the home of Jacob's son and grandson, both named John Couch.  In the course of remodeling the home, it was discovered that the house had built up around this cabin.  Ralph, realizing the historic significance of the cabin, abandoned his plans to remodel the frame house and chose to preserve the cabin, instead.  He later had the cabin moved into the cemetery (known successively as the Couch, Couch-Patterson, and then Patterson, Cemetery) to help protect it from souvenir hunters, and finally erected a fence around the cabin to protect it further.  It is said that Ralph's intent was to dissassemble the cabin, move it to Broken Arrow, and reassemble it there, but he died before completing his plans...

(if anyone has information to refute or enhance this information, 
please email me, Bob Couch, with your information)