Edward Cox (1750-1852) was born in Maryland and converted to Methodism in 1773. Soon after, he emigrated west to Virginia and what is now eastern (Bluff City) Tennessee. This is where he built his home. (
visit link) This site was chosen because of the rich soil and a nearby spring.
After two years of residence and completing the house, Mr. Cox returned to Maryland to marry Sallie Meredith. The day after their wedding, Mr. and Mrs. Cox set out for their new home. The home was just over the present day border of Virginia. They rode horseback some six hundred miles. During the Revolutionary War, Sallie remained in Tennessee while Edward Cox served as a soldier. Upon his return from the war, Cox, a local preacher, began holding services in their home. The Cox home was also a welcome resting place for itinerant preachers. In the late eighteenth century, Tennessee was the wild frontier. The country was wild and travel was difficult and fraught with many dangers. Traveling preachers had to depend on settlers' hospitality for food, water and lodging, and at times medical help. Sallie and Edward Cox, and others like them, played an essential role in the westward growth of the Methodist movement. The Cox home was always open to needy traveling or circuit riding preachers.
After building the house, Edward Cox built a stone wall around the spring and a springhouse above it to help keep food cool and preserved as much as possible. The wall and spring are all remain.
Spring flow
The scale for spring flow is as follows:
Magnitude Flow (ft³/s, gal/min, pint/min) Flow (L/s)
1st Magnitude > 100 ft³/s 2800 L/s
2nd Magnitude 10 to 100 ft³/s 280 to 2800 L/s
3rd Magnitude 1 to 10 ft³/s 28 to 280 L/s
4th Magnitude 100 US gal/min to 1 ft³/s (448 US gal/min) 6.3 to 28 L/s
5th Magnitude 10 to 100 gal/min 0.63 to 6.3 L/s
6th Magnitude 1 to 10 gal/min 63 to 630 mL/s
7th Magnitude 1 pint to 1 gal/min 8 to 63 mL/s
8th Magnitude Less than 1 pint/min 8 mL/s
0 Magnitude no flow (sites of past/historic flow)
The Edward Cox Spring is a Perennial Spring with a 6th Magnitude flow, and is located arcoss from the restored cabins. There are two cabins with one roof covering them, with a "Dog Trot" between them with stairs connecting the upper rooms. Edward and his wife Sallie are buryed in the yard behind their home.