Peter Vertrees - 3B 67 - Gallatin, TN
Posted by: bmon419
N 36° 23.185 W 086° 26.726
16S E 549737 N 4026951
Two-sided historic marker about a prominent local African American.
Waymark Code: WMD840
Location: Tennessee, United States
Date Posted: 12/03/2011
Views: 10
Peter Vertrees
Marker # 3B 67
Front Text: “A prominent African-American soldier, minister, and educator, Peter Vertrees was born December 16, 1840, in Edmonton County, Kentucky, as Peter Skaggs. At age five he was apprenticed to Jacob Vertrees whose name he assumed. From 1861-1865, he was a cook and bodyguard under Dr. John L. Vertrees in the Orphan Brigade, the Sixth Kentucky Infantry C.S.A., for which he received a pension from the State of Tennessee. After the war, Vertrees came to Gallatin where he began a sixty-one year Baptist ministry establishing churches area wide.”
Reverse Text: “In each church he established a chapter of the Sons and Daughters of Charity to defray members’ medical and burial expenses. In 1875 he organized the East Fork Missionary Baptist Association. Educated at Roger Williams University in Nashville, he opened a subscription school in the 1880s and with funding from the Rosenwald Foundation established several public schools. One block east of here, he built a Victorian Cottage in 1888. The Reverend Peter Vertrees died January 18, 1926, and was buried in the Gallatin Cemetery.”
Marker is easy to get to. Located on at the intersection of Hwy 109 and E Bledsoe Street. There is a ton of parking nearby. It's an easy walk to all the other markers and buildings in this area, or you can choose any of the parking lots that are on this street with it.