Puryear, TN

Puryear is a Henry County city where US 641 meets Tennessee 140, about ten miles north of Paris and four miles south of Hazel, Kentucky. Route 140 runs east toward Paris Landing State Park and Kentucky Lake, while the East Fork of the Clarks River drains north through the surrounding farm country. The local view is a mix of fields, two-lane roads, and a compact town grid between Paris and the Kentucky line. The city also has the basic municipal services that keep a small West Tennessee place running, including water, sewer, garbage collection, and city offices.

The railroad gave Puryear both its beginning and its name. The settlement was first called Littleton for James T. Littleton, who put land across his farm in the path of the Paducah, Tennessee and Alabama Railroad. When the railway changed hands, the name had to change so it would not be confused with other Littletons. Colonel T. H. Puryear, president of the planned railroad, accepted the honor, and the town was chartered in 1909. Today, the rail story sits alongside the highway connections and the nearby lake country. Puryear's 2020 population was 706, a scale that leaves the city small enough for its original railroad geography to remain easy to see.