About.

The Promise Land Community was established and settled by former slaves from the Cumberland Furnace during the Reconstruction Period (1870-1875) in Charlotte, Tennessee.

Deed records and Census reports reveal that some of the early settlers were Nathan Bowen, Joe Washington Vanleer, William Gilbert, John Grimes, Jeff Edmondson, Charles Redden, George Primm, and U.S. Colored Troop Veterans brothers, John and Arch Nesbitt, Clark Garrett, Landin Williams, and Ed Vanleer. These early settlers went on to become landowners with their descendants continuing to own the land.

In time the community encompassed approximately 1,000 acres with more than 50 homes, several stores, three churches, and an elementary school.

As the Civil Rights Era approached in the mid-1950s, this once thriving community had diminished to only a few remaining families. Today, only the St. John Promise Land Church and the old Promise Land School Building remain.

In 2007 the Promise Land School Building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. In July 2010 a Civil War Trails Marker was placed on the site of the historic school building in recognition of the Civil War records of John and Arch Nesbitt and their contributions to the community.

Although many of the families have moved away, the community itself remains dear in the hearts of former residents and descendants. The Promise Land Heritage Association (formerly the Promise Land Community Club), a non-profit historic preservation and community service organization was established in 1988 to preserve and interpret the history of the community.