Betsy Thorpe of Jam Tart Productions is pleased to announce that on May 21, 2007 the Metro Historical Commission approved the text for and the placement of a Metro Historic Marker near the site of the July 9 1918 train wreck in Nashville, involving two trains on the Nashville Chattanooga Saint Louis Line.

The collision occurred at a blind bend known as "Dutchman's Curve". Ms. Thorpe worked with Paula Winters of the Westview newspaper and with the Metro Historical Commission for several months to raise public awareness of this tragic event and to establish a Metro Marker.

Dutchman's Curve is the worst rail disaster in the 175 years of U.S. passenger train service, however many Nashvillians are unaware of this unfortunate historic event. Betsy Thorpe learned of it early this year while reading "West Nashville it's people and environs" by Sarah Foster Kelly. The story of the people on the train, especially the unknowns buried that day in the corn fields near the tracks, touched her heart and sparked her imagination. Ms. Thorpe does not know how many unidentified travelers were buried at the site of the collision with no loved ones to mourn them, but she plans to acknowledge their lives and sudden deaths by creating a multimedia production telling stories of victims, survivors and witnesses to this disastrous accident. The Metro Historic Marker on White Bridge Pike (locally known as White Bridge Road) will be a permanent memorial to those lost souls resting near by.

Donations to help purchase The Dutchman's Curve Marker should be sent to:

          Bellevue Harpeth Historic Association
          PO Box 210183
          Nashville, TN 37221