One weird problem that plagues Nashville’s early history — and I think we’ve talked about this before — is that there’s a bunch of information historians have that is so well-known to them that they assume everyone knows it which, actually, everyone does not know. And, in fact, if you’re a history buff like me, you might not even realize the question has been settled until you come across the information by accident.
Such is the case with Martin Chartier, who, it turns out, is well-known by scholars of early French explorers and the Native Americans they loved to have been the first white guy here. Like here we are being all “Oh, was it Timothy Demonbreun? But you know there was some trader named Charleville here before him and then, who knows?”
Well, the scholars of early French explorers and the Native Americans they loved know, but I guess no one ever thought to ask them or they’ve just been too busy eating cheese and drinking wine and working out the going rate for a beaver pelt to tell us or something.
But Martin Chartier. (continue reading at Nashville Scene)
The First White Man in Nashville
