About

The trial that put dayton on the map

The Rhea County Historical and Genealogical Society's mission is to discover, collect, preserve and display materials which will help illustrate the rich history and heritage of Rhea County, Tennessee.

A big part of that is restoring the Scopes Trial Museum, located in the basement of the Rhea County Courthouse in Dayton.

The Rhea County Courthouse is a historically and architecturally significant building. It was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976.

To learn more about the trial that put Dayton on the map, click here.

To watch a short documentary about the trial from PBS, click here.

To learn more about the restoration, click here.