Just how did Muscle Shoals get the name…..
Indians first inhabited the lands bordered by the Tennessee River that we call the Shoals area today. No one knows when the name Muscle Shoals was first used for this area, however, there are many theories of where the name originated. One theory is that at one time there were piles of mussel shells found along the shoals in the Tennessee River.
Another theory is that the shape of the river looks like the muscle in a man’s arm, therefore, Muscle Shoals. The last theory comes from several booklets that were published before Muscle Shoals incorporated. This theory states: “Muscle Shoals, the Niagara of the South, derives its name from the Indians, who, attempting to navigate upstream, found the task almost impossible because of the strong current.” Thus came the word muscle, symbolic of the strength required to “paddle a canoe up the rapids.”
sourve: Wikipedia
1 comment
Muscle Shoals got its name from the mussels that inhabited the water in the shallow water among the rocks that created the “shoals” that could not be navigated by the river traffic going up or down river.
“Mussels important in birth of Shoals”
Sunday, November 13, 2011 12:00 am
By Dennis Sherer