Belltown, Tennessee

Belltown, Tennessee (referred to by the Tennessee Department of Transportation as Bell Town) is an unincorporated rural community located in southern Cheatham County along U.S. Highway 70. Its approximate location is coord|36|04|40|N|87|09|30|W.

Belltown has traditionally been an African American community. Folk history has it that the traditional residents are descendants of the slaves of Middle Tennessee ironmaster Montgomery Bell; as Bell was widely reputed to have had several slave mistresses, many inhabitants claim descent from Bell via these women. A primary school was located here until it was closed by racial integration in the 1960s; the renovated building now serves as a church.

In the last two decades there has been considerable growth in the area, including, as racial attitudes have softened, a considerable influx of whites.

Apparently Belltown has never had a United States Post Office; the community's address is Kingston Springs, Tennessee. As neither Kingston Springs nor the nearby community of White Bluff have traditionally had an appreciable black population, Belltown has served the purpose of providing these two towns with a black-oriented residential area, a purpose the community still functions in to some degree.

As Belltown is neither an incorporated town nor a census-designated place, any estimate of its population is of necessarily limited accuracy due to the absence of any well-defined boundaries, but is generally regarded to be less than 200 persons.