Dayton, Tennessee

Dayton was the location of the Scopes trial. It is located halfway between Knoxville and Chattanooga, in the Tennessee River valley.

The Dayton Courthouse

This is where the Scopes trial took place in Dayton. Hundreds of people gathered each day of the trial, crowding the courtroom and hallways. Between the heat and the crowding, which allegedly caused cracks in the ceiling below the courtroom, the infamous Bryan-Darrow showdown took place on the courthouse lawn.

Only Yesterday

This was a book written by Frederick Lewis Allen and published in 1931. The book helped begin the shift in collective memories about the trial.

Inherit the Wind

Written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, Inherit the Wind was both a long-running Broadway play and a major motion picture, which focused on a fictional account of the trial. The play and movie helped shape how later generations saw the trial...