DAYTON, Tenn.
Location: Rhea County, between Walden's Ridge and the Tennessee River
Size: 7.65 square miles
Population: 7,395 (2014 estimate)
Year founded: 1820 as Smith's Crossroads. Renamed Dayton in 1877.
Largest employer: La-Z-Boy Manufacturing
Schools: Dayton City School (grades K-8); Bryan College
Attractions: The Tennessee Strawberry Festival, first held in 1947, celebrates Rhea County's annual strawberry crop and has become a 10-day celebration of small-town life. Festivalgoers can enjoy carnival rides or investigate dozens of arts, crafts and food vendors set up on the courthouse square. The festival in 2016 begins the first week of May.
Famous residents: Joseph Aloysius Durick, Roman Catholic bishop and civil rights advocate; John Scopes, former Rhea County High School football coach and history teacher, became famous as the focus of the historic Scopes v. Tennessee trial, also known as the Scopes Monkey Trial.
Fun facts: Denny Zonnas remains the city's longest-serving fire chief, appointed to the post in 1929 and retiring in 1959.
Famous landmarks: Rhea County Courthouse, Bryan College
"We have the beautiful Chickamauga Lake that here's in our town and we have a number of other natural resources and our a new state park. We're an outdoor town much like Chattanooga is; it's a great little small town to live in."
– James Beam, works with Dock Smith Surveying