This is an introductory part of Beverly Curry’s book to orient the reader about the various families who lived in what was known in the 1900 – 1945 time as the Pond Beat area and community. This southeastern part of today’s arsenal was so-named because the area was a tax and census “beat” (district or precinct area) that was noted as containing many ponds which held water for long periods, sometimes many years, after flooding by the Tennessee River. Some of the ponds even had their water levels rise and fall with the river fluctuations. It was a swampy area that was overgrown and contained many snakes and other types of wildlife, including some alligators. This part of the Curry book represents a “walk” and “conversation” as one might have experienced in the area before Army acquisition. It is derived from the numerous interviews and notes that Beverly made in meetings with a large number of former citizens of the area as she researched data for her book. The events, names, and details of life are things told to Beverly as actual facts and generally confirmed by research into old documents, but there are a few minor additional clarifications inserted by John P. Rankin.