Lafayette | Macon County

“You begin to care for that person,” says physical therapy assistant Kathy Gaines, who spends her days treating patients from age 3 to 94, and her evenings caring for her own young daughter, Megan.

When she’s not mounting deer for clients across Tennessee and Kentucky during hunting season, Pat Driver spends her evenings with family, sharing jokes with her husband and quiet moments with her daughter.

From a game of pool at Perdue’s Grocery to quiet upkeep at Lans Chapel Cemetery, these scenes capture the small, everyday moments of life along Highway 127.

Dan and Mary Rufener raise their seven children off the grid in a Macon County hollow, homeschooling and holding fast to values of family, nature, and self-reliance before the outside world comes calling.

“I’m the only councilman in town all day long,” jokes Willis Knight, whose secondhand store in Red Boiling Springs doubles as a hub for local politics, gossip, and advice from the five-term former mayor.

From weekly wash-and-sets at the Total Look to hauling hay under an October sky, everyday routines and small-town gatherings define life around Lafayette and Macon County.

Florida may be a retirement paradise to some, but not to Ralph and Phyllis DeWick, who have been married 33 years. They moved from Tampa area to retire in Macon County, where they are building their dream home.

Principal Charles Biles runs Red Boiling Springs School with the same firm hand and genuine care he learned from his own father, doling out discipline and affection in equal measure to generations of students.

Kathy White traded a law career for a flower shop on the Lafayette square, building a family business that keeps her close to her family and the small-town life she’s never wanted to leave.

Sessions Court Judge Jim Chitwood balances the demands of the bench with raising his grandson Joshua, whom he’s cared for since birth, “hopefully,” he says, “we will raise him right.”

Coach Clay Dixon set out to turn the Red Boiling Springs Bulldogs into winners, but a 0-54 defeat, their losing streak remained unbroken after another hard-fought defeat.

Despite the film study, and the pregame pledges, Coach Mike Dawson and the Macon County Tigers can’t shake a rough season, another loss dropping them to 0-5.

From early morning routines with her own kids to keeping watch over the Homecoming dance, Tammy Brausher’s days as a teacher are full, on and off the clock.

“I’m Pa’s boy,” declares 4-year-old Zack Scott, who spends his days shadowing his grandfather Ernest Hall through farm chores, fence mending, and everything in between.

W.L. “Buck” Gammons wears many hats, farmer, mechanic, church volunteer, and always his signature cowboy hat, moving through his days with the easy rhythm of a lifelong working man.

Comus and Blanche Moss share a craft business built on their combined talents, his woodwork, her sewing and paint, and a life that leaves plenty of room for breaks and one another.

Mayor Tommy Spivey rises before dawn to deliver Sunbeam bread, 48 stops across the county, before the workday even begins.

“Why some people have such bad lives and other people have good ones,” Kathy Jernigan wonders, tending the shelves of Jernigan’s Produce, the family business she and husband Bo have run for six years.

Cindy Holland opens her Frog Pond general store at 6:30 every morning, balancing long days behind the counter with raising her two children close by her side.

“When people walk into my store, it’s like they’re walking into my house,” says Doug Holder, who with wife Denise has spent eight years running Indigo Blues in Lafayette.

Ray Goad’s job as a Farm Service Representative comes with some unusual duties that go well beyond typical banking work.

Dale Cherry runs the Lafayette Monument Company alone, hand-setting headstones and sandblasting inscriptions that will outlast us all.

“Greasy,” Billy Wilmore has spent a decade at the co-op building friendships over farm supplies, gossip, and Saturday morning coffee.

A whirlwind week captures the excitement, nerves, and romance of Macon County High School’s homecoming season.

Dewayne Cothron captures nearly every school event and portrait in Lafayette, then returns each evening to a quiet, wooded home.

Cindy Stinson spends her days teaching dance to Lafayette’s youngest dancers, then heads home to the everyday rhythms of life.

Over four intense days, more than 50 photographers pushed themselves to capture the heart of Lafayette, Tennessee.