Prater is a good example of what happened to many of the 
original hamlets in the county. It thrived for a time 
and vanished. Prater is located about half way between 
Woodbury and Short Mountain, near the mouth of 
Shinbone Hollow (formerly called Elledge Hollow). It was 
on Stone's River Road, the first road built into the 
future county. Prater ceased to exist in the 1930s, after 
the state and county built a road that no longer 
required the traveler to cross the river 19 times between 
Woodbury and Short Mountain.