A legal fight over ownership of mountain stone — and whether property owners can stop removal of the decorative rocks by others who hold mineral rights to their land — goes to trial before a Tennessee judge Tuesday.

They key question may be: Is a rock a mineral?

Ed Lewis and four other property owners on Sequatchie County's Fredonia Mountain contend that if owners of mineral rights are allowed to take the rocks, the property owners' scenic bluffs and land covered with hardwoods and evergreens will be ruined by blasting and bulldozers.

A chancery judge will decide if mineral rights from decades ago also apply to sandstone, fieldstone and flagstone on the mountain north of Chattanooga. Demand for the rocks has grown in recent years for building houses, commercial buildings, fireplaces and landscaping.

The judge's decision could have implications for many property owners who don't own the mineral rights to their land.

Roy Rumfelt, director of real property for neighboring Hamilton County in Chattanooga, has said of the mountainous region that "about 50 percent of the properties are owned by people who don't own the mineral rights."

Records show the judge who initially was assigned the case recused himself because he owns mountain land and "would be bound by this ruling as well."

No stone harvesting has started in the disputed areas and attorneys on both sides said the decision by Chancellor Howell Peoples of Chattanooga likely will be appealed.

"We think it is law that has been settled for 100 years," said Steve Greer, an attorney for mineral rights owner George Avery Land.

Keith Grant, an attorney for Lewis and the other owners of properties that total about 150 acres, has said he was not aware of any precedent case that sets up rules for when rocks are considered minerals that can be removed from a property.