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Feature article
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From roads to Union artillery, Blountville steeped in history
By Garren Shipley
BLOUNTVILLE — On the surface, Blountville appears to be the Clark Kent of Tennessee towns — mild mannered and unassuming.
But history is everywhere in Blountville and its surroundings. And if you’re willing to park the car for a few minutes, you may even learn something.
“It’s the gateway to the frontier,” said John Van Arsdall, owner and operator of the SmithHaven Bed and Breakfast.
Van Arsdall came to Blountville not long ago and opened his business — using his anthropology training along the way to discover Blountville’s past and drum up business.
“Nobody even knows about (Blountville’s historic value),” he said. “The log cabins down on Main Street were built in 1796 the year Tennessee became a state.”
Tourism is one of Tennessee’s top industries, and a rich history usually translates into dollars for the local economy — a boon for local business owners.
Finding and preserving long-forgotten parts of Blountville’s past is good for almost everyone, Van Arsdall said.
Like the fact that for most of the 19th century, the road to the White House ran through Sullivan County — if you were coming from out West.
Up until the late 1800s, Island Road was part of the primary link between the young nation’s capital and its Western states, according to “Goodspeed’s History of Tennessee,” printed in 1877.
Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, Andrew Johnson and the Marquis de Lafayette all traveled Island Road on their way to Washington, D.C. — usually spending the night in Blountville at places like the Deery Inn on what is now Highway 126.
And not many people know that something as simple as a trip from Burger King to the courthouse takes you through a Civil War battlefield.
Originally built in 1853, the old Blountville Courthouse held the bar of justice and government offices until the Civil War. But Union General Ambrose Burnside wasn’t a big fan of Blountville.
Blountville was the county seat of what was then known as the “Little Confederacy,” one of only a few places in East Tennessee where residents voted in favor of secession.
That preference for the Southern cause — coupled with the presence of vital railroad links — prompted Confederate generals to post a permanent garrison in the town, according to accounts from the period.
During an invasion of Tennessee in September 1863, Burnside stationed Union artillery on top of the hill near Blountville Cemetery and shelled the town — burning most structures to the ground.
The outnumbered Confederates retreated, but the courthouse didn’t have the luxury of returning to fight another day.
A fire, sparked by a direct hit from an artillery shell, destroyed most of the interior, including nearly all of the pre-war records for the county. But the walls remained, and the courthouse was rebuilt after the war.
If research into the 20th century is more your speed, a trip to renew your vehicle registration will land you only one door down from a wealth of history and genealogy information.
The Sullivan County Clerk’s Office at the intersection of Blountville Boulevard and Highway 126 keeps detailed records dating back to before the turn of the last century — everything from 1880s marriage licenses to how much gasoline the county bought in 1939.
These records aren’t just the sterile, microfilmed editions you can find in a library — these are the real thing, 70-year-old rubber bands and all.
Handwritten minutes from the county court meetings, old ledger books — even invoices presented to the county for payment — are all available for public inspection during regular office hours.
In short, Blountville’s key asset, its past, is almost everywhere underfoot.
“It needs to be preserved and showcased as probably the premier (historic site) Sullivan County has to offer,” Van Arsdall said.
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