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Feature article
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Netherland Inn Program links City History to Salt
By Amy Gatley
KINGSPORT — Some may believe that Kingsport is the salt of the earth.
But few know that Kingsport does owe its very namesake and founding to salt.
It was the establishment of the saltworks in the Saltville Valley in Smyth County, Va., that brought the city’s founding father, William King to the area.
And William King established a distribution point for his salt at what is now known as Netherland Inn in Kingsport — the nation’s only registered historical site which was both a stage stop and a boatyard.
Netherland Inn celebrated its history and the creation of Kingsport Saturday with the retelling of King’s story through the eyes of re-enactor Jerry Catron.
Catron, dressed in 1700s garb, related to an audience of about 40 spectators how King came to have such an impact on the development of Eastern Tennessee and Southwest Virginia.
‘‘King had a great knowledge about the business of business,’’ Catron said.
‘‘He needed a way to export salt without going through the mountains ... and there was the North Fork of the Holston River.’’
King, who came from Ireland to the United States in the late 1700s, established a saltworks in Saltville on a 150-acre plot.
At its full production, King’s saltworks produced 200 bushels of salt per day.
Catron also demonstrated to the audience how salt was produced 200 years ago — boiled in an iron kettle until a super-saturated salt solution had formed.
‘‘Someone asked me if salt was made in the summer because the fire is so hot and it’s so hot outside — salt was made this way 24 hours a day, seven days a week,’’ Catron said.
Saturday’s look back at the history of Netherland Inn and Kingsport’s is part of a series of programs the Inn’s steering committee is holding to help cover operating expenses at the historical site.
‘‘So many people around here do not know about this place. They drive by and only see the inn, but we have a lot more to offer ... this is an ongoing series of events that we offer that lets people come in and give us history lessons,’’ Oaks said.
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