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Feature article
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Rogersville full of both history, sites for visitors
By Jeff Bobo
For those who enjoy life in a peaceful small town, Rogersville might be the perfect place to live.
Established in 1879, the town offers the best of modern living, but always present is evidence of more than 200 years of history. And it’s within a reasonable commute to the major employment areas of the Tri-Cities, Morristown and Greeneville.
Rogersville is surrounded by mountains, and there aren’t many places in town hidden from the scenic mountain views as they change colors from season to season.
Life in Rogersville seems to move slow, far away from the hectic problems associated with urban life.
The people in Rogersville are friendly and the streets are quiet and clean and safe to walk on.
And just a short distance from the quiet residential areas are all the amenities of modern living including a hospital and the shopping districts on the outskirts of town, which offer the same goods and services that are offered in big cities.
It’s not hard to see what attracts people to live in Rogersville, but Tennessee’s second oldest city also has a lot to offer tourists.
The downtown historic section hasn’t changed in more than 100 years, and many buildings date back to before the Civil War including the courthouse at the center of town which was constructed in 1836.
Not many towns can claim to have hosted both Union and Confederate headquarters at the same time — not to mention across Main Street from each other in two buildings that still exist.
Union headquarters was in the Hale Springs Inn built in 1824, which is in the process of being reopened to the public, while the Confederates held headquarters across the street at the the Kyle House, which was built in 1837 and is currently a bed and breakfast inn.
At the Northeast Tennessee Printing Museum located in the old train depot (built in 1890) on Depot Street two blocks south of Main Street, visitors can obtain a map of all the historic attractions in the downtown area.
The Rogersville Heritage Association Walking tour points out homes and public buildings dating from 1786 and into the early, mid- and late 1800s.
The map also shows the location of the Rogers Cemetery where town founder Joseph Rogers and his wife Mary Amis Rogers are buried, as well as the grandparents of Davy Crockett who were massacred by Cherokees.
Modern-day Rogersville is also known for its many downtown antique and crafts shops, which also happen to be in the vicinity of the walking tour.
Several festivals attract tens of thousands of tourists to Rogersville each year, including the Fourth of July Festival held each year in the Rogersville City Park and the Renaissance Faire held each summer at the Crockett Springs Park — the site of the original Crockett home place in Tennessee — just west of downtown.
But, the biggest event of the year in Rogersville is Heritage Days.
Every October the community takes advantage of the fall colors to hold a massive arts and crafts festival downtown with plenty of food and entertainment.
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