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Feature article
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Historic sites tell story of three counties
By Corey B. Shoun
The history of this region begins with one of its major draws for both tourists and residents — the scenic Appalachian Mountains.
While geological time dating puts the age of the Appalachians somewhere around 550 million years and the first appearance of human beings at about 12,000 years ago, there was another occurrence taking place between those time periods, and it is one of which we are just now learning.
Scientists have estimated the age of a fossil site discovered in Gray in 2001 at as much as 40 million years old. Therefore, if one were to look at the history of this region in terms of its individual historic sites, it might seem to form a complete circle rather than a straight line.
Much has happened in this region between the time ancient tapirs and rhinoceros discovered a swampy watering hole and human beings discovered the fossilized remains of those tapirs and rhinoceros in a bed of black soil underneath red clay that was being removed to widen a highway.
Perhaps the great explorer Daniel Boone, trekking his way across East Tennessee in the 1760s, traveled somewhere near where those fossils were buried. It would be fitting, as the fossil site is located near Daniel Boone High School.
Of course, Daniel Boone didn’t blaze any trails through a place called Tennessee; this region was still part of North Carolina at that point. Washington County was formed in 1777 and Sullivan County in 1779, the first counties formed while this region was still part of North Carolina.
Tennessee broke away from North Carolina in 1784 and from then until 1788 was known as the State of Franklin in the Southwest Territory of the United States.
The two oldest cities in Tennessee are located within this region. Jonesborough was founded in 1779 to be the county seat of Washington County, N.C., and to this day remains the county seat of Washington County, Tenn.
The town was named after Willie Jones, one of the few North Carolina legislators who approved of the state’s westward movement. Jonesborough today boasts many attractions in its historic downtown district and it the host of the Jonesborough Days festival in the summer, the National Storytelling Festival in the fall and the new Pangaea World Music Festival in the spring.
Rogersville became Tennessee’s second city not long after Irishman Joseph Rogers came to America in the early 1780s. After courting the daughter of a prominent land owner, he was married to her and as a wedding gift, the land upon which Rogersville was established was given to them.
In 1786, Hawkins County was created by the North Carolina legislature and Rogersville was made the county seat. The town prospered because of the stage line that passed through the area and the town grew throughout the 1800s.
As for Sullivan County, Blountville was established as the county seat in 1824 and Kingsport — which was originally known as “Boat Yard,” was the second town established in the county in 1833 when it had a population of 317. Kingsport’s main industry at that time was the shipping of salt — which was mined at King’s Salt Works in Virginia — on flatboats along the Holston River.
In the early 1800s, the tract of land upon which Bristol is now located, on both the Tennessee and Virginia sides of the state line, was known as Sapling Grove and the plantation on which it existed was King’s Meadows after its owner, Revolutionary War hero Col. James King.
With the coming of railroads in the mid-1850s, Joseph R. Anderson, a grandson-in-law of King, saw the potential of the area for the development of a commercial trading center and laid out the town of Bristol, named for the manufacturing city in England. Bristol, Tenn., was formally established in 1856 and Bristol, Va., in 1890.
Also established in 1856 was Johnson City, founded by businessman Henry Johnson, who built a store at the crossroads of the newly constructed East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad and a stage route that went from Knoxville to Washington D.C.
Originally known as Johnson’s Depot, the city quickly grew larger than Jonesborough — its sister town in Washington County — thanks in part to its connections to transportation including rail, stage and waterways.
Other historic sites of note in the area include the birthplace of famed pioneer, soldier and congressman David Crockett, in Limestone, between Jonesborough and Greeneville. The small log cabin that sits at Crockett Birthplace State Park is a replica of the one where he was born in 1786.
Just down the road in Greeneville is the historic former home of President Andrew Johnson. In addition to succeeding Abraham Lincoln as president, Johnson also served as vice president, congressman and governor of Tennessee.
The Chester Inn and Netherland Inn, located in Jonesborough and Kingsport, respectively, served as temporary lodging for guests ranging from Andrew Jackson to John Sevier and to this day schoolchildren can learn about frontier life by visiting the Tipton-Haynes Historic Site in Johnson City, Rocky Mount Living History Museum in Piney Flats and Exchange Place in Kingsport.
There is no doubt there isn’t room here to list all of the historic venues of interest in the region, but then again, 40 million years of history is a lot to cover.
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