Encyclopedia

The John and Landon Carter Mansion on the Watauga River at Sycamore Shoals, Elizabethton, is one of the oldest and most architecturally significant houses in Tennessee. Local tradition holds that the house was built by John Carter, an early settler…

George L. Carter, rail and coal magnate and founder of modern Kingsport, shaped the economic transformation of northeast Tennessee and southwest Virginia. Known as the "empire builder of Southwest Virginia," Carter built the Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio Railway and envisioned…

John Carter, early Tennessee settler and Revolutionary War officer, was born in Virginia in 1737. As an adult John lived in Amherst, Virginia, where he was a merchant. He married Elizabeth Taylor about 1758, and the couple had three sons,…

Landon Carter, Revolutionary War officer and State of Franklin official, was born to John and Elizabeth Carter in Virginia, on January 29, 1760. He moved to northeast Tennessee, now Hawkins County, with his parents in 1770. In 1784 he married…

Frontier Methodist circuit rider Peter Cartwright was born in Amherst County, Virginia, shortly before his parents moved to Logan County, Kentucky. When he was fifteen years old, Cartwright attended one of the religious meetings that were part of the camp…

Johnny Cash, musician, actor, and member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, was born in Kingsland, Arkansas, to Ray and Carrie River Cash on February 26, 1932. After graduating from high school in Dyess, Arkansas, in 1950, Cash bounced…

General Clifton B. Cates, nineteenth commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, was born in Tiptonville on August 31, 1893. After graduating from the University of Tennessee, he joined the marines as a second lieutenant in 1917. During World War I…

John Catron served as first chief justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court and later as associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. He was probably born in Virginia in the mid-1780s and received a meager education in the common schools…

Open areas within otherwise forested regions captured the attention of both early settlers and botanists. Among these are cedar glades--open, rocky areas of variable size and shape. The designation "cedar" comes from the Eastern red-cedar trees, a conspicuous component of…

During the Great Depression, the federal government worked to adapt the nation's marginal farmlands to better use. To that end, Congress first appropriated $20 million for reclamation and later approved another $50 million. The State of Tennessee applied for a…

The Center for Appalachian Studies and Services at East Tennessee State University is a Distinguished Center of Excellence, established in 1984 during the administration of Governor Lamar Alexander. The center’s mission is to document and showcase Appalachia’s past, celebrate its…

East Tennessee State University's Center for Appalachian Studies and Services is a Tennessee Center of Excellence established in 1984 during the administration of Governor Lamar Alexander. The center supports research and artistic endeavors focusing on the Appalachian region, improves resources…

In 1984 the Tennessee General Assembly and Governor Lamar Alexander, as part of a comprehensive statewide education reform program, proposed a special project to recognize Tennessee's national leadership in higher education through a competition to create specialized research centers involving…