Settlement

From the port of Natchez on the Mississippi River, the Natchez Trace followed over 500 miles of intertwining Indian paths through the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations across the Tennessee River to Nashville. For reasons of national security, Winthrop Sargent, first…

Animal trails crisscrossed the Tennessee region long before the arrival of humans, and the same large game animals that created the trails attracted prehistoric hunters. Early trails tended to follow lines of least resistance, avoiding heavy undergrowth, rough ground, or…

The Netherland Inn marks the early settlement and development history of the Holston River country of Sullivan County. Located on the Holston River in Kingsport, the Netherland Inn stood at a commercial port that served the developing economy of the…

Orange Mound, a Memphis community created for African Americans in the late nineteenth century, is a significant example of how “Jim Crow” segregation impacted neighborhood development in urban Tennessee. In 1890, developer E. E. Meacham acquired a portion of the…

The term Overhill Cherokee refers to the settlements of the eighteenth-century Cherokee people found in eastern Tennessee. The name Overhill is generally derived from the geographic location of the Cherokees and the need to travel over the mountains from South…

The Overmountain Men were those pioneers who settled on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains during the second half of the eighteenth century. The first group to venture into the region were adventurers, traders, and long hunters--temporary residents who…

John Overton, trusted friend and advisor to Andrew Jackson, was an early Tennessee lawyer, jurist, banker, and political leader. Born in Louisa County, Virginia, Overton moved to Mercer County in present-day Kentucky in 1787 to begin his law career. He…

Six miles west of Morristown in Hamblen County is the Panther Creek State Park. This 1,435-acre park features the recreational resources of Cherokee Lake, the reservoir created when the Tennessee Valley Authority built Cherokee Dam and dammed the Holston River…

On December 1, 1566, the third Spanish expedition into Tennessee commenced when Juan Pardo left Santa Elena on the South Carolina coast with 125 soldiers. Sent into the interior to further Spain's colonial ambitions and to relieve the food shortage…

First settled by freedmen during Reconstruction, the community of Promise Land, north of Charlotte in Dickson County, sheltered its residents from the Jim Crow South, offering them protection from the strife and bigotry surrounding them. At Promise Land, freedmen were…

Ramsey House, the home of Colonel Francis Alexander Ramsey (1764-1820), was built between 1795 and 1797 by master carpenter and cabinetmaker Thomas Hope. Colonel Ramsey migrated to the North Carolina frontier from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in 1783. Settling first in the…

Located five miles northeast of Cleveland in Bradley County, Rattlesnake Springs in 1938 served as the site of the last council of the eastern band of the Cherokees, where approximately thirteen thousand Native Americans assembled to begin the long journey…

Red Clay State Historic Park, located twelve miles south of Cleveland, was the site of the last seat of Cherokee government before their forced removal by federal troops along the Trail of Tears. From 1832 to 1837 it was the…

Before the steamboat, Tennesseans navigated the Mississippi, Cumberland, and Tennessee Rivers and their tributaries in canoes, keelboats, flatboats, and rafts. The original Tennessee rivermen were Cherokees, Shawnees, and other Indians paddling their sleek wooden dugout canoes and cruder "bullboats" (made…

Charlotte Reeves Robertson was among the earliest settlers to live in Middle Tennessee. She followed her husband, James Robertson, in a journey from the Watauga settlement of East Tennessee to the wilderness of Middle Tennessee, helping to establish settlements in…

James Robertson, early leader of both the Watauga and Cumberland settlements, has been called the "Father of Middle Tennessee." Born in 1742 in Brunswick County, Virginia, he was the son of John and Mary Gower Robertson. Physically, Robertson stood close…

Rock Castle, a late-eighteenth-century plantation house, was once the home of General Daniel Smith, his wife Sarah Michie Smith, and their two children. General Smith (1748-1818), a well-read and classically educated Virginian, attended the College of William and Mary. A…

Rocky Mount, the home of William Cobb, served as the first capitol of the Southwest Territory. William Blount, the governor of the Territory of the United States South of the River Ohio, presided over the newly formed territory from 1790-92.…

Sumner County pioneer Hugh Rogan left his native County Donegal, Ireland, and sailed to the American colonies in 1775. Following the pattern of many Irish immigrants, he entered at the Port of Philadelphia, migrated into North Carolina, then moved west…

“Rogana,” the historic name of the stone cottage built around 1800 by Irish immigrant and Tennessee pioneer Hugh Rogan, is located near Bledsoe’s Creek in eastern Sumner County. The building is a rare surviving example of American architecture that is…