Bedford County, Tennessee

Bedford County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Shelbyville
Year Organized: 1807
Square Miles: 474

Court House:

1 Public Square
County Courthouse
Shelbyville, TN 37160-3953

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Named in honor of Thomas Bedford, Jr. (? - 1804), Revolutionary War officer, middle Tennessee land owner of Jefferson Springs in Rutherford County who contributed to the development of that area.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History of Bedford County

Created 1807 from Rutherford County and Indian lands; named in honor of Thomas Bedford, Jr. (? - 1804), Revolutionary War officer, middle Tennessee land owner of Jefferson Springs in Rutherford County who contributed to the development of that area.

Bedford County was formed in 1807 from parts partof Rutherford County and Indian lands. (Acts of Tennessee 1807, Chapter 37).

The Tennessee General Assembly established Bedford County on December 7, 1807, from land taken from Rutherford County. The first court met at the home of the widow Ann Payne in what is now Moore County. Settlement of the area progressed slowly after an initial expedition in 1783 led by Alexander Greer, who later settled at Greer's Lick on land he marked during the expedition. Samuel Barton and the Edmiston Land Company carried out other early expeditions. Few settlers arrived until after 1806. Some brought Revolutionary War grants from North Carolina; others came with Tennessee grants, awarded from 1800 to 1810. In 1808 Andrew Erwin purchased fifty-five thousand acres from Norton Pryor. A bitter title dispute arose between Andrew Jackson, who served as Pryor's agent, and Erwin. Litigation continued until 1824, when a compromise settlement was reached.

Find more from the Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture: BEDFORD COUNTY

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 475 square miles (1,230 km²), of which, 474 square miles (1,227 km²) of it is land and 1 square miles (3 km²) of it (0.25%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Rutherford County (north)
Coffee County (east)
Moore County (southeast)
Lincoln County (south)
Marshall County (west)

Cities and Towns:

- Bell Buckle	town	Incorporated Area
- Normandy	town	Incorporated Area
- Shelbyville (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Wartrace	town	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resource Guide

Counties: US Map

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."

Penn Foster High School

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