Campbell County, Tennessee

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

County Seat: Jacksboro
Year Organized: 1806
Square Miles: 480

Court House:

P.O. Box 435
County Courthouse
Jacksboro, TN 37757-0435

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Named (reportedly) in honor of Arthur Campbell (1743-1811), member of Virginia House of Burgesses, Revolutionary and Indian wars officer, commissioner for negotiation of Indian treaties.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History of Campbell County

Created 1806 from Anderson and Claiborne counties; named (reportedly) in honor of Arthur Campbell (1743-1811), member of Virginia House of Burgesses, Revolutionary and Indian wars officer, commissioner for negotiation of Indian treaties.

Campbell County was formed in 1806 from Anderson and Claiborne counties (Acts of Tennessee 1806 [Second Session], Chapter 21).

The Tennessee General Assembly created Campbell County on September 11, 1806, from land taken from Anderson and Claiborne Counties. The twenty-sixth county was named in honor of Colonel Arthur Campbell, a Revolutionary War soldier and Indian fighter. Jacksboro is the county seat.

The primary attraction for early settlers was the wide, fertile Powell's Valley. This lovely valley, coupled with wide navigable rivers and numerous tributaries, provided an ideal setting for the settlers. Although farming was the first organized activity, numerous coal and iron deposits began to attract attention in the early 1800s. The harvesting of timber also provided an early boost to the local economy. Most early settlers clustered in Powell's Valley, but a few hardy pioneers ventured into the more remote mountain areas of the county. Town locations reflect these early concessions to geography.

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

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 498 square miles (1,290 km²), of which, 480 square miles (1,243 km²) of it is land and 18 square miles (47 km²) of it (3.65%) is water.

A large part of Campbell County is on the rugged northeastern Cumberland Plateau. The southeastern section of the county is on the edge of the Ridge and Valley region of central eastern Tennessee. Elevations vary widely across the county, ranging from 3,534 feet (1,077 m) at Cross Mountain to slightly less than 1,000 feet (300 m) a few miles away at Norris Lake. Norris Lake is the main body of water in the region. It is fed by the Clinch and Powell Rivers as well as several large creeks, most notably Davis Creek, Big Creek, and Cove Creek, which also forms Cove Lake near Caryville. Cumberland, Walnut and Pine Mountains partition the county from southwest to northeast, separating Jellico in the north from La Follette, Jacksboro and Caryville in the central and southern parts of the county. On the western side of the county, Cross Mountain runs North to South and separates much of the county from Scott County.

From Walnut Mountain north, water from the county drains into the Ohio River basin via the Cumberland River. From Walnut Mountain south, runoff from the land drains into the Tennessee River via the Clinch and Powell Rivers. In the northwestern part of the county a large valley, known as Elk Valley, runs from southwest to northeast from Pioneer to Jellico.

Neighboring Counties:

Whitley County, Kentucky (north)
Claiborne County (east)
Union County (southeast)
Anderson County (south)
Scott County (west)
McCreary County, Kentucky (northwest)

Cities and Towns:

- Caryville	town	Incorporated Area
- Jacksboro (County Seat)	town	Incorporated Area
- Jellico	city	Incorporated Area
- La Follette	city	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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