Carter County, Tennessee

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

County Seat: Elizabethton
Year Organized: 1796
Square Miles: 341

Court House:

801 Elk Avenue
County Courthouse
Elizabethton, TN 37643-4537

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Named in honor of Landon Carter (1760-1800), treasurer of Washington and Hamilton districts of North Carolina, speaker of the State of Franklin senate and its secretary of state, militia officer.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History of Carter County

Created 1796 from Washington County; named in honor of Landon Carter (1760-1800), treasurer of Washington and Hamilton districts of North Carolina, speaker of the State of Franklin senate and its secretary of state, militia officer.

Carter County was formed in 1796 from Washington County. (Acts of Tennessee 1796 [March Session], Chapter 31).

There was a fire at the Carter County courthouse in 1933.

Carter County is located in the northeast corner of Tennessee. It was created from Washington County in 1796 and named in honor of Landon Carter, treasurer of the Washington and Hamilton Districts of North Carolina and the State of Franklin's Speaker of the Senate and Secretary of State. Carter County's 348 square miles blend mountains, the Watauga and Doe Rivers, and beautiful valleys into an inspiring Appalachian landscape. The Appalachian Trail passes through the county and most of eastern Carter County is within the Cherokee National Forest. Roan Mountain State Park, at the county's border with North Carolina, is one of the most beloved scenic spots in the state. The county’s population in 2000 was 56,742.

Carter County is extremely significant in Tennessee's settlement history. Permanent settlers arrived along the Watauga River in the late 1760s; William Bean was one of the earliest, and his farm was eight miles west of the Sycamore Shoals of the Watauga River. James Robertson established a river valley farm in 1770 and stayed there until moving to the Cumberland River in 1779. Valentine Sevier Sr., the father of John Sevier, lived near Sycamore Shoals. Also in the early 1770s John Carter established his plantation just north of present-day Elizabethton. This notable Revolutionary War patriot was the father of Landon Carter, for whom the county is named. In 1772 the settlers along the Watauga River established the Watauga Association, and three years later, in 1775, land speculator Richard Henderson and Cherokee leaders met at Sycamore Shoals to negotiate the Transylvania Purchase. During the American Revolution Fort Watauga provided refuge from attacks by Old Abram and other Cherokee warriors. In 1780 approximately eleven hundred Overmountain Men gathered at Sycamore Shoals before marching to Kings Mountain. The Sycamore Shoals State Historic Area preserves key historical places, including the Overmountain Men muster ground, the Shoals, the reconstructed Fort Watauga, and the John and Landon Carter Mansion.

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

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 348 square miles (900 km²), of which, 341 square miles (883 km²) of it is land and 7 square miles (17 km²) of it (1.89%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Sullivan County (north)
Johnson County (northeast)
Avery County, North Carolina (southeast)
Mitchell County, North Carolina (south)
Unicoi County (southwest)
Washington County (west)

Cities and Towns:

- Elizabethton (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Watauga	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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