Humphreys County, Tennessee

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

County Seat: Waverly
Year Organized: 1809
Square Miles: 532

Court House:

Court Square
County Courthouse
Waverly, TN 37185

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Named in honor of Parry Wayne Humphreys (1778-1839), judge of the Superior Court of Tennessee, US representative from Tennessee, and longtime judge of the state judicial district.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History of Humphreys County

Created 1809 from Stewart County; named in honor of Parry Wayne Humphreys (1778-1839), judge of the Superior Court of Tennessee, US representative from Tennessee, and longtime judge of the state judicial district.

Humphreys County was formed in 1809 from Stewart County
(Acts of Tennessee 1809, Chapter 31).

Situated next to the Tennessee River on the western edge of Middle Tennessee, Humphreys County has a history intimately linked to its location and natural resources. It contains fertile agricultural land along its major waterways--the Tennessee, Duck, and Buffalo Rivers--and in the creek-lined lands of its innumerable rolling hills. A strong agricultural tradition and proximity to the Tennessee River have been the county's mainstay since its 1809 creation from parts of Stewart County.

Prior to white settlement Native Americans lived and hunted on the land that eventually became Humphreys County. Of these indigenous groups, Woodland and Mississippian groups left the most visible remains. Many mound sites are located in the western section of the county, with the most prominent being the Link and Slayden sites situated near Hurricane Mills on the Duck River. Partially excavated in 1936 by the Works Progress Administration, the Slayden site revealed a small circular village with two community houses and a nearby cemetery. The Link site contained six mounds and several cemeteries.

In 1811 the county established its first seat, Reynoldsburg, on the Tennessee River, where a stage line to Nashville crossed. Reynoldsburg thrived as an important transportation center until 1835, when the county was divided and Waverly became the new county seat. Selected for its central location and access to the stage line, by 1838 Waverly included a courthouse, jail, businesses, and many log dwellings.

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

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 556.72 square miles (1,441.90 km2), of which, 532.22 square miles (1,378.44 km2) of it is land and 24.5 square miles (63.5 km2) of it (4.40%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Houston County (north)
Dickson County (northeast)
Hickman County (southeast)
Perry County (south)
Benton County (west)

Cities and Towns:

- McEwen	city	Incorporated Area
- New Johnsonville	city	Incorporated Area
- Waverly (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resource Guide

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."

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