Roane County, Tennessee

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

County Seat: Kingston
Year Organized: 1801
Square Miles: 361

P.O. Box 643
County Courthouse
Kingston, TN 37763-0643

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Named in honor of Archibald Roane (1760-1819), 1796 Constitutional Convention delegate, Superior Court of Law and Equity judge, Supreme Court judge, governor of Tennessee.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History of Roane County

Created 1801 from Knox County and Indian lands; named in honor of Archibald Roane (1760-1819), 1796 Constitutional Convention delegate, Superior Court of Law and Equity judge, Supreme Court judge, governor of Tennessee.

Roane County was formed in 1801 from Knox County and Indian lands
(Acts of Tennessee 1801, Chapter 45).

Roane County is situated at the juncture of the Tennessee, Clinch, and Emory Rivers, a location of vital importance to both white settlers and Native Americans in the early years of Tennessee state history. Settlers gained control of the area through three treaties with the Cherokee Indians: the Treaty of 1794, the Third Tellico Treaty of 1805, and the Hiwassee Purchase made through the Calhoun Treaty of 1819. In 1792 John Sevier established Fort Southwest Point at the convergence of the Tennessee and Clinch Rivers to protect white settlers traveling west. Initially the fort was placed near a spring rather than at a higher point, since the defenders apparently valued access to water more than strategic advantage. In 1797, when the mission of the fort changed to one of offering protection to the Indians against the encroaching settlers, the fort was expanded and moved to a hill overlooking the two rivers. The boyhood dreams of Roane County Historian J. C. Parker were fulfilled posthumously in 1996 with the completion of the restoration of Fort Southwest Point and its dedication and opening to the public.

After several petitions to the state legislature, Roane County was established in 1801 and named in honor of the second governor of Tennessee, Archibald Roane. The town of Kingston, in the shadow of Fort Southwest Point, was chosen as the county seat. In 1807 Kingston became "Capital for a Day." The Tellico Treaty of 1805 stated that Kingston would become the state capital in return for thousands of acres of Indian land. It did, for a few hours on September 21, 1807. The terms of the treaty were thus fulfilled, the capital was returned to Knoxville, and the Indian land was forfeited. A monument commemorating this infamous event stands in the center of Kingston.

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

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 395 square miles (1,023 km²), of which, 361 square miles (935 km²) of it is land and 34 square miles (88 km²) of it (8.61%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Morgan County (north)
Anderson County (northeast)
Loudon County (southeast)
McMinn County (south)
Meigs County and Rhea County (southwest)
Cumberland County (west)

Cities and Towns:

- Harriman	city	Incorporated Area
- Kingston (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Oliver Springs	town	Incorporated Area
- Rockwood	city	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resources

The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of this 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."