Williamson County, Tennessee

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

County Seat: Franklin
Year Organized: 1799
Square Miles: 583

Court House:

1320 W. Main Street, Suite 125
County Administrative Complex
Franklin, TN 37064-3700

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Named in honor of Hugh Williamson (1735-1819), surgeon-general of North Carolina troops in the American Revolution, North Carolina legislator, member of the Continental and US Congresses.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History of Williamson County

Created 1799 from Davidson County; named in honor of Hugh Williamson (1735-1819), surgeongeneral of North Carolina troops in the American Revolution, North Carolina legislator, member of the Continental and US Congresses.

Williamson County was formed in 1799 from Davidson County
(Acts of Tennessee 1799, Chapter 3).

Centuries before Europeans settled in what was to become Williamson County the area was home to at least five prehistoric cultures. Over many centuries these occupants of the Harpeth Valley progressed from a nomadic existence to a settled lifestyle in fortified villages along the Big Harpeth River and its tributaries. When white scouts and long hunters ventured onto the land, tribes of Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, and Shawnees were sharing its bounty in a migratory fashion.

From the time white settlers began to attempt to wrest the area from the Indians, they were determined to have the rich, well watered meadows and forests at all costs. They paid dearly for their desire to settle the region before treaties were signed, and several lost their lives to the tomahawks and arrows of those first Williamson Countians defending their hunting grounds.

By 1798 a few white settlers were permanently established in the area. Ewen Cameron built the first house in Franklin, and members of the Goff, McEwen, and Neely families made their way through the canebrake southward from Fort Nashborough. In 1799 Major Anthony Sharp sold 640 acres of his enormous military grant to Abram Maury, who laid out the county seat of Franklin, named for Benjamin Franklin, on 109 acres of this property in 1800. The little village with its huddle of log cabins was half-circled by the Big Harpeth River. Franklin and Williamson County were created by the Tennessee General Assembly on October 26, 1799. Carved from neighboring Davidson, the new county was named for Dr. Hugh Williamson, a Revolutionary patriot and distinguished statesman from North Carolina

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

Geography

According to the census bureau, the county has a total area of 584 square miles (1,512 km²), of which, 583 square miles (1,509 km²) of it is land and 1 square miles (2 km²) of it (0.16%) is water. The county is named after Hugh Williamson, a North Carolina politician who signed the U.S. Constitution.

Neighboring Counties:

Davidson County (north)
Rutherford County (east)
Marshall County (southeast)
Maury County (south)
Hickman County (southwest)
Dickson County (northwest)
Cheatham County (north-northwest)

Cities and Towns:

- Brentwood	city	Incorporated Area
- Fairview	city	Incorporated Area
- Franklin (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Nolensville	town	Incorporated Area
- Thompson's Station	town	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."