Johnson County Tennessee Geography

Johnson County is the extreme eastern county of the State. It is bounded on the north by Virginia and on the east and southeast by North Carolina.

The area in acres is 249,600, or in square miles about 890. It is well watered by springs and streams. The Watauga River forms the dividing line between this county and Carter for a short distance, and receives the principal stream of the former, Roane Creek. The remaining streams of the county are Little Doe River, a tributary of Roane Creek, and Laurel Fork and Beaverdam Creek, which waters enter the Holston River.

The surface of the county is usually broken. The Iron Mountain traverses it from northeast to southwest, and Stone Mountain marks the boundary of North Carolina. Doe Mountain lies wholly within the county, and extends a distance of about twelve miles.

The most fertile lands lie along Little Doe, Roane Creek and the district known as Shady. The mineral resources are exceedingly valuable. This is especially true of iron ore, which exists in extensive beds, and for nearly a hundred years has been worked in a small way.

Johnson County Tennessee History Lesson

In 1673, James Needham and Gabriel Arthur were sent to establish a trading post with the Cherokee.

Trade, the first settlement in Tennessee, was named for the trading which took place on Snake Mountain, the extent to which the British colonists could legally venture, between the Indians from all around and the whites for animal hides, weapons and supplies.

We celebrate this tradition of trading today with our own Trade Days Festival which features an Indian ceremony of blessing complete with chanting, dancing, and smoking a peace pipe, atop Snake Mountain.

In 1801 the members on Cobb Creek were constituted a new church, and at the same time a new society was formed and given the name of Meadow Church.

The Methodist Church began its work in the county during its earliest settlement, but it was not until many years after that any house of worship was built. One of the first was at what is known as Deep Spring, built some time prior to 1833.

In 1836 Johnson County was created from Carter County and named in honor of Thomas Johnson, a prominent citizen and one of the first magistrates of Johnson County. The first sessions of the county court was begun and held at Pleasant Grove Schoolhouse on May 2, 1836. This court continued to meet at Pleasant Grove Schoolhouse, which was situated on Vaught Creek, near Roane Creek for nearly a year. One or more sessions were then held at the house of Col. Greet' Moore, in Taylorsville.

In October, 1836, the county commissioners were given authority to contract for the building of a court house, to be not more than forty feet square, and two stories high. This structure was completed about one year later. Two years later the jail was completed at a coat of about $1,000.

About 1845 or 1846, a county academy was built on the hill north of town.

The first circuit court of Johnson County was held on March 28, 1856.

After the establishment of the town, the Roane Creek Baptist Church, moved to Taylorsville. Soon after the completion of the courthouse the Methodists began holding services there, and continued until about 1858, when a small brick church was erected.

About 1870 a three-story brick building was begun by Tayorsville Lodge, No.248, F. & A. M., but was not completed until three or four years later. A school known as the Masonic Institute was then opened.

In 1874, the first newspaper, the Taylorsville Reporter, was established. Later it will be known as The Tomahawk.

In 1885 Taylorsville was renamed Mountain City, which from its location as one of the highest valleys of Tennessee is very appropriate. The Taylorsville Reporter is also renamed as the Tennessee Tomahawk.

Beginning in 1899, Johnson County began to prosper by exporting lumber, iron ore and manganese. This would continue through World War II.

In 1905, Finley Preston was hung for the murder of Lillie Shaw. This was the only hanging in the county.

The Pea Vine Railroad began its travels through Laurel and Forge Creek in 1907.

Johnson County became a leading producer of green beans in 1935. By the 1950s it would called the “Bean Capital of the World”.

A 1940 flood destroyed large portions of the railroad track.  It was not replaced.

Franklin Roosevelt established the Tennessee Valley Authority in 1941. The Watauga Dam is part of this project. About one hundred families are moved from the areas around Butler.

History of Johnson County - Native Americans

The following is quoted from http://www.mce.k12tn.net/johnson/history/indians/before_white_man.htm

In the time that the Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Shawnee tribes were established in the Tennessee area the Natchez Indians lived in the lower Mississippi Valley, and the Yuchi Indians settled the areas that are now South Carolina and Georgia.

The Creek tribes lived in the areas that are now Georgia, Alabama, and northern Florida. A few Creek settlements reached as far north as the Tennessee area. In the early 1700’s the powerful Cherokee Indians pushed the Creek tribes out of the Tennessee region.

The Natchez Indians were driven from their lower Mississippi home by the French in the early eighteenth century. They retreated into the Tennessee area at this time. Being scattered they were absorbed into various other tribes.

In the eighteenth century the British forced the Yuchi Indians out of South Carolina and Georgia. The Yuchi went to live with the Creek Indians. Some Yuchi moved into the Tennessee area at this time. Some experts think the Yuchi lived in Tennessee before this, but the records are confused.

The Cherokee Indians were the most powerful of all these groups. Historians record some fifty to eighty Cherokee towns in the southern Appalachian Mountains with a population of perhaps as much as 22,000. This powerful group forced all the other tribes out of the East Tennessee area in the eighteenth century and lived in this area until they themselves were forced out in the nineteenth century by the United States Army, i. e. “The Trail of Tears”.

Although any of the tribes mentioned earlier may have lived in the area that is now Johnson County the tribes that were most likely to have settled before being forced out by the Cherokee were the Creek, Yuchi, and Shawnee. As the Cherokee Nation became powerful in the eighteenth century they forced the other tribes to leave the area. The Cherokee were the Indian tribe that white men encountered when they explored this region. The Cherokee signed treaties establishing land boundaries between the white men and Indians.

The Cherokee used the region that is now Johnson County mainly for hunting grounds although evidence exists that the area was also used as burial grounds.

In 1954 a cave was discovered while workmen were blasting at the Maymead Quarry. Fifty skeletons as well as beads and ornaments were found. Artifacts found here dated back approximately 1000 years.

Another burial site was found in 1990 in the Cherokee National Forest near Watauga Lake. The skeleton remains dated as far back as 800 to 900 AD and were from a pre Cherokee people. This burial site was named the Lake Hole Mortuary Cave. The cave also contained 6,029 bead and pottery fragments.

Arrowheads, pottery, ax heads, and skeleton remains have been discovered throughout the county, but mostly in Shady Valley and near the Roan Creek areas.

Goodspeed’s History of Tennessee, reprint edition, (Nashville, TN: Charles and Randy Elder Booksellers, 1972).