Jefferson County Towns & Communities

Dandridge, the county seat, was organized in 1793.  It has long been promoted as the second-oldest city in Tennessee.  Morris' Tennessee Gazetteer [Eastin Morris, Tennessee Gazetteer or Topographical Dictionary, Nashville, TN: W. H. Hunt & Co., 1834; reprint ed. (with Matthew Rhea's 1832 map), Nashville: Gazetteer Press, 1971] lists four post offices in Jefferson County in 1834:  Dandridge, Mossy Creek (now Jefferson City), New Market, and Oak Grove.

The county's newest incorporated city is Baneberry.  New Market, White Pine, and Jefferson City are also incorporated cities.  Major unincorporated communities are Strawberry Plains, Talbott, and Chestnut Hill.  The city of Morristown, which was included in Jefferson County until Hamblen County was formed in 1870, has begun annexation proceedings across the Jefferson County boundary near the Talbott community.

Other towns and settlements in the county are shown in the table below.  Please note that some of those listed became part of Hamblen County when it formed in 1870.  Small communities in the county were usually named by their residents for nearby geographic features, first settlers, or large farms.  Locations marked with the symbol ¤ had/have a post office.