Topography, Roads, Railroads & Ferries

Topography

English Mountain and Bays Mountain are significant land formations in Jefferson County.  Both the Holston and French Broad Rivers, major navigation routes for early Tennessee settlers, flow through the county to their junction north of Knoxville, where they form the Tennessee River.  Knoxville has always been the major regional market town for Jefferson Countians.

The Tennessee Valley Authority built two dams that affect Jefferson County:  Cherokee (closed 1941), on the Holston River north of Jefferson City; and Douglas (closed 1943), on the French Broad.  Although Douglas Dam is just over the border in Sevier County, most of the flooded land is in Jefferson County.  When the dams were closed, numerous creeks, roadways, settlements, graveyards, and homes were lost.  TVA maintains records of the structures and burials that were removed.

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Jefferson County Regional Setting

Map prepared by Tiger Mapping Service.

Roads & Trails

In 1834, Jefferson County was served by three stage coach routes.  Later in the 19^th Century, railroads and riverboats also provided transportation of goods and people.  Prior to public transporation, pioneers on foot and horseback followed established paths into East Tennessee.  Thomas Preston wrote of one path in 1926:

"From 1740 until the Revolutionary War this migration continued [from near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to the Shenandoah Valley near Winchester, Virginia], many of the hardy frontiersmen pushing on down the Holston Valley into the Cumberland settlements of Tennessee and through Cumberland Gap into Kentucky.  A well-defined buffalo trail extended from Harper's Ferry down the Shenandoah Valley to Big Lick [Roanoke], Va., thence westward to the headwaters of the Holston River, thence following the Holston Valley to Long Island [Kingsport]."

As early as 1760, Col. William Byrd cut out a road following the old buffalo trail from Big Lick, Va., to Long Island. ...  Practically all of the early settlers of southwestern Virginia, eastern Tennessee and Kentucky passed over this route in search of their new homes.  The Lee Highway [U.S. Highway 11] ... follows this old route for more than two hundred miles."  [Thomas Preston, "Sketch Sixteen - Frontier Roads," Historical Sketches of the Holston Valley (Kingsport, TN: Kingsport Press, 1926), pp. 181-182.]

Tennessee Roads Before 1800 Map created by Billie R. McNamara from various sources

Inside Jefferson County, most of the major roads shown on modern maps existed by the time of the Civil War.  An 1869 map of Tennessee shows the following major routes in Jefferson County:

• Dandridge to Mecklenburg (in East Knox County) via Wilson's Gap
• Dandridge to Henry's Crossroads, with a fork to Sevierville
• Dandridge to Mossy Creek (with fork to New Market)
• Dandridge to Whitesburg via Springvale
• Dandridge to Greeneville
• Dandridge to "South of the French Broad River" -- 3 different roads
• New Market to Mossy Creek
• Mossy Creek to Whitesburg
• Mossy Creek to Blaine via Nance's Ferry
• Mossy Creek to Newport via Leadvale
• Talbott to Horshoe Bend (where Panther Creek meets the Holston River)
• The road from Sevierville to Newport passed through, north of English Mountain

[Colton's Map of the State of Tennessee (New York: G. W. & C. B. Colton, 1869).]

Secondary roads went from New Market and Mossy Creek to Oar's Ferry, which provided access to Grainger County.

The Great Warrior Path from East Tennessee to Southwest Virginia

Used by Pre-Statehood Indian Travellers in Present-Day Tennessee

Historian J. G. M. Ramsey describes in detail how the Great Warrior Trail, used by many white settlers to reach Jefferson County, transected East Tennessee:

"Still, along the vallies of what is now East Tennessee and South-western Virginia, lay the great route and thoroughfare between the northern and southern Indians, in their intercourse with distant tribes, in their hunting excursions, in their hostile expeditions and in their embassies of peace; this was the path of migration, the chase, the treaty and savage invasion.  Besides its central position and its direct bearing, the great Apalachian [sic] chain could no where else be so easily ascended and crossed. Abundance of game, water and fuel, a healthful and moderate climate, an unoccupied territory, no impracticable swamps, or deep and wide streams to retard their journeyings, were all considerations that led to the selection of this path.

"One branch of it was nearly the same as the present stage route passing the Big Lick, in Bottetourt [sic] county, Virginia; crossing New River at old Fort Chissel, near Inglis' Ferry, Holston at the Seven Mile Ford, thence to the left of the present stage road and near to the river, to the North Fork, crossing as at present; thence to Big Creek and crossing the Holston at Dodson's Ford, to the Grassy Springs, near the residence of the late Micajah Lea; thence down the waters of Nollichucky to Long Creek, ascending that stream to its source, and descending Dumplin Creek to a point a few miles from its mouth, where the path deflected to the left and crossed French Broad near Buckingham's Island.

"Near this, the path divided.  One branch of it went up the west fork of Little Pigeon, and crossed some small mountains to the Tuckalechee [sic] towns, and so on to the Over-hill villages of the Cherokees.  The other and main fork, went up Body's Creek to its source, and falling upon the head branches of Allejay, descended its valley to Little River, and crossing near Henry's, went by the present town of Maryville, to the mouth of Tellico, and passing through the Indian towns and villages of Tellico, Chota and Hiwassee, descended the Coosa, where it connected with the Great War Path of the Creeks.

"Near the Wolf Hills, now Abingdon, another path came in from the north-west, which pursued nearly the same route now travelled from the latter place to Kentucky, and crossing the mountain at that remarkable depression called Cumberland Gap.  It was along this path that the earlier English explorers and hunters first passed to Kentucky."

[J. G. M. Ramsey, The Annals of Tennessee to the End of the Eighteenth Century... (Charleston, SC: Walker & Jones, 1853; reprint ed., Knoxville, TN: East Tennessee Historical Society, 1967), pp. 87-88.]

Railroads

The East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad provided the primary service to Jefferson County.  The track traversed the County from Strawberry Plains to Russellville.  This track is still in use.  Historical documents related to the railroad are maintained at the Museum of East Tennessee and Virginia Tech University.

Early Ferries Established in Jefferson County

Owners of ferries were required to petition the County Court for permission to establish a ferry, whether it was for public or private use.  McBee's Ferry, located near Strawberry Plains, was extremely important to the development of Jefferson County.  This ferry, built just after the Revolutionary War, was -- for many years - the only way to cross the Holston River between modern-day Kingsport and Knoxville.