from Elizabeth Robnett, Bledsoe County Historian
Pikeville had its beginning as a small frontier village that grew up around a large spring. It was known as Thurmans and, although Madison was the county seat at that time, court was held at Thurmans. In 1816, Charles Love of Virginia sold 30 acres of land on Sequatchie — or Crow — Creek for the town of Pikeville.
There are two stories about the naming of Pikeville, one is that it was named for General Zebulon Pike, an American soldier and explorer. The other is that it was named by John Bridgeman who came from North Carolina, naming the settlement Pikeville, in honor of his native home: Pike, NC.
Sometime between 1816 and 1818 the county seat was moved from Madison to Pikeville. Its central location and access to the stage stop on the route from Knoxville to Huntsville, Alabama probably contributed to the growth of the village. Pikeville was incorporated as a town in 1830 and remains the only incorporated are in Bledsoe County. By 1860 Pikeville boasted a population of 200 folks.