The Formation of Carter County

Carter County was formed from Washington County.  In January 1796, delegates met at Knoxville for a constitutional convention.  The Tennessee General Assembly organized Carter County from Washington County on April 9, 1796, before Tennessee was officially a state.  On June 1, 1796, President George Washington signed the bill admitting Tennessee to the Union as the sixteenth state.  Carter County was named for Landon Carter.  Elizabethton, the county seat, was named for Elizabeth M cLin Carter, wife of Landon Carter.

The Divisions of Carter County

Carter County is the parent county of two other Tennessee counties.  Johnson County was created from the northeastern section in 1836.  In 1875, Unicoi County was created by the separation of the southern area of Carter County an d the southeastern area of Washington County.

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Sycamore Shoals

Sycamore Shoals was the location of three important events that shaped the history of this region.

One - It was here, in 1772, that the first majority-rule system of American democracy, The Watauga Association, was established.  The "Articles of the Watauga Association" established an independent government, based on democracy as we know it today, four years before the American Declaration of Independence was written by Thomas Jefferson.

Four years later, many of the signers of the "Articles" would petition the state of North Carolina to be part of the state government.  To view the petition, please visit the The Watauga Petition, use BACK to return.

Two - On March 17, 1775, the Transylvania Company, led by Richard Henderson, was involved in the largest private real estate transaction in United States' history.  For the price of 2,000 pounds sterling and 8,000 pounds in goods, he purchased 20 million acres of land, from the Cherokee Indians, that included the Cumberland River watershed and lands on the Kentucky River.  During th ese dealings, the local settlers "purchased" the right to remain on the Cherokee land that they were living on in the Watauga settlement.  One of the minor chiefs, Dragging Canoe, opposed to the selling of the Cherokee ancestral hunting grounds, warn ed the whites that they were purchasing a "dark and bloody ground".  He and his band of disaffected warriors would wage war against the settlers for the next twenty years.

Three - Fort Watauga was built here and used as a base to defend the frontier against the Indians and the British.  In July, 1776, the settlers at the fort, withstood a two weeks siege by the Cherokees, led by Old Abrams.  After the siege had been broken, the settlers, led by John Sevier, invaded the Cherokee's main towns, putting each to the torch.  This invasion made safe the area immediately surrounding the settlements.

In late September, 1780, the Overmountain Men mustered here for their march to Kings Mountain, SC, to give battle to Colonel Ferguson, who had threatened to march over the mountains and lay waste to their land with "fire and sword".  Ferguson was kil led and most of his army captured.  This battle was the turning point of the Revolutionary War in the south.  It saved the Patriot cause, which had suffered so many military defeats in this region and set off the events that led to the surrender of Cornwallis's Army at Yorktown the next year.

The Carter Mansion

The Carter Mansion was built around 1780 by John and his son, Landon Carter.  It is the oldest frame house in Tennessee.  John Carter was elected as Chairman of the Court under the terms of the "Articles" of the Watauga Association.  The ho use is possibly the only remaining link to the Watauga Association and the first government west of the mountains.
The house was used as a private residence by the Thomas family up until only a few years ago but three of its rooms still retain their original wall finishes including an original mural in an upstairs room.  The Carters are buried in a small family c emetery to the east of the mansion.  The site is now maintained by the Tennessee State Parks.

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Sinking Creek Baptist Church

Sinking Creek Baptist Church is the oldest church in Tennessee.  It was organized about 1772 in Washington County (now Carter County) and is the oldest church in Tennessee still in existence at its original location.
About December 20, 1772, John and James Chastain, Baptist preachers from Virginia, came to the Watauga Settlement to visit their sister who was the wife of James Edens Sr.  On December 25, 1772, in a tenant's house on the property of Charles Robertson, near the location of the church, the Chastain brothers began a great revival.  This may have been the first assembly that met to worship God in what is now the state of Tennessee.