Embreeville is an
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...
and
census-designated place
A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.
CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the count ...
in southern
Washington County, Tennessee
Washington County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 133,001. Its county seat is Jonesborough. The county's largest city and a regional educational, medical and commercial center is ...
. It is located along the
Nolichucky River
The Nolichucky River is a river that flows through Western North Carolina and East Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. Traversing the Pisgah National Forest and the Cherokee National Forest in the Blue Ridge Mountains, the river's wate ...
and on State Routes
81 and
107 107 may refer to:
*107 (number), the number
*AD 107, a year in the 2nd century AD
*107 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC
*107 (New Jersey bus)
See also
*10/7 (disambiguation)
*Bohrium
Bohrium is a synthetic chemical element with the symbol Bh an ...
.
The population of the CDP was 429 at the 2020 census.
Demographics
History
Embreeville was once a mining community.
Lead
Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
was first mined, reportedly used in bullets fired at the British in 1780 in the
Battle of Kings Mountain
The Battle of Kings Mountain was a military engagement between Patriot and Loyalist militias in South Carolina during the Southern Campaign of the American Revolutionary War, resulting in a decisive victory for the Patriots. The battle took pla ...
. In 1812, William Chester, the owner of the
Chester Inn located in nearby
Jonesborough, bought near the mouth of
Bumpus Cove and built a crude beehive iron forge built with native rocks. In July 1820, he sold his iron mine and iron works to brothers Elijah and
Elihu Embree, whose family had a history in iron production (Elihu is remembered for establishing two abolitionist newsletters, ''The Manumission Intelligencer'' and ''The Emancipator'', in Jonesborough).
[Paul Fink, ''Jonesborough: The First Century of Tennessee's First Town'' (Overmountain Press, 1989), pp. 139-141.]
After Elihu's death in 1820, Elijah partnered with the Blair brothers, Robert, John and William, to establish the Washington Iron Manufacturing Company (renamed the Embree Iron Company in 1831).
[Jeannette McLaughlin, "Embreeville and Bumpass Cove," ''An Encyclopedia of East Tennessee'' (Children's Museum of Oak Ridge, 1981), pp. 180-182.] After Elijah died in 1849, the Blairs became the owners of the company. During the 1850s, the Blairs' iron works was one of the largest iron production operations in East Tennessee. A Confederate businessman, Duff Green, took control of the iron works during the Civil War, but the Blairs regained control at the end of the war.
In 1889, English investors formed the Embreeville Land, Iron and Railway Company. In 1891, a railroad, later acquired by
Southern Railway Company, was completed from
Johnson City to Embreeville. That same year the company formed the Embreeville Town Company to develop an industrial town of thirty thousand inhabitants. In 1892 the company completed a smelter with pig iron output of 150 tons per day. However, the operations stalled due to the
Panic of 1893,
and all efforts to develop commercial iron production proved futile. In 1900, American interests took over the British holdings. The Embree Iron Company acquired the property in 1903 but was equally unsuccessful in commercially producing pig iron. The company was able to stave off dissolution in 1913, however, when the presence of commercial zinc deposits was recognized. Embree Iron Company began producing
zinc
Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...
and then lead and quickly paid off its debts. Although ore reserves dwindled after World War I, the company continued to operate during the
Great Depression. Manganese production began in 1935, and in 1939 the company was the nation's largest producer of metallurgical grade manganese concentrates, boasting an output of 73,000 tons. Manganese reserves were rapidly exhausted, however, and the company was liquidated in 1946. Since then, no mining operations have been done.
Bumpass Cove waste site
In June 1972, the Bumpass Cove Environmental Controls and Minerals Corporation obtained a permit from the
Tennessee Department of Public Health, Division of Solid Waste Management, to operate a
sanitary landfill located in an old mining site near the head of the
cove
A cove is a small type of bay or coastal inlet. Coves usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often situated within a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creeks, or recesses in a coast are o ...
. In November 1972, the Bumpass Cove Development Corporation
CDC
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...
discussed the feasibility and design of a proposed liquid waste incinerator to burn the
hazardous
A hazard is a potential source of harm. Substances, events, or circumstances can constitute hazards when their nature would allow them, even just theoretically, to cause damage to health, life, property, or any other interest of value. The probabi ...
and hard-to-treat liquid wastes. Tentative approval from the Division of Air Quality Control and Division of Solid Waste Management was given pending completion of a formal permitting process to operate a liquid waste
incinerator. The incinerator, located in the old Fowler mining site, was operated in an improper manner. BCDC never completed application for the incinerator to become a permitted facility. Subsequently, it was closed by the Division of Air Quality Control.
A few residents believed that unauthorized wastes were being deposited at both the main landfill and the Fowler site. In July 1979, a picket line was formed to stop trucks from hauling waste to the main landfill. Increased numbers of citizens became involved, and the Bumpass Cove Citizens Group was incorporated on November 26, 1979. The objectives of the group included removal of hazardous waste from the old mine sites, education, and awareness of community development. Skip Foss was the first president. Partly in response to citizen pressure, Waste Resources decided to close the landfill in December 1979.
Fire Department
The Embreeville Volunteer Fire Department serves portions of southern Washington County and northwestern Unicoi County.
References
{{authority control
Unincorporated communities in Washington County, Tennessee
Unincorporated communities in Tennessee