Hilham 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 ...

Overton County, Tennessee Overton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 22,511. Its county seat is Livingston. Overton County is part of the Cookeville, TN Micropolitan Statistical Area. History On May 10, ...

. The community is situated around the junction of

Tennessee State Route 136 State Route 136 (SR 136) is a state highway in the central portion of the U.S. state of Tennessee. It connects US 70S near Rock Island in Warren County with SR 52 in northern Overton County, traversing much of the northe ...

(which runs north-to-south) and

Tennessee State Route 85 State Route 85 (SR 85) is an east-west state highway in Middle Tennessee. The -long road traverses portions of Smith, Jackson, Overton, and Fentress Counties. Microsoft MapPoint 2006, Retrieved on 2007-8-13 ''Tennessee Atlas & Gazetteer'' (Map) ...

(which runs east-to-west). Although not a census-designated place, Hilham is part of a

Zip Code Tabulation Area ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs) are statistical entities developed by the United States Census Bureau for tabulating summary statistics. These were introduced with the Census 2000 and continued with the 2010 Census and 5 year American Community S ...

(38568) that covers most of rural northwest Overton County and part of northeast Jackson County. As of the 2000 census, the population of this entire area was less than 2000. Hilham was established in 1797 by

Dartmouth Dartmouth may refer to: Places * Dartmouth, Devon, England ** Dartmouth Harbour * Dartmouth, Massachusetts, United States * Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada * Dartmouth, Victoria, Australia Institutions * Dartmouth College, Ivy League university i ...

graduate Moses Fisk (1759-1840), who believed the site was the geographic center of the United States (at the time, the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

was still the nation's western boundary). Fisk platted Hilham so that roads radiated out from the center of the community to the north, south, east and west, believing that Hilham would eventually be the ultimate crossroads of the new nation. In 1806, Fisk established one of the first female academies in the southeast at Hilham.Michael Birdwell,
Moses Fisk: Dreamer or Visionary?
" ''Upper Cumberland Business Journal''. Retrieved: 5 November 2008. The Standing Stone State Park and Forest is located north of Hilham along State Route 136.

Demographics

References

External links

* *Moses Fisk Papers at the Tennessee State Library and Archives- http://tsla.tlcdelivers.com:8080/?config=default#section=resource&resourceid=152952191¤tIndex=3&view=fullDetailsDetailsTab {{authority control Unincorporated communities in Overton County, Tennessee Unincorporated communities in Tennessee Populated places established in 1797