Alpine is a small

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Overton County,

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

, United States. It is served by the ZIP Code of 38543, for which the ZCTA had a population of 497 at the 2000 census. Alpine is part of the Cookeville, Tennessee Micropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Alpine was originally known as "Nettle Carrier," the name being derived from a

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

chief who lived in a nearby village. For most of its history, Alpine has been home to the Alpine Institute, a mission school that thrived at various times throughout the 19th and early-20th centuries. The Nettle Carrier post office was established in 1845, and the name was changed to "Alpine" (after the school) in 1921.Joseph Mayfield, "Overton County, Tennessee - Post Offices." ''History of Overton County, Tennessee'' (Dallas, Tex.: Curtis Media Corp., 1992), pp. 21-25.

Geography

Alpine is located in a narrow valley carved by Nettlecarrier Creek, which empties into the Obey River east of the community. The valley, situated in an area where the

Cumberland Plateau The Cumberland Plateau is the southern part of the Appalachian Plateau in the Appalachian Mountains of the United States. It includes much of eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, and portions of northern Alabama and northwest Georgia. The terms " Al ...

gives way to the Highland Rim, is surrounded by hills and high ridges on all sides, most notably Alpine Mountain, which rises nearly above the community to the south. Tennessee State Route 52 provides the only major road access to Alpine, connecting the community with Livingston about to the west and with Jamestown about to the east.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, 497 persons resided in the ZCTA, living in 290 housing units with a median age of 44.5 years old. The majority of the population rested within the 18-65 age range, at 394, while there were 83 persons over 65; the remaining population was children. At 248 men, males compose 49.9% of the population, with women making up 50.1% with 249. With 290 housing units, that makes for a housing density sitting at a mere .12/sq mi (.31/km). The racial makeup of the ZCTA was 98%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 1% American Indian and Alaskan Native, 0.2% from other races, and 0.8% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 1.2% of the population. The average household size was 2.32, 86.9% of the residents owned their home while 13.1% rented; in total occupying 214 (73.8%) of the 290 homes in Alpine. Of the 403 residents over 25 years of age, 197 held a high school diploma or higher, while 19 held a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

or higher. 79 residents were of civilian veteran status in Alpine, and 72 residents (between ages 21 and 64) were disabled. 203 residents over the age of 16 were employed, all traveling a mean time of 35 minutes to their place of employment. The median income for a household was $26,923, the median income for a family being $30,083, and

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

was at $16,824. 21 families and 91 persons were living below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Overton County, Tennessee Unincorporated communities in Tennessee Cookeville, Tennessee micropolitan area