Austins Mill is an
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
Hawkins County, Tennessee
Hawkins County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 56,721. Its county seat is Rogersville. Hawkins County is part of the Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is a component of the J ...
, in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. It is located south of
Rogersville along the
Holston River
The Holston River is a river that flows from Kingsport, Tennessee, to Knoxville, Tennessee. Along with its three major forks (North Fork, Middle Fork and South Fork), it comprises a major river system that drains much of northeastern Tennessee ...
(
Cherokee Lake).
History
A post office called Austin's Mills was established in 1866, and remained in operation until it was discontinued in 1892. The origin of the name is uncertain,
though J.H. McCrary, an early-20th century resident, suggested the name is derived from a flour mill constructed by the Austin family about a mile upstream from the community. The mill was still in operation in the early 1900s, and a plant at the mill provided electricity to Rogersville. The community thrived as a
transloading
Transloading, also known as cross-docking, is the process of transferring a shipment from one mode of transportation to another. It is most commonly employed when one mode cannot be used for the entire trip, such as when goods must be shipped in ...
station during this period, where lumber was gathered and loaded onto boats (and later trains) for transport out of the region. The mill, lumber yard, and numerous other structures were demolished and a large portion of the community was inundated when the
Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolin ...
completed
Cherokee Dam
Cherokee Dam is a hydroelectric dam located on the Holston River in Grainger County and Jefferson County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The dam is operated and maintained by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in ...
in the 1940s.
[J.H. McCrary, "Austins Mill," ''An Encyclopedia of East Tennessee'' (Children's Museum of Oak Ridge, 1981), pp. 40-41.]
See also
*
Loyston, Tennessee
*
Rhea Springs, Tennessee
Rhea Springs was a community once located along the Piney River in Rhea County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. Originally established in the 19th century as a health resort, the community was inundated when the completion of W ...
References
Unincorporated communities in Hawkins County, Tennessee
Unincorporated communities in Tennessee
Populated places inundated by the Tennessee Valley Authority
{{HawkinsCountyTN-geo-stub