Lincoln County is a
county
A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...
located in the south central part of the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
of
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 ...
. As of the
2020 census, the population was 35,319.
Its
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
and largest city is
Fayetteville.
The county is named for
Major General Benjamin Lincoln
Benjamin Lincoln (January 24, 1733 ( O.S. January 13, 1733) – May 9, 1810) was an American army officer. He served as a major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Lincoln was involved in three major surrender ...
, an officer in the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
.
History
Lincoln County was created in 1809 from parts of
Bedford County. The land occupied by the county was part of a land cession obtained from the
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 ...
and
Chickasaw
The Chickasaw ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, United States. Their traditional territory was in northern Mississippi, northwestern and northern Alabama, western Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky. Their language is ...
in 1806.
The
Lincoln County Process, used in the distillation of
Tennessee whiskey
Tennessee Whiskey is straight whiskey produced in the U.S. state of Tennessee. Although it has been legally defined as a bourbon whiskey in some international trade agreements, most current producers of Tennessee Whiskey disclaim references to ...
, is named for this county, as the
Jack Daniel Distillery was originally located there. However, a subsequent redrawing of county lines resulted in the establishment of adjacent
Moore County, which includes the location of the distillery. Another distillery opened in Lincoln County in 1997 – the
Benjamin Pritchard's Distillery. However, it does not use the Lincoln County Process for making its Tennessee whiskey. When a law was established in 2013 to require the Lincoln County Process to be used for making all Tennessee whiskey, the Benjamin Pritchard's Distillery was exempted by a
grandfather clause. Southern Pride Distillery is the only Lincoln County distillery still using the Lincoln County Process for whiskey making.
On March 5, 2017, a poultry farm that distributes products to
Tyson Foods
Tyson Foods, Inc. is an American multinational corporation based in Springdale, Arkansas that operates in the food industry. The company is the world's second-largest processor and marketer of broiler industry, chicken, beef, and pork after JBS ...
was confirmed to have a reported a case of
Influenza A virus subtype H7N9 detected in
birds
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...
resulting in the slaughter of 74,000 chickens.
Geography
According to the
U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which are land and (0.07%) are water.
Adjacent counties
*
Bedford County (north)
*
Moore County (northeast)
*
Franklin County (east)
*
Madison County, Alabama
Madison County is a County (United States), county located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 Census, the population was 388,153, and according to a 2023 population estimate the ...
(south)
*
Limestone County, Alabama (southwest)
*
Giles County (west)
*
Marshall County (northwest)
State protected areas
*Flintville Hatchery Wildlife Management Area
Demographics
2020 census
As of the
2020 United States census, there were 35,319 people, 13,548 households, and 9,264 families residing in the county.
2010 census
As of the 2010
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 ...
,
there were 33,361 people, 15,241 households, and 4,239 families residing in the county. The
population density
Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
was . There were 13,999 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 89.45%
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 ...
, 6.80%
Black
Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
or
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 0.45%
Native American, 0.36%
Asian, 0.06%
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 1.10% from
other races, and 1.78% from two or more races. 2.65% of the population were
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.
There were 15,241 households, out of which 28% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58% were
married couples
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
living together, 11% had a female head of household with no husband present, and 27% were non-families. 25% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 2.93.
In the county, the population was spread out, with 24% under the age of 18, 8% from 18 to 24, 28% from 25 to 44, 25% from 45 to 64, and 16% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 93.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.8 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $33,434, and the median income for a family was $41,454. Males had a median income of $30,917 versus $21,722 for females. The
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 ...
for the county was $18,837. About 10% of families and 14% of the population were 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 ...
, including 17% of those under age 18 and 20% of those age 65 or over.
Government
Prior to 1968, Lincoln County was a Democratic Party stronghold in presidential elections similar to most other counties in the
Solid South
The Solid South was the electoral voting bloc for the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party in the Southern United States between the end of the Reconstruction era in 1877 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In the aftermath of the Co ...
. The county backed segregationist
George Wallace
George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who was the 45th and longest-serving governor of Alabama (1963–1967; 1971–1979; 1983–1987), and the List of longest-serving governors of U.S. s ...
in 1968, but despite voting Republican for the first time in
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...
’s 49-state 1972 landslide, remained Democratic-leaning up to 1992. Since then, it has become a Republican Party stronghold, with its candidates winning the county by increasing margins with each succeeding presidential election starting with 1996.
The governing body of Lincoln County is the Lincoln County Commission, which is divided into eight districts and 24 commissioners, three from each district. The body is chaired by the County Mayor. The government center of Lincoln County is the Lincoln County Courthouse in Fayetteville.
Communities
Cities

*
Ardmore, Tennessee
Ardmore is a city in Giles County, Tennessee, Giles and Lincoln County, Tennessee, Lincoln counties, Tennessee, United States. The population was 1,217 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Ardmore is the site of a Tennessee Department ...
(partial)
*
Fayetteville (county seat)
Town
*
Petersburg (partial)
Census-designated places
*
Blanche
*
Dellrose
*
Flintville
*
Park City
*
Taft
Other unincorporated communities
*
Belleville
*
Booneville
*
Elora
*
Kelso
*
Kirkland
*
Mimosa
''Mimosa'' is a genus of about 600 species of herbs and shrubs, in the mimosoid clade of the legume family Fabaceae. Species are native to the Americas, from North Dakota to northern Argentina, and to eastern Africa (Tanzania, Mozambique, and ...
*
Mulberry
''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of 19 species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 subordinat ...
*
New Dellrose
*
Shady Grove
Education
Education in Lincoln County is mostly led by the Lincoln County Department of Education (LCDOE).
Schools in the Lincoln County District
High schools (9 - 12)
*
Lincoln County High School (Tennessee)
Elementary schools/Middle schools (PK - 8)
* Highland Rim Elementary/Middle School
* South Lincoln Elementary/Middle School
* Flintville Elementary/Middle School
* Unity Elementary/Middle School
* Blanche Elementary/Middle School
Schools in the Fayetteville City District
* Ralph Askins School (Pre-K - 5)
* Fayetteville Middle School (6 - 8)
* Fayetteville High School (9 - 12)
See also
*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Lincoln County, Tennessee
References
External links
Official site
{{Coord, 35.14, -86.59, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-TN_source:UScensus1990
1809 establishments in Tennessee
Populated places established in 1809
Middle Tennessee