Monroe County, Tennessee
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Monroe 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 on the eastern border of the U.S. state 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, its population was 46,250. 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 ...
is Madisonville, and its largest city is Sweetwater.


History

During the early part of the 18th century, the area around what is now Monroe County was known as part of the traditional homelands of the Overhill Cherokee, a western subset of the
Cherokee Nation The Cherokee Nation ( or ) is the largest of three list of federally recognized tribes, federally recognized tribes of Cherokees in the United States. It includes people descended from members of the Cherokee Nation (1794–1907), Old Cheroke ...
. They had established towns and villages extending through much of the mountainous areas of western Virginia, the Carolinas, southeastern Tennessee, and portions of northeastern Georgia and Alabama. English colonists and European Americans tended to refer to these areas by geography: Lower Towns, along the upper
Savannah River The Savannah River is a major river in the Southeastern United States, forming most of the border between the states of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and South Carolina. The river flows from the Appalachian Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean, ...
in South Carolina; Middle Towns in
Western North Carolina Western North Carolina (often abbreviated as WNC) is the region of North Carolina which includes the Appalachian Mountains; it is often known geographically as the state's Mountain Region. It contains the highest mountains in the Eastern United S ...
west of the
French Broad River The French Broad River is a river in the U.S. states of North Carolina and Tennessee. It flows from near the town of Rosman, North Carolina, Rosman in Transylvania County, North Carolina, into Tennessee, where its confluence with the Holston R ...
; and the Overhill Towns, located generally along the west side of the
Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, are a mountain range in eastern to northeastern North America. The term "Appalachian" refers to several different regions associated with the mountain range, and its surrounding terrain ...
in present-day Tennessee, along the lower Little Tennessee River and upper
Tennessee River The Tennessee River is a long river located in the Southern United States, southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. Flowing through the states of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, it begins at the confluence of Fren ...
; south into northeastern
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
. Later, the Cherokee expanded into western Georgia and what developed as Alabama. The Overhill Towns had developed along the Little Tennessee and Tellico Rivers throughout present-day Monroe County, Tennessee. These included Chota, Tanasi (the name source of "Tennessee"), and Great Tellico, which at various times were each considered the Cherokee principal town or "mother town". Also in this area were Citico, Toqua, Tomotley, Mialoquo, Chilhowee, and Tallassee. Archaeological excavations at the Citico site suggest the area was inhabited for thousands of years before the arrival of European settlers. Artifacts uncovered from the Icehouse Bottom site near Vonore date to as early as 7500 BC, during the Archaic period. Later prehistoric occupants were from indigenous cultures, such as the Woodland era and Southern Appalachia Mississippian culture that preceded the rise of the historic Cherokee people. The latter group is believed to have migrated south from the
Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...
area around 1000 CE or later. They spoke an Iroquoian language, and most other Iroquoian tribes have historically occupied areas around the Great Lakes, including the powerful Five Nations of the Iroquois League, or '' Haudenosaunee'', then based in present-day New York and Pennsylvania. The Tuscarora people of the Carolinas also spoke an Iroquoian language, and are believed to have come south. Following the disasters of the
Yamasee War The Yamasee War (also spelled Yamassee or Yemassee) was a conflict fought in South Carolina from 1715 to 1717 between British settlers from the Province of Carolina and the Yamasee, who were supported by a number of allied Native Americans in ...
in the early 1700s, they decided to leave and migrated north, declaring the tribal migration complete in 1722 and settling near the
Oneida people The Oneida people ( ; wikt:autonym, autonym: Onʌyoteˀa·ká·, Onyota'a:ka, ''the People of the Upright Stone, or standing stone'', ''Thwahrù·nęʼ'' in Tuscarora language, Tuscarora) are a Native Americans in the United States, Native Ameri ...
in western New York. In 1756, during the French and Indian War (the North American front of the Seven Years' War), the British established Fort Loudoun on the Little Tennessee River near its confluence with the Tellico River, as part of an agreement with the Cherokee to gain support of their warriors. After relations soured between the British and Cherokee in 1760, when South Carolina authorities killed several Cherokee chiefs held prisoner in the colony, the Cherokee laid siege to Fort Loudoun. They killed two dozen of its garrison after their surrender in August 1760, and took many survivors captive for ransom. The British retaliated, attacking the Cherokee Lower Towns and Middle Towns in the Carolinas. Monroe County was established in 1819 after the signing of the Calhoun Treaty, in which the Cherokee ceded to the United States claims to lands stretching from the Little Tennessee River south to the Hiwassee River. The county was named for President
James Monroe James Monroe ( ; April 28, 1758July 4, 1831) was an American Founding Father of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. He was the last Founding Father to serve as presiden ...
. The Cherokee migrated south and west, deeper into Georgia and Alabama. Some of the state's first gold mines were located in Monroe County. In the early 1830s, placer mining was conducted on Coker Creek (near Tellico Plains). Monroe County was one of the few East Tennessee counties to support
secession Secession is the formal withdrawal of a group from a Polity, political entity. The process begins once a group proclaims an act of secession (such as a declaration of independence). A secession attempt might be violent or peaceful, but the goal i ...
at the outbreak of the American Civil War; others in the area supported the Union. On June 8, 1861, the county voted in favor of Tennessee's Ordinance of Secession by a margin of 1,096 to 774. In the early 20th century, the Babcock Lumber Company conducted extensive logging operations in the Tellico Plains area. During the same period, the Aluminum Company of America began building a string of dams along the Little Tennessee, among them Calderwood, Santeetlah, and Cheoah, to harness water power for its aluminum-smelting operations in nearby Alcoa. After a construction program for flood control and generating hydroelectric power beginning in the 1930s, the Tennessee Valley Authority planned construction in the 1960s of its last major project: Tellico Dam, completed in 1979. It was intended for flood control, the generation of hydroelectric power, and recreation related to creation of the manmade, large Tellico Reservoir. This water body flooded the lower 33 miles of the Little Tennessee River. Although the project had been opposed by many residents in the county, where several communities had to be abandoned and landowners relocated before the flooding, others supported the project. In the environmental analysis, the project was found to threaten an
endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...
. The snail darter controversy delayed completion of the dam for some time.


Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which (2.6%) are covered by water. The Unicoi Mountains, part of the greater Blue Ridge chain, dominate the southeastern part of the county. The crest of this range marks Monroe's boundaries with the North Carolina counties, Graham and
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 contains the county's highest elevation of at Haw Knob. The Little Tennessee River flows along Monroe County's border with Blount County to the northeast. Three artificial lakes— Tellico Lake, Chilhowee Lake, and Calderwood Lake— were developed in this section of the river. The Tellico River, a tributary of the Little Tennessee, drains much of the southwestern part of the county. The Bald River, noted for scenic Bald River Falls, is a tributary of the Tellico River. Sweetwater Creek, a tributary of the Tennessee River, drains a portion of northern Monroe County.


Adjacent counties

* Loudon County (north) * Blount County (northeast) * Graham County, North Carolina (east) * Cherokee County, North Carolina (southeast) * Polk County (southwest) * McMinn County (west)


National protected areas

* Bald River Gorge Wilderness * Cherohala Skyway (part) * Cherokee National Forest (part) * Citico Creek Wilderness


State protected areas

* Fort Loudoun State Park * Tellico Blockhouse State Historic Site *Tellico Lake Wildlife Management Area (part)


Demographics


2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, 46,250 people, 17,987 households, and 12,847 families were residing in the county.


2010 census

As of the 2010 United States Census, 44,519 people were residing in the county in 20,581 housing units. The population density was 70.00 persons per square mile and the housing unit density was 32.36 units per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 95.23%
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 ...
, 2.14%
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 ...
, 0.48% Native American, 0.39% Asian, 0.02%
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 ...
, and 1.48% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origins were 3.30% of the population.


2000 census

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, 38,961 people, 15,329 households, and 11,236 families lived 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 . The 17,287 housing units had an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 94.87% White, 2.27% African American, 0.36% Native American, 0.36% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.86% from other races, and 1.26% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race comprised about 1.76% of the population. Of the 15,329 households, 32.1% had children under 18 living with them, 59.4% were married couples living together, 10.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.7% were not families. About 23.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.4% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 2.94. In the county, the age distribution was 24.7% under the age of 18, 8.7% from 18 to 24, 28.6% from 25 to 44, 24.80 from 45 to 64, and 13.2% who were 65 or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.20 males. For every 100 females 18 and over, there were 93.90 males. The median income for a household in the county was $30,337, and for a family was $34,902. Males had a median income of $29,621 versus $21,064 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 $14,951. 15.50% of the population and 12.00% of families 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 ...
. Out of the total population, 19.40% of those under the age of 18 and 17.70% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.


Education

Monroe County Schools serve most of the county for all grades and the county for high school. Residents of Sweetwater are served by Sweetwater City Schools for elementary through junior high school. Tennessee Meiji Gakuin High School was located in Sweetwater from 1989 to 2007.DiPane, Melissa.
Tennessee Meiji Gakuin School holds last graduation
." '' WATE''. March 9, 2007. Retrieved on January 11, 2012.


Parks, forests, and natural features

A portion of the county is included in the Cherokee National Forest. The Monroe section of the forest includes two federally designated wilderness areas— Citico Creek and Bald River Gorge. The Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest is located just across the North Carolina border to the east. The
Great Smoky Mountains National Park Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in the southeastern United States, southeast, with parts in North Carolina and Tennessee. The park straddles the ridgeline o ...
is located just across the Blount County border to the northeast. The Cherohala Skyway, a national scenic byway, connects Tellico Plains with
Robbinsville, North Carolina Robbinsville is a town in Graham County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 597 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the county seat of Graham County, county population 8,030. History A trading post was established ...
. Crossing the Unicoi Mountains, the road peaks at an elevation over 5,000 feet. Fort Loudoun State Park is located on a peninsula near Vonore, and includes a replica of the 18th-century colonial Fort Loudoun. The Tellico Blockhouse site lies across the river to the north from Fort Loudoun. The layout of the 1790s-era blockhouse is marked by stones and posts. The Sequoyah Museum, dedicated to the Cherokee scholar who independently created a syllabary, a writing system for his language, is located near Fort Loudoun. The Lost Sea is a commercially operated
cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...
located 7 miles southeast of Sweetwater in Monroe County. The lake was discovered by Ben Sands in 1905 when he was 13 years old. The underground lake for which it is named is the largest in North America. Today, the cave tour features a ride on the lake in boats with electric motors. In 1940, fossilized skeletons and footprints of two
Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...
jaguars ('' Panthera onca augusta'') were discovered in the cave. They were excavated by George Gaylord Simpson of the
American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located in Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 21 interconn ...
.


Transportation

U.S. Route 411 runs through the center of the county and through the cities of Madisonville and Vonore. U.S. Route 11 runs through the northwestern part of the county and through the center of Sweetwater. State Route 68 runs in a northwest–southeast direction through the lower half of the county, passing through Sweetwater, Madisonville, and Tellico Plains. State Route 39 connects Tellico Plains to Englewood in McMinn County. State Route 72 connects southern Vonore to Loudon. Interstate 75 is located in the extreme northeastern tip of the county west of Sweetwater, and contains two exits in Monroe County. Secondary state routes in Monroe County include State Routes 165 ( Cherohala Skyway), 307, 315, 322, and
360 360 may refer to: * 360 (number) * 360 AD, a year * 360 BC, a year * 360 degrees, a turn Businesses and organizations * 360 Architecture, an American architectural design firm * Ngong Ping 360, a tourism project in Lantau Island, Hong Kong ...
. The Monroe County Airport is a county-owned, public-use
airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...
located two nautical miles (3.7 km) northwest of the
central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...
of Madisonville.. Federal Aviation Administration. Effective April 8, 2010.


Communities


Cities

* Madisonville (county seat) * Sweetwater


Towns

* Tellico Plains * Vonore (partial)


Census-designated places

* Coker Creek * Kahite * Rarity Bay (partly in Loudon Co.)


Other unincorporated communities

* Ballplay * Hopewell Mill * Hopewell Springs * Jalapa * Toqua


Notable residents

* William Heiskell, post-Civil War speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives * Sue K. Hicks, a Scopes Trial attorney and later judge, is believed to be the inspiration for the song, "A Boy Named Sue". * Ray Jenkins, defense attorney and senate counsel during the Army-McCarthy Hearings * Estes Kefauver, U.S. senator * Sharon Gail Lee, Tennessee Supreme Court justice * Charles McClung McGhee, late 19th-century railroad tycoon *
Sequoyah Sequoyah ( ; , , or , , ; 1770 – August 1843), also known as George Gist or George Guess, was a Native American polymath and Constructed script, neographer of the Cherokee Nation. In 1821, Sequoyah completed his Cherokee syllabary, enabl ...
, a Cherokee scholar born in Tuskegee Village (near Vonore), created the Cherokee syllabary, making reading and writing in Cherokee possible. * John C. Vaughn, a Confederate brigadier general, was a sheriff and
California Gold Rush The California gold rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the U ...
prospector. * Mary Ware (writer) (1828–1915), poet, prose writer * Nancy Ward, a Beloved Woman and political leader of the Cherokee, was born in Chota.


Politics

Monroe County, like most of East Tennessee, votes strongly Republican in presidential elections. The last election in which a Republican failed to carry it was in
1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...
, when Democrat
Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...
narrowly carried it by 33 votes.


See also

* National Register of Historic Places listings in Monroe County, Tennessee * List of counties in Tennessee


References


External links


Monroe County, Tennessee
(official site)
Monroe County, TNGenWeb
- free genealogy resources for the county

- Genealogical "Fact Sheets" {{Authority control 1819 establishments in Tennessee Populated places established in 1819 Second Amendment sanctuaries in Tennessee East Tennessee