Sequatchie 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

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 ...

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 15,826. 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 Dunlap. Sequatchie County is part of the

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...

, TN– GA Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Sequatchie County was created in 1857 from two districts of Marion County and one district of Bledsoe County. It was named for the Sequatchie Valley, which in turn had been named for a Cherokee chief. The word ''sequachee'' from in

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 ...

means 'opossum' or 'he grins.' Settlers began arriving in what is now Sequatchie by the early 19th century, drawn to the area by the fertile land in the valley. At the outset of the Civil War, Sequatchie was divided over the issue of secession. On June 8, 1861, Sequatchie Countians voted in favor of Tennessee's Ordinance of Secession by a vote 153 to 100. In October 1863, Confederate General

Joseph Wheeler Joseph "Fighting Joe" Wheeler (September 10, 1836 – January 25, 1906) was a military commander and politician of the Confederate States of America. He was a cavalry general in the Confederate States Army in the 1860s during the American Civil ...

led a raid into Sequatchie, burning nearly a thousand wagons and capturing livestock. During the late 19th century, the Douglas Coal and Coke Company (later the Chattanooga Iron and Coal Corporation) conducted extensive mining activities in the Dunlap area. The company constructed 268

beehive oven A beehive oven is a type of oven in use since the Middle Ages in Europe. It gets its name from its domed shape, which resembles that of a skep, an old-fashioned type of beehive. Its apex of popularity occurred in the Americas and Europe all th ...

s, now known as the Dunlap Coke Ovens, to convert coal into coke. The ovens are now the focus of a local park.

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.07%) is water. Sequatchie is one of three counties (along with Bledsoe and Marion) situated in the

Sequatchie Valley Sequatchie Valley is a relatively long and narrow valley in the U.S. state of Tennessee and, in some definitions, Alabama. It is generally considered to be part of the Cumberland Plateau region of the Appalachian Mountains; it was probably formed ...

, a long, narrow valley running northeast-to-southwest across the eastern portion of 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 ...

. The county is flanked by the Plateau's

Walden Ridge Walden Ridge (or Walden's Ridge) is a mountain ridge and escarpment located in Tennessee in the United States. It marks the eastern edge of the Cumberland Plateau and is generally considered part of it. Walden Ridge is about long, running genera ...

escarpment on the east. The Sequatchie River, which spans the valley, passes through the county. Two major highways,

U.S. Route 127 U.S. Route 127 (US 127) is a north–south U.S. Highway in the eastern half of the United States. The southern terminus of the route is at U.S. Route 27, US 27 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The northern terminus is at Interstate 75 ...

and

Tennessee State Route 111 State Route 111 (SR 111) is a north–south highway in Middle and East Tennessee. The road begins in Soddy-Daisy and ends north of Byrdstown in the community of Static, at the Tennessee/Kentucky state line. The length is . Route descr ...

, intersect in Dunlap. While the two other counties in the Sequatchie Valley, Bledsoe and Marion, are grouped with the

East Tennessee East Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. Geographically and socioculturally distinct, it comprises approximately the eastern third of the U.S. state of Tennessee. East Tennessee consists of 33 coun ...

grand division, Sequatchie is grouped with

Middle Tennessee Middle Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee that composes roughly the central portion of the state. It is delineated according to state law as 41 of the state's 95 counties. Middle Tennessee contains the state's capital an ...

.TNGenWeb Project
Three Grand Divisions of Tennessee
1999. Retrieved: November 5, 2013.

Adjacent counties

* Van Buren County (north) * Bledsoe County (northeast) * Hamilton County (southeast/EST Border) * Marion County (southwest) * Grundy County (west) * Warren County (northwest)

State protected areas

* Justin P. Wilson Cumberland Trail State Park (part) * North Chickamauga Creek Gorge State Park (part) *Prentice Cooper State Forest (part) * Savage Gulf State Park (part)

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 15,826 people, 5,528 households, and 4,192 families residing in the county.

2010 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 2010, there were 14,112 people, 4,463 households, and 3,311 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 4,916 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 98.66%

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 ...

, 0.19%

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 ...

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 ...

, 0.33% Native American, 0.13% Asian, 0.03%

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 ...

, 0.17% from other races, and 0.48% from two or more races. 0.82% 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. Sequatchie County was mentioned as an "Extreme Whitopia" in Rich Benjamin's book, '' Searching for Whitopia''. There were 4,463 households, out of which 33.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.80% 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, 11.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.80% were non-families. 22.40% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 2.92. In the county, the population was spread out, with 24.60% under the age of 18, 8.40% from 18 to 24, 30.00% from 25 to 44, 24.80% from 45 to 64, and 12.30% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 98.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.80 males. The median income for a household in the county was $30,959, and the median income for a family was $36,435. Males had a median income of $27,535 versus $20,422 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 $16,468. About 13.50% of families and 16.50% 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 21.50% of those under age 18 and 20.30% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Sequatchie County has a consolidated school system which is located in Dunlap. The system operates with a superintendent and an elected school board. The Sequatchie County school system has three schools: * Griffith Elementary School (grades: K–4th) * Sequatchie County Middle School (grades: 5th–8th) * Sequatchie County High School (grades: 9th–12th)

Recreation

Sequatchie County is known as "The Hang Gliding Capital of the East", due in part to the presence of an active

hang gliding Hang gliding is an air sports, air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised, fixed-wing aircraft, fixed-wing heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium al ...

association, the Tennessee Tree Toppers. This group maintains a hang gliding ramp at Henson's Gap, along the eastern wall of the Sequatchie Valley, where favorable flying conditions allow these unpowered aircraft to fly well into northwestern Georgia and northeastern Alabama after launch. The gap is the site of numerous hang gliding competitions, and is a popular tourist attraction for aficionados of the sport from all over the world.

Communities

City

* Dunlap (county seat)

Census-designated place

* Lone Oak

Unincorporated communities

* Brush Creek * Cagle * Lewis Chapel

Media

Sequatchie County is served by numerous local, regional and national media outlets which reach approximately one million people in four states including:

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

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 ...

and

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

Newspapers

* The Dunlap Tribune: The periodical focuses its energy on highlighting events, sports and people in Dunlap, TN and Sequatchie County.

Radio

Sequatchie County is part of the Chattanooga

Arbitron Nielsen Audio (formerly Arbitron) is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio broadcasting audiences. It was founded as the American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by mergin ...

radio market. The following radio stations are licensed to cities within Sequatchie County: ;AM * WSDQ 1190 AM – Country (Licensed to Dunlap) ;FM * W227DM 93.3 - Country Roads 93.3 WSDQ (FM translator for WSDQ-AM Licensed to Dunlap)

Notable people

* Phil Douglas (1890-1952),

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

player best known for playing with the

1921 World Series The 1921 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1921 season. The 18th edition of the World Series, it matched the National League champion New York Giants and the American League champion New York Yankees. Th ...

winning

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

. * Dakota Hudson (1994–present), professional baseball player for St. Louis Cardinals * James Standifer (1779-1837), U.S. congressman * William Stone (1791-1853), U.S. congressman

Politics

References

External links

Official site

Sequatchie County Chamber of Commerce

Sequatchie County Schools

Sequatchie County, TNGenWeb
- free genealogy resources for the county {{authority control 1857 establishments in Tennessee Tennessee placenames of Native American origin Populated places established in 1857 Chattanooga metropolitan area counties Second Amendment sanctuaries in Tennessee Middle Tennessee