Sneedville is the only city in and the county seat of Hancock 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. The population was 1,282 per the 2020 census.

History

Settlement began in the 1790s, following the American Revolutionary War,Will Thomas Hale and Dixon L. Merritt,
A History of Tennessee and Tennesseans, Vol. 3
' (Lewis Publishing Co., 1913), p. 794. as migrants moved into the area from the

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

frontiers of Virginia and North Carolina. Such migrants had formed families in colonial Virginia. Among them was a multi-racial group of settlers who became known as Melungeons. They have been documented as having primarily European and

sub-Saharan African Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

ancestry. They also have a lesser amount of Native American heritage. The county historical society asserts that French traders noted encountering the Melungeons in the late 1600s in the area that is now east Tennessee. Such early settlement is not supported by the research of Edward Price, a cultural geographer who wrote a 1950 dissertation on the Melungeons;Price, Edward T. (1953)
"A Geographic Analysis of White-Negro-Indian Racial Mixtures in Eastern United States"
''Annals of the

Association of American Geographers The American Association of Geographers (AAG) is a non-profit scientific and educational society aimed at advancing the understanding, study, and importance of geography and related fields. Its headquarters is located in Washington, D.C. The ...

'' 43 (June 1953): 138–155, accessed February 18, 2013 Dr. Virginia DeMarce, a professional genealogist; and Paul Heinegg, a genealogist;Paul Heinegg, ''Free African Americans in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Delaware and Maryland''
1999–2005 each of whom has documented the migration of ancestors of the first families known as Melungeon from Virginia and North Carolina in the late eighteenth century When Hancock County was formed from parts of Hawkins and Claiborne counties in the 1840s, Greasy Rock was chosen as the county seat. The city was renamed in honor of William Henry Sneed (1812–1869), a Confederate and attorney from

Knoxville Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...

who helped legally defend the new county when several residents sued in an attempt to block its creation.William G. Cook,
Hancock County
" ''Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture''. Retrieved: February 18, 2013.

Geography

Sneedville is located at (36.532062, -83.214140). According to the

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

, the city has a total area of , all land. The

Clinch River The Clinch River is a river that flows southwest for more than through the Great Appalachian Valley in the U.S. states of Virginia and Tennessee, gathering various tributaries, including the Powell River, before joining the Tennessee River in ...

passes within the city limits.

Climate

According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

, Sneedville has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

, typical for

. The

plant hardiness zone A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most widely ...

is 6b.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 1,282 people, 573 households, and 369 families residing in the town.

2010 census

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 1,387 people living in the city. 97.4% were

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 ...

, 0.6% Black or African American, 0.3% Native American, 0.1% Asian and 1.7% of two or more races. 0.3% were Hispanic or Latino (of any race).

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, there were 1,257 people, 527 households, and 310 families living in the city. The population density was . There were 593 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 97.69%

, 0.64%

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 ...

, 0.16% Native American, 0.72% from other races, and 0.80% 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 0.24% of the population.

Melungeon Melungeon ( ) (sometimes also spelled Malungean, Melangean, Melungean, Melungin) was a slur historically applied to individuals and families of mixed-race ancestry with roots in colonial Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina who were primarily ...

s, a so-called " tri-racial isolate", are also present in this area, especially in the Vardy Valley, on the other side of Newman's Ridge. There were 527 households, out of which 27.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.2% 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, 14.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.0% were non-families. 38.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 18.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.08 and the average family size was 2.77. In the city, the population was spread out, with 18.4% under the age of 18, 11.4% from 18 to 24, 28.2% from 25 to 44, 23.5% from 45 to 64, and 18.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.9 males. The median income for a household in the city was $13,281, and the median income for a family was $20,208. Males had a median income of $20,500 versus $15,461 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 town was $13,173. About 32.9% of families and 36.3% 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 46.9% of those under age 18 and 28.4% of those age 65 or over. In 2010, Sneedville had the 10th-lowest median household income of all places in the United States with a population over 1,000.

Arts and culture

Museums and related points of interest

The Hancock County Tennessee Historical and Genealogical Society is a non-profit organization located in the Old County Jail. The organization provides access to archival material related to the community and maintains a small museum displaying aspects of traditional mountain life, such as was practiced by the

s. They publish a bi-yearly newsletter called ''Our Mountain Heritage'' for members of the society.

Education

There is one school district in the county, Hancock County School District.
Text list
/ref> Schools in Sneedville include Hancock County Middle/High School and Hancock County Elementary School.

Infrastructure

Hancock County Hospital, which opened in 2005, is located in Sneedville.

Notable people

* Doyle Lawson — musician, lived in Sneedville as a child *

Jimmy Martin James Henry Martin (August 10, 1927 – May 14, 2005) was an American bluegrass singer and musician, known as the "King of Bluegrass". Early years Martin was born in Sneedville, Tennessee, United States, and was raised in the hard farming l ...

— musician; born in Sneedville, dubbed "King of Bluegrass" and inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor *

Morgan Wallen Morgan Cole Wallen (born May 13, 1993) is an American country pop singer from Sneedville, Tennessee. He competed in the The Voice (American season 6), sixth season of ''The Voice (American TV series), The Voice''. After being eliminated in the ...

—

multi-platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

artist

References

External links

Sneedville/Hancock County Chamber & Community Partners Inc.
{{authority control Towns in Hancock County, Tennessee Towns in Tennessee County seats in Tennessee