Stewart County is a
county located on the northwestern corner of
Middle Tennessee, in the
U.S. state of
Tennessee. As of the
2020 census, the population was 13,657. 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
Dover.
Stewart County is part of the Clarksville
Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
Stewart County was created by European Americans in 1803 from a portion of
Montgomery County, and was named for
Duncan Stewart, an early settler and state legislator.
The first County Court met in March 1804. According to Goodspeed's history of Stewart County, "Stewart County was settled principally by North Carolinians, the first of whom came some time about 1795, that State having issued military grants to survivors of the Continental war, which called for large tracts of land lying in this county". It was settled during the early migration of pioneers from Virginia to the west after the American Revolutionary War. They pushed Native American peoples, such as the
Cherokee, out of the area.
During the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
, the
Battle of Fort Donelson took place in February 1862. Union forces took control of the state, occupying several strategic areas. In August 1862 their forces partially burned the county seat, Dover, to prevent its re-capture by Confederate Lt. Col. Thomas G. Woodward. A second battle in the area, commonly called the
Battle of Dover, took place in February 1863.
Tobaccoport Saltpeter Cave was intensely mined for saltpeter, possibly during the War of 1812 but more likely not until the Civil War. Saltpeter is the main ingredient of gunpowder and was obtained by leaching the earth from the cave. The Union took control of Tennessee and this area in February 1862, early in the Civil War. It seems unlikely that mining could have happened before that.
Geography
According to the
U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (6.8%) is water.
The county lies in a rugged section of the northwestern
Highland Rim. The
Cumberland River (part of
Lake Barkley) traverses the county. The
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 ...
(part of
Kentucky Lake) provides the county's border with
Henry County to the west.
Federal and state agencies control nearly 44% of the land in the county.
Adjacent counties
*
Trigg County, Kentucky (north)
*
Christian County, Kentucky (northeast)
*
Montgomery County (east)
*
Houston County (south)
*
Benton County (southwest)
*
Henry County (west)
*
Calloway County, Kentucky (northwest)
National protected areas
*
Cross Creeks National Wildlife Refuge
*
Fort Donelson National Battlefield (part)
*
Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area (part)
State protected areas
*Barkley Wildlife Management Area
*
Stewart State Forest
Demographics
2020 census
As of the
2020 United States census, there were 13,657 people, 5,178 households, and 3,355 families residing in the county.
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 12,370 people, 4,930 households, and 3,653 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 5,977 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 95.27%
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 ...
, 1.29%
Black or
African American, 0.61%
Native American, 1.46%
Asian, 0.05%
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 ...
, 0.23% from
other races, and 1.10% from two or more races. 1.00% 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 4,930 households, out of which 31.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.30% were
married couples living together, 8.10% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.90% were non-families. 23.10% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 2.91.
In the county, the population was spread out, with 23.90% under the age of 18, 7.50% from 18 to 24, 28.40% from 25 to 44, 25.40% from 45 to 64, and 14.90% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.50 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $32,316, and the median income for a family was $38,655. Males had a median income of $31,106 versus $21,985 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 $16,302. About 10.60% of families and 12.40% 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 12.90% of those under age 18 and 15.60% of those age 65 or over.
Politics
The county is part of
Tennessee's 7th congressional district. From the antebellum period, conservative whites historically voted
Democratic, adding to the Southern Block. Residents of eastern Tennessee had been Unionist and supported the Republican Party.
In the late 20th century realignment of political parties, many white conservatives shifted into the Republican Party. Before Richard Nixon's campaign in 1972, no Republican had ever won as much as thirty percent of Stewart County's vote, but he won by a landslide in the South. Until 2000,
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 ...
was the only GOP presidential candidate to gain forty percent of the vote in the country.
Before 2000, the Democratic presidential candidate lost Stewart County only in 1968, when segregationist
George Wallace ran for the
American Independent Party. After that Stewart County was one of only six Wallace counties to support Democratic candidate
George McGovern.
Since the turn of the 21st century, Stewart County's voters have increasingly supported
Republican candidates in recent presidential elections. In the
2008 presidential election,
John McCain received approximately 53.7% of the vote; he was the first Republican to carry the county. For 100 years before that, Stewart County was the sole county in Tennessee that had never voted in majority for a Republican presidential candidate.
[David Leip,]
Presidential General Election Map Comparison (Tennessee)
" ''Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections''. Retrieved: April 7, 2013. In 2016, Republican
Donald Trump gained a proportion of votes here that was only marginally less than that of the GOP gained in the historically Unionist counties of East Tennessee and the Highland Rim; by 2024 he achieved an eye-popping 81% of the vote, making
Kamala Harris
Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 49th vice president of the United States from 2021 to 2025 under President Joe Biden. She is the first female, first African American, and ...
's performance the worst ever of all time by a Democrat and the first one to not even hit 19% of Stewart's vote.
Media
Radio stations
*
WTPR-FM 101.7 - "The Greatest Hits of All Time"
*
WTPR-AM 710 - "The Greatest Hits of All Time"
*
WRQR-FM 105.5 - "Today's Best Music with
Ace & TJ in the Morning"
Newspaper
*
The Stewart County Standard'
Communities
City
*
Dover (county seat)
Towns
*
Cumberland City
*
Tennessee Ridge (mostly in
Houston County)
Unincorporated communities
*
Bear Spring
*
Big Rock
*
Bumpus Mills
*
Indian Mound
*
Leatherwood
Ghost towns
*
Model
*
Tharpe
See also
*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Stewart County, Tennessee
Notes
References
External links
Official websiteStewart County Chamber of CommerceStewart County Schoolswww.stewartcountystandard.comTNGenWebStewart County Fire Rescue
{{authority control
1803 establishments in Tennessee
Clarksville metropolitan area
Populated places established in 1803
Middle Tennessee