Elizabethton, Tennessee Elizabethton, Tennessee Downtown Elizabethton, July 4th parade (2008). Nickname(s): The City of Power Map spot for Elizabethton, Tennessee. Coordinates: 36°20′11″N 82°14′21″W / 36.33639°N 82.23917°W / 36.33639; -82.23917 Country United States State Tennessee County Carter Explored: 1759 Settled: 1769 Established: 1799 Government - Mayor Curt Alexander Area - Total 9.4 sq mi (24.3 km2) - Land 9.2 sq mi (23.7 km2) - Water 0.2 sq mi (0.6 km2) Elevation 1,593 ft (465 m) Population (2004) - Total 13,944 - Density 1,459.5/sq mi (563.5/km2) Time zone EST (UTC-5) - Summer (DST) EDT (UTC-4) ZIP codes 37643-37644 Area code(s) 423 FIPS code 47-23500[1] GNIS feature ID 1328127[2] Website http://www.elizabethton.org Elizabethton is the county seat of Carter County, Tennessee, United States. Elizabeth- ton is also the historical site of the first inde- pendent settlement on American soil (1772) and located west of both the Eastern Contin- ental Divide and the original thirteen British colonies in America. The population of Elizabethton was enu- merated at 13,372 during the 2000 U.S. Decennial Census.[3] Geography Northeast Tennessee location Elizabethton is centrally located within the "Tri-Cities" area (encompassed by Bristol, Johnson City, and Kingsport) of Northeast Tennessee.[4][5] Time offset from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC): UTC-5 (Eastern Standard Time). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 9.4 square miles (24.3 km?), of which, 9.2 square miles (23.7 km?) of it is land and 0.2 square miles (0.6 km?) of it (2.35%) is water.[6] The elevation at Elizabethton Municipal Airport is 1,593 feet (486 m) ASL (the highest point of elevation in Carter County is at Roan Mountain with an elevation of 6,285 feet (1,916 m) ASL) and the airport is located on the eastern side of the city along State High- way 91 Stoney Creek Exit.[7][8] Elizabethton is also connected to larger commercial, shuttle, and cargo flights out of Tri-Cities Re- gional Airport located adjacent to the main campus of Northeast State Technical Com- munity College at nearby Blountville, Tennessee. Lynn Mountain reaches 2,380 feet (730 m) ASL at the summit (36.350°N, 82.191°W) and is located immediately across the U.S. High- way 19-E from the downtown Elizabethton business district. Elizabethton also shares a contiguous western border with Johnson City. Demographics As of the 2000 U.S. Decennial Census[9], there were 13,372 people, 5,454 households, and 3,512 families residing in the city. The population densityof Elizabethton in 2000 was enumerated at 1,459.3 people per From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Elizabethton, Tennessee 1 Built in 1882, the Elizabethton Covered Bridge(spans 134 feet (41 m) across the Doe River. square mile (563.6/km?) with 5,964 housing units at an average density of 650.9/sq mi (251.4/km?). The racial makeup of the Elizabethton in 2000 was 95.30% White, 2.47% African American, 0.16% Native American, 0.55% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.49% from other races, and 1.02% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.18% of the population. There were 5,454 households enumerated in Elizabethton out of which 26.6% had chil- dren under the age of 18 living with them, 46.6% were married couples living together, 14.7% had a female householder with no hus- band present, and 35.6% were non-families. 32.6% of all households were made up of in- dividuals and 16.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.24 and the av- erage family size was 2.82. In Elizabethton, the population was spread out with 20.5% under the age of 18, 10.8% from 18 to 24, 24.5% from 25 to 44, 23.1% from 45 to 64, and 21.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 82.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 76.8 males. The median income for a household in El- izabethton was $25,909, and the median in- come for a family was $33,333. Males had a median income of $26,890 versus $20,190 for females. The per capita income for the city was $14,578. About 15.2% of families and 19.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.8% of those under age 18 and 16.1% of those age 65 or over. Water resources Doe River "The City of Power" electric sign that was erected over the old Broad Street Bridge (circa 1912-1913). The Doe River forms in Carter County, Tennessee near the North Carolina line, just south of Roan Mountain State Park. The river initially flows north and is first paralleled by State Route 143; at the community of Roan Mountain, Tennessee, it then continues to flow west and is at this point paralleled by U.S. Route 19E. The Doe River flows to the east of Fork Mountain; the Little Doe River flows by the Fork Mountain to the west. Below the confluence of both the Doe River and the Little Doe River at Hampton, the Doe River then travels roughly in a north- ern downstream direction through the Valley Forge community, and is rejoined by U.S. Route 19E. Pushing through a mountain gap just north of Hampton, the volume of the river is amplified by the waters flowing from McCathern Spring. Futher downstream, the Doe River flows by the East Side neighborhood and parallel with Tennessee State Route 67 and then un- derneath the historic Elizabethton Covered Bridge, built in 1882 and located within the Elizabethton downtown business district. Connecting 3rd Street and Hattie Avenue, the covered bridge is adjacent to a city park and spans the Doe River. The covered bridge, although now closed to motor traffic, is still open for bicycles and pedestrians. Most of Elizabethton’s downtown is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its historical and architectural merits. The From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Elizabethton, Tennessee 2 Broad Street Bridge . Elizabethton Historic District contains a vari- ety of properties ranging in age from the late 1700s through the 1930s. However, the El- izabethton Covered Bridge is an important fo- cal point and a well-known landmark in the state. In addition to the Covered Bridge, the downtown historical district also contains the 1928 Elk Avenue concrete arch bridge, and just a little further downstream on the Doe River, Tennessee State Route 67 passes an- other similar concrete arch bridge locally known as the Broad Street Bridge. Elizabethton celebrates in the downtown business area for one week each June with the Elizabethton Covered Bridge Days featur- ing country and gospel music performances, activities for children, Elk Avenue car club show, and many food and crafts vendors. Watauga River Two Tennessee Valley Authority reservoirs in Carter County — each impounded behind TVA Watauga Dam (forming Watauga Lake) and TVA Wilbur Dam (forming Wilbur Lake) — are located southeast and upstream of El- izabethton on the Watauga River. The Ap- palachian Trail crosses over both the Watauga River and the Tennessee Valley Authority reservation in Carter County to the southeast of Elizabethton.[10][11] The Watauga River flows past Elizabeth- ton. Elizabethton lies on the south bank of the Watauga and along either side of its prin- cipal tributary, the Doe River. The downtown business district is located approximately one-quarter mile upstream of the confluence Raft guide plunging whitewater rafters down- stream through "The Big Hole" in the Bee Cliff Rapids of both the Doe River and the Watauga River. The Doe River flows underneath the historic wooden covered bridge that is located within the Elizabethton downtown business district. The Bee Cliff Rapids — a popular summer destination on the Watauga River for white- water rafters during the summer months — are located southeast of Elizabethton and downstream of the TVA Wilbur Dam. The Watauga River downstream of the western side of Elizabethton has one of the only two sections of trophy trout streams across the entire state of Tennessee. Holston Mountain Communica- tion Towers The main waterfall at Blue Hole Falls located northeast of Elizabethton on Holston Mountain. Elizabethton itself lies within a river valley basin mostly surrounded by mountain ridges and significant hills, such as Holston Moun- tain, the southern end of which lies just From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Elizabethton, Tennessee 3 northeast of Elizabethton. Panhandle Road is located off State Highway 91 in Carter County and ascends Holston Mountain for three miles (5 km) from the eastern side and ends four miles (6.5 km) along the ridge southwest of Holston High Point. During peri- ods of heavy snow and ice, the National Forest Service closes off Panhandle Road with an iron gate. Located near the Cherokee National Forest boundary and to the left of Panhandle Road is a parking area and foot trail that leads down the slope to the Blue Hole Falls (approximately 45 feet (14 m) high). The last three miles (5 km) of Panhandle Road are filled with washouts, steep drop-offs, and no turnarounds. Vehicle travel on those last three miles (5 km) is at the driver’s risk. Early broadcasters in the 1950s and 1960s quickly realized Holston Mountain would be a prime radio-television transmission location because it is the highest visible point that faces most of the major cities in Northeast Tennessee in the surrounding valley between Knoxville, Tennessee, to southwest of Roan- oke, Virginia. As a result, the Holston Moun- tain ridge is the transmitter site for three television stations in the Tri-Cities, Tenness- ee Television Designated Market Area (DMA). The broadcasting antenna for WCYB- TV, Channel 5, Bristol, Virginia is on Rye Patch Knob, with the top of the antenna 341 feet (104 m) above ground, 2,431 feet (741 m) above the surrounding valley floor, and 4,533 feet (1381.6 m) above mean sea level. The single tower that antenna sits on, is the highest and tallest man-made structure on the mountain. The television towers for WJHL-TV, Channel 11, Johnson City, Tenness- ee, and WKPT-TV, Channel 19, Kingsport, Tennessee, are standing side by side in a common broadcasting antenna farm on the southwest slope of Holston High Point, one mile (1.5 km) southwest of Rye Patch Knob. The antenna for WJHL-TV stands 200 feet (61m) above ground, 2,319 feet (707m) above the surrounding valley floor, and 4,370 feet (1,332m) above mean sea level. The antenna for WKPT-TV next door stands 193 feet (58.8m) above ground, also 2,319 feet (707m) above the valley floor, and 4,366 feet (1,331m) above mean sea level. The stations’ digital antennas are also on their respective towers. Holston Mountain is also the transmitting site for three FM Class C radio stations: Holston High Point as seen from Holston High Knob. WTFM-FM 98.5, Kingsport, Tennessee; WXBQ-FM 96.9, Bristol, Virginia and WETS- FM 89.5, Johnson City, Tennessee. All three antennas and the backup antennas are loc- ated at the antenna farm on the southwest slope of Holston High Point. Also located on the ridge are the antenna for one FM Class C1 radio station, WHCB-FM 91.5, Bristol, Tennessee, located at Rye Patch Knob; one FM Class C2 antenna for radio station WCQR-FM 88.3, Kingsport, Tennessee, and one FM Class D antenna for radio station W214AP-FM 90.7, Johnson City, Tennessee, both transmitting from the antenna farm on the southwest slope of Holston High Point. Various U.S. federal, Tennessee state, Sulli- van, Washington and Carter County govern- mental agencies, along with utility mi- crowave relay stations, also transmit base-to- mobile communications from the Holston High Point antenna farm and Rye Patch Knob. The Federal Aviation Administration also maintains a navigational beacon at the Hol- ston Mountain summit. Connection with U.S. In- terstate Highway System Interstate 26 Exit 24 at Johnson City then east Tennessee State Route 67 to Elizabethton. History From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Elizabethton, Tennessee 4 Native American inhabitants The area now known as Tennessee was first settled by Paleo-Indians nearly 11,000 years ago. The names of the cultural groups that in- habited the area between first settlement and the time of European contact are unknown, but several distinct cultural phases have been named by archaeologists, including Ar- chaic, Woodland, and Mississippian whose chiefdoms were the cultural predecessors of the Muscogee people who inhabited the Ten- nessee River Valley prior to Cherokee migra- tion into the river’s headwaters. When Spanish explorers first visited Ten- nessee, led by Hernando de Soto in 1539–43, it was inhabited by tribes of Muscogee and Yuchi people. Possibly because of European diseases devastating the Native tribes, which would have left a population vacuum, and also from expanding European settlement in the north, the Cherokee moved south from the area now called Virginia. As European colonists spread into the area, the native pop- ulations were forcibly displaced to the south and west, including all Muscogee and Yuchi peoples, the Chickasaw, and Choctaw. From 1838 to 1839, nearly 17,000 Cherokees were forced to march from "emigration depots" in Eastern Tennessee, such as Fort Cass, to In- dian Territory west of Arkansas. This came to be known as the Trail of Tears, as an estim- ated 4,000 Cherokees died along the way [12]. Colonial settlement: "…a des- perate Body of Settlers" In 1759, a young James Robertson accompan- ied explorer Daniel Boone on his third exped- ition to lands beyond the Alleghany Moun- tains. The party discovered the "Old Fields" (lands previously cultivated by generations of Native Americans) along the Watauga River valley at present day Elizabethton, in which Robertson planted with corn while Boone continued on to Kentucky. Robertson later returned to North Caro- lina, and married Charlotte Reeves in 1767. After the Battle of Alamance in 1771, many North Carolinians refused to take the new oath of allegiance to the Royal Crown and withdrew from the province. Instead of tak- ing their new oath of allegiance, James Robertson led a group of some twelve or thir- teen families involved with the Regulator movement from near where present day Raleigh, North Carolina now stands. In 1772, Robertson and the pioneers who had settled in Northeast Tennessee (along the Watauga River, the Doe River, the Holston River, and the Nolichucky River met at Sycamore Shoals to establish an independent regional govern- ment known as the Watauga Association.[13] However, in 1772, surveyors placed the land officially within the domain of the Cher- okee tribe, who required negotiation of a lease with the settlers. Tragedy struck as the lease was being celebrated, when a Cherokee warrior was murdered by a white man. Robertson’s skillful diplomacy made peace with the irate Native Americans, who threatened to expel the settlers by force if necessary. Carter County is named in honor of Landon Carter, Chairman of the Court as defined by the articles of the Watauga Peti- tion and Speaker of the defunct Franklin Sen- ate. Elizabethton is the county seat and is named for Landon’s wife, Elizabeth MacLin Carter, as well as Elizabeth McNabb, the wife of David McNabb who, with Landon, were members of a committee appointed by the Tennessee Assembly in 1796 to locate and name the county seat of Carter County. Landon Carter was the son of early Carter County settler, John Carter. John Carter’s circa 1780 home known as the Carter Man- sion still serves as a tourist attraction. The oldest frame house in Tennessee, this former frontier plantation home is located on the Broad Street Extension on the eastern side of town above the banks of the Watauga River. A landscape painting of a Virginia plantation that was discovered underneath ancient lay- ers of paint covering the wall surface above a fireplace mantle suggest that John Carter may have possibly been an illegitimate son of the wealthy Virginia plantation owner Robert "King" Carter[14] and half-brother to Virignia plantation owner Landon Carter. American Revolution Elizabethton (at Sycamore Shoals) was also the Fort Watauga site of the Transylvania Purchase. In March 1775, land speculator and North Carolina judge Richard Henderson met with more than 1,200 Cherokees at Syca- more Shoals, including Cherokee leaders such as Attacullaculla, Oconostota, and Drag- ging Canoe. In the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals (also known as the Treaty of Watauga), From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Elizabethton, Tennessee 5 The Transylvania Purchase at Sycamore Shoals in Elizabethton and the Wilderness Road into Kentucky. Henderson purchased all the land lying between the Cumberland River, the Cumber- land Mountains, and the Kentucky River, and situated south of the Ohio River. The land thus delineated, 20 million acres (81000 km?), encompassed an area half as large as the present state of Kentucky. Henderson’s purchase was in violation of North Carolina and Virginia law, as well as the Royal Pro- clamation of 1763, which prohibited private purchase of American Indian land. Hender- son may have mistakenly believed that a new- er British legal opinion had made such land purchases legal. Daniel Boone Escorting Settlers through the Cumberland Gap (George Caleb Bingham, oil on canvas, 1851–52) Before the Sycamore Shoals treaty, Henderson had hired Daniel Boone, an exper- ienced hunter who had explored Kentucky, to travel to the Cherokee towns and inform them of the upcoming negotiations. After- wards, Boone was hired to blaze what be- came known as the Wilderness Road, which went through the Cumberland Gap and into central Kentucky. Along with a party of about thirty workers, Boone marked a path to the Kentucky River, where he established Boonesborough (near present-day Lexington, Kentucky), which was intended to be the cap- ital of Transylvania. Other settlements, not- ably Harrodsburg, were also established at this time. Many of these settlers had come to Kentucky on their own initiative, and did not recognize Transylvania’s authority. A Daniel Boone Trail historical marker is found just outside the downtown Elizabethton business district. Early during the American Revolutionary War, Fort Watauga at Sycamore Shoals was the attacked in 1776 by Dragging Canoe and his warring faction of Cherokee opposed to the Transylvania Purchase (also referred by settlers as the Chickamauga), and the surviv- ing frontier fort on the banks of the Watauga River. Blue Ridge Mountains. The Overmountain Men fought with the British at the Battle of Musgrave’s Mill in South Carolina, and later, Fort Watauga served as the September 26, 1780[15] staging area for the Overmountain Men who were preparing to trek over the Blue Ridge Moun- tains at Roan Mountain (Roan Highlands) to both engage, and later defeat, the British Army Loyalist forces and later at the Battle of Kings Mountain in North Carolina. Prior to the American Revolutionary War very little gunpowder had been made in the United States; and, as a British Colony, most had been imported from Britain.[16] In Octo- ber 1777, the British Parliament banned the importation of gunpowder into America. Five hundred pounds of black powder was manu- factured for the Overmountain Men by Mary Patton and her husband at their Gap Creek powder mill, and the Overmountain Men From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Elizabethton, Tennessee 6 stored the Patton black powder on that first rainy night in a dry cave known as Shelving Rock that is located nearby the Roan Moun- tain State Park at present day Roan Moun- tain, Tennessee.[15] During January 1781, the Overmountain Men also fought the British at the Battle of Cowpens in South Carolina. U.S. Civil War Rear Admiral/ Brevet Major General Samuel P. Carter On the recommendation of Military Governor of Tennessee Andrew Johnson, Elizabethton native and U.S. naval officer Samuel Powhat- tan (S.P.) Carter was promoted to the brevet rank of brigadier general and assigned by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln to engage cavalry based in Kentucky against Confeder- ate held railroad lines and bridges in Ten- nessee during the Civil War. In early 1861, after receiving a letter from Carter assuring his loyalty to the Union should a civil war break out, Tennessee Governor Andrew Johnson used his influence in the United States Department of War for Carter to organize and train militia within East Tennessee. After leading successful cavalry operations at the Battle of Mill Springs on January 19, 1862, Carter accepted a commission as Brigadier General of volun- teers in May and later continued leading op- erations at the Battle of Cumberland Gap in June as well as raids against Holston, Carter’s Station, and Jonesville in December, in support of General William S. Rosecrans’ attack on Murfreesboro. In July 1863, Carter was placed in com- mand of the XXIII Corps cavalry division and would continue campaigning across Tenness- ee throughout the year. By 1865, Carter was in North Carolina and commanding the left wing of the Union forces at the Battle of Kingston. He was promoted to Brevet Major General of Volunteers, briefly commanding the XXIII Corps before being mustered out of volunteer service in January 1866. While Carter was serving in the Union Army, the U.S. Navy promoted him to lieuten- ant commander in 1863, then to commander in 1865. A Tennessee Historical Marker loc- ated on West Elk Avenue in front of the S.P. Carter Mansion in downtown Elizabethton, Tennessee commemorates his life and naval career. The Veterans’ Monument obelisk guarded by two short field cannon in downtown Eliza- bethton was originally dedicated in 1904 to both Union and Confederate veterans from Carter County. Death of a U.S. President U.S. President Andrew Johnson died from a stroke at his daughter’s Lynn Valley home overlooking the Watauga River on July 31, 1875. Railroad history During the early 20th century, Elizabethton became a rail hub, served by three different railroad companies. Beginning in the 1880s, the the narrow gauge engine known as the "Tweetsie" ran on East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad (a.k.a. the ’ET&WNC ) between Johnson City and passing through Elizabeth- ton before climbing into the Blue Ridge Mountains, eventually connecting to Boone, North Carolina in 1916. In 1927, the 9-mile (14 km) portion of the railroad from Johnson City to Elizabethton was converted to stand- ard gauge in order to more efficiently serve the NARC and Bemberg Rayon Plants. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Elizabethton, Tennessee 7 The narrow gauge portion of the ET&WNC ceased operations in 1950 and was sub- sequently abandoned, however the standard gauge portion of the line from Johnson City to Elizabethton continued to operate until 2003 as the East Tennessee Railway. Today the railroad’s dormant track remains in place, though its future is uncertain. One of the ET&WNC’s narrow gauge steam locomotives (Engine #12) is still in ex- istence, operating at the "Tweetsie Railroad" theme park at nearby Boone, North Carolina. The Southern Railway operated a branch line into Elizabethton until the flood of 1940. It connected with the ET&WNC at a small railroad yard near the fork of the Watauga River and the Doe River.[17] In the 1910s and 1920s, another small railroad, The Laurel Fork Railway, operated out of Elizabethton paralleling the ET&WNC and Doe River to Hampton, Tennessee. At Hampton the line split off and ran to a saw- mill near present-day Watauga Lake.[18] North American Rayon Corp. and American Bemberg Corp. Beginning during the late 1920s, German and Dutch business investors established two ma- jor rayon manufacturing plants (Bemberg and the North American Rayon Corporation) in Elizabethton along the banks of the Watauga River, producing rayon material for both U.S. domestic and export markets. Even today, you can find examples of the construc- tion or major renovation of Elizabethton buildings located within the downtown area that can be easily dated from the Elizabeth- ton rayon economic boom of the late 1920s. During World War II. the U.S. government seized managerial control of these critical rayon plants in Elizabethton. A post-war hir- ing apex of the Elizabethton rayon industry occurred in 1949 when over 6,100 employees were working at both of the Elizabethton ray- on mills.[19] A specialized fiber utilized by NASA within the Space Shuttle program was manufac- tured at the Elizabethton plants during the 1980s, and after many years of a declining U.S. rayon market and increased foreign competition following the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and North American Free Trade Agreement, the remaining rayon mill (owned by the North American Rayon Corporation) closed down during the late 1990s. The City of Power and the TVA—early hydrogeneration of electricity Elizabethton was first serviced by relatively inexpensive hydroelectric power during the early 1910s, leading to the popular "The City of Power" moniker. The Horseshoe section of the Watauga River (found within the Ten- nessee Valley Authority reservation behind the TVA Wilbur Dam) is the site of first hy- droelectric dam constructed in Tennessee (beginning in 1909), going online with power production and distribution in 1912. U.S. President Herbert C. Hoover The 1928 Republican Presidential candid- ate Herbert C. Hoover made his only south- ern campaign stop at Elizabethton and de- livered his nationally broadcasted October 6 election "stump speech" delivered before 50,000 people gathered at the base of Lynn Mountain in Harmon Field (now at the mini- park area beside the Elizabethton/Carter County Chamber of Commerce building loc- ated on U.S. 321).[20][21] Ironically, it was the succession of Repub- lican presidents in the White House at the From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Elizabethton, Tennessee 8 time — first President Coolidge in 1928, and then later followed by President Hoover later in 1931 — choosing to veto the federal legis- lation passed by the U.S. Congress that would have created a water power develop- ment agency of the federal government. It was U.S. Senator George W. Norris of Nebraska who sponsored the Tennessee Val- ley Authority Act of 1933, water power devel- opment legislation which was finally enacted during the administration of President Frank- lin D. Roosevelt that created the Tennessee Valley Authority. Norris was later an import- ant proponent of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936. Following the end of World War II, the TVA Watauga Dam and Reservoir were com- pleted three miles (5 km) upstream of the Wilbur Dam in 1948.[11][11] The TVA Wilbur Dam has four hydroelec- tric generating turbines with a generating ca- pacity of 10,700 kilowatts of electricity.[22] U.S. Bicentennial - Overmoun- tain Victory Trail U.S. President Jimmy Carter Liberty: The Saga of Sycamore Shoals (formerly known as The Wataugans)[23] is the official outdoor historical drama of the state of Tennessee. It is presented by the Watauga Historical Association and the Sycamore Shoals Historic Area in Elizabethton every July on the last three Thursday-Friday- Saturday weekends of the month. Employing a mixed cast of volunteer professional and amateur local actors and re-enactors en- gaged through an open casting call, Liberty: The Saga of Sycamore Shoals depicts the early history of the area that is now North- east Tennessee. Hikers, military reenactors, and scouts have followed within segments of the famous overmountain victory trail, and in 1975 three Elizabethton boy scouts were among those who completed the first re-enactment of the overmountain march (approximately 214 miles (344 km) in one direction) from El- izabethton at Sycamore Shoals to the Kings Mountain National Military Park. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter — recognizing the historical significance of the frontier patriots marching over the Appalachian mountains to fight the British Army at the Battle of King’s Mountain — signed federal law designating the historical overmountain route as the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail, the first National Historic Trail established within the eastern United States.[24][25][26] Famous natives and residents • Paul Edward Anderson: weightlifter, gold medalist in Men’s Heavyweight Lifting at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia and listed in Guinness World Records. • William Gannaway Brownlow: newspaper publisher, Tennessee Governor; Radical Republican, U.S. Senator (1805-1877). • Rear Admiral/Major General Samuel Powhattan (S.P.) Carter - (August 6, 1819-May 26, 1891). Only U.S. military officer to have held the rank of Army General and Navy Admiral. The May 28, 1891 Washington Post obituary for Carter presents a timeline that suggests that Carter may have also been a member of one of the earliest classes of midshipmen (1846) to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Elizabethton, Tennessee 9 Climate of Elizabethton, Tennessee Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual Avg °F(°C) 34.0°F 1.1°C 37.4°F 3.0°C 47.2°F 8.4°C 55.2°F 12.9°C 63.4°F 17.4°C 71.1°F 21.7°C 74.4°F 23.6°C 73.6°F 23.1°C 67.9°F 19.9°C 56.7°F 13.7°C 47.0°F 8.3°C 38.2°F 3.4°C 55.5°F 13.1°C Avg high °F(°C) 43.7°F 6.5°C 48.0°F 8.9°C 58.9°F 14.9°C 67.4°F 19.7°C 75.2°F 24.0°C 82.2°F 27.9°C 84.6°F 29.2°C 84.1°F 28.9°C 79.1°F 26.2°C 69.1°F 20.6°C 58.2°F 14.6°C 48.1°F 8.9°C 66.6°F 19.2°C Avg low °F(°C) 24.3°F -4.3°C 26.8°F -2.9°C 35.4°F 1.9°C 43.0°F 6.1°C 51.6°F 10.9°C 59.9°F 15.5°C 64.1°F 17.8°C 63.1°F 17.3°C 56.6°F 13.7°C 44.2°F 6.8°C 35.9°F 2.2°C 28.2°F -2.1°C 44.4°F 6.9°C Rain (inches) 3.2 in. 3.4 in. 3.7 in. 3.3 in. 3.8 in. 3.5 in. 4.3 in. 3.2 in. 3.3 in. 2.6 in. 2.9 in. 3.4 in. 40.7 in. Snow (inches) 5.2 in. 4.2 in. 2.3 in. 0.4 in. 0.05 in. 0.05 in. 0.0 in. 0.0 in. 0.05 in. 0.0 in. 0.9 in. 2.6 in. 15.6 in. Sources for Elizabethton (Bristol-Johnson City, Tennessee) climate statistics: climate- zone.com’[27] • Robert Love Taylor, Tennessee politician (July 31, 1850 - March 31, 1912). • Alfred A. Taylor, Tennessee politician (August 6, 1848 - November 23, 1931). • Dayton E. Phillips, U.S. House of Representatives (January 3, 1947 to January 3, 1951), Judge. • Jason Witten, American football tight end player for the Dallas Cowboys. • TNGA House Speaker Kent Williams, Elizabethton restaurant owner. References [1] "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov. Retrieved on 2008-01-31. [2] "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. 2007-10-25. http://geonames.usgs.gov. Retrieved on 2008-01-31. [3] http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ SAFFPopulation?_event=Search&_name=Elizabethton&_state=&_county=Elizabethton&_cityTown=E U.S. Decennial Census (2000) [4] http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/gazetteer- tbl?city=Elizabethton&state=&zip=37643 U.S. Gazetteer [5] "US Gazetteer files: 2000 and 1990". United States Census Bureau. 2005-05-03. http://www.census.gov/geo/ www/gazetteer/gazette.html. Retrieved on 2008-01-31. [6] http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/ 47000.html [7] http://www.elizabethtonairport.com/ ContentPages/Layout.htm [8] http://www.state.tn.us/environment/ parks/parks/RoanMtn/ [9] http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ SAFFFacts?_event=&geo_id=16000US4723500&_ge U.S. Decennial Census [10]http://www.tva.gov/sites/watauga.htm TVA: Watauga Reservoir [11]^ http://www.tva.gov/sites/wilbur.htm TVA: Wilbur Reservoir [12]Satz, Ronald. Tennessee’s Indian Peoples. Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 1979. ISBN 0-87049-285-3 [13]http://www.tcarden.com/tree/ensor/ Watag.html "Watauga Petition". Ensor Family Pages. [14]http://www.state.tn.us/environment/ tn_consv/archive/cartermansion.pdf The Tennessee Conservationist Magazine: Unique TN History Preserved at the Carter Mansion [15]^ http://www.nps.gov/archive/ovvi/tn/ travelog.htm U.S. National Park Service. [16]Brown, The Big Bang: A History of Explosives, p? [17]http://www.johnsonsdepot.com/ Johnson’s Depot - The Online History of Johnson City, Tennessee [18]http://www.tehcc.org/lfrr.htm/ http://www.tehcc.org/lfrr.htm [19]http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/ imagegallery.php?EntryID=N046 North American Rayon Corporation and American Bemberg Corporation. The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Elizabethton, Tennessee 10 [20]http://time-proxy.yaga.com/time/archive/ preview/0,10987,737385,00.html [21]http://cass.etsu.edu/archives/afindaid/ a354.html [22]http://www.elizabethton.org/about/ h_places.html#carter_mansion Elizabethton.org. History - Historic Places. [23]http://www.state.tn.us/environment/ Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. Tennessee State Parks Feature. [24]Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail (U.S. National Park Service) [25]http://www.ovta.org/ Home Page [26]http://tennessee.gov/environment/parks/ parks/SycamoreShoals/ index.php?activity=Historic%20Park [27]http://www.climate-zone.com/ www.climate-zone.com Places • Appalachian Development Highway System • Banner Elk, North Carolina • Blowing Rock, North Carolina • Boone, North Carolina • Corridor B • Iron Mountains • Joe O’Brien Field • Tennessee’s 1st congressional district • Northeast Tennessee Persons • William Gannaway Brownlow • Samuel Doak • Captain Daniel Ellis • Andrew Jackson • Daniel Morgan • John Sevier • Issac Shelby • Nancy Ward Events • Chickamauga Wars • Hollywood comes to Elizabethton - Delta Force 2: The Colombian Connection and Chuck Norris • Textile workers strike (1934) Other • A.Y. McDonald Manufacturing Company • Milligan College • Scottish Indian trade • State of Franklin External links General • City of Elizabethton official site • Johnson City MTPO - Elizabethton Bike and Pedestrian Trails • Elizabethton at the Open Directory Project • Tour Elizabethton Historical • London Gazette: no. 11166, p. 1, 30 July 1771. Retrieved on 2007-11-26. (The Battle of Alamance) • The Wataugans - The Official Outdoor Drama of the State of Tennessee • Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail - National Park Service. • Sycamore Shoals State Park - Tennessee Park Service. • The Overmountain Victory Trail Association. • "Robert "King" Carter of Corotoman (1663-1732)". Historic Christ Church. Lancaster County, Virginia. • National Register of Historical Places - TENNESSEE (TN), Carter County. • The Generals of the American Civil War - Pictures of Samuel Powhatan Carter • Elizabethton Rayon Plant Strikes, 1929. Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture. • Ramsey’s Annals of Tennessee to the End of the Eighteenth Century (1853) - 2007 full text edition • Bonnie Kate Theatre Educational • Northeast State Technical Community College at Elizabethton. • Elizabethton City Schools. • Elizabethton High School. • T.A. Dugger Junior High School. • Elizabethton/Carter County Public Library. • Cy Crumley ET&WNC Photo Collection • Railroads. The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture. Other • Northeast Tennessee Tourism Association - Online Visitor’s Guide • YouTube: ’The Dam On Down’. Elizabethton, Tennessee Longboarding at the TVA Watauga Dam overlook. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Elizabethton, Tennessee 11 • Photos and Information about Stoney Creek, Tn. • Photos of Elizabethton, Carter County, Tn. (excellent web site) • The Elizabethton Star • Tri-Cities Regional Airport (commercial and cargo). • Elizabethton, Tennessee is at coordinates 36°20′11″N 82°14′21″W / 36.336527°N 82.239038°W / 36.336527; -82.239038 (Elizabethton, Tennessee)Coordinates: 36°20′11″N 82°14′21″W / 36.336527°N 82.239038°W / 36.336527; -82.239038 (Elizabethton, Tennessee) Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabethton,_Tennessee" Categories: Carter County, Tennessee, Cities in Tennessee, County seats in Tennessee, Early American land companies, Johnson City metropolitan area, North Carolina in the American Revolution, Tennessee in the American Revolution This page was last modified on 9 May 2009, at 20:47 (UTC). All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.) Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a U.S. registered 501(c)(3) tax- deductible nonprofit charity. 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