JOHNSON COUNTY

County Seat: Mountain City
Johnson County contains Butler, which is know as the "town that wouldn't drown." The story of Butler, which was flooded by the Tennessee Valley Authority when Watauga Lake was created in the late 1940s, is wonderfully told at a small museum. Click here for a virtual tour of it.

Johnson County also contains the unincorporated community of Trade, which claims to be both the easternmost community in Tennessee and the oldest community of Tennessee. As you can see from this map, there isn't any doubt about the first claim. As for the second, Trade got its name from the fact that this was being used as a trading post for Native Americans and North Carolina settlers in the mid 1700s.

Every June, Trade celebrates its heritage with a festival that includes Appalachian arts and crafts and a Native American Pow Wow. Looks like fun, doesn't it?

Finally, Johnson County is one of seven east Tennessee counties that contains parts of the Appalachian Trail, which runs 2,175 miles through Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia. There are people who have hiked the ENTIRE Appalachian Trail; it takes about four to six months.

And here's a picture of the Johnson County Courthouse.