SULLIVAN COUNTY

A spot along the Holston River today
County Seat: Blountville
Kingsport is the largest city in Sullivan County. And how did it get its name? Simple. The Holston River is wide enough to be navigable for small, wooden flatboats. In the days before roads and railroads, one of the best ways to migrate west was to board a flatboat on the Holston River and ride it downstream (the Holson eventually flows into the Tennessee River, which flows into the Ohio River). Many people left this area to migrate west -- the most famous being the Donelson Party.
The Holston River about where Fort Patrick Henry once stood
A few years later a man named William King started a business near the site of Fort Patrick Henry that built boats and sold them to people who wanted to migrate west. With the fort abandoned, King became so well known that the community was named for him. Originally known as Kings Port, it was later shortened to Kingsport.

However, if you come to Kingsport looking for Fort Patrick Henry, or a replica of it, you will look in vain. The former site of the fort is now part of Eastman Chemical Company's Tennessee operations.
Rocky Mount isn't really located on a mountain. But it does have a lot of ROCKS, as you can see.
Another story: Imagine how you’d feel if they made your home the state capital! Well, it has happened before.

 

Before Tennessee became a state, it was part of the Southwest Territory. The appointed governor of the Southwest Territory was William Blount, and for two years (1790-1792), Blount operated from the private homestead of a man named William Cobb. Cobb's homestead was called Rocky Mount and was located in present-day Sullivan County. Today Rocky Mount is open to the public and contains a living history museum.



As you can see, it was raining the day we took a picture of the Sullivan County Courthouse.

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