Tribal wars proximity script3/12/2024 In July, 1776, members of that tribe invaded the white settlements in Tennessee causing hundreds to flee into Washington County and residents to shut themselves up in a number of forts. They travelled along what was usually called the Great Road or the Philadelphia Road, now Interstate Highway 81.ĭuring the American Revolution, most people in the area supported the rebellion however, their main concern was the Overhill Cherokee who lived in East Tennessee. Others had come from a number of other locations almost all in Protestant northern Europe. A large percentage of them were of Scotch-Irish and German stock. ![]() Most of the early settlers lived in America a generation or more before moving down the Valley of Virginia from Pennsylvania. Only in 1769 did permanent settlement begin. Some settlers lived on these lands in the 1750s but fled because of the French and Indian War (1754-1763). The first report of his being in the area was in 1761. Despite a wide spread belief, Daniel Boone had nothing to do with the naming of the Wolf Hill Tract. Best known of these was the Wolf Hill Tract which was surveyed first in 1750 and is now the town of Abingdon. Both included areas in Washington County and some property was measured as early as 1847. Thus, the colony gave away huge amounts of land, one known as the Patton Grant which included 100,000 acres and the other the Loyal Company Grant, better known as the Walker Grant, which consisted of 800,000 acres. Next the royal government of Virginia encouraged settlement in the West in order to create a buffer zone between the more settled regions and the Native Americans. The written evidence is convincing however, no archaeological proof has yet been found. Hernando Moyana reported a four day trip from Joara, in Burke County NC, to attack an Indian village at Maniatique which, from all indications, was Saltville. The Spanish were apparently the first Europeans to enter the county. Many artifacts have been found, some of which are highly sophisticated. Evidence of pre-historic Indian villages have been found throughout the county especially along the three branches of the Holston River however, when settlers began to move in, no natives lived in the area which appears to have been contested by the Shawnee tribe to the north and the Cherokee to the south. Some spears have been dated to 10,000 years ago while evidence of humans cooking and eating a mastodon near Plasterco could have been 14,500 years before the present. ![]() Post cards once proclaimed that Abingdon was the second healthiest town in the country although that would have been hard to prove.Īrchaeological excavations have shown that the county was inhabited by Native Americans at a very early period. In the days before air conditioning, people visited the county during the hottest months such as the Roosevelts of New York and students enrolled in local schools and colleges from distant points. Most communities in the county are about 2,000 feet above sea level which resulted in it being known for its healthful climate as opposed to the lowlands in the South where communicable disease raged most summers. In the 19 th and 20 th centuries, the rushing waters provided power for fulling (beating and cleaning of cloth in water), grist, and saw mills which could be found all over the county. The Middle and South Forks join in Washington County and since the completion of the South Holston Dam by the Tennessee Valley Authority in 1950 have been impounded in its reservoir. The county contains many creeks and three rivers - the North Fork, Middle Fork, and South Fork of the Holston River. Clinch Mountain which separates Washington from Russell County rises to 3-4,000 feet while White Top Mountain on the Grayson County border is over a mile high. ![]() The valleys in the county have excellent farmland while forests cover the higher hills and mountains. Washington County lies in the Ridge and Valley area of Appalachia region which begins in Alabama and extends to southwest Pennsylvania.
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