As early as 1540, non-Indian visitors from Spain had walked close by the Hamblen County area. In 1673, the English were represented by James Needham and Gabriel Arthur when they passed Hamblen County on their journey. In 1761, Lieutenant Henry Timberlake slept a restless night in DeLap Cave on the Holston River, having lost one of his two remaining rifles in the rolling river. Longhunters traveled the area in search of deerskins to sell for a "buck." Family stories remain of Daniel Boone's companions first seeing this area on their treks with the great frontiersman, and later returning to settle.

By 1780, matters had taken a change. The newcomers were now flooding in to look for a place to live. Typical of these were John Donelson's boat party, which passed down the nearby Holston. A journal entry describes their trials: Sunday, 27 February 1780. struck the Poor-valley shoal,-on which shoal we lay that afternoon and succeeding night in much distress. Monday. In the morning the water rising, we got off the shoal, after landing thirty persons to lighten our boat. In attempting to land on an island, received some damage and lost sundry articles, and came to camp on the south shore where we joined sundry other vessels also bound down. After the first settlement in Tennessee by 1769, a rapid movement westward occurred. Today's Hamblen County lay directly in the path of this expansion.

More Hamblen County History >>

Information taken from:
Hamblen County, Tennessee: A pictorial History
by Jim Claiborn and Bill Henderson
Copyright 1995