Mention the state of Tennessee, and we automatically think Nashville, Dollywood and the Great Smoky Mountains. However, unless you happen to have lived in the state, you’re probably unaware of a number of unusual facts associated with it.
The territory joined the Union as the 16th state on June 1, 1796, with a population of just 77,000. And it currently ranks 16th in population. The origin of its name remains unknown, although folklore usually attributes it to the Yuchi Indian work “Tana-see,” or “meeting place.”
Both first-time and repeat visitors have a choice of dozens of Tennessee attractions. Probably the most famous is Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry. According to 50states.com, it’s the longest continuously running live radio program in the world. The show has been broadcast every Friday and Saturday night since 1925. Bristol, however, has actually been dubbed the “Birthplace of Country Music.”
Grinders Switch, the fictitious hometown of Minnie Pearl, actually exists. It’s an entertainment complex in Centerville, her real hometown. And Henning, author Alex Haley’s childhood home, is the first state-owned historic site in Tennessee devoted to African Americans. Graceland, the second-most-visited house in the United States, is the former Memphis home of Elvis Presley. The Dolly Parton Parkway takes visitors to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This is the most-visited national park in the U.S. and was named after the smoky blue haze that often covers the mountains.
Visitors will want to stop to see the capitol building in Nashville, which was designed by famous architect William Strickland. He died while it was being built and is actually buried within its walls. Another Nashville landmark is Centennial Park, which is the site of a replica of the Parthenon.
The Lost Sea in Sweetwater has been named the largest underground lake in the country by the Guinness Book of World Records. With more than 3,800 documented caves, Tennessee is a great place for outdoor adventurers. The Ocoee River is among the top white water recreational rivers in the United States and served as the site for the 1996 Olympic white water canoe/kayak competition.
For lovers of winter sports, the Ober Gatlinburg Ski Resort features the world’s largest artificial skiing surface. The Tennessee Aquarium is considered the largest facility of its type to focus on a fresh-water habitat. It has 7,000 animals and 300 types of fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals.
Although legend says famous frontiersman Davy Crockett was born on a Tennessee mountaintop, he hailed from an area on the banks of Limestone Creek near Greenville. Visitors can find a replica of his log cabin there today.
Residents of Tennessee are sometimes called Butternuts. This term was first used to refer to Tennessee soldiers during the Civil War due to the tan fabric of their uniforms. Tennessee was the last state to secede from the Union but the first state to be readmitted after the war. Memphis became a major port on the Mississippi River due to the cultivation and sale of cotton. The Memphis Cotton Exchange still handles around a third of each year’s U.S. cotton crop.
Tennessee was nicknamed The Volunteer State during the War of 1812 because of the bravery of volunteer soldiers during the Battle of New Orleans.
The state has quite a few “firsts” and “mosts” in its history. The city of Kingston served as state capital for just one day in 1807. The first American winner of the English Derby was Iroquois, in 1881. The horse was bred at Belle Meade Plantation in Nashville and serves as the beginning of a bloodline of many modern thoroughbreds, including the great Secretariat. Today Shelby County has more horses per capita than any other county in the nation.
Knoxville resident and entertainer Polly Bergen was the first women to serve on the Board of the Singer Sewing Machine Company. Former U.S. President Andrew Johnson managed to hold every elective office available at the local, state and federal level.
Tennessee provided more National Guardsmen for deployment during the Gulf War than any other state. Greenville boasts the only monument in the U.S. honoring both the Union and the Confederate armies.
The largest earthquake in the country’s history occurred in the northwestern part of the state during the winter of 1811-1812. Because Oak Ridge was associated with the development of the atomic bomb, today it’s known as the Energy Capital of the World. The South’s purported first African-American millionaire, Robert R. Church, Sr., hails from Memphis.
Sequoya, a Cherokee silversmith, was the only individual in history to single-handedly develop an alphabet. This resulted in the first written language of a Native American people. Downtown Chattanooga marks the place where Coca-Cola was first bottled, in 1899.
Tennessee claims a number of other famous Americans. Among them are writers James Agee, Nikki Giovanni and Carl Rowan. Sgt. Alvin York, the World War I hero played in the movie by the same name by Gary Cooper, was from Pall Mall. The state has also been home to entertainers Eddy Arnold, Chet Atkins, Lester Flatt, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Morgan Freeman and Aretha Franklin. Also calling it home were Isaac Hayes, Barbara Howar, Sandra Locke, Dina Shore and Tina Turner. Tennessee also gave us jurist Abe Fortas, former Vice President Al Gore, Jr., legislator Estes Kefauver and runner Wilma Rudolph.
Reference:
- 50states.com web site
