Sullivan County · History
The first capital.
Frontier roots. Three presidents. One county.
Where Tennessee government began, and where America's frontier story still lives.
Three presidents walked here. The Southwest Territory was governed from a Piney Flats homestead. The Cherokee held Long Island sacred. Sullivan County's heritage isn't a museum behind glass, it's a working farm, a stagecoach inn still standing, a 1779 courthouse town. Walk the same ground that frontier governors, soldiers, and Cherokee diplomats walked.
The places · 6
Where to go
- Piney Flats
Rocky Mount State Historic Site
Where Tennessee government began
Visit - Kingsport
Long Island of the Holston
Sacred Cherokee ground at the birthplace of treaties
Visit - Blountville
Old Deery Inn
Where three presidents slept on the frontier road
Visit - Kingsport
Exchange Place
1850s living history on the Great Stage Road
Visit - Blountville
Sullivan County Courthouse
Justice in Tennessee's historic county seat
Visit - Bluff City
Holston Heritage Museum
Preserving the stories of the Holston River valley
Visit
On the calendar
What's on
- Jun8
Frontier Adventure Day Camp
Rocky Mount State Historic Site
- Jun20
Lecture: Three Presidents and the Great Stage Road
Rocky Mount State Historic Site
- Jul4
Colonial Independence Day at Rocky Mount
Rocky Mount State Historic Site
- Aug15
Lecture: Women of the Frontier, Barsheba Cobb and Her World
Rocky Mount State Historic Site
Where it is
On the map
Make it real
Plan a history trip
Save these places, share with your travel partner, use it offline.