History - In Depth
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European settlers first inhabited the Carter County region in the late 1760s. Among these early settlers was William Bean, who owned a farm approximately eight miles west of what is now Sycamore Shoals of the Watauga River, James Robertson, and Valentine Sevier Sr., the father of John Sevier. In the early 1770s, John Carter, a notable Revolutionary War patriot and father of Landon Carter, established a plantation just north of present-day Elizabethton.

In 1772, these settlers along the Watauga River (commonly referred to as "Overmountain Men" because of their deliberate defiance of a British mandate restricting them from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains) established the Watauga Association, the first majority-rule system of American Government. This "constitution" outlined the organization of government, which consisted of a court made up of five elected magistrates. This court conducted government business, overseeing all executive, judicial, and legislative matters. The first five commissioners are unknown, but speculation holds that the court was made up of some combination of John Carter (who was likely the first chairman), James Robertson, Charles Robertson, Zachariah Isbell, John Sevier and Jacob Brown.

For about two years, general peace and order prevailed in the Watauga Settlement, before lawlessness and Indian attacks disrupted the peace of the community. In 1775, land speculator Richard Henderson met with Cherokee leaders at Sycamore Shoals to negotiate the Transylvania Purchase, the largest private land deal in American History. In this exchange, Henderson and the settlers gained ownership of 20 million acres of land or, in other words, "all the lands of the Cumberland Watershed and extending to the Kentucky River."

Shortly thereafter, the Overmountain Men took an interest in the American Revolution. In fact, the year 1780 brought one of the defining moments of Carter Countians and led to the general acceptance of Tennessee's nickname, "The Volunteer State."

On September 25, 1,100 Overmountain Men gathered at Sycamore Shoals before embarking on a two-week trek to King's Mountain, South Carolina, to take on Major Patrick Ferguson and the Tory Militia. Despite no orders, formal military training, uniforms or provisions, against the supposedly superior forces, the patriots (in just one hour) totally decimated Ferguson's Royalists, with every last one of them either dead or taken prisoner. The major himself was killed in the battle, which is considered to be a major turning point in the war, and ultimately ensured an American Victory. Today, the Sycamore Shoals State Historic Area preserves the Overmountain Men's muster ground, as well as other key historical places, including the shoals, the reconstructed Fort Watauga, and the Carter Mansion.

In 1796, the area became known officially as Carter County, named in honor of Landon Carter, son of John Carter and prominent statesman. The county seat, Elizabethton, was named after Carter's wife, Elizabeth.

Elizabethton remained a small, rural village until the industrial age.

In 1882, the Doe River Covered Bridge was built, allowing for commercial and residential expansion. Educational opportunities increased with the establishment of institutions for higher learning like Milligan College, just southwest of the town.

In 1886, two leading Carter County politicians competing for the state's governorship, Robert Love Taylor and Alfred A. Taylor, waged the famous "War of the Roses."

The arrival of the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad in the late 1880s marked the beginning of Carter County's modern history. Access to the new method of transportation brought the county's first major industry, Line and Twine, in 1892. When German capitalists located the Bemberg and Glanzstoff rayon plants just outside of Elizabethton in the mid-1920s, the region was propelled headfirst into the industrial age.

Another significant development in Carter County's modern history was the TVA's construction of Watauga Dam and Lake in the 1940s. Covering nearly 6,500 acres of Carter County, the lake was completed in 1948.

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