Pre-history - Tennessee’s earliest residents were
the prehistoric Mound Builders. The Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek and Shawnee
inhabited the region when DeSoto first explored it in 1540.
1673 - James Needham and Gabriel Arthur of England explore the
Tennessee River Valley.
1769 - William Bean, the first permanent white settler, builds a cabin on
the Watauga River in northeast Tennessee. New settlers begin to come into the
area from Virginia and North Carolina.
1772 - A group of settlers form their own government called the Watauga
Association. They draw up one of the first written constitutions in North
America. In 1772, the Watauga Association at
Sycamore Shoals, near Elizabethton, was the first group of European
settlers to draft a constitution on American soil. The association’s
formation marked the first attempt by Americans at complete
self-government.
1775 - The Transylvania Company buys a large piece of land from the
Cherokees. Daniel Boone, working for the company, blazes a trail from Virginia
across the mountain at Cumberland Gap to open the land to settlement. His trail
is called the Wilderness Road and becomes the main route to the new settlements.
The settlers on both the Watauga and Nolichucky Rivers purchased great
acreages of land from the Cherokee Indians, comprising almost all the six
upper counties of the present Tennessee (then within North Carolina). Desiring their own government, these settlers petitioned the Provincial
Council of North Carolina to be annexed as an official entity.
1777 - Washington County was created by Act of North
Carolina as one of six counties on the western frontier in what later became
the State of Tennessee. It was the first county west of the mountains.
1779 - Jonesborough is the oldest town in Tennessee, established
seventeen years before Tennessee was granted statehood. It was established by
the General Assembly of North Carolina as the county seat of Washington County. It was named after North Carolina legislator Willie Jones,
who supported North Carolina's westward expansion over the Appalachian
Mountains.
The first meeting to decide the location of the new courthouse was at the
home of Charles Robertson, and it was decided that John Carter, Andrew Greer,
William Cobb, Jacob Womack, George Russell, John Sevier and James Stuart would
lay out the plans and location of the new courthouse. One hundred acres was
purchased from David Hughes and laid out into lots for the Town of Jonesborough. The lots were offered in lottery.
1780 - The British were overrunning the Carolinas. Washington County
volunteers had long been involved in protecting the south. The "Over- mountain men" gathered at Sycamore Shoals on the Watauga River on
September 25th to march over the Great Smokey Mountains. Led by John Sevier, they help to defeat
the British at the Battle of King's Mountain on October 7th. The victory
proves to be a major turning point in the war. Robert Sevier, brother of Col.
John Sevier, was mortally wounded in the battle and never had a chance to claim
his property in the town of Jonesborough. Scots-Irish Covenanters settle
in the Tennessee Valley, naming their town Greeneville for Revolutionary War
general Nathaniel Greene.
1784 - Prior to Tennessee statehood, the east Tennessee region
almost became the State of Franklin. After Jonesborough was founded, a group of
citizens from this and the surrounding area (then a part of the Western District
of North Carolina) felt they were not represented fairly nor protected by their
state leaders. On December 14, 1784, delegates from these areas convened in
Jonesborough to approve the formation of a new state, the State of Franklin,
named after one of the great leaders of the American Revolution, Benjamin
Franklin. This new state ensured citizens could create their own laws and elect
their own leaders. Jonesborough served as the capital of Franklin until a new
capital was established in nearby Greeneville. John Sevier,
one of the most influential leaders in the development of
Franklin, was elected its first governor in March, 1785.
Franklin functioned as the nation’s fourteenth state until
1788, but was never recognized by Congress. After many
negotiations and skirmishes which climaxed in the Battle of
the State of Franklin, North Carolina once again reclaimed
the lands. Today, the State of Franklin is often remembered
as the “Lost State of Franklin”.
1786 - Davy Crockett, “King of the Wild Frontier,” was not
“born on a mountaintop in Tennessee” as the famous song says. In
actuality, he was born on the banks of Limestone Creek near Greeneville in
1786. A replica of the Crockett's log cabin stands at the site today.
1788 -
President Jackson was no stranger to Jonesborough. A
self-taught lawyer and young man of 20 years, Jackson had been
working in Salisbury, North Carolina, when the opportunity arose
for him to travel to the western lands and help open court on the
Cumberland (now Nashville). Jackson came to Jonesborough in 1788
to await a caravan to travel westward since traveling alone
through Native American territory was dangerous. Jackson stayed in
Jonesborough for nearly five months waiting for enough travelers
to fill a caravan before traveling to the Cumberland to work as a
public prosecutor. While in Jonesborough, he took the oath of
office to practice law in the western district of North Carolina
and served as an attorney in Jonesborough. He lodged at a
two-story log home owned by Christopher Taylor. Taylor had been
sent to Jonesborough by the state of North Carolina to help
protect the residents from Indian attacks. Though small by today’s
standards, Taylor thought his two-room home had enough space to
accommodate boarders, his wife, and their 13 children. The 1788
Christopher Taylor Home, Jonesborough’s oldest building, has since
been restored and moved to Main Street’s Historic District.
1789 - When North Carolina ratified the new US Constitution in 1789, it
ceded its western counties to the federal government and Jonesborough was placed
under a territorial government, The Territory of the United States South of the River
Ohio. William Blount was its first and only governor.
1796 - Tennessee adopts a constitution on February 6th in preparation for
statehood - Andrew Jackson helps to draw it up. Tennessee becomes a state on
June 1st, the 16th state. John Sevier is elected the first governor. The total
population of Tennessee is 77,000. Tennessee’s first constitution
provided for universal male suffrage, including free blacks, prompting
Thomas Jefferson to call it the “the least imperfect and most republican”
of any state. The first local post office was established in 1796
with John Waddell as postmaster.
1797 - The Chester Inn is the oldest building original to
Jonesborough’s commercial district. William Chester, a medical doctor,
constructed the building in 1797 to capitalize on those traveling through
Jonesborough on the Great Stage Road. Now fully restored, the wooden frame
building is owned by the State of Tennessee. Many famous guests stayed at the Chester Inn
during its successful days of operation as an inn including Presidents
Andrew Jackson, Andrew Johnson and James K. Polk. It is reported that
during Andrew Jackson’s stay, he helped fight a nearby fire while wearing
only his nightshirt.
1797 - The History of the Eureka Inn - In the spring of 1797 Robert Mitchell and his wife Harriett purchased from
the town of Jonesborough lot #19 located at the corner of Main Street and First
Avenue. The property was sold to him under the stipulation that a dwelling be
constructed to meet the standards required for a property located on Main
Street. This two story dwelling was built on a stone foundation. Logs were used
for floor joist. The dwelling was of mortise and tennon frame. The interior
surfaces were wide plank walls, floors, and ceilings. Four fireplaces provided
heat. The exterior was covered with clapboard and the roof was shake shingles.
1800 - Around 1800 a post route was started and mail was carried by
horseback twice a week. Increasing demands of passenger travel and mail
delivery resulted in more stage lines which increased from once a week in 1825
to three times a week in 1834.
1820 - Jonesborough is often considered to be the center of the abolitionist
movement within the states that would join the Confederacy during the American
Civil War. The Emancipator, published and funded by Quaker Elihu Embree,
began circulation on April 30, 1820 from the town of
Jonesborough and was printed in Jacob Howard’s print shop. The Emancipator
was the first periodical dedicated exclusively to the issue of the abolition
of slavery. While Tennessee would later join the Confederacy, most East
Tennesseans had Union leanings, which is perhaps not surprising given the fact
that East Tennessee was not suited to large-scale agricultural production, such
as cotton, and very few people in the region other than the very wealthy owned
slaves. Jacob Howard’s print shop, now destroyed, stood on the corner of Main
Street and First Avenue in Jonesborough’s Historic District.
1834 - According to the 1834 Tennessee Gazetteer, in 1833 Jonesborough
"contained a population of about 500 inhabitants; eleven lawyers, four
physicians, two clergymen, two churches, two academies, four schools, one
printing office, four carpenters, three cabinet makers, two bricklayers, one
blacksmith, four taverns, two hatters, four tailors, four shoemakers, one
silversmith, two wagon makers and one mill." The town experienced a boom
during the early 1840s when many of the existing Federal style brick structures
were built.
1849 -
Dr. Samuel Cunningham, another resident of Jonesborough, was
an internationally known physician and surgeon of the 18th
century. He was self-taught, practicing medicine long before
being licensed. Dr. Cunningham built his house on Main
Street where it still stands today. Though a well-published
writer and skilled surgeon, he was interested in bringing
the new and efficient railroad transportation system to
Jonesborough. Dr. Cunningham put his medical practice on
hold for 10 years to bring the railroad to Jonesborough,
serving as president of the East Tennessee and Virginia
Railroad from 1849 to 1859. Cunningham and 29 other men,
called “The Immortal Thirty”, put their own personal
properties up for collateral in order to bring the railroad
to town. After retiring from the railroad, Dr. Cunningham
returned to practicing medicine.
1851 - The History of the Eureka Inn - William Henry Maxwell purchased the property. He then added a
two-story addition, consisting of one large room on each level. The room on the
first level was built as an elegant parlor with an arched entrance on one end
and a fireplace on the other. The room on the second floor, a very large
bedroom, would later become famous in Jonesborough as the "Jury Room." The
courthouse located at the other end of the block would use this room to
sequester a jury of twelve men and a guard. This practice went on for a period
of about fifty years. This took place during that period of history when only
men could serve on a jury.
1869 - The History of the Eureka Inn - Laura Gosnell purchased the property from Mr. Maxwell. For the
remainder of the 19th century the property would operate as a private residence
and boarding house.
1900 - The History of the Eureka Inn - Peter Miller and his wife
Harriett purchased this property. Mr.
Miller was a man of vision. He appreciated the Greek Revival style of the
building and he knew that it was the absolutely perfect location for a hotel,
being in the center of everything. The Millers obviously put a great deal of thought into their plan for this
hotel. The finished product was beautiful. They added two story additions to the
east and south ends of the inn. They also added three beautiful porches on of
which is a second story porch spanning the entire length of the front of the
Inn. This porch covered the town's brick walkway passing below. A beautiful new
standing seam metal roof was installed, replacing the wooden shingles on the old
section and covering the new additions. The blending of the additions were so
perfect that to the untrained eye the hotel appeared to have been built all at
the same time. When all the decorating was completed the Miller opened for business as the
Eureka Hotel.
