Anderson County has reinvented itself again and again.

Founded in 1801 and named for U.S. Senator Joseph Anderson, the county began as part of Tennessee's frontier landscape of ridges, valleys, rivers, and scattered settlements. Over the next two centuries, it would become the setting for some of the most remarkable chapters in Tennessee history.

This is a county where Unionists resisted secession during the Civil War. It is a county where coal miners took up arms against Tennessee's convict leasing system during the Coal Creek War. It is home to Fraterville, the site of one of the deadliest mining disasters in American history. It is a county where an old farmer named John Hendrix reportedly foresaw dramatic changes that would later transform the region.

Then came the twentieth century.

The Tennessee Valley Authority reshaped the landscape through Norris Dam and Norris Lake. Entire communities were displaced. Farms, roads, and family homes disappeared beneath the waters of a new reservoir.

Only a few years later, the federal government returned.

This time it came with fences, guards, secrecy, and a mission that would change the world.

The Manhattan Project transformed a rural portion of Anderson County into Oak Ridge, the Secret City, where thousands of workers helped usher in the Atomic Age.

Yet the story of Anderson County did not end there.

The county would later become the site of another chapter in American history as students, families, and community leaders found themselves at the center of the struggle over school integration through the stories of the Clinton 12 and the Scarboro 85.

From frontier settlements to coal camps, from Norris Dam to Oak Ridge, from Civil War Unionism to the Civil Rights Movement, Anderson County's history is ultimately the story of a place repeatedly transformed by forces larger than itself.

This is the story of Anderson County, Tennessee.

Key Sources

Tennessee Encyclopedia

The Historical Marker Database (HMDB) — Anderson County historical markers

Interpretive materials at the Oak Ridge History Museum

Interpretive materials at the American Museum of Science and Energy (AMSE)

Interpretive materials at Norris Dam

Interpretive materials at the Green McAdoo Cultural Center

On-site research and field observations conducted in Clinton, Oak Ridge, Scarboro, Norris, Fraterville, Briceville, Rocky Top, Miner's Circle, and the Elza Gate area

Credits

Hosted by Big John Summers

Produced by Summers Media Enterprises

Foley/Sound effect recordings by Big John Summers

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Love what you're hearing? Hate what you're hearing? Either way, we'd love to hear what you think!

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