4 Discover Cocke County 2021
Cocke County’s History
Although Cocke County’s formal establishment came in 1797, a year after Tennessee entered the Union, settlers had entered the area over twenty years earlier, clearing land, plowing fields, and building homes. Portions of Greene and Jefferson Counties were cut away to create the new county, named for Sen. William Cocke, a Revolutionary War veteran who eventually served in the governments of four states: Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Mississippi. Native Americans, of course, were the first human residents of the county, and many proofs of their residency continue to be unearthed each year during spring plowing in the form of arrowheads and bits of pottery. Circumstantial evidence also points to Spanish explorer Hernando Desoto’s party have passed through the area. White trappers and hunters began making their way into the area by the mid-eighteenth century. By the 1770s and
1780s more folks came and settled permanently. Many of these were Revolutionary War veterans who received bounty land here in payment for the military service. The earliest settlements, quite naturally, were along the three county’s three rivers: French Broad, Pigeon, and Nolichucky. Several forts, including Bell’s Station, Whitson, Huff, Wood, McKay, and Swagerty, were erected as safe havens from Indian attacks. Today, Swagerty Blockhouse, standing alongside Old. Hwy. 321 north of Parrottsville, is the only remnant of these structures remaining. Legend accords John Gilliland the honor of planting the first corn crop in the county “at the mouth of the Big Pigeon River.” This spot is now known as the Fork Farm. Gilliland also gave fifty acres of land to establish a county seat alongside the French Broad River at what we call “Old Town.” Continue on page 5
