White Co., TN
History
On September 11, 1806, an act of the Tennessee General Assembly created White County out of Smith and Jackson counties..The origin of the county name is in dispute. The county is officially and widely held to be named for John White (1751-1846), a Revolutionary War soldier, surveyor, and frontiersman who was the first known white settler of the area. White had moved his family to the Cumberland Mountains from Virginia in 1789. However, some historians instead suggest that the county was named for Revolutionary War General James White, founder of Knoxville.In 1840, White County became a destination for people from all over the country when Christopher Haufmann erected a large hotel on Bon Air Mountain, a part of the Cumberland Plateau. The hotel was located near some mineral springs as well as being at a high altitude, both thought to be health-bringing, and those with ailments came from far and wide to partake of the "cures" advertised by the resort. During this time, the Tennessee Supreme Court (including then-Judge Andrew Jackson) often met in Sparta, and the town was even considered by the Legislature as a potential site for the state capital, narrowly losing out to Nashville.