Blount County, Tennessee facts for kids

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Blount County

U.S. county

Blount County Courthouse in Maryville

Flag

Seal

Location within the U.S. state of Tennessee

Tennessee's location within the U.S.

Country

United States

State

Tennessee

Founded

1795

Largest city

Maryville

Area

• Total

567 sq mi (1,470 km²)

• Land

559 sq mi (1,450 km²)

• Water

7.8 sq mi (20 km²) 1.4%%

Population

(2020)

• Total

135,280

• Estimate

(2023)

141,456

• Density

238.59/sq mi (92.12/km²)

Time zone

UTC−5 (Eastern)

• Summer (DST)

UTC−4 (EDT)

Congressional district

2nd

Blount County is a county located in the East Tennessee Grand Division of the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, its population was 135,280. The county seat is Maryville, which is also the county's largest city. Blount County is included in the Knoxville metropolitan area.

History

What is today Blount County was for many thousands of years Indian territory, passed down to the Cherokee tribe that claimed the land upon the arrival of White settlers in the late 18th century. Shortly thereafter, on July 11, 1795, Blount County became the 10th county established in Tennessee, when the Territorial Legislature voted to split adjacent Knox and Jefferson Counties. The new county was named for the governor of the Southwest Territory, William Blount, and its county seat, Maryville, was named for his wife Mary Grainger Blount. This establishment, however, did little to settle the differences between White immigrants and Cherokee natives, which was, for the most part, not accomplished until an 1819 treaty.

Like a majority of East Tennessee counties, Blount County was opposed to secession on the eve of the Civil War. In Tennessee's Ordinance of Secession referendum on June 8, 1861, Blount Countians voted against secession by a margin of 1,766 to 414. Residents of pro-Union Cades Cove and pro-Confederate Hazel Creek (on the other side of the mountains in North Carolina) regularly launched raids against one another during the war.

Throughout its history, the boundaries of Blount County have been altered numerous times, most notably in 1870, when a large swath of western Blount was split into Loudon and portions of other counties. Also, the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1936, while not affecting the legal boundaries of Blount County, has significantly impacted the use of southeastern Blount County.

Blount County has been served by The Daily Times, currently published in Maryville, since 1883.

On July 2, 2015, a freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed. About 5,000 residents were displaced from their homes within a two-mile (three-kilometer) radius.

Geography

Chilhowee Mountain in winter

Lakefront subdivisions along the Tennessee River shoreline in Louisville

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 567 square miles (1,470 km²), of which 7.8 square miles (20 km²) (1.4%) are covered by water.

The southern part of Blount County is part of the Great Smoky Mountains, and is protected by the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The crest of the range forms the county's border with Swain County, North Carolina, and includes Blount's highest point, 5,527-foot (1,685 m) Thunderhead Mountain, and the 4,949-foot (1,508 m) Gregory Bald, a prominent grassy bald. The northern part of the county is part of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians. The geologic boundary between the Blue Ridge (which includes the Smokies) and Ridge-and-Valley provinces runs along Chilhowee Mountain, a long and narrow ridge that stretches across the central part of the county. Much of Blount's topography is characterized by elongate ridges and rolling hills— known locally as "The Foothills"— which emanate outward from the Smokies range.

The mountainous southern portion of Blount County is dotted by relatively isolated valleys known as Appalachian coves. The best known of these valleys, Cades Cove, is one of the most visited sections of the national park, and is noted for the remnants of the Appalachian community that occupied the cove prior to the park's formation, as well as an abundance of wildlife, especially white-tailed deer. Tuckaleechee Cove is occupied by the city of Townsend, and Millers Cove is occupied by the community of Walland. This part of the county is also home to two large caves: Tuckaleechee Caverns, a popular show cave, and Bull Cave, which at 924 feet (282 m), is the deepest in Tennessee.

The Tennessee River forms part of Blount's border with Knox County to the northwest. This section of the Tennessee is part of Fort Loudoun Lake, an artificial lake created by the Tennessee Valley Authority. The Little Tennessee River, a tributary of the Tennessee, forms part of Blount's southern border with Monroe County, and includes three artificial lakes: Tellico, Chilhowee, and Calderwood (two others, Cheoah and Fontana, are located just upstream in North Carolina). Little River, another tributary of the Tennessee, flows northward from deep within the Smokies and traverses the central part of the county. The river's confluence with its Middle Prong forms a popular swimming area known as the "Townsend Wye", which is located just inside the park south of Townsend.

Geographical features

Adjacent counties

Knox County, Tennessee - north
Sevier County, Tennessee - east
Swain County, North Carolina - southeast
Graham County, North Carolina - south
Monroe County, Tennessee - southwest
Loudon County, Tennessee - west

National protected areas

Appalachian Trail (part)
Foothills Parkway (part)
Great Smoky Mountains National Park (part)

State protected areas

Foothills Wildlife Management Area
Sam Houston Schoolhouse (state historic site)
Kyker Bottoms Refuge
Tellico Lake Wildlife Management Area (part)
Whites Mill Refuge

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.	%±
1800	5,587	—
1810	12,098	116.5%
1820	11,258	−6.9%
1830	11,028	−2.0%
1840	11,745	6.5%
1850	12,424	5.8%
1860	13,270	6.8%
1870	14,237	7.3%
1880	15,985	12.3%
1890	17,589	10.0%
1900	19,206	9.2%
1910	20,809	8.3%
1920	28,800	38.4%
1930	33,989	18.0%
1940	41,116	21.0%
1950	54,691	33.0%
1960	57,525	5.2%
1970	63,744	10.8%
1980	77,700	21.9%
1990	85,969	10.6%
2000	105,823	23.1%
2010	123,010	16.2%
2020	135,280	10.0%
2023 (est.)	141,456	15.0%
U.S. Decennial Census 1790-1960 1900-1990 1990-2000 2010-2020

Age pyramid Blount County

2020 census

Blount County racial composition
Race	Number	Percentage
White (non-Hispanic)	117,952	87.19%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic)	3,552	2.63%
Native American	339	0.25%
Asian	1,280	0.95%
Pacific Islander	23	0.02%
Other/mixed	6,425	4.75%
Hispanic or Latino	5,709	4.22%

As of the 2020 United States census, 135,280 people, 50,813 households, and 35,299 families were residing in the county.

Economy

Most of the early European-American settlers were of little means; they were subsistence farmers throughout the early years of the county's establishment. The first industry to make its mark on Blount County, as in other neighboring counties, was that of lumber.

It was the massive development of this industry in the mountains of east Blount that, in part, led to the creation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It includes the southeastern portion of the county. Today, manufacturing has replaced lumber in importance, with over 100 manufacturing plants located in the county.

Denso Manufacturing Tennessee Inc., a division of Denso Global, is the county's largest employer, with about 3,000 employees.

Education

Wilson Center at Maryville College

Public schools in Blount County are part of the Blount County Schools system, with the exception of schools in the cities of Maryville and Alcoa, both of which operate separate, independent school systems. Private schools located in the county include Maryville Christian School and Clayton-Bradley STEM school.

Blount County is home to two postsecondary educational institutions: Maryville College, a Presbyterian-related, liberal-arts college, founded in 1819 in downtown Maryville, and a satellite campus of Knoxville-based Pellissippi State Community College, referred to as Pellissippi State Community College, or PSCC, Blount County Campus.

Transportation

Paratransit

Blount County is served by the East Tennessee Human Resource Agency's Public Transit system. ETHRA operates in about 16 counties in eastern Tennessee, and is headquartered in the nearby city of Loudon. The service offers residents of any of the counties covered by ETHRA door-to-door pickup transportation across its service area by request only. ETHRA provides a large variety of services in Blount County and other parts of East Tennessee.

Airports

TYS - McGhee Tyson Airport

Highways

Interstate highways
- Interstate 140 (Pellissippi Parkway)
U.S. highways
- US Route 129 (Airport Hwy, Alcoa Hwy, Hwy 411 South and Calderwood Hwy)
- US Route 321 (Lamar Alexander Pkwy and Wears Valley Road)
- US Route 411 (Broadway Ave and Sevierville Road)
- US Route 441 (Chapman Highway)
State highways
- Tennessee State Route 33 (Old Knoxville Hwy, Broadway Ave and Hwy 411 South)
- Tennessee State Route 35 (Sevierville Road, Washington Street and North Hall Road)
- Tennessee State Route 72
- Tennessee State Route 73 (Lamar Alexander Pkwy & Wears Valley Road)
- Tennessee State Route 115 (Airport Hwy, Alcoa Hwy, Hwy 411 South and Calderwood Hwy)
- Tennessee State Route 162 (Pellissippi Parkway)
Secondary Routes
- Tennessee State Route 71 (Chapman Highway)
- Tennessee State Route 73 Scenic (Lamar Alexander Pkwy and Little River Road)
- Tennessee State Route 333 (Topside Road, Louisville Road, Quarry Rd and Miser Station Road)
- Tennessee State Route 334 (Louisville Road)
- Tennessee State Route 335 (William Blount Drive, Hunt Road and Old Glory Road)
- Tennessee State Route 336 (Montvale Road, Six Mile Road and Brick Mill Road)
- Tennessee State Route 429 (Airbase Road)
- Tennessee State Route 446 (Foothills Mall Drive)
- Tennessee State Route 447
US Park Service Roads
- Foothills Parkway
- Little River Road
- Laurel Creek Road
- Cades Cove Loop Road

Parks

In addition to the federally operated Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which draws many visitors to the county each year, Blount County operates numerous smaller community parks and recreation centers, primarily in the cities of Alcoa and Maryville. Some of these facilities include:

Amerine Park (Maryville)
Bassell Courts (Alcoa)
Bicentennial Greenbelt Park (Maryville)
Eagleton Park (Maryville)
Everett Athletic Complex (Maryville)
Everett Park/Everett Senior Center (Maryville)
Howe Street Park (Alcoa)
Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center (Alcoa)
Louisville Point Park (Louisville)
Oldfield Mini Park (Alcoa)
Pearson Springs Park (Maryville)
Pole Climbers Athletic Fields (Alcoa)
Rock Garden Park (Alcoa)
Sandy Springs Park (Maryville)
John Sevier Park/Pool (Maryville)
Springbrook Park/Pool (Alcoa)
Richard Williams Park (Alcoa)

An integral part of keeping the parks and other parts of Blount County beautiful is the organization called Keep Blount Beautiful. This organization works in coordination with other companies including The City of Alcoa Residential Recycling Pick Up Service and Blount County HGS Trash and Recycling Same Day Residential Pick Up Service, as well as many other recycling resources in Blount County, to work towards the community goals of reducing air, water, and land pollution in order to reduce particulate matter and smog, and to improve the overall health of local parks and preserved ecosystems in Blount County, as well as surrounding areas, of East Tennessee. These organizations and companies are appreciated by thousands of East Tennesseans due to their honorable work in the Blount County community.

Communities

Map of Blount County, Tennessee showing cities, CDPs, and census county divisions.