Nameless, Tennessee facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Nameless, Tennessee
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Nameless, Tennessee
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 Nameless, Tennessee
Location in Tennessee
Nameless, Tennessee
Location in the United States
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| Country | United States |
| State | Tennessee |
| County | Jackson |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (Central (CST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| GNIS feature ID | 1295209 |
Nameless is a small community in Jackson County, Tennessee, USA. It's called an "unincorporated community" because it doesn't have its own local government like a city or town.
The Story Behind the Name
Nameless has a very unusual name, and many writers have been interested in how it got its name. There are a few different stories about it!
How the Post Office Got its Name
One story says that when people in the community tried to get a post office (a place where you send and receive mail), they left the name part of the application blank. The U.S. Post Office Department (the government group in charge of mail) supposedly sent the application back with "Nameless" stamped on it!
Another story comes from a book called Blue Highways: A Journey Into America by William Least Heat-Moon. He wrote that the people living there decided the community should be "nameless." One person supposedly said, "This here’s a nameless place if I ever seen one, so leave it be."
A third story appeared in a local newspaper in 1933. It said that an official wanted to name the post office "Morgan" after a county lawyer named George Morgan. But the Post Office Department said no. This might have been because the name "Morgan" was linked to a Confederate Army General, John Hunt Morgan, from the American Civil War. After his first choice was rejected, the official reportedly wrote back saying if his first name couldn't be used, he preferred the post office to be nameless.
The Nameless post office opened in 1866 and closed in 1909.
Life in Nameless
At its busiest time, about 250 people lived in Nameless. Besides the post office, it had a school and some stores. The school had two rooms and taught students from kindergarten through eighth grade until the 1960s. Today, the old J.T. Watts General Merchandise Store is a museum where you can learn about the community's past.
Nameless in Pop Culture
Nameless is mentioned in a song called "My Dark Life" by the musician Elvis Costello. This song is on his album Extreme Honey. It also mentions two other places with unusual names: Ugly, Texas, and Peculiar, Missouri.
The band Old Crow Medicine Show also has a song called "Nameless, TN" on their album Jubilee.
