Jefferson County has many "claims to fame." Some of them are listed here.

Artifact in the Smithsonian Institution

Idol from Strawberry Plains, Tennessee

"One of the most valuable objects in the Museum is a stone image, 20 inches long, weighing 37 pounds 4 ounces, discovered in a cave near Strawberry Plains, 16 miles east of Knoxville, Tennessee. This relic consists of crystalline limestone, the fracture of which can be seen at the back of the head where the figure seems to have been detached from the rock out of which it was sculptured. This is undoubtedly among the best sculptures thus far discovered in the United States, and compares favorably with kindred sculptures of Mexico or Central America."

Terminus of the Great Warrior Path

Site of the Treaty of Dumplin in 1785

Site of Davy Crockett and Polly Findley/Finley's marriage in 1806

Dandridge, Tennessee's second-oldest town

Samuel McSpadden, powder maker who produced and transported gunpowder to Andrew Jackson in New Orleans and helped secure victory in the Battle of New Orleans in 1814

First branch of the Tennessee Manumission Society formed at Lost Creek Friend's Meeting House, 1815

Site of important Civil War battles and activity during Longstreet's Knoxville campaign

Home of John Roper Branner, president of the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia Railroad

Home of Lawson D. Franklin, Tennessee's first millionaire

Birthplace of renowned geologist John Casper Branner, long-time faculty member and second president (1913-1915) of Stanford University (California)

Residence of Frances Hodgson Burnett, author of Little Lord Fauntleroy, The Secret Garden, and other Victorian novels

New Market Train Wreck, 1904

Site of Bush Brothers Cannery, home of "Bush's Best Baked Beans" and Duke

Residence of award-winning educator and Fulbright Scholar Louise McBee, Ph.D.

Home of beloved journalist Bert Vincent, a member of the Tennessee Newspaper Hall of Fame

Site of two Tennessee Valley Authority dams

Hometown of Mark Dean, IBM Fellow and Member of the Inventor's Hall of Fame, without whose work you would not be reading this!

Hometown of Carolyn Peck, award-winning women's basketball coach at the university and WNBA levels; coached Purdue University women to NCAA championship and named "Coach of the Year" in 1999; ESPN on-air commentator

Hometown of Joe Shands, award-winning advertising producer, director, and copywriter who worked on such projects as Got Milk?

Location of Lucas Francis Studio, which produces special effects and proprs for movies and television, including the film Terminator 2: Judgement Day.

If you have anything to add to this page, please contact Billie R. McNamara. E-mail link is on the Contacts page.