Tennessee's land history is uniquely frustrating for researchers.
The western portion of the state was considered Public Lands by the federal government, which granted land there using the township/range system of measurement and survey.
The middle and eastern portions of the state were surveyed using the Metes & Bounds system. Click here to read a very good description at the TNGenweb Project site.
Direct Line Software has an excellent overview of Tennessee Land Research on its Web site. Click here to read the article.