"This district is located in the most northeastern section of the county and state. The area is one of the very districts that has not had its boundaries changed since the county was organized in 1836.

"The district begins about three miles north of Mountain City. It joins Ashe Co., NC and continues northeast to the top of Pond Mountain where the states of Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia join. It is reported that Peter Jefferson and his survey crew were the first white men in this area. They had been commissioned by the British Parliament to survey the line between North Carolina and Virginia in 1749. At an elevation of nearly 5,000 feet you see Grayson Co., VA and White Top Mountain.

"The survey party ceased operation somewhere in the vicinity of a place they named Steep Rock. They concluded this was as far in the wilderness as anyone would ever live. This was before the arrival of Daniel Boone in this area in 1769. In 1779 the states of North Carolina and Virginia ordered the line be extended farther into the wilderness. The old markings are now obliterated by bad weather and timber cutting. Thus, the line was surveyed at least two miles too far to the south. As a result, there was established a no mans land in the area. People refused to pay taxes or serve military duty for either state.

"After Tennessee became a state in 1796, a group of commissioners met in 1801 to settle the boundary line. Once again they could not determine the exact state line. (In 1856 the state met and tried again to establish the line.) The survey was unsatisfactory to Virginia and nothing more was done because of the Civil War. In late 1800s a compromise on the state line was met after court battles and the U.S. Supreme Court directed that it be done by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer Surveyors, shortly after 1900. The troubles of the states lines were settled and the district boundaries remain as they were 150 years ago."

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Johnson County Welcome Center - Located on Highway 421 just south of Mountain City, it is a beautiful 10,000 square foot log building. In addition to the museum and visitor information center, it is home for the Chamber of Commerce, the Tourism Committee, and the Johnson County Historical Society. On display are artifacts, farm implements, household items and clothing belonging to some of the early residents here.

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"Nestled amid the Stone Mountain on the southeast, the Doe Mountain on the northwest and the Iron and Holston Mountains on the northeast lies Roan Creek Valley, which is the focal point of the 4th district of Johnson County. The fertile soil lends itself to diversified farming, limited only by the length of the growing season, which is usually about 140 days.

"An item of interest that is unique to the 4th district is that one of the oldest roads in the county is located here. The road crosses Stone Mountain and comes down to the Mill Creek area. It is called Locust Gap Road on the Tennessee side of the state line, but on the North Carolina side it is the Star Gap Road. Although the road is rough, it is reported to be passable, even now. That road predates the Zionville-Shouns road. The Methodist Bishop Asbury, in his journal, tells of coming across the mountain via that route. Daniel Boone may have traveled that route at times, but his main route into Kentucky was most likely through what is now the areas of Zionville, Trade, Shouns and Mountain City and along the Laurel Creek toward Abingdon."

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What had once been a bustling railroad and trading center, "OLD BUTLER" was named for Col. Roderick Random Butler, a lawyer and senator from MOUNTAIN CITY. Enon Seminary was founded and became Holly Springs in 1882; it was sold to the Baptists in 1902 and became Watauga Academy in 1906. Among the graduates of the Academy was Congressman B. Carroll Reece who fought the construction of Watauga Dam and the destruction of Butler for many years. The large McQueen farm three miles from the old town was purchased for "NEW BUTLER" which was laid out with the help of TVA. The 130 families displaced from old Butler were among the 75,000 Tennessee residents who gave up their old homes and way of life for the long term economic benefits brought by TVA projects was covered with water when the last of the TVA Dam and lake projects was completed in 1948.

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"This 12-square mile spot once known as Did, Tennessee and Crandull, Tennessee is surrounded by the Holston, Cross and Iron Mountains with Beaverdam Creek running through the center of the valley and remains a beautiful site.

"The history of the Valley is told by the arrow heads left by the Indians and by a few reminders of the mining and lumber industry days. Trappers and hunters invaded the Valley in the late 1700s as they searched for bear, deer, turkey, beaver and other game to provide meat for their table and fur and skin for their trading. The first white man to settle in Shady is impossible to name; however, deed records at the Sullivan County Court House, Blountville provide some logical Clues. On April 5, 1787, Benjamin Brown bought land on the waters of Beaverdam Creek, joining land owned by a John Grindstaff.

"It has been reported that Shady Valley was once the capitol of the state of Tennessee. "The Capitol of the state was established here by the legislature and remained here overnight..." While Shady may boast about the shortest rein as a state capitol, it may also boast about having the shortest tunnel--the Backbone Rock. In 1901 the Virginia-Carolina Railroad Company made the tunnel through the rock to lay their railroad tracks. The tunnel is 14 feet long and is on State Highway 133."

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James Needham led an exploration party from Fort Henry, Virginia through the TRADE area on a well used Indian trail in 1673. An old buffalo trail between Snake and Rich Mountains and three wilderness paths come together at what was first called TRADE GAP (later called TRADING GROUNDS and then simply TRADE) making the location a popular trading ground for Indians, frontiersmen and area settlers. Among them were Julius Caesar Dugger, Andrew Greer and Daniel Boone hunted and explored the area between 1761 and 1769. His trips brought him through Trade, Shouns Crossroads, and Laurel Bloomery. Daniel Boone used the same route through TRADE on his famous trailblazing trip to Kentucky in 1769. By 1790 a community with a country store, blacksmith shop and a number of cabins had grown up. For years TRADE was a staging area for movement to the "new west". TRADE is located 10 miles southeast of Mountain City on Highway 421, next to the North Carolina state line. Its past is celebrated at the annual three days TRADE days in June.

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Pamela R. Cresswell

Copyright © 1999 Mary Floy Katzman