Isolation and integration in Upper East Tennessee, 1780-1860: The historical origins of Appalachian characterizations.

Abstract

This dissertation examines the role played by isolation and integration in the early characterization of an Appalachian Mountain region and its residents. Upper East Tennessee, located in the physiographically-extreme northeastern tip of the state, had geographic, economic, and cultural ties with the rest of the United States during the years between the American Revolution and the Civil War. Nevertheless, the physical setting created difficulties in communication, government, and trade which tended to isolate some of the residents. The settlement, development, and characterization of upper East Tennessee can be described with the metaphor of running water. From first settlement, the "main stream" flowed in the more open valleys to the west, while smaller "rivulets" branched off into the steeper mountains by the 1830s. Although these "rivulets" never became stagnant "pools," a perceptual separation developed between these "rivulets" and the "main stream." Chapter 1 examines the battle of King's Mountain in 1780 and the subsequent independent state of Franklin, testing against local evidence the early characterizations of and perceptions held by the mountain residents. Chapter 2 describes the road network developed by the Washington County court; by 1800, roads centered on the more open valleys while few routes crossed the more mountainous areas. Chapter 3 focuses on the region's economic ties, how residents came to see themselves as falling behind other areas, and the implications of their continued residence in the mountains. Chapter 4 describes the constant population turnover in Washington County. Some residents, however, began to move into the most remote areas and they, rather than the more accessible townspeople, may have become the subject of Appalachian characterizations generally. Chapter 5 suggests the process: town residents, as advocates of the East Tennessee and Virginia Rail Road in the 1850s, characterized the more remote non-supporters in ways which implied backwardness and led to local perceptions of difference. Popular writers did not actually visit the most remote areas. Instead, they talked with the more accessible townspeople, tapped into recently-formed local perceptions, and created an image of Appalachia that has persisted ever since.