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Putnam County, Tennessee

Historic newspapers, landmarks, and county history layers for genealogists and local historians.

—newspaper titles
—digitized titles
16historic places
—earliest paper
1842formed
79,854pop. 2020
87cemeteries
—CW battlefields

At a glance

Summary

The National Register of Historic Places includes 16 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1979. Most listings are in or near Cookeville, Buffalo Valley, Algood.

Summary generated automatically from the source data on this page.

Newspapers

Library of Congress

Newspaper directory data for Tennessee is not yet loaded on this site. Browse Putnam titles at the Library of Congress.

National Register of Historic Places

NPS NRHP

8 of 16 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.

16 listed properties
PropertyCityTypeListed
Algood Methodist ChurchAlgoodBuilding1979
Arcade, TheCookevilleBuilding1979
Broad Street Church of ChristCookevilleBuilding2002
Buffalo Valley SchoolBuffalo ValleyBuilding2006
Burgess Falls Hydroelectric StationCookevilleDistrict1990
Cookeville Railroad DepotCookevilleBuilding1985
Cowen FarmsteadBuffalo ValleyDistrict2005
First Presbyterian ChurchCookevilleBuilding2010
Harding StudioCookevilleBuilding1992
Henderson HallCookevilleBuilding1985
John's PlaceCookevilleBuilding2011
Ralph’s Donut ShopCookevilleBuilding2025
Science Building, TheCookevilleBuilding2017
United States Post Office and Court HouseCookevilleBuilding2014
West End Church of Christ Silver PointSilver PointBuilding2007
White PlainsCookevilleBuilding2009

Source: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Property links open NRHP nomination files at the National Archives.

County formation

Newberry AHCB

Putnam was formed in 1842 (1842-02-02) from Fentress, Jackson, Overton, White.

PUTNAM created from FENTRESS, JACKSON, OVERTON, and WHITE.

Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

Population by decade

Census

Putnam County population from 1860 to 2020 (Census historical series).

80k44k8,5581860188019201940196020002020
1860188019001920194019501960198020002020
8,55811,50116,89022,23126,25029,86929,23647,69062,31579,854

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau historical county population (Forstall 1790–1990) and public-domain / CC0 county population series through 2020.

Cemeteries & historical places

USGS GNIS

87 cemeteries and 6 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.

Cemeteries — 80 of 87 listed
NameLatLon
Albert Dyer Cemetery36.16644-85.66303
Allison Cemetery36.19429-85.61914
Bartlett Cemetery36.22589-85.74081
Bartlett Graveyard36.12365-85.4432
Bockman Cemetery36.21261-85.76911
Bohannon Cemetery36.132-85.41997
Bohannon Cemetery36.13311-85.43275
Boyd Cemetery36.17333-85.75756
Brotherton Cemetery36.19006-85.37413
Bryant Cemetery36.18139-85.67238
Buck Cemetery36.15505-85.45386
Buck Cemetery36.15533-85.45386
Buck Cemetery36.16172-85.4408
Buck Cemetery36.17394-85.52303
Burton Cemetery36.17617-85.44636
Burton Cemetery36.18039-85.77013
Byers Cemetery36.19829-85.59907
Campbell Cemetery36.18402-85.73454
Carlen Cemetery36.07482-85.75875
Choate Cemetery36.19396-85.49454
Cooke Cemetery36.14861-85.61526
Cowan Cemetery36.21711-85.77652
Crouse Cemetery36.07061-85.37191
Davis Cemetery36.12778-85.50079
Double Springs Cemetery36.172-85.59081
Dyer Cemetery36.20269-85.56111
Edmond Cemetery36.17729-85.68814
Elrod Cemetery36.18309-85.70337
Glade Creek Cemetery36.00478-85.27108
Gullet Cemetery36.17728-85.38469
Harris Cemetery36.1245-85.6047
Helms Cemetery36.17978-85.68053
Henry Cemetery36.11283-85.31719
Huddleston Cemetery36.18033-85.75803
Hughes Cemetery36.18067-85.74037
James F Boyd Cemetery36.16117-85.6522
Jared Cemetery36.14638-85.74724
Judd Cemetery36.08978-85.64053
Lafever Cemetery36.08976-85.75799
Lee Cemetery36.15506-85.38191
Leftwich Cemetery36.15899-85.74374
Lyles Cemetery36.21912-85.41575
Maddux Cemetery36.13957-85.77464
Maddux Cemetery36.16376-85.68736
Marlow Cemetery36.18488-85.67909
Mathis Cemetery36.18344-85.70632
Maxwell Cemetery36.14172-85.62942
McBroom Cemetery36.19013-85.61434
McKinley Cemetery36.18103-85.7813
McReynolds Cemetery36.18637-85.66449
Nash Cemetery36.06894-85.63386
Nichols Cemetery36.17801-85.68229
Norris Cemetery36.24547-85.45321
Odd Fellows Cemetery36.15429-85.62707
Pearson Cemetery36.20644-85.48719
Phillips Cemetery36.21294-85.45654
Phy Cemetery36.20931-85.47318
Pippin Cemetery36.22171-85.56415
Quarles Cemetery36.17672-85.4458
Quarles Cemetery36.21509-85.54096
Robinson Cemetery36.16307-85.72757
Robinson Cemetery36.22907-85.41045
Rockwell Cemetery36.15811-85.42191
Rodgers Cemetery36.19297-85.67483
Rogers Cemetery36.22422-85.73831
Shaver Cemetery36.13839-85.16218
Skimiehan Cemetery36.19745-85.62933
Sloan Cemetery36.137-85.42969
Smellage Cemetery36.12783-85.6997
Smyrna Cemetery36.2095-85.51025
Stamps Cemetery36.18117-85.34969
Stanton Cemetery36.20274-85.723
Stewart Cemetery36.13367-85.6697
Stewart Cemetery36.13728-85.57386
Terry Cemetery36.13339-85.17607
Tucker Cemetery36.11617-85.75887
Wallace Cemetery36.10831-85.75472
Warren Cemetery36.27385-85.46468
Welch Memorial Cemetery36.15251-85.25616
West Cemetery36.11283-85.52831
Historical populated places — 6 of 6
NameLatLon
Avoton36.28256-85.48442
Hudsonburg36.1334-85.11524
Marchbanks36.21173-85.41664
Peekville36.10062-85.48081
Pekin36.18145-85.75693
Selby36.22923-85.47664

Source: USGS Geographic Names Information System (public domain). Cemeteries from the 2021 NationalFile archive; historical places from GNIS HistoricalFeatures topical extract.

Historical markers

HMdb link

Marker text and photos from the Historical Marker Database (HMdb) are not embedded here. HMdb allows non-commercial reuse with attribution, but commercial/compensated use needs written permission; this is a commercial site, so we only link out.

Search HMdb for Putnam County, Tennessee

Terms: hmdb.org/copyright.asp. Linking is encouraged by HMdb.