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Smith County, Tennessee

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

—newspaper titles
—digitized titles
13historic places
—earliest paper
1799formed
19,904pop. 2020
61cemeteries
1CW battlefields

At a glance

Summary

The National Register of Historic Places includes 13 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1973. Most listings are in or near Carthage, Dixon Springs, Elmwood.

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 Smith titles at the Library of Congress.

National Register of Historic Places

NPS NRHP

6 of 13 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.

13 listed properties
PropertyCityTypeListed
Battery Knob EarthworksCarthageSite2003
Bradley, James, HouseDixon SpringsBuilding1978
Carthage United Methodist ChurchCarthageBuilding1985
Cullum MansionCarthageBuilding1983
Davis-Hull HouseCarthageBuilding1983
Dixon Springs DistrictDixon SpringsDistrict1975
DixonaDixon SpringsBuilding1973
Fite-Williams-Ligon HouseCarthageBuilding2003
Fortified Town at the Mouth of Dixon Creek-Beasley MoundsDixon SpringsSite2010
Hull, Cordell, BridgeCarthageStructure2009
Moss MoundsElmwoodSite2015
Rome FerryRomeSite1986
Smith County CourthouseCarthageBuilding1979

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

County formation

Newberry AHCB

Smith was formed in 1799 (1799-10-26) from Sumner.

SMITH created from SUMNER.

Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

Population by decade

Census

Smith County population from 1800 to 2020 (Census historical series).

21k13k4,29418001840188019101920196020002020
1800182018401860188019001920194019501960198020002020
4,29417,58021,17916,35717,79919,02617,13416,14814,09812,05914,93517,71219,904

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

61 cemeteries and 2 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.

Cemeteries — 61 of 61 listed
NameLatLon
Alexander Cemetery36.35486-86.05481
Baird Cemetery36.18088-85.98193
Baird Memorial Cemetery36.14172-85.94832
Barnett Cemetery36.2331-86.09332
Bates Cemetery36.23283-85.82323
Bennett Cemetery36.12802-85.88332
Bethlehem Cemetery36.20411-86.09356
Bradford Cemetery36.19366-85.99637
Bradleys Cemetery36.29949-86.05471
Bransford Cemetery36.16922-85.98776
Brush Creek Cemetery36.12394-86.03054
Cage Cemetery36.30032-86.03721
Cato Cemetery36.27116-86.07221
Coffee Cemetery36.18838-85.93165
Cowan Cemetery36.16157-85.88705
Davis Cemetery36.13449-86.03165
Davis Cemetery36.32942-86.0237
Denny Cemetery36.17366-86.01193
Dickens Cemetery36.23716-85.8443
Dixon Springs Cemetery36.35504-86.04593
Driver Cemetery36.11234-85.94607
Ducktown Cemetery36.18116-85.98054
Dukes Cemetery36.34477-85.89942
Enoch Cemetery36.22394-86.06248
Fisher Cemetery36.10644-85.89165
Frogpond - Friendship Cemetery36.39194-85.97333
Gibbs Cemetery36.22671-85.94859
Gordonsville Cemetery36.18338-85.93304
Grant Cemetery36.18431-86.07147
Gregory Cemetery36.41894-85.94915
Gualtney Cemetery36.12135-85.94075
Gwaltney Cemetery36.13937-85.93666
Harper Cemetery36.25505-86.04165
Heflin Cemetery36.12727-85.90332
Highers Cemetery36.22227-86.0561
House Cemetery36.17838-86.06387
James Cemetery36.16852-85.90573
Kennys Cemetery36.3031-86.05998
Kirby Cemetery36.28643-86.10776
Litchford Cemetery36.25032-86.08276
Litchford Cemetery36.25394-86.02498
Maceys Hill Cemetery36.37282-86.00609
Manners Cemetery36.15422-85.90609
Manning-Denton Cemetery36.25921-86.00443
McDonald Cemetery36.17672-85.96887
Moore Cemetery36.14449-85.98193
Moore Cemetery36.17116-86.0636
Nixon Cemetery36.11305-85.93652
Phillips Cemetery36.13505-86.0136
Porter Cemetery36.31199-86.00276
Preston Cemetery36.17616-85.92026
Pricnard Cemetery36.12616-85.86554
Rollins Cemetery36.17283-86.03804
Shaver Cemetery36.18448-86.071
Stewart Cemetery36.15061-85.8765
Stowe Cemetery36.28116-86.07109
Tuggle Cemetery36.20671-86.07832
Violet Cemetery36.26505-86.02582
Waggoner Cemetery36.23894-85.96998
Wilkerson Cemetery36.2031-85.99609
Winfree Cemetery36.20449-85.92998
Historical populated places — 2 of 2
NameLatLon
Maggarte36.25811-85.84415
Stone Bridge36.2545-85.87221

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

Civil War battlefields nearby

ABPP

American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) Civil War study areas near this county.

BattlefieldStudy acresDist.Site ID
Hartsville5,80126.7 kmTN008

Source: NPS American Battlefield Protection Program Civil War Study Areas (public ArcGIS feature service).

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 Smith County, Tennessee

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