The county was established by an Act of the Tennessee General Assembly on October 9, 1797, from a part of Jefferson County. It was named after William Cocke who was one of the state’s first Senators. Located within the Appalachian and the Great Smoky Mountains, it had difficult conditions for early settlers. Cocke county was originally pro-Union on the eve of the Civil War due to the vote against secession. The county has a total area of 443 square miles with population count of 35,774 residents.
Coffee County was formed in 1836 from parts of Bedford, Warren, and Franklin counties. It was named for John Coffee who was a prominent planter, land speculator, and militia officer. The county is known for its farmland with twelve farms located within the county however, all farms are under Century Farms. With a total area of 435 square miles, the county also has a population count of 55,700 residents.
Crockett County was formed in 1871 from portions of Haywood, Madison, Dyer, and Gibson counties. It is named in honor of David “Davy” Crockett who lived from 1786 to 1836. Crockett was a frontier humorist, soldier, Tennessee state legislator, U.S. congressman, and defender of the Alamo. The county is located in the western part of the state and has a total area of 266 square miles to go along with a population count of 14,328 residents.
Davidson County is the oldest county in the 41-county region of Middle Tennessee. It dates to 1783, shortly after the end of the American Revolution, when it was named in honor of William Lee Davidson, a North Carolina general who was killed opposing the crossing of the Catawba River by British forces on February 1, 1781. The county seat, Nashville was founded by James Robertson and John Donelson during the winter of 1779 through 1780 and the waning days of the Revolutionary War. With a total area of 526 square miles, it has a polation count of 694,144 residents.
DeKalb County was formed in 1837 from land in Cannon, Warren, and White counties. The county was created by the General Assembly of Tennessee on December 2, 1837, and was named for Revolutionary War hero Major General Johann de Kalb. With the county seat being Smithville, it has a total area of 329 square miles to go with a population count of 18,723 residents.
October 25, 1803, the Tennessee General Assembly passed a bill creating Dickson County, the 25th of Tennessee’s 95 counties. It was formed from parts of Montgomery and Robertson Counties and was named for William Dickson who was a Nashville physician then serving in the United States Congress. Dickson never lived in the county however, his relatives were prominent in the counties’ early development. With a total area of 491 square miles, it also has a population count of almost 54,000 residents.
Dyer County was founded by a Private Act of Tennessee that was passed on October 16, 1823. The area was part of the territory in Tennessee that was previously legally recognized as belonging to the Chickasaw Native Americans as “Indian Lands”. The county was named for Robert Henry Dyer who lived from 1774 to 1826. Dyer had been an army officer in the Creek War, War of 1812, and a cavalry colonel in the First Seminole War of 1818 before becoming a state senator. He was instrumental in the formation of the counties of Dyer and Madison. The county has a total area of 527 square miles and a population count of 37,320 residents.
Fayette County was established by the Tennessee General Assembly in 1824 from the neighboring counties of Shelby and Hardeman. The same year, Somerville was selected as its county seat. The county is named was named after Marquis de Lafayette who was a French aristocrat and officer who fought in the American Revolutionary War. With the county having a total area of 706 square miles, it also has a population count of 40,507 residents calling the county home.
Gibson County is located in what was known as “Indian Land” which was a territory that was legally occupied by Chickasaw Native American people. The county was established by a private act on October 21, 1823, and was named in honor of Colonel John H. Gibson who had died earlier that year. Gibson was a native of Bedford County, Tennessee who was commissioned Lieutenant in the Tennessee Militia. The county has a total area of 604 square miles and a population count of 49,045 residents.
After the United States became independent, Greene County was formed in 1783 from the original Washington County located in North Carolina. The county is named after Major General Nathanael Greene who lived from 1742 to 1786 and was a major general in the Continental Army. The county has a total area of 624 square miles with a population count of 69,087 residents.
