🎸Tennessee

The Volunteer State

Tennessee stretches from the Appalachian Mountains in the east to the Mississippi River in the west — three grand divisions (East, Middle, West) reflected even on the state flag's three stars. It is the home of country music (Nashville), blues (Memphis), Jack Daniel's whiskey, Dolly Parton, and Elvis Presley's Graceland. Tennessee tied Missouri as the state bordering the most others — eight.

The Volunteer State

Tennessee earned its nickname during the War of 1812, when volunteer Tennessee soldiers played a decisive role in General Andrew Jackson's victory at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. Tennesseans volunteered again in huge numbers for the Mexican-American War of 1846 — 30,000 volunteered for the state's 2,800-man quota. The nickname stuck.

Three Grand Divisions

Tennessee is officially divided into three Grand Divisions: East Tennessee (mountainous, historically pro-Union and Republican), Middle Tennessee (rolling Nashville Basin, traditionally Democratic), and West Tennessee (Mississippi Delta cotton country, traditionally Democratic). The state flag's three stars represent the three divisions bound together in a circle. Tennessee seceded from the Union in 1861 but was the first state readmitted after the war, in 1866.

Music Capitals

Memphis is the birthplace of Elvis Presley's rock and roll and a center of blues music. Sun Records, at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, recorded Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and B.B. King in its early years. Nashville has been Country Music City since the Grand Ole Opry radio show began broadcasting from WSM in 1925. The Opry is still going, now at Opryland.

The Great Smokies and the TVA

Great Smoky Mountains National Park on the Tennessee-North Carolina border is the most visited national park in the United States — more than 12 million visitors a year. The Tennessee Valley Authority, established in 1933 during the New Deal, built a network of dams across the Tennessee River that brought electricity, flood control, and economic development to one of the poorest regions of the country.

Tennessee Facts

• Tennessee ties Missouri as the state bordering the most others — eight.
• Three U.S. presidents were from Tennessee: Andrew Jackson (7th), James K. Polk (11th), and Andrew Johnson (17th).
• The Jack Daniel's distillery in Lynchburg sits in a dry county — the county bans the sale of alcohol.
• Coca-Cola was first bottled in Chattanooga in 1899.
• The state has three official state songs plus one state bicentennial rap.

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