Tennessee Factoids (Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga: house, schools, university)

[LauraC]

More Tennessee Factoids:

Nashville just squeaked in as the state capital. Charlotte lost by only one vote in 1843.

Covington is the Blow Pop (lollipop with bubblegum center) Capital of The World. Charms factory is there.

Paris, TN has the world's larget replica (65 feet tall) of the Eiffel Tower.

Franklin, once called Frankland, applied for statehood back in the late 1700s.

While widening Highway 75 near Gray, construction workers found a 600 by 700 ft layer of fossils from the ice age. Bones came from crocodiles, tapirs, mastadons and a giant ground sloth.

In Elkmont in May, June and July near the campground, you can see a rare phenomenon - synchronized fireflies.

Great Smoky Mountain National Park is 800 square miles. The park's original charter forbids an admission charge. It gets about 10 million visitors per year.

Oak Ridge has the oldest performing symphony orchestra in the state.

Moon pies were invented in Chattanooga in 1919 but the Moon Pie Festival is celebrated in the village of Bell Buckle every June.

Williamson County is the wealthiest county in TN and it is among the Top 25 wealthiest counties in the country.

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by heathersmom

I love reading your information(factoids) about TN- keep up the good work! I look forward to reading some more!
Thanks for this service here are some more...

*Tennessee has more than 3,800 documented caves.
*There are more horses per capita in Shelby County than any other county in the United States
*Kevin Costner owns a home in Franklin TN
*Nashville has the highest concentration and deepest talent pool of musicians on the planet

AHA! It's Kevin Costner that's making that county the wealthiest in the state.

[AppalachianAngler]

East Tennessee, along with Middle Tennessee and West Tennessee, comprises one of the state's three Grand Divisions. According to the Tennessee State Constitution, no more than two of the state Tennessee Supreme Court's five justices can come from any one Grand Division. A similar rule applies to certain other commissions and boards as well, to prevent them from showing a geographic bias.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by AppalachianAngler

East Tennessee, along with Middle Tennessee and West Tennessee, comprises one of the state's three Grand Divisions. According to the Tennessee State Constitution, no more than two of the state Tennessee Supreme Court's five justices can come from any one Grand Division. A similar rule applies to certain other commissions and boards as well, to prevent them from showing a geographic bias.

And boy howdy, it's almost like having three different states. Memphis should probably be its own little country. haha

One thing that some people can't get right is the state flag. The three stars represent the three grand divisions, but none of the stars is supposed to be facing due north, south, east, or west on the flag to indicate that none of the grand divisions is more important than the others.

Population wise, in 2000 East Tennessee had the largest population, followed by Middle Tennessee and then West Tennessee. But by 2010 Middle Tennessee should surpass East Tennessee in population because of the booming ring counties around Nashville. Over all, East Tennessee is not growing very fast. West Tennessee is stagnant. The growth that's taking place in West Tennessee (Memphis suburbs) is occuring at the expense of other West Tennessee communities (such as Memphis).

You can see the 2000-2005 population shifts on a map here:
http://cber.bus.utk.edu/maps/tn00to05.jpg

[tnvolfan1971]

Greeneville was the home of President Andrew Johnson. He is also buried there. It is also the home of the Oldest College in the state. Tusculum College.
Seveirville is the home to Dolly Parton.
Tina Turner was born and raised in a town called Nutbush.
Oprah Winfrey's father lives and runs a barber shop in Nashville.

[AppalachianAngler]

Population wise, in 2000 East Tennessee had the largest population, followed by Middle Tennessee and then West Tennessee

It is really hard to imagine that East TN has the largest population. It has a ton of land, but is mainly rural. Are you sure on that? Even with Knoxville & Chattanooga, I don't think those combined even equal the pop. of Memphis.

I think a lot of the Memphis crowd is moving down below to North MS for cheaper taxes and lower cost of living. Nashville area is always growing.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by AppalachianAngler

It is really hard to imagine that East TN has the largest population. It has a ton of land, but is mainly rural. Are you sure on that? Even with Knoxville & Chattanooga, I don't think those combined even equal the pop. of Memphis.

I think a lot of the Memphis crowd is moving down below to North MS for cheaper taxes and lower cost of living. Nashville area is always growing.

Yeah, I did the calculations myself just to make sure. I was living in Memphis at the time. East Tennessee has three metropolitan areas of a half million people (Tri Cities has a larger population than Chattanooga). And in all of West Tennessee there's only one town with more than 20,000 people outside of Shelby County. Plus, look at the map I posted, you can see that West Tennessee has many counties that are losing population or are barely growing at all.

[tnvolfan1971]

Greeneville is also home to one of only 2 Federal Courthouse Buildings in the state.
Greeneville was also the capital of the Lost State of Franklin.
The battle at Shiloh is considered one of the bloodiest in the war.

[AppalachianAngler]

Originally Posted by JMT

Yeah, I did the calculations myself just to make sure. I was living in Memphis at the time. East Tennessee has three metropolitan areas of a half million people (Tri Cities has a larger population than Chattanooga). And in all of West Tennessee there's only one town with more than 20,000 people outside of Shelby County. Plus, look at the map I posted, you can see that West Tennessee has many counties that are losing population or are barely growing at all.

Yeah, I forgot about the tri-cities.

EDITED - Sorry, I just figured out that the one town with more than 20,000 would have to be Jackson. My fault.

[futureVol]

Although most people think that Nashville is the home of Country Music; the official birthplace of Country Music is Bristol, TN/VA. The original recordings were made there in 1921 by RCA at the Paramount Theatre I believe.