Cumberland County was formed in 1856 from parts of Bledsoe, Roane, Morgan, Fentress, Rhea, Putnam, Overton, and White. During the Civil War, the county was nearly evenly split between those supporting the Union and those supporting the Confederacy. In 1787, the North Carolina legislature ordered widening and improvements to Avery’s Trace, the trail that ran from North Carolina through Knoxville and what is now Cumberland County to Nashville, Tennessee.

They raised funds by a lottery and completed a project that built a wagon road. This slightly improved travel, but still required a bone jarring trip. The road was often muddy and crossed stone slabs so that it was only passable in some places on foot. Reportedly wagons could not get down the steep grade at Spencer’s Mountain without locking brakes on all wheels and dragging a tree behind to slow the descent. The mountain top was described as “quite denuded of trees.”

Cumberland County Courthouse Cumberland County Courthouse

2 N Main Street #203 Crossville, TN 38555
(931) 484-6165