A Day Away By Mike Steely
Maybe my interest in curious East Tennessee town names is because I’m from a little town with an unusual name. I was born in Jellico, Tennessee, an 1880s coal mining and railroad hub on the Kentucky border. I found that the name comes from the angelica plant that early settlers were said to use as a tea substitute and not from the similarly-named Tellico, which was derived from the Cherokee name for that place.
I’ve been all over our region, and I’m always curious as to how places got their names. I’ve written on place names before and continue to discover how or why places were named.
Take Friendsville and Friends Station, for instance, both named for the Quaker Society of Friends, and both settled by those progressive-minded Christians.
Petros is best known for Brushy Mountain Prison, now a tourist attraction and the former home of many murderers, including James Earl Ray, who murdered Dr. Martin Luther King. But the name “Petros” apparently comes from Peter Peroulas, a Greek immigrant who operated a general store in that former coal mining community.
Ten Mile, between Sweetwater and Spring City, is named for Ten Mile Creek, said to be ten miles long. It was formerly called “Ten Mile Stand,” a pioneer term for a roadside tavern or inn.
Vonore was formerly Upton Station, and the name comes from the German word von, meaning of, and ore for the mining that took place there.
Tuckahoe is a name that pops up across the nation and Knox County’s community gets its name from the Native American word for the starchy root arrow arum or is also translated as “it is round.”
Knox County’s Karns community was formerly Beaver Ridge and is named for the first Knox County Schools Superintendent, Thomas Conner Karns.
Niota was the hometown of Harry T. Burn, the state legislator who changed his mind and voted in favor of women voting. His one vote ratified the law in the state and also the U. S. Constitution amendment. The town’s name was originally Mouse Creek or Mossy Creek, and “Niota” was taken from a fictional Native American Chief in a dime novel, “Nee-o-tah.”
Ooltewah, just north of Chattanooga, was formerly the county seat of the former James County and may have got its name from the Cherokee word “ultiwa” meaning principal ground or water town. It could also have come from a translation of “Owls Nest.” Chattanooga, by the way, gets its name from the Creek or Cherokee word meaning “rock coming to a point,” referring to Lookout Mountain.
Bulls Gap gets its name from an early settler and popular gun maker, John Bull.
