Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina to the east, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi to the south, Arkansas to the southwest, and Missouri to the northwest. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. According to the United States Census Bureau, the state's estimated population as of 2024 is 7.22 million.
Tennessee is geographically, culturally, and legally divided into three Grand Divisions of East, Middle, and West Tennessee. Nashville is the state's capital and largest city, and anchors its largest metropolitan area. Tennessee has diverse terrain and landforms, and from east to west, contains a mix of cultural features characteristic of Appalachia, the Upland South, and the Deep South. The Blue Ridge Mountains along the eastern border reach some of the highest elevations in eastern North America, and the Cumberland Plateau contains many scenic valleys and waterfalls. The central part of the state is marked by cavernous bedrock and irregular rolling hills, and level, fertile plains define West Tennessee. The state is twice bisected by the Tennessee River, and the Mississippi River forms its western border. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the nation's most visited national park, is in eastern Tennessee.
Tennessee is rooted in the Watauga Association, a 1772 frontier pact generally regarded as the first constitutional government west of the Appalachian Mountains. Its name derives from Tanasi (ᏔᎾᏏ), a Cherokee town preceding the first European American settlement. Tennessee was initially part of North Carolina, and later the Southwest Territory, before its admission to the Union as the 16th state on June 1, 1796. It earned the nickname "The Volunteer State" due to a strong tradition of military service. A slave state until the American Civil War, Tennessee was politically divided, with most of its western and middle parts supporting the Confederacy, and most of the eastern region harboring pro-Union sentiment. As a result, Tennessee was the last state to officially secede from the Union and join the Confederacy, and the first former Confederate state readmitted to the Union after the war had ended during the Reconstruction era. (Full article...)
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The Appalachian Trail, also called the A.T., is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost 2,200 miles (3,540 km) between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy claims the Appalachian Trail to be the world's longest hiking-only trail. More than three million people hike segments of it each year.
The trail was first proposed in 1921 and completed in 1937. Improvements and changes have continued since then. It became the Appalachian National Scenic Trail under the National Trails System Act of 1968. (Full article...)
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New Year's Eve, Old Crow Medicine Show at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN -December 2024 Old Crow Medicine Show is an Americana string band based in Nashville, Tennessee, that has been recording since 1998. They were inducted into the Grand Ole Opry on September 17, 2013. Their ninth album, Remedy, released in 2014, won the Grammy Award for Best Folk Album. The group's music has been called old-time, folk, and alternative country. Along with original songs, the band performs many pre-World War II blues and folk songs.
Bluegrass musician Doc Watson discovered the band while its members were busking outside a pharmacy in Boone, North Carolina, in 2000. With an old-time string sound fueled by punk rock energy, it has influenced acts like Mumford & Sons and contributed to a revival of banjo-picking string bands playing Americana music—leading to variations on it. (Full article...)
- History of Tennessee
- List of Tennessee state symbols
- Nashville, Tennessee
- List of governors of Tennessee
- Governor of Tennessee
- East Tennessee
- Middle Tennessee
- West Tennessee
- Knoxville, Tennessee
- Tennessee River
- Memphis, Tennessee
- Chattanooga, Tennessee
- Clarksville, Tennessee
- Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
- Cleveland, Tennessee
- Dolly Parton
- Tennessee State Guard
- University of Memphis
- Toqua (Tennessee)
- Great Smoky Mountains
- Great Smoky Mountains
- Interstate 40 in Tennessee
- Swaggerty Blockhouse
- Unicoi Mountains
- Old City, Knoxville
- Nashville Americans
- Valerie June
- Battle of Fort Donelson
- Battle of Fort Henry
- Collierville, Tennessee
- Vanderbilt University
- Tennessee whiskey
- Jack Daniel's
- Grand Ole Opry
- Battle of Nashville
- Nashville Superspeedway
- Johnny Cash
- Carl Perkins
- Tennessee Waltz
- Morristown, Tennessee
- Fainting goat
- Bessie Smith
- Cookeville, Tennessee
- Murfreesboro, Tennessee
- Bob Corker
- Edgar Evins State Park
- Graceland
- Bledsoe Creek State Park
- Dollywood
- Tennessee Valley Authority
- Black Patch Tobacco Wars
- Great Smoky Mountains National Park
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The following are images from various Tennessee-related articles on Wikipedia.
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Image 1Köppen climate types of Tennessee, using 1991–2020 climate normals. (from Tennessee)
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Image 2Chart showing poverty in Tennessee, by age and gender (red = female) (from Tennessee)
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Image 3Map of counties in Tennessee by racial plurality, per the 2020 U.S. census
Non-Hispanic White
50–60%
60–70%
70–80%
80–90%
90%+
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Black or African American
50–60%
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(from Tennessee)
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Image 4Memphis became known as the "Cotton Capital of the World" in the years following the Civil War (from Tennessee)
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Image 6Memphis International Airport, the hub of FedEx Corporation, is the busiest cargo airport in the world (from Tennessee)
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Image 7Al Gore served as a United States Senator from Tennessee (1985–1993) and as Vice President of the United States (1993–2001) (from Tennessee)
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Image 8Detail of Tanasi (spelled "Tennessee") on Henry Timberlake's Draught of the Cherokee Country (from Tennessee)
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Image 9John Bell (from History of Tennessee)
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Image 10The Grand Ole Opry, which was recorded in Nashville's Ryman Auditorium from 1943 to 1974, is the longest-running radio broadcast in US history. (from Tennessee)
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Image 11The Southwest Territory in 1790 (from Tennessee)
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Image 12A Nissan Leaf, one of six models manufactured at the Nissan Smyrna Assembly Plant, the largest automotive assembly plant in North America (from Tennessee)
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Image 13Offices of The Tennessean in Nashville (from Tennessee)
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Image 14A View of Memphis, Tennessee, 1871 (from History of Tennessee)
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Image 15Reconstruction of Fort Loudoun, the first British settlement in Tennessee (from Tennessee)
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Image 18Established in 1942, Oak Ridge National Laboratory is the largest national laboratory in the Department of Energy system (from Tennessee)
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Image 19Memphis became known as the "Cotton Capital of the World" in the years following the Civil War (from Tennessee)
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Image 20Surveyor Daniel Smith's "Map of the Tennassee State" (1796) (from Tennessee)
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Image 21The 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville (from Tennessee)
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Image 22Detail of Tanasi (spelled "Tennessee") on Henry Timberlake's Draught of the Cherokee Country (from Tennessee)
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Image 23A Nissan Leaf, one of six models manufactured at the Nissan Smyrna Assembly Plant, the largest automotive assembly plant in North America (from Tennessee)
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Image 24Mount Le Conte in the Great Smoky Mountains is the tallest mountain in eastern North America, measured from base to summit (from Tennessee)
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Image 25Calutron operators at the Y-12 Plant in Oak Ridge during the Manhattan Project (from Tennessee)
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Image 26The Ryman Auditorium, home of the "Grand Ole Opry" in Nashville (from History of Tennessee)
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Image 27The Hermitage, plantation home of President Andrew Jackson, now a museum in Davidson County (from History of Tennessee)
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Image 29Surveyor Daniel Smith's "Map of the Tennassee State" (1796) (from Tennessee)
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Image 31The Grand Ole Opry, which was recorded in Nashville's Ryman Auditorium from 1943 to 1974, is the longest-running radio broadcast in US history. (from Tennessee)
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Image 32Howard Baker served as Senate Minority and Majority Leader from 1977 to 1985, and was known as "The Great Conciliator" (from Tennessee)
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Image 33Vanderbilt University in Nashville is consistently ranked as one of the top research institutions in the nation (from Tennessee)
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Image 35The Ocoee River was home to the 1996 Summer Olympics whitewater slalom events, the only Olympic sporting event ever held in the state. (from Tennessee)
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Image 36Chart showing poverty in Tennessee, by age and gender (red = female) (from Tennessee)
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Image 37Nashville's replica of the Parthenon (built 1897) (from History of Tennessee)
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Image 38The Southwest Territory in 1790 (from Tennessee)
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Image 40Köppen climate types of Tennessee, using 1991–2020 climate normals. (from Tennessee)
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Image 41Workers at the Norris Dam construction camp site in 1933 (from Tennessee)
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Image 42Calutron operators at the Y-12 Plant in Oak Ridge during the Manhattan Project (from Tennessee)
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Image 43Established in 1942, Oak Ridge National Laboratory is the largest national laboratory in the Department of Energy system (from Tennessee)
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Image 45The 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville (from Tennessee)
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Image 46The Ocoee River was home to the 1996 Summer Olympics whitewater slalom events, the only Olympic sporting event ever held in the state. (from Tennessee)
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Image 47The Hermitage, plantation home of President Andrew Jackson in Nashville (from Tennessee)
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Image 48The Tennessee at Chattanooga, 1872, by Harry Fenn (from History of Tennessee)
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Image 49Map of counties in Tennessee by racial plurality, per the 2020 U.S. census
Non-Hispanic White
50–60%
60–70%
70–80%
80–90%
90%+
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Black or African American
50–60%
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(from Tennessee)
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Image 50Interstate 40 traverses Tennessee from east to west, and serves the state's three largest cities. (from Tennessee)
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Image 51Workers at the Norris Dam construction camp site in 1933 (from Tennessee)
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Image 54Fall Creek Falls, the tallest waterfall in the eastern United States, is located on the Cumberland Plateau (from Tennessee)
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Image 55The Hermitage, plantation home of President Andrew Jackson in Nashville (from Tennessee)
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Image 56Al Gore served as a United States Senator from Tennessee (1985–1993) and as Vice President of the United States (1993–2001) (from Tennessee)
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Image 58Cedar glades are an ecosystem that is found in regions of Middle Tennessee where limestone bedrock is close to the surface (from Tennessee)
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Image 591861 Bank of Tennessee 1 dollar banknote (from History of Tennessee)
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Image 60Interstate 40 traverses Tennessee from east to west, and serves the state's three largest cities. (from Tennessee)
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Image 61Fall Creek Falls, the tallest waterfall in the eastern United States, is located on the Cumberland Plateau (from Tennessee)
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Image 62The Battle of Franklin, November 30, 1864 (from Tennessee)
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Image 63Offices of The Tennessean in Nashville (from Tennessee)
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Image 64The Battle of Franklin, November 30, 1864 (from Tennessee)
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Image 65Howard Baker served as Senate Minority and Majority Leader from 1977 to 1985, and was known as "The Great Conciliator" (from Tennessee)
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Image 66Vanderbilt University in Nashville is consistently ranked as one of the top research institutions in the nation (from Tennessee)
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Image 68Memphis International Airport, the hub of FedEx Corporation, is the busiest cargo airport in the world (from Tennessee)
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Image 69Conquistador Hernando de Soto, first European to visit Tennessee (from History of Tennessee)
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Image 70A geomap showing the counties of Tennessee colored by the relative range of that county's median income. (from Tennessee)
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Image 71The resort city of Gatlinburg borders the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which is the most visited national park in the United States. (from Tennessee)
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Image 72in 1946 the U.S. Post Office issued a commemorative stamp celebrating the 150th anniversary of Tennessee statehood. (from Tennessee)
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Image 73The resort city of Gatlinburg borders the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which is the most visited national park in the United States. (from Tennessee)
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Image 74Cedar glades are an ecosystem that is found in regions of Middle Tennessee where limestone bedrock is close to the surface (from Tennessee)
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Image 75Mount Le Conte in the Great Smoky Mountains is the tallest mountain in eastern North America, measured from base to summit (from Tennessee)
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Image 77Reconstruction of Fort Loudoun, the first British settlement in Tennessee (from Tennessee)
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Image 80in 1946 the U.S. Post Office issued a commemorative stamp celebrating the 150th anniversary of Tennessee statehood. (from Tennessee)
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Image 81A geomap showing the counties of Tennessee colored by the relative range of that county's median income. (from Tennessee)
- ... that to promote the Buffalo Club, Rising Tide Records sent packages of plastic buffalo to music industry executives in Nashville?
- ... that one candidate in the 1990 United States Senate election in Tennessee began the campaign with $3,000 in campaign funds, while the other began with $1 million?
- ... that Mister Rogers said that Mr. Chuck, the host of a children's show on the public TV station in Memphis, Tennessee, was "truly remarkable" and "achieving things I still struggle to achieve"?
- ... that the 75/24 Split in Chattanooga, Tennessee, has been one of the worst bottlenecks for trucks in the United States?
- ... that Dutch Maid Bakery in Tennessee has survived fire, war, the Great Depression, and the rebranding of its fruitcake?
- ... that William Jenkins Wilcox Jr. was given a Citizen Archivist award at a symposium titled "Secret City in the Tennessee Hills: From Dogpatch to Nuclear Power"?
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