Award-Winning Tennessee Bloggers

• The name Tennessee came from a Cherokee village in the region that is called "Tanasie."


• Tennessee's population is 6,040,000.


• Tennessee won its nickname as The Volunteer State during the War of 1812 when volunteer soldiers from Tennessee displayed marked valor in the Battle of New Orleans.


• Tennessee was first visited by the Spanish in 1540... the region was explored by Daniel Boone in 1769... and Tennessee became part of the United States in 1783.


• Tennessee was admitted as the 16th U.S. state in 1796. The total population at that time was 77,000.


• Nashville (the state's 2nd largest city) is the capital of Tennessee.


• Memphis is Tennessee's largest city.


• Tennessee occupies 42,144 sq miles.


• Tennessee is bordered on the north by Kentucky; along its northeastern border is Virginia. Its eastern boundary is along the western border of North Carolina. Its southern border extends along the northern borders of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Its western border is met by Arkansas in the south and Missouri in the north.


• On Tennessee's eastern boundary are The Great Smoky Mountains, and the Mississippi River is on its western boundary.


• About half of Tennessee's land is forested.


• Tennessee has more than 3,800 documented caves.


• Twenty-three state parks, covering some 132,000 acres (53,420 hectares) as well as parts of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Cherokee National Forest, and Cumberland Gap National Historical Park are in Tennessee.


• Tennessee was once part of North Carolina and was west over the mountains from the rest of North Carolina. This resulted in the people of East Tennessee being called "Overhills."


• The city of Murfreesboro lies in the exact geographical center of the state.


• Tennessee is nicknamed the "Big Bend State" because of the unusual course of the Tennessee River. It flows southwest from the Appalachian Mountains through the Great Valley into Alabama. There, it bends north-westward, reenters Tennessee at Pickwick Lake, and flows north along the western edge of the Highland Rim into Kentucky, eventually joining the Ohio River.


• Major rivers in Tennessee include the Tennessee River, Mississippi River, Cumberland River, Clinch River, and Duck River.


• Major lakes in Tennessee include Kentucky Lake, Norris Lake, Chickamauga Lake, Cherokee Lake, and Tims Ford Reservoir.


• The highest point in Tennessee is Clingmans Dome (located in Great Smoky Mountains National Park) at 6,643 feet above sea level.


• The state bird is the Mockingbird, and the state flower is the Iris.

Where In Tennessee?...

East Tennessee includes part of the Appalachian Mountains, which stretch from Alabama and Georgia northward through East Tennessee to New England; the Great Valley, which is to the west of the Appalachians, slanting north-eastward from Georgia through Tennessee into Virginia; and the Cumberland Plateau, which is to the west of the Great Valley, slanting from northeastern Alabama through Tennessee into southeastern Kentucky.

Middle Tennessee extends from the Cumberland Plateau westward to the Highland Rim. The people who live on the Highland Rim are often called "Highlanders." The lowlands include the Nashville Basin, are well watered, and are noted for their agriculture, especially for cotton and tobacco. The Highland Rim features many natural wonders, including many caves and underground streams.

West Tennessee lies in the Gulf Coastal Plain, a region that stretches northward from the Gulf of Mexico to Illinois along the Mississippi River.

Sources: Answers.com, Enchanted Learning, 50 States