Map of Carter County, Tennessee

Carter County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 56,356. Its county seat is Elizabethton. The county is named in honor of Landon Carter (1760-1800), an early settler active in the “Lost State of Franklin” 1784-1788 secession from the State of North Carolina. Carter County is part of the Johnson City, TN Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is a component of the Johnson City–Kingsport–Bristol, TN-VA Combined Statistical Area, located in northeastern Tennessee.

Carter County overview:
Name:	Carter County
FIPS code:	47-019
State:	Tennessee
Founded:	1796
Named for:	Landon Carter
Seat:	Elizabethton
Largest city:	Elizabethton
Total Area:	348 sq mi (900 km²)
Land Area:	341 sq mi (880 km²)
Total Population:	56,356
Population Density:	168/sq mi (65/km²)
Time zone:	UTC−5 (Eastern)
Summer Time Zone (DST):	UTC−4 (EDT)
Website:	www.cartercountytn.gov

Carter County location map. Where is Carter County?

Carter County location on the U.S. Map. Where is Carter County. — Location of Carter County in the the United States.

Carter County location on the Tennessee map. Where is Carter County. — Location of Carter County in Tennessee.

History

The area was originally claimed by Britain as part of the Clarendon settlements of the Province of Carolina, although actually populated at the time by the Cherokee.

The area was part of (though seldom actually administered by) the following jurisdictions in its early history:

Watauga Association

The county is named for General Landon Carter, the son of John Carter of Virginia, who was “chairman of the court” of the first majority-rule system of American democracy, known as the Watauga Association of 1772. The association was the first permanent settlement established outside the original thirteen American colonies and included the area that is today’s Carter County. In 1775, the Association was absorbed into North Carolina by petition, becoming known thereafter as the Washington District.

As Wayne County in the State of Franklin

J. G. M. Ramsey records within his 1853 Annals of Tennessee that the State of Franklin established Wayne County from sections of both Washington County and a part of Wilkes County “lying west of the extreme heights of the Apalachian or Alleghany Mountains, into a separate and distinct county by the name of Wayne… This new county covered the same territory now embraced in the limits of Carter and Johnson counties.”

The county seat, Elizabethton, is named for Carter’s wife, Elizabeth MacLin Carter.

Civil War

Like most East Tennessee counties, Carter Countians opposed secession on the eve of the Civil War. In Tennessee’s Ordinance of Secession referendum on June 8, 1861, Carter Countians rejected secession by a vote of 1,343 to 86. A railroad bridge at Carter’s Depot (modern Watauga) was among those targeted by the East Tennessee bridge-burning conspiracy in November 1861.

Early railroad

Carter County was served by the narrow gauge East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad (The ET&WNC, nicknamed “Tweetsie”) until the line ceased operations in 1950.

Carter County Road Map

Carter CountyStreet Map. — Street map of Carter County, Tennessee. Source: OpenStreetMap (OSM)

Carter CountyMap — Carter Countypolitical map.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 348 square miles (900 km), of which 341 square miles (880 km) is land and 6.4 square miles (17 km) (1.8%) is water.

Carter County is situated entirely within the Blue Ridge Mountains, specifically the Unaka Range and the Iron Mountains. Roan Mountain, which at 6,285 feet (1,916 m) is the highest point in Tennessee outside the Great Smoky Mountains, straddles the county’s eastern border with North Carolina. The county’s boundary with Sullivan County is defined as the ridgeline of Holston Mountain.

Lakes

Watauga Lake
Wilbur Reservoir (immediately below the TVA Watauga Dam Lat: 36.3408 Lon: -82.1203]
Ripshin Lake (6 km southwest of Roan Mountain Lat: 36.1838646 Lon: -82.1356583)