Skip to content
Tennessee Encyclopedia Logo
  • Home
  • About
    • This Land Called Tennessee
    • Foreword
    • Acknowledgments
    • Authors
    • Staff Members
    • Supporters
  • Categories
  • Objects
    • Entries
    • Images
    • Interactives
  • Contact
    • Suggest A Topic
    • Corrections
  • Donate
  • Browse Site »
  • A
  • B
  • C
  • D
  • E
  • F
  • G
  • H
  • I
  • J
  • K
  • L
  • M
  • N
  • O
  • P
  • Q
  • R
  • S
  • T
  • U
  • V
  • W
  • X
  • Y
  • Z
  • 0-9

Objects

Walking Horse National Celebration

This annual summer event in Shelbyville, Tennessee, is one of the largest horse shows in the world. Its physical accommodations, including 1,650 stalls for housing horses, establish it as the largest equestrian complex in America. The "Celebration," as the show…

Wallace Jr., Perry E.

Perry Wallace, Southeastern Conference (SEC) basketball trailblazer, was born in February 1948 in Nashville to Perry E. and Hattie Haynes Wallace. The youngest of six children, he received his primary and middle school education at Nashville's segregated public schools. Wallace,…

Wallace University School

Nashville's Wallace University School was established in 1886 through the leadership of A. G. Adams, J. B. O'Bryan, and R. B. Throne. Desiring to establish a boys' school that emphasized character and scholarship, these men offered the position of headmaster…

Wallace, Campbell

East Tennessee businessman and railroad president Campbell Wallace was a native of Sevier County and grew up in Maryville, where he attended Anderson Seminary. At age fourteen he moved to Knoxville, where he was employed by a prominent merchant, Charles…

Walton Road

The Walton Road played a major part in the settlement of the area between the Cumberland Plateau and the Cumberland River. Passing through what are today Roane, Cumberland, Smith, and Putnam Counties, it was not the first road through the…

Walton, Jesse

Jesse Walton, pioneer soldier and settler, was born in Virginia. By the outbreak of the American Revolution, Walton was living in Surry County, North Carolina, along the Virginia border north of Winston-Salem. A patriot, Walton was active in the Surry…

Waltrip, Darrell

Winston Cup Champion and Franklin, Tennessee, resident Darrell Waltrip was born in Owensboro, Kentucky, on February 5, 1947. In the early 1980s Waltrip was one of the new generation of drivers to take NASCAR racing to unprecedented heights of popularity…

War of 1812

When the United States declared war on Great Britain in June 1812, Tennesseans proudly proclaimed their readiness to preserve the honor and dignity of their country. It seemed unlikely that landlocked Tennessee would be concerned about British violations of maritime…

War of the Roses

One of the most famous political events in Tennessee history was Tennessee's gubernatorial campaign of 1886, which pitted brothers Robert L. Taylor (Democrat) and Alfred A. Taylor (Republican) against one another. Alf had not been notably successful as a vote-getter,…

Ward, Nancy

Last Beloved Woman of the Cherokees, Nancy Ward was born in 1738 at Chota and given the name Nanye-hi, which signified "One who goes about," a name taken from Nunne-hi, the legendary name of the Spirit People of Cherokee mythology.…

Warf, John Howard

J. Howard Warf, Tennessee commissioner of education (1963-71), was born in Lewis County in 1904 and rose to political power in the rough-and-tumble world of Democratic politics in the mid-twentieth century. Warf dominated Lewis County politics in a style that…

Warner, Katherine Burch

Suffragist Katherine Burch Warner was born in Chattanooga, raised in Nashville, and educated at Vassar. The well-traveled Kate learned about politics through her father, John C. Burch, editor and publisher of the Nashville American and secretary of the U.S. Senate.…

Warner, Percy

Nashville businessman and civic leader Percy Warner followed the lead of his father, James C. Warner, in capitalizing upon the New South exploitation of natural resources with his Warner Iron Corporation in the 1870s and 1880s. While working for the…

Warren Brothers Sash and Door Company

By 1853 Jesse Warren (1814-1885) and his partner Joseph Moore (1821-1871) had established a millwork machine shop on Nashville's High Street. Four years later, the nearly fifty employees of Warren & Moore were using the era's most modern steam powered…

Warren County

The Tennessee General Assembly established Warren County on November 26, 1807; it was the thirtieth county created in Tennessee. Settlers came to the area as early as 1800, and the new county was originally that portion of White County (created…

Warren, Robert Penn

Acclaimed modern American writer Robert Penn Warren was at home in all the major genres--poetry, fiction, drama, and criticism--though poetry was his dominant mode. Warren was awarded three Pulitzer Prizes, a number unmatched by any other writer: one for his…

Warriors Path State Park

Located in Sullivan County, Warriors Path State Park contains 970 acres on both sides of the Fort Patrick Henry Lake, a 900-acre reservoir created by the Tennessee Valley Authority when it built Fort Patrick Henry Dam from 1951 to 1954.…

Washington County

Established by the North Carolina legislature in November 1777, Washington County came from western territory known as the Washington District. This first county included the whole territory within the boundaries of what would become Tennessee. Jonesborough, the first town in…

Washington Manufacturing Company

The origins of the Washington Manufacturing Company can be traced to 1812, when William Chester bought 260 acres near the mouth of Bumpass Cove in iron-rich Washington County and built a forge. He later sold this forge to third generation…

Washington, Joseph Edwin

Joseph E. Washington, congressman, state legislator, tobacco planter, and a founder of the Tobacco Protective Association, was born November 10, 1851, at Wessyngton in Robertson County, the son of George Augustine and Jane Smith Washington. In 1873 he graduated from…

Page 80 of 85« First«...102030...7879808182...»Last »

Browse

  • Entries (1685)
  • Images (394)
  • Interactives (101)

Categories

  • African-American
  • Agriculture
  • Architecture
  • Arts
  • Civil Rights
  • Civil War
  • Commerce
  • Conservation
  • County History
  • Culture
  • Education
  • Event
  • Geography and Geology
  • Industry
  • Institution
  • Journalism
  • Labor
  • Law
  • Literature
  • Medicine
  • Military
  • Music
  • Native American
  • People
  • Place
  • Politics
  • Preservation
  • Primary City
  • Recreation
  • Religion
  • Science
  • Settlement
  • Social
  • Sports
  • Suffrage
  • Thematic Essay
  • Transportation
  • Women

  • 305 Sixth Ave. North
  • Nashville, TN 37243
  • (615) 741-8934
  • Monday – Friday
  • 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM

Online Edition © 2002 ~ 2021, The University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, Tennessee. All Rights Reserved.

Functionality and information are in compliance with guidelines established by the American Association for State and Local History for online state and regional encyclopedias.

© 2021 Tennessee Historical Society | Built by R.Squared with eCMS WP
Close Sliding Bar Area

Popular Entries

  • Lamar Alexander
  • Daniel Boone
  • Civil Rights Movement
  • Civil War
  • Civil War Occupation
  • Columbia Race Riot, 1946
  • Alfred Leland Crabb
  • Cumberland Furnace
  • John Bartlett Dennis
  • J.R. "Pitt" Hyde III

Popular Images

  • Adelicia Acklen
  • Andrew Johnson
  • Andrew Johnson National Historic Site
  • Cordell Hull
  • Dolly Parton
  • National Campground
  • Opry House And Opryland Hotel
  • Shelby County
  • The Emancipator
  • Walking Horse National Celebration

Recent Updates

  • "Tennessee" Ernie Ford
  • 101St Airborne Division
  • Aaron Douglas
  • Beth Halteman Harwell
  • William Edward Haslam
  • The Patrons of Husbandry
  • World War I
  • Worth, Inc.
  • Zion Presbyterian Church
  • Felix Kirk Zollicoffer