Warren County, Tennessee
Warren County is a county located on the Cumberland Plateau in Middle Tennessee, one of the three Grand Divisions of the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,953.[2] Its county seat is McMinnville.[3] Warren County comprises the McMinnville, TN Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Warren County
United States
1807
McMinnville
434 sq mi (1,120 km2)
433 sq mi (1,120 km2)
1.4 sq mi (4 km2) 3%
40,953 
92/sq mi (36/km2)
History[edit]
Warren County was created in 1807 from a portion of White County, and named for Joseph Warren (1741–1775), a militiaman and major general in the American Revolution.[1] The revised Tennessee State Constitution of 1834 stated that no new county could be within 12 miles (19 km) of the county seat of the county from which it was formed. The boundaries of five counties formed from Warren— Grundy, Van Buren, Cannon, Coffee and DeKalb— were exactly 12 miles from Warren's county seat, McMinnville, giving the county its distinctive round shape.[1]
Warren County was the site of several saltpeter mines. Saltpeter is the main ingredient of gunpowder and was obtained by leaching the earth from several local caves. Hubbards Cave, near Camp Woodlee, was a major operation. Henshaw Cave on Cardwell Mountain (now part of Cumberland Caverns) and Solomon Saltpeter Cave on Ben Lomond Mountain were relatively small mining operations. Most saltpeter mining occurred during the War of 1812 and in the Civil War.[4]
The county was largely developed for farming of such crops as tobacco and hemp. While numerous families held enslaved African Americans as workers, they were a minority of the population. Warren County citizens voted to secede from the Union before the American War Between the States in February 1861 in a state referendum. Voters in Tennessee overall decided to remain in the Union in that time. When President Abraham Lincoln demanded that Tennessee provide troops to fight against the Southern states in April 1861, it was viewed as a violation of Article 3, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution. At a new referendum in June 1861, Warren County again, along with a majority of Tennessee's counties, voted for secession. Unlike in some states, slavery was not listed as one of the reasons in Tennessee's secession proclamation.[5]
Men from Warren County and surrounding upper Cumberland region formed and served in many units in Tennessee's defense, including the 16th Tennessee Infantry [6] Archived February 14, 2017, at the Wayback Machine led by McMinnville resident Col. John Houston Savage. The Confederate monument [7] next to the county courthouse is dedicated in the memory of the men who served and died in the 16th and lists their names.
Men from Warren County and upper Cumberland area joined the 16th TN Infantry Regiment, among others. Their flag is on display at the Texas 'Civil War' Museum in Fort Worth TX.[8]
Recreation[edit]
Rock Island State Park is located on the northeastern border with White County. This park is the site of the Tennessee Valley Authority's Great Falls Dam, includes many hiking trails, and offers whitewater rafting.
Cumberland Caverns, located east of McMinnville under Cardwell Mountain, is Tennessee's largest show cave. It is the second longest mapped cave in Tennessee with 27.6 miles (44.4 km) of passages, and displays some of the largest cave rooms in eastern North America.[18] Cumberland Caverns is the 15th longest cave in the United States.[19]
Hubbard's Cave, the largest gray bat hibernaculum in Tennessee, with over 100,000 bats, is located in the county. The cave is owned by the Nature Conservancy and it is securely gated to protect the bats, which are an Endangered Species.
Falcon Rest, an 1896 Victorian mansion in McMinnville built by local manufacturer Clay Faulkner, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). It is open to the public as a historic house museum.[20] His father's mansion in the same city, Falconhurst, is also on the NRHP.