Editing Huntsville, Tennessee (section)

==History==

Huntsville was named after a [[longhunter|long hunter]] known only by the surname "Hunt."  This long hunter camped under a rock shelter in the mid-18th century and later moved his family to the area.  When Scott County was formed in 1849, Huntsville was chosen as the county seat due to the site's central location within the new county as well as an excellent spring that flowed across the property.<ref>Esther Sharp Sanderson, ''County Scott and Its Mountain Folk'' (Nashville, Tenn.: Blue & Gray Press, 1958), 4-11.</ref>

[[File:Huntsville-scott-sign-tn1.jpg|left|upright=0.95|thumb|THC marker along TN-63 recalling the Independent State of Scott]]

During the [[U.S. Civil War]], Scott County was staunchly pro-[[Union (American Civil War)|Union]].  In Tennessee's June 1861 referendum on secession, the county voted 541–19 against secession, the highest percentage of any county in Tennessee.  In spite of fierce opposition from Scott and other East Tennessee counties, the ordinance passed and Tennessee seceded from the Union.  Later that year, Scott County voted unanimously to secede from Tennessee and formed the [[State of Scott|Independent State of Scott]].<ref>Sanderson, 192.</ref><ref>Information obtained from Tennessee Historical Commission marker in Huntsville, August 3, 2008.</ref>

In 1906, a new courthouse square was built in Huntsville using a beige-colored native sandstone for the buildings' outer walls.  Although the courthouse burned in 1946, two of these sandstone buildings remain&mdash; the First National Bank building and the Old Scott County Jail.<ref>Sanderson, 6.</ref>  Both have been placed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].

The Baker family, which arrived in the Huntsville area shortly after the Civil War, has been active in state and national politics for several decades.  James F. Baker (1864–1934) was a successful attorney and newspaper publisher.  Baker's son, [[Howard H. Baker, Sr.]] (1902–1964), was the Republican candidate for governor of Tennessee in 1938 and later served in the [[U.S. House of Representatives]].<ref>Michael Rogers, "[https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=52 Howard H. Baker, Sr.]."  ''The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'', 2009.  Retrieved: February 11, 2013.</ref>  [[Howard Baker|Howard H. Baker, Jr.]] (1925-2014), son of Howard Sr., was elected to the [[U.S. Senate]] in 1966 and gained national attention as Vice Chairman of the [[Watergate scandal|Senate Watergate Committee]] in 1973.  Baker later served as [[Senate Majority Leader]] (1981–1985) and [[White House Chief of Staff]] (1987–1988).<ref>Michael Rogers, "[https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=51 Howard H. Baker, Jr.]."  ''The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'', 2009.  Retrieved: February 11, 2013.</ref>