Editing Newport, Tennessee (section)

==History==

===Early settlement===
The [[Great Indian Warpath]] passed through what is now Newport en route to the ancient [[Cherokee]] hunting grounds of northeastern Tennessee.<ref name="Carolyn Sakowski 1993">Carolyn Sakowski, ''Touring the East Tennessee Backroads'' (Winston-Salem: J.F. Blair, 1993), 233-242.</ref> The Warpath crossed the Pigeon River at a point approximately {{convert|0.2|mi|1}} east of the McSween Memorial Bridge (US-321), in an area where the river is normally low enough to walk across.<ref name="Newport, Tennessee 2007">Tennessee Historical Commission marker at the north end of McSween Memorial Bridge along US-321 in Newport, Tennessee. September 4, 2007.</ref> The first European traders to the area, arriving in the mid-18th century, called this point along the Pigeon River the "War Ford".

[[File:Newport-tennessee-war-ford.jpg|left|210px|thumb|Historical marker along US-321 in Newport, recalling the site of War Ford]]

During the [[American Revolutionary War|American Revolution]], the Cherokee aligned themselves with the British, and launched sporadic attacks against early Euro-American settlers in the [[Holston River|Holston valley]]. In the waning months of the conflict in 1782, a detachment led by Gen. Charles McDowell of [[North Carolina]] crossed the mountains into what is now Tennessee to join up with [[John Sevier|Col. John Sevier's]] local forces and initiate an aggressive campaign against the hostile Cherokee. In August of that year, Sevier crossed the Pigeon at War Ford, attacking and killing several Cherokee camped along the river's banks. This assault was one of the final engagements of the Revolution.<ref name="Newport, Tennessee 2007"/><ref name="J.G.M. Ramsey, 1999">J.G.M. Ramsey, ''Annals of Tennessee'' (Johnson City: Tennessee Overmountain Press, 1999), 279.</ref>

At the close of the Revolution, the first Euro-American settlers arrived in the Newport area, ensconcing themselves in the vicinity of the strategic river fords. Peter Fine established a ferry on the north bank of the French Broad in the early 1780s, and in 1783 John Gilliland settled opposite Fine's Ferry in what is now Oldtown. Shortly thereafter, Emanuel Sandusky, a Polish immigrant, established a farm on the land where the Cocke County Memorial Building now stands, and Samuel O'Dell settled at the junction of the Pigeon River and Cosby Creek. Sometime in the 1790s, the Gilliland family donated {{convert|50|acre|m2}} of land for a town square and courthouse to be situated opposite Fine's Ferry on the banks of the French Broad, and the town of '''New Port''' was born.<ref>Evelyn Parrott Graham, Rolfe Godshalk (editor), ''Newport'' (Newport, Tennessee: Clifton Club, 1970), 35.</ref><ref>Carolyn Sakowski, ''Touring the East Tennessee Backroads'' (Winston-Salem: J.F. Blair, 1993), 234-240.</ref>

For nearly a quarter-century, the residents of the Newport area lived under constant threat of attack from Cherokee crossing the mountains from North Carolina. Shortly after the arrival of the first Euro-American settlers, Peter Fine sought to quell this threat by leading a [[punitive expedition]] against the Cherokee town of [[Cowee]] in North Carolina, which Fine captured and burned. The Cherokee responded by stealing Fine's livestock and attempting to herd them back to North Carolina. Fine gave chase and managed to retrieve the livestock, but on the return march he was ambushed and his brother, Vinet, was killed. The Cherokee were in pursuit, and Vinet's body was hidden in a hole in a frozen creek for later retrieval. The creek melted and the body was lost. The creek was named Fines Creek. Shortly thereafter, two O'Dells were killed, one of Sandusky's daughters was kidnapped, and several others settlers were killed or scalped.<ref>Evelyn Parrott Graham, Rolfe Godshalk (editor), ''Newport'' (Newport, Tennessee: Clifton Club, 1970), 35-36.</ref>

To provide defense against these sporadic attacks, the early settlers erected a series of forts in the area. Wood's Fort guarded the Forks-of-the-River just downstream from Newport, and McCoy's Fort and Whitson's Fort defended the area to the south.<ref name="J.G.M. Ramsey, 1999"/> Other installations included Huff's Fort at what is now Del Rio. With Sevier's victory at the [[Boyds Creek, Tennessee|Battle of Boyds Creek]] and the ensuing Treaty of Dumplin in 1785, Cherokee influence in the area began to wane. In the 1790s, the Cherokee signed a series of treaties which essentially ceded most of the land on the Tennessee side of the [[Great Smokies]] to the U.S. government. By 1800, Cherokee attacks in the Newport area had been drastically reduced.

===Flatboat period===
[[File:Newport-tennessee-french-broad.jpg|upright=1.25|thumb|The French Broad River in the vicinity of Fine's Ferry at Newport's northern border]]

The [[French Broad River]] passes {{convert|1|mi}} north of the current city limits. As the French Broad empties into the [[Tennessee River]], towns along its banks are connected via waterway to [[New Orleans]] and the [[Gulf of Mexico]]. In the early 19th century, William Faubion, who lived just northeast of New Port, managed to reach New Orleans with a [[flatboat]] shipment and return safely.<ref>Wilma Dykeman, ''The French Broad'' (New York: Rinehart, 1955), 17.</ref> In early 19th-century [[East Tennessee]], which was riddled with poor roads and hilly terrain, river travel was a relatively convenient mode of transportation. "New Port", situated on the French Broad near Forks-of-the-River, quickly developed into a flatboat trading hub.<ref name="Carolyn Sakowski 1993"/>

William Garrett (1774–1853) arrived in New Port in the late 1790s and built a plantation, known as Beechwood Hall, just south of Fine's Ferry. Many early travelers, including several [[circuit rider (religious)|circuit riders]] and religious leaders, were entertained at Garrett's mansion. During the [[War of 1812]], Garrett shipped eight large flatboats stocked with food and whiskey to the U.S. Navy in New Orleans.<ref>Nancy O'Neil, "Beechwood Hall &mdash; Through Sunlight and Shadows," ''Smoky Mountain Historical Society Newsletter'' 12, no. 2 (Summer of 1986), 37-38.</ref>

Among those entertained at Beechwood Hall in the early 19th century was Bishop [[Francis Asbury]], a circuit rider credited with spreading [[Methodism]] to the Southern Appalachian region. Asbury wrote in his journal:

<blockquote>
We rode through New-Port, the capital of Cocke County, forded French Broad at Shine's Ferry, and came cold and without food for man or beast to John O'Haver's but oh, the kindness of our open-hearted friends.<ref name="Evelyn Parrott Graham 1970">Evelyn Parrott Graham, Rolfe Godshalk (editor), ''Newport'' (Newport, Tennessee: Clifton Club, 1970), 47.</ref>
</blockquote>

In 1812, a large Methodist revival was held at New Port's crude log courthouse, and the Zion Methodist Church was established that same year. The [[Presbyterians]] erected a church on Graveyard Hill (above the modern junction of US-321 and US-70) in the 1820s. The residents of New Port established one of the first schools in the area, Anderson Academy, in 1820. New Port was officially incorporated on October 19, 1812.<ref>Evelyn Parrott Graham, Rolfe Godshalk (editor), ''Newport'' (Newport, Tennessee: Clifton Club, 1970), 36, 40-45.</ref>

While New Port had strong religious beginnings, its situation as a river trading hub on the edge of the Appalachian frontier inevitably led to a certain lawlessness. Saloons were a mainstay in the town throughout the 19th century. Henry Ker, a traveler who visited New Port in 1816, recalled:

<blockquote>
I set out for Newport, a small town on the French Broad River. At sunset I arrived, having much difficulty in finding the town for it was hid in a deep valley. It is the most licentious place in the State of Tennessee, containing about twenty houses of sloth, indolence and dissipation.<ref>Evelyn Parrott Graham, Rolfe Godshalk (editor), ''Newport'' (Newport, Tennessee: Clifton Club, 1970), 41.</ref>
</blockquote>

New Port's residents countered this lawlessness with swift methods of justice. The town had a [[pillory]], [[stocks]], and a [[Cucking stool|ducking chair]]. Hangings were not uncommon.<ref name="Evelyn Parrott Graham 1970"/>

===Civil War===
By 1834, Newport had a population of 150. The town included two general stores, two doctors, three blacksmiths, two tailors, two hatters, a wagon maker, two churches, and two taverns. A new brick courthouse had been erected in 1828 to replace the crude log courthouse.<ref name="ReferenceA">Evelyn Parrott Graham, Rolfe Godshalk (editor), ''Newport'' (Newport, Tennessee: Clifton Club, 1970), 36.</ref>

While [[slavery in the United States|slavery]] was not as common in East Tennessee as in other parts of the [[Southern United States]], it did occur. Some buildings in early Cocke County were built with slave labor. Sometime before the Civil War, local records report the executions of at least two slaves. One was a grandmother whose grandson drowned while she fled across the Pigeon River in an attempt to keep him from being sold.<ref name="Evelyn Parrott Graham 1970"/> The other, a slave by the name of "Tom", was tortured and burned alive for the murder of Mary Lotspeich.<ref>Nancy O'Neil, "Beechwood Hall &mdash; Through Sunlight and Shadows," ''Smoky Mountain Historical Society Newsletter'' 12, no. 2 (Summer of 1986), 40.</ref> In the years leading up to the war, Newport's Methodists split into pro-slavery and anti-slavery denominations, reflecting a division common throughout the county.<ref name="Cocke County">E.R. Walker III, "[http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=282 Cocke County]."  ''Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'', 2002.  Retrieved:  September 14, 2007.</ref>

When the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] broke out in the 1860s, New Port attempted to remain neutral. The town was a consistent target of raids from both [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] and [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] soldiers. The owners of Beechwood Hall buried their silver and kept their horses in the basement to prevent them from being stolen.<ref>Nancy O'Neil, "Beechwood Hall &mdash; Through Sunlight and Shadows," ''Smoky Mountain Historical Society Newsletter'' 12, no. 2 (Summer of 1986), 41.</ref> The residents of Cocke County eventually recruited a home guard to protect them from raids, which they based at the mouth of Indian Camp Creek, a few miles south of New Port.<ref>John Weaver, "[http://www.sevierlibrary.org/ahgp/Origins.htm Origins] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071006150328/http://www.sevierlibrary.org/ahgp/Origins.htm |date=2007-10-06 }}."  ''Newport Times'', January 10, 1940.  Retrieved:  September 14, 2007.</ref>

Several skirmishes occurred in the vicinity of New Port, namely along Lick Creek to the north and Cosby Creek to the south. At the latter, the brother of North Carolina Governor [[Zebulon Vance]] was captured in an ambush.<ref>Wilma Dykeman, ''The French Broad'' (New York: Rinehart, 1955), 114.</ref>

===The railroad and the Clifton annexation controversy===
In 1867, the [[Cincinnati, Cumberland Gap, and Charleston Railroad]] constructed a line through Clifton, which was located just south of New Port on the other side of the Pigeon River. As railroads were quickly replacing flatboats as the preferred mode of transportation and shipping in East Tennessee, the residents of New Port sought to build the new Cocke County Courthouse in Clifton. To bypass state law, which required an election to move a county seat, New Port decided to simply annex Clifton.<ref>Carolyn Sakowski, ''Touring the East Tennessee Backroads'' (Winston-Salem: J.F. Blair, 1993), 234-239.</ref>

The residents of Clifton, however, made it clear that they didn't want to be annexed. When New Port ignored them and moved forward with the annexation anyway, the residents of Clifton sued. After a 17-year legal battle, the Tennessee State Supreme Court ruled that the annexation violated the state's constitution. The new courthouse was constructed in Clifton in 1884. Perhaps due to railroad interests at the time, Clifton was renamed "Newport".<ref name="Cocke County"/> New Port became known as "Oldport" or "Oldtown". Thus the town of Newport "shifted" from its location on the flatboat-friendly French Broad to its current location along the railroad running parallel to the Pigeon.

===Alexander Arthur and the logging boom===
[[File:Newport-pigeon-river-tennessee.jpg|right|210px|thumb|The Pigeon River in Newport]]
Innovations in the [[logging]] industry in the late 19th century led to a rapid [[deforestation]] of the [[Ohio Valley]] and [[Mississippi Delta]]. Logging companies eventually turned to the [[timber]]-rich forests of Southern Appalachia to keep up with the increasing demand for wood, and [[band saw]] mills began spring up in towns located along the base of the mountains.

In 1880, Canadian-born entrepreneur [[Alexander Arthur]] (1846–1912), representing the Scottish Carolina Timber and Land Company, arrived in Newport with ambitious plans to log the Pigeon valley. Arthur's plan called for the construction of a series of [[dam]]s and [[log boom|boom]]s which would be used to move logs from the higher elevations downstream using the river's current. The logs would eventually be floated all the way to [[Knoxville, Tennessee|Knoxville]]. The operation would be based in Newport, with a [[sawmill]] in the higher elevations at Pigeon Valley (now [[Hartford, Tennessee]]).

Over the next six years, Arthur and his team of engineers and lumberjacks&mdash;some from as far away as [[South Africa]] and Europe&mdash;cut and sawed thousands of logs which they stocked behind a large dam. Arthur built an extravagant house in Newport and even made proposals to modernize the town square.<ref>Wilma Dykeman, ''The French Broad'' (New York: Rinehart, 1955), 167-174.</ref>

The residents of Newport&mdash;who were nonplussed by the flashy and energetic Arthur&mdash;warned the entrepreneur about the Pigeon River's volatility. While the mountain streams of Southern Appalachia appear calm and serene on a typical day, torrential rains in the higher elevations can turn these streams into raging whitewater rapids. In the spring of 1886, the warnings of the locals became reality when a [[cloudburst]] hit the Balsam Mountains near the Pigeon's source and the river became a raging torrent. All day long, Arthur and his team fought ferociously to secure the dam holding back the company's precious stock of logs. That evening, one of Arthur's engineers returned to Newport briefly to rest. Before leaving again, he told the anxious wives of the company men and the curious Newportians that if they heard the whistle, all would be "gone to hell". Historian Wilma Dykeman described that night:

<blockquote>
Just before daybreak at the depth of the dark and rain, the waiting women and all the rest of the wakefull town heard the great crash as the booms burst, and the cry of the whistle signaled the men's defeat. Logs from thousands of trees boiled over the broken dams, smashed together in a grinding roar and surged on down the current like giant toothpicks tossed by some elemental energy.<ref>Wilma Dykeman, ''The French Broad'' (New York: Rinehart, 1955), 174.</ref>
</blockquote>

His venture now bankrupt, Alexander moved to Knoxville to start rebuilding his fortune. He would later be instrumental in the founding of [[Middlesboro, Kentucky]].<ref>Carolyn Sakowski, ''Touring the East Tennessee Backroads'' (Winston-Salem: J.F. Blair, 1993), 236.</ref> The residents of Newport converted Scottish Timber's now-abandoned commissary into a saloon.<ref>Wilma Dykeman, ''The French Broad'' (New York: Rinehart, 1955), 175.</ref>

===1900s===
[[File:Newport-depot-1939-tn1.jpg|right|210px|thumb|Newport Depot, photographed by [[Marion Post Wolcott]] in 1939]]

By the 1890s, the population of Newport had grown to 900.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> While Alexander Arthur's logging venture failed, industry continued to find its way to the town. In 1895, the A.C. Lawrence Leather Company established what eventually become one of the world's largest [[Tanning (leather)|tanneries]] in Newport.<ref>Rolfe Godshalk (editor), ''Newport'' (Newport, Tennessee: Clifton Club, 1970), Appendix I-II.</ref> Three years later, brothers James and John Stokely founded the Stokely Brothers Company (now [[Stokely-Van Camp]]'s) to can vegetables they grew throughout the French Broad valley.<ref>Wilma Dykeman, ''The French Broad'' (New York: Rinehart, 1955), 208.</ref> Newport native [[Ben Hooper]] served as governor of Tennessee from 1911 to 1915.

Carson Springs, {{convert|6|mi|0}} southwest of Newport, developed around William Wilson's tavern and stagecoach terminal in the early 19th century. Later in the century, C.P. Peterson and wife built and operated the Peterson Hotel.<ref>Carolyn Sakowski, ''Touring the East Tennessee Backroads'' (Winston-Salem: J.F. Blair, 1993), 240-241.</ref> As the mineral-rich mountain springs of Appalachia were thought to have health-restoring qualities, Carson Springs developed into an early tourist resort. The establishment of the [[Great Smoky Mountains National Park]] in 1934 brought a still greater influx of tourists to Newport, but nothing like the tourism explosion that occurred in neighboring [[Sevier County, Tennessee|Sevier County]].

Kiffin Yates Rockwell, who was born in Newport in 1892, joined the [[French Foreign Legion]] during [[World War I]]. After being wounded, Rockwell joined one of the Legion's aviation corps, known as the [[Lafayette Escadrille]], and would become the first American pilot to shoot down an enemy plane in combat.<ref>[http://www.hendersonville.com/news/smithmcdowellrockwell.html Exhibit Remember Kiffin Yates Rockwell, Local WWI Aviator and WNC Resident]." Hendersonville.com Community News, 1999. Retrieved: September 14, 2007.</ref>

===Moonshining and crime===
[[Appalachia]] is characterized by winding narrow coves and hidden hollows separated by high ridges. Many of these hollows contained just enough bottomland to support an economy based on [[subsistence agriculture]], but with each crop, the soil grew poorer and poorer. Thus, to make ends meet, farmers in communities such as [[Cosby, Tennessee|Cosby]] and [[Del Rio, Tennessee|Del Rio]] began setting aside some of their corn crop for liquor production. These early [[distilled beverage|distillers]] found an easy market in the taverns and saloons of Newport, itself located at a point where the Appalachian highlands meet the Tennessee Valley.

At the onset of [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]] in 1920, the demand for illegally distilled liquor skyrocketed, and Cocke County was primed to meet it. Not only did the county have [[moonshine]]rs with generations of experience, but the remote Appalachian hollows and thick forest provided perfect hiding places for illegal [[still]]s. And as young men left the farms of rural Tennessee to seek employment in the textile mills of Knoxville and the large manufacturing hubs of the [[Midwest]] in the early 20th century, networks for moving the liquor from the mountain hollows to the large urban areas were already in place.<ref>Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration, ''Tennessee: A Guide to the State'' (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1986).</ref><ref>Rolfe Godshalk (editor), "Moonshining," ''Newport'' (Newport, Tennessee: Clifton Club, 1970).</ref>

From the 1920s through the 1960s, Cocke County became notorious throughout the Southeast as a moonshine hot spot. To complicate matters, large numbers of servicemen passing through Newport en route to Knoxville or [[Asheville, North Carolina|Asheville]] during [[World War II]] drew large numbers of [[prostitution|prostitutes]] to the area. In 1969, the ''[[Knoxville News Sentinel]]'' published a series of reports regarding [[organized crime]] in the county, and Governor [[Buford Ellington]] launched an investigation that led to the arrest of [[Constable#Tennessee|Constable]] D.C. Ramsey, Cocke County Sheriff Tom O'Dell, and several state troopers stationed in within the county on charges of [[extortion]] and [[bribery]]. In the following decade, a new [[district attorney]], Al Schmutzer, launched a crackdown on the various moonshining, [[gambling]], and [[cockfight]]ing rings within the county, with some success.<ref name="Timeline: Cocke County Confidential">J.J. Stambaugh, "[http://www.knoxnews.com/news/local-news/btimeline-bcocke-county-confidential Timeline: Cocke County Confidential]". ''The Knoxville News-Sentinel'', August 1, 2005.  Retrieved: August 13, 2015.</ref>

In spite of Schmutzer's efforts, Cocke County continued to struggle with organized crime. In 1982, 40,000 [[cannabis (drug)|marijuana]] plants were found growing just off Asheville Highway. The following year, Cocke County Sheriff Bobby Stinson was indicted along with 43 others on [[cocaine]] conspiracy charges. In 1987, 30 people from Cocke and Sevier County were arrested on charges relating to a [[car theft]] ring. Corruption probes and federal indictments relating to Cocke County law enforcement continued into the 21st century. In the 1990s, a series of economic initiatives by Newport and Cocke County, however, helped to curb the crime rate substantially.<ref name="Timeline: Cocke County Confidential"/>

In 2008, production for the [[CMT (U.S. TV channel)|CMT]] [[reality television]] program ''[[Outsiders Inn]]'' took place at the Christopher Place Resort in Newport.<ref>{{cite web|last=Bean |first=Kitty |url=https://www.usatoday.com/travel/hotels/2008-08-14-outsiders-inn_N.htm |title=The 'Outsiders' get in on the inn business |publisher=Usatoday.Com |date=August 14, 2008 |access-date=June 23, 2016}}</ref>

In 2009, the FBI indicted and successfully prosecuted a 23-person car theft and drug ring.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fbi.gov/knoxville/press-releases/2009/kx061609.htm |title=FBI — Cocke County Men Indicted for Racketeering |publisher=Fbi.gov |access-date=June 23, 2016}}</ref> Six persons entered guilty pleas by 2010, including a retired Newport police captain and his family.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/jan/29/guilty-pleas-in-car-theft-case/ |title=Guilty pleas in car theft case in Cocke County » Knoxville News Sentinel |website=www.knoxnews.com |access-date=February 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130127164130/http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/jan/29/guilty-pleas-in-car-theft-case/ |archive-date=January 27, 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Eddie Hawk was sentenced to nine years.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wate.com/global/story.asp?s=13162502 |title=Newport man sentenced to 9 years for role in car theft ring |access-date=December 2, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100918054211/http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=13162502 |archive-date=September 18, 2010 }}</ref> The investigation was branched from the FBI Rose Thorn case,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://newportplaintalk.com/story/13218 |title=The Newport Plain Talk - News Story - FBI agent says Rose Thorn continues |website=newportplaintalk.com |access-date=February 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120422033912/http://newportplaintalk.com/story/13218 |archive-date=April 22, 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> which focused upon Cocke County Sheriff officers' corruption, resulting in an earlier 170 arrests on federal and state charges.