Editing Sunbright, Tennessee (section)

==History==

The Sunbright area was first settled in the early 19th century. It was originally known as "Pine Top", but was renamed "Stapleton" after the Staples family set up the town's first post office in the mid-19th century. When the railroad was constructed through the area in 1879, the Stapleton depot was named "Sunbright," and the name was eventually applied to the entire town.<ref>Ethel Freytag and Glena Kreis Ott, ''A History of Morgan County, Tennessee'' (Wartburg, Tenn.: Specialty Print Co., 1971), 84-86.</ref>

In 1916, an oil field was discovered in the hills immediately west of Sunbright, and the city thrived for several years as an oil shipping hub.<ref>''The WPA Guide to Tennessee'' (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1986), 361. Originally compiled by the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Project Administration as ''Tennessee: A Guide to the State'', and published in 1939.</ref>  An oil well was in operation within a year, and 15 wells were in operation in the Sunbright area by 1927.<ref name=dickinson>Calvin Dickinson, ''Morgan County'' (Memphis State University Press, 1987), pp. 78-84.</ref>