Editing Cookeville, Tennessee (section)

===Early years and establishment===
Before European settlement, the Cookeville area was dominated by the [[Cherokee]] tribe since the [[Paleo-Indians|Paleo-Indian]] era. The Cherokee used the region as hunting grounds. Cherokee claims to the land in the [[Cumberland Plateau]] ended after the [[Treaty of Tellico]] was signed in October 1805.<ref name="CPC"/> The area surrounding Cookeville and Putnam County was first reported to be settled by [[Virginia]] and [[North Carolina]] longhunters in the late 1700s to early 1800s, most of whom were of [[English settlers|English]] and [[Scotch-Irish Americans|Scotch-Irish]] descent.<ref name="cookehistory">{{cite web |title=Cookeville History |url=https://www.cookeville-tn.gov/419/Cookeville-History |website=City of Cookeville |access-date=December 30, 2020}}</ref> Settlers arrived by [[Avery's Trace]], which was known as the Walton Road in the area of present-day Cookeville. Putnam County was established in 1842, formed from parts of [[White County, Tennessee|White]], [[Overton County, Tennessee|Overton]], [[Jackson County, Tennessee|Jackson]], [[Smith County, Tennessee|Smith]], and [[DeKalb County, Tennessee|DeKalb]] Counties after the population increased sufficiently, straining those counties' abilities to support services to the isolated residents.<ref name="cookehistory"/> Entering the 19th century, the area was dominated economically by the rise of agriculture, logging, and timber production.<ref name="CPC"/> Putnam County reestablished itself in 1854, with the establishment of a county seat required by new Tennessee state law.<ref name="CPC"/> In the same year, land purchased by Charles Crook became the area where the new county seat was established since it has access to [[Spring (hydrology)|natural springs]] able to support a town.<ref name="cookehistory"/><ref name="CPC">{{cite book | title = Cookeville and Putnam County |last= Friends of the Cookeville History Museum| publisher = Arcadia Publishing | year = 2008 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gQcJEqJOkCYC&pg=PP1 | isbn = 9780738553870 }}</ref> The city was named Cookeville for Richard Fielding Cooke, a pioneer who settled in the area in 1810.<ref name="cookehistory"/>  Cooke was twice elected to the state senate, and was influential in establishing Putnam County in 1854.<ref>{{cite web | title = Historic Putnam County | publisher = Historic Tours Committee | date = 1976 | url = http://www.ajlambert.com/history/hst_whpc.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Walker Davies | first = Sally | title = Explorer's Guide Tennessee | publisher = Countryman Press | year = 2011 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=FTYG0iCQOD4C&pg=PP1 | pages = 184| isbn = 9780881508987 }}</ref>