Editing Greeneville, Tennessee (section)

===Early history===
[[Image:Big Spring in Greeneville.jpg|right|210px|thumb|Big Spring in downtown Greeneville]]
[[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] were hunting and camping in the Nolichucky Valley as early as the [[Paleo-Indian]] period (c. 10,000 B.C.).  A substantial [[Woodland period]] (1000 B.C. - 1000 A.D.) village existed at the Nolichucky's confluence with Big Limestone Creek (now part of [[Davy Crockett Birthplace State Park]]).<ref>Samuel Smith, ''Historical Background and Archaeological Testing of the Davy Crockett Birthplace State Historic Area, Greene County, Tennessee'' (Nashville, Tenn.: Tennessee Division of Archaeology, 1980), 3.</ref>  By the time the first Euro-American settlers arrived in the area in the late 18th century, the [[Cherokee]] claimed the valley as part of their hunting grounds.  The [[Great Indian Warpath]] passed just northwest of modern Greeneville, and the townsite is believed to have once been the juncture of two lesser Native American trails.<ref>Richard Doughty, ''Greeneville: One Hundred Year Portrait (1775-1875)'' (Kingsport Press, 1974), 3.</ref>

The permanent European settlement of Greene County began in 1772.  Jacob Brown, a North Carolina merchant, leased a large stretch of land from the Cherokee, located between the upper Lick Creek watershed and the Nolichucky River, in what is now the northeastern corner of the county.  The "Nolichucky Settlement" initially aligned itself with the [[Watauga Association]] as part of Washington County, North Carolina.  After voting irregularities in a local election, however, an early Nolichucky settler named Daniel Kennedy (1750–1802) led a movement to form a separate county, which was granted in 1783.

The county was named after Nathanael Greene, reflecting the loyalties of the numerous [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]] veterans who settled in the Nolichucky Valley, especially from [[Pennsylvania]] and [[Virginia]].  The first county court sessions were held at the home of Robert Kerr, who lived at "Big Spring" (near the center of modern Greeneville).  Kerr donated {{convert|50|acre|km2}} for the establishment of the county seat, most of which was located in the area currently bounded by Irish, College, Church, and Summer streets.  "Greeneville" was officially recognized as a town in 1786.<ref>Doughty, 11-13.</ref>