Greene County Communities, Explained

If you're new to Greene County, Tennessee, the place names can be confusing: which are actual towns, which are just neighborhoods or postal areas, and how do they all fit together? Here's the plain-English version. The county is organized into one dominant county seat, a handful of small incorporated towns, and a scattering of rural communities — each with its own history and identity. Every one has its own page here with live local businesses and events; this guide is the map that ties them together.

The county seat: Greeneville

Greeneville (pop. ~15,500) is the center of everything — the county seat, the commercial hub, and the historic heart of Greene County. Founded in 1783, it was briefly the capital of the breakaway State of Franklin and later the hometown of President Andrew Johnson. Its historic downtown, the county's biggest events, and most of its shopping, dining, and healthcare are here. If you only know one place in the county, it's this one.

The other incorporated towns

Four more municipalities have their own local governments and town limits, each anchoring a different corner of the county:

• Tusculum (city, pop. ~3,300) — Tennessee's first college town, built around Tusculum University (chartered 1794, the oldest college in the state). It sits immediately east of Greeneville and calls itself "First in Education."
• Mosheim (town, pop. ~2,500) — a growing town in western Greene County with German Lutheran roots, a Civil War battlefield, and Mosheim FunDays each June. It's the school center for the West Greene end of the county.
• Baileyton (town, pop. ~440) — a small town at Interstate 81 exit 36, the northern gateway to the county, and home to the North Greene schools.
• Bulls Gap (town, pop. ~750) — a historic railroad town in a mountain pass on the county's western edge, hometown of Hee Haw comedian Archie Campbell and home of Volunteer Speedway.

The rural communities

Much of Greene County is made up of unincorporated communities — named places without their own town government, defined instead by a crossroads, a church, a school, a postal area, or a river valley. They're served directly by the county, and each has a deep local story:

• Limestone — the frontier heart of the county: David Crockett's birthplace, an early Revolutionary-era fort, and one of the first schools west of the Appalachians.
• Chuckey — a Nolichucky River railroad community with some of the oldest farms in Tennessee, feeding the Chuckey-Doak schools.
• Afton — an eastern crossroads best known as the home of the Chuckey-Doak Black Knights, with historic stone houses and one of the county's largest manufacturers.
• Camp Creek — a community in the southern mountains, home to Margarette Falls and deep frontier roots, in the South Greene zone.
• Mohawk — a rural railroad community in the Lick Creek valley that once boasted one of East Tennessee's largest Chevrolet dealerships.
• Midway — a quiet former railroad village west of Mosheim, with a surprising high-tech industrial side.

How the county fits together

A few things tie all these places into one county. Everyone shares the same county seat (Greeneville) for the courthouse, county offices, and the biggest events. The school feeder patterns — Greeneville City, plus the county's Chuckey-Doak, North Greene, South Greene, and West Greene zones — group the towns and communities into who plays whom on Friday nights; see the schools directory for how that works. And the county's shared history — frontier settlement, the State of Franklin, a divided Civil War, and a strong farming tradition — runs through every one of them.

Explore each community

Every town and community has its own page with its full history plus the live local businesses and upcoming events in that area:

• Browse all Greene County communities →
• New to the area? Start with our guide to moving to Greeneville.
• See what's happening countywide on the events calendar, or find a local shop in the business directory.