Norris Highlands was originally settled by the migration of people from England, Scotland, Ireland, France and Germany who followed Daniel Boone’s mapping of the Cumberland Gap Gateway. Sharps Fort was one of the first settlements, west of the Appalachia and is located in Big Ridge State Park.

During the Civil War, Eastern Tennessee was the heart of many battles, victories, and defeats. During the war, this area was bitterly split between The Union and The Confederacy which lead to families and friends fighting against each other. The Wilderness Road in the Cumberland Gap was occupied twice by the Union and the South during the war.

The Appalachian Mountains are a rich source of coal and with mining comes history. The Norris Highlands also has a history of the impact of coal mining on its families and communities such as the Coal Creek War which involved mine owners replacing striking free miners with “convict lease prisoners.”

A New Deal: Norris Lake was the first TVA Lake which, although providing jobs and electricity to the area, displaced multiple families and forever lost the communities of Loyston and Lost Creek into the depths of lake. The Civilian Conservation Core camps, which housed the workers dot the lake as living history of the impact on the communities can be seen at Big Ridge State Park, Hickory Star Marina, and the town of Norris.

At the urging of Albert Einstein, President Franklin Roosevelt established the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic capabilities that would ultimately end WW II. Oak Ridge, the “The Secret City” began to be a thriving community with a sustainable impact on national and international affairs. The Museum of Science and Energy, offers many exhibits and displays of the “Secret City” and the atomic bomb.

The Green McAdoo Cultural Center is a tribute to the young men and women who were the first students to desegregate a state-supported high school in the south and created a significant impact in advancing Civil Rights.