The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗McMinn County was Cherokee territory at the time of the arrival of the first Euro-American explorers. The Athens area was situated nearly halfway between the Overhill Cherokee villages of Great Tellico to the north in Monroe County and Great Hiwassee along the Hiwassee River to the south. In 1819, the Cherokee signed the Calhoun Treaty, selling the land north of the Hiwassee (including all of modern McMinn County) to the United States. McMinn County was organized on November 13, 1819, at the home of John Walker in what is now Calhoun. The Native American village, Pumpkintown (a corruption of Potemkin town), was located on a farm about two miles east of present-day Athens. It is sometimes incorrectly identified as a forerunner of Athens. Athens was laid out and chosen as the county seat in 1822. The name "Athens" may have been chosen due to perceived topographical similarities to A…
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowStart Athens’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Athens’s history is told.
0 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewHannah Richards of Athens, Tennes…, 1870: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Athens
See all 8 →
Athens, decade by decade
7 historic places in Athens
7 places in Athens are on the National Register of Historic Places, the country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
Where they are
When they were listed
Listed 1975Samuel Cleage House
Listed 1983Old College
Listed 1984William Lowry House
Listed 1986Alexander H. Keith House
Listed 1999John A. Turley House
Listed 2008First United Presbyterian Church
Listed 2009Trinity United Methodist ChurchThen & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Hannah Richards of Athens, Tennessee (1870) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (2), the Library of Congress (1) and the National Register (3). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.