Lost County of Tennessee: The County of James

The odd thing about James County is how it ended. Created in January 1871 mostly from Hamilton County plus part of Bradley, it was named for the Rev. Jesse J. James, a Methodist minister, by his son Elbert, who introduced the bill. Rural Republicans wanted distance from urban, Democratic Chattanooga. Its 285 square miles held thirteen communities, among them Ooltewah and Harrison. When it folded in 1919 it left Hamilton County just twelve miles of poorly kept gravel road. It was the first county in the United States consolidated into another.

What the plaque says

Lost County of Tennessee The County of James TN 1871-1919 Created out of rivalry of political factions during the reconstruction period following the Civil War, James County consisted of parts of Hamilton and Bradley counties. Plagued by political strife and supported mainly by farmers unable to provide an adequate tax base, its forty-eight year history ended in bankruptcy and its territory became a part of Hamilton County.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Red Clay State Historic Park — 8.5 mi
  The last seat of the Cherokee Nation before removal, where eleven general councils met from 1832 to 1837, now a state park with a council house replica, a sacred spring and an eternal flame.
• Walnut Street Bridge — 14 mi
  An 1890 truss bridge now open to walkers, and the place where Alfred Blount in 1893 and Ed Johnson in 1906 were lynched, the case that led to the Supreme Court's only criminal trial.
• Bessie Smith Cultural Center — 14 mi
  Chattanooga's African American museum and performance hall on the old Ninth Street, named for the Empress of the Blues, who started out singing for change on that same street.
• Tennessee Aquarium — 14 mi
  A river-themed aquarium that opened on May 1, 1992, on the Chattanooga bank where John Ross kept a trading post, tracing a raindrop from the Appalachians to the Gulf.

More markers nearby

• Old Harrison — 5.8 mi
• Tennessee Valley Railroad and Museum — 8.3 mi
• Old Dallas — 9.2 mi
• Cherokee History — 9.2 mi