three forks of the Holston River merge just south of the Virginia-Tennessee border
Source: US Geological Survey (USGS), Streamer
three forks of the Holston River merge just south of the Virginia-Tennessee border
Source: US Geological Survey (USGS), Streamer
the Holston River and its tributaries (in red) drain much of southwestern Virginia
Source: US Geological Survey (USGS), Streamer
The first Europeans to travel through the valleys of the tributaries of the Tennessee River were hunters and explorers. Stephen Holston is the know first settler. He built a cabin and claimed 1,300 acres prior to 1747, then sold his claim to James Davis in 1748. Though Davis renamed the site "Davis Fancy," the river ended up being named after Stephen Holston.
in the late 1740's, Stephen Holston and other colonists began to settle in the spper tributaries of the Tennessee River
Source: Library of Congress, A map of the most inhabited part of Virginia (by Joshua Fry and Peter Jefferson, 1755)
Samuel Stalnaker settled further west on what is known today as the Middle Fork of the Holdton River.1
Samuel Stalnaker built his cabin on the Middle Holston River
Source: Library of Congress, A new map of the western parts of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and North Carolina (by Thomas Hutchins, 1778)
The confluence of the Holston River and the French Broad River just east of Knoxville is the beginning point of the Tennessee River. The Holston, Clinch, and Powell rivers are the upper tributaries of the Tennessee River in Virginia.