HISTORY
When the Watauga settlements became Washington County, in 1778, a wagon road was opened across the mountains into the settled parts of North Carolina, and travel became much easier. Many more people then moved into Tennessee, and in 1779 the huge County of Washington was divided, part of its territory being cut off to form Sullivan County, the second county organized in Tennessee. Isaac Shelby was appointed colonel of the new county, and, after a short time, John Sevier was made colonel of Washington County. In the same year Jonesboro, the oldest town in Tennessee, was laid out and made the county seat of Washington County. Source: Gentry Richard McGee, A History of Tennessee from 1663 to 1911 (New York, Cincinnati, Chicago, American Book Company, 1911), 67.
Washington County Court House
Image Source: "Historic Photographs," Washington County, Tennessee Department of Records Management & Archives, (https://wctnarchives.org/historic-photographs : accessed May 8, 2018).