25 Tennessee Facts That Will Blow Your Mind

By Karin Lehnardt, Senior Writer

Published January 2, 2024

Tennessee provided more soldiers during the War of 1812 than any other state, which led to its nickname, "The Volunteer State."_[3]
Tennessee is bordered by 8 states, more than any other state besides Missouri._[3]
Tennessee was most likely named after the Tennessee River, which is from the name of the Cherokee village "Tanasie."_[3]

Mountain Dew was slang for "moonshine"

Barney and Ally Hartman invented Mountain Dew in the 1940s in Tennessee. The name is Scots-Irish slang for moonshine._[2]
Tennessean Hattie Caraway was the first woman to be elected as a full-term U.S. senator, representing Arkansas from 1931 to 1945._[3]
Tennessee's Grand Ole Opry is the world's oldest radio show._[3]
Dentist William Morrison and candymaker John Wharton invented cotton candy in Tennessee in the early 1900s._[3]
Tennessee's Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited national park in the United States._[3]
Tennessee has 10 state songs, the most of any state._[3]
Famous Tennesseans include Dolly Parton, Morgan Freeman, Justin Timberlake, Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Quentin Tarantino, Kathy Bates, Miley Cyrus, Davy Crockett, and Lisa Marie Presley._[1]
Reelfoot Lake is Tennessee's only large natural lake; the rest are man-made. A series of earthquakes in the 1800s created the lake._[4]
Tennessee inventions include Bush's Baked Beans, Moon Pies, Two Trucks, the Manhattan Project, and cotton candy._[3]
Tennessee was the last state to secede from the Union during the Civil War and the first state readmitted._[3]

Only Virginia saw more fighting than Tennessee during the Civil War

Over 1,000 songs mention Memphis, Tennessee._[3]
The Tennessee flag is bright red with a circle in the center with three stars. The three stars represent the three distinct land regions of the state._[6]
The carnivorous pitcher plant is one of Tennessee's most endangered plants. The plant dissolves any insect that crawls into its green leaves and then absorbs them for nutrition._[7]
Great Smoky Mountains National Park has the worst air pollution of any national park in the country._[7]
A Native American named Sequoyah, who was born in Tennessee, developed the first alphabet for the Cherokee Nation in the 1810s and 1820s._[3]

As a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Davy Crockett was the only member of the Tennessee delegation to vote against Andrew Jackson's 1830 Indian Removal Act._[3]
Tennessee is about the size of Cuba._[7]
People from Tennessee are called Tennesseans, Volunteers, or Big Benders._[7]
One of Nashville's most iconic buildings is an AT&T building that looks like a bat. Nicknamed "Bat Building" or the "Bat Tower," it has been a part of the Nashville skyline for 30 years._[5]
Bristol, Tennessee, is known as the "Birthplace of Country Music."_[7]
Tennessee was originally part of North Carolina._[3]
Nashville, Tennessee, is the birthplace of "hot chicken," which is chicken fried with hot sauce, cayenne, and a spicy sauce and served with white bread and pickles._[6]