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Sullivan County: Established 1779
What’s wrong with this picture? How could Sullivan County be established in 1779 when Tennessee wasn’t created until 1796? That’s right, Sullivan and 6 other counties were originally formed by North Carolina! It’s the same basic reason why the University of Tennessee was established in 1794 as Blount College, before Tennessee was a state. The…
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Allandale and the Rise of Angus in America
Chances are that if you order a steak at one of America’s finest steakhouses—or a burger at almost any restaurant—the beef is Angus. But that wasn’t always the case. In the early 1900s, Angus cattle competed with Herefords and Shorthorns for commercial dominance. Angus had been imported from Scotland beginning in 1873, and the American…
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Steady Growth, Regional Strength, and a Commitment to Stay
MOVE TO KINGSPORT – FEBRUARY 2026 MONTHLY REPORT One year ago, our February 2025 report reflected strong post-pandemic momentum. That pace has moderated — and that’s a healthy development. As of February 2026, 531 out-of-region families from 46 states relocated to Kingsport over the past 12 months, averaging just over two households per workday. The…
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How Our Region Shaped the Course of the American Revolution
Mark your calendars for 6pm, April 9, at the Kingsport Center for Higher Education (invitation attached) as the Friends of Kingsport Archives and Sullivan 250 committee present “The Overmountain Men” in honor of America’s 250th birthday celebration. Imagine living in our region before it was officially the United States of America. In 1761, the Virginia…
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Where Tennessee Begins
A friend recently observed that the Holston River just upstream of Kingsport cuts across the ridges, carving a circuitous channel and steep bluffs. You can see exactly what he means as you cross the I-81 bridge and look down at the sheer rock faces dropping into the water. But just a few bends later, the…
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Move To Kingsport: Ensuring Our City’s Renewal, Not Retreat
When people think about economic development, they often picture industrial parks, incentives, or ribbon cuttings for major employers. Those investments matter immensely. But today’s economy is changing — and so are the tools that drive growth. That’s why programs like Move To Kingsport represent a new kind of economic development: people-centered, data-driven, and remarkably cost-effective.…
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Sullivan 250 | From Fort Robinson to Fort Patrick Henry: Building a Defense Network in the Holston Valley
Second in a 12-part monthly series to commemorate Sullivan County’s role in the 250th birthday of the United States of America February 2026 | 2 of 12 As British colonial interests pushed beyond the Appalachians, travel followed established Indigenous routes such as the Warriors’ Path through Virginia’s Great Valley to Long Island of the Holston—an…
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Kingsport: A Tale of Two Cities
Long before it had a name, geography made this place significant. Long Island of the Holston — four miles long and nearly half a mile wide — was a Cherokee sacred ground used for diplomacy. Situated where Reedy Creek meets the Holston River as it bends around Bays Mountain, it anchors a 6,000-acre basin known…
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When Efficiency Serves the Human Heart
Back at the beginning of my career in the mid-1980s, our community’s largest employer, Eastman Chemical, was going through a transformative process in total quality management. It was based on the management principles that helped Toyota rise from being viewed as an affordable alternative to American-made cars into a global benchmark for reliability, quality, and…
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A Cooler January, a Steady Market
Move To Kingsport Monthly Report January numbers can be deceptive. They’re often the first data point people seize on in a new year, but they’re also the smallest, noisiest slice of the calendar. That’s especially true in housing, where closings reflect decisions made months earlier and where construction timing, weather, and financing cycles all collide.…
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