On Saturday, June 1, our state will celebrate TENNESSEE STATEHOOD DAY, commemorating the 223rd Anniversary of the state’s admission to the United States. With a rainy-day forecast, Statehood Day offers the perfect opportunity to combine family time, historic stories and Tennessee foods for the ‘memories’ win.

Do you remember your Tennessee history classes? Or, are you a more recent resident of the Volunteer State? Perhaps you’ve just become interested in the historical background of the celebration?

In 1772, the Watauga Association was signed and is not recognized as the first constitutional government west of the Appalachian Mountains.

The land currently recognized as the state of Tennessee was originally part of North Carolina and was later included in the area designated as the Southwest Territory. Tennessee was admitted to the Union on June 1, 1796 as the 16th state and holds the distinction as the first state to have been created from a territory under the legal jurisdiction of the United States federal government. The original thirteen colonies had become the first thirteen states upon each colony’s ratification of the Articles of Confederation and its replacement, the U. S. Constitution. Vermont and Kentucky, the fourteenth and fifteenth states, entered the Union prior to Tennessee but neither was ever a federal territory.

Did the original boundaries of the state follow today’s boundary lines? Not exactly. The first Constitution of the State of Tennessee, on display during June at the Tennessee State Library and Archives, states that the beginning point of the boundary was the high point of Stone Mountain at the Virginia state line and would run the “extreme heights of the mountain chains through the Appalachian Mountains” separating North Carolina from Tennessee, past the Indian towns of Cowee and Old Chota. The boundary would continue to the southern boundary of the state, intersecting with Georgia, one of the original thirteen states. All territory, lands and waters lying west of “said line” would be included in the boundaries, allowing for future expansion and acquisition of all territory west to the Mississippi River.

Two other interesting Tennessee facts worth sharing with your family are:

1. The United States Civil War almost destroyed the Union and certainly impacted each of the southern states that joined the Confederacy. Tennessee has a unique Civil War legacy as the last state to leave the Union and the first state to be readmitted to the Union at the end of the war. That distinction is interestingly in contrast to the fact that Tennessee furnished more soldiers for the Confederate Army than any other state besides Virginia and, at the same time, more soldiers for the Union Army than the rest of the Confederacy combined.

2. There is some disagreement even among historians as to the true origin of Tennessee’s nickname, The Volunteer State. Some historians claim that the nickname was earned during the War of 1812 when so many Tennessee men volunteered to fight alongside Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans. Others assert that the nickname is more accurately associated with the Mexican-American War. President James K. Polk, Tennessee’s second citizen to become President of the United States,
issued a call for 2600 nationwide volunteers at the beginning of the war, only to learn that more than 30,000 Tennesseans had volunteered. Why did so many Tennesseans volunteer? They had not forgotten Tennessee’s strong support in the Texas War for Independence, including the heroic death of former Tennessee Congressman Davy Crockett. and then Texas politician and former Tennessee Governor Sam Houston appealed for help from ‘home.’

Interested in spending a couple of hours during June celebrating Tennessee?

Consider visiting Point Park atop Lookout Mountain where you’ll enjoy the incredible view of the Tennessee River below and the majesty of the New York Monument. Drive along Missionary Ridge and spend time at Pleasant Garden, the historic African-American cemetery where Ed Johnson and two of the Scottsboro Boys are buried. Save time to visit the Chattanooga National Cemetery, specifically the graves of the Medal of Honor recipients buried there. The antique carousel at Coolidge Park is worth a visit as are the numerous historical markers located throughout the region. Nancy Ward’s gravesite in Benton, Tennessee and Red Clay State Park near McDonald are quick days trips. Family time spent visiting ancestors who participated in the major events of our Tennessee history and sharing those stories assures that young family members will connect with our history. Even better, take time to visit elderly family members and record their Tennessee memories.

You’ll be glad you did.

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Linda Moss Mines is the Chattanooga and Hamilton County historian, chairs Chattanooga-Hamilton’s County America 250 Committee and is executive board vice-chairman of the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center.