Jonesborough, Tennessee

Jonesborough was established in 1779, seventeen years before Tennessee became a state. The North Carolina General Assembly created it as the seat of Washington County and named it for Willie Jones, a North Carolina legislator who supported settlement west of the mountains. When delegates met here in December 1784 to form the short-lived State of Franklin, Jonesborough served as its first capital. Congress never recognized Franklin, and the land returned to North Carolina, but the episode is part of why the town is known as Tennessee's oldest.

The record of those early decades survives in specific names. Andrew Jackson arrived in 1788 and took the oath to practice law here. In 1820 Elihu Embree began publishing The Emancipator in Jonesborough, which the Town describes as the first periodical devoted exclusively to abolition. The Town's own history also notes that Embree had been an enslaver for most of his life, a reminder that local history is more complicated than a plaque can hold.

A short timeline

1. 1779 — Jonesborough is established as the Washington County seat.
2. 1784 — Delegates meet here to form the State of Franklin.
3. 1797 — Dr. William Chester builds the Chester Inn.
4. 1820 — Elihu Embree begins publishing The Emancipator.
5. 1969 — The historic district is listed on the National Register.
6. 1973 — The first National Storytelling Festival gathers on a farm wagon.

In October 1973, Jimmy Neil Smith and fellow residents staged a gathering of storytellers on an old farm wagon in Courthouse Square for an audience of about sixty people. That first event became the National Storytelling Festival, held in Jonesborough every October since, now on the first full weekend of the month.

The International Storytelling Center, established in 1998 to carry the festival forward, anchors the tradition year-round from its downtown campus. Its Teller-in-Residence series brings a different storyteller each week through the warmer months; check the season schedule each year.

For several days each October, festival tents, visitors and street closures change downtown traffic and parking. Residents who live or work near Main Street plan around festival week, and the Town publishes closure schedules ahead of the event.

International Storytelling Center

• 1700s–1800s

  The historic core

  Older homes near downtown, some predating the Civil War, in brick, frame and occasional log construction, many inside the historic zones.

• 1880s–1940s

  Victorian and early 20th century

  Houses from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries on the streets around Main Street.

• Recent

  Established and newer neighborhoods

  Contemporary floor plans in subdivisions beyond downtown.

• Rural

  Farms and acreage

  Washington County countryside where wells, septic systems and private roads can be part of the due diligence.

Each setting asks different questions of a buyer. An older home may involve preservation review, original materials and aging systems; a rural parcel may rely on a well, a septic system or a private road. We look at the particulars of each property rather than generalizing about the town.

Jonesborough sits in Washington County, west of Johnson City, with U.S. 11E among the main routes connecting the two. Tri-Cities Airport in Blountville serves the region. Downtown is compact and easy to explore on foot, but sidewalks vary outside the historic core, so we evaluate access property by property.

Tri-Cities Airport