Facts About Tennessee
- Tennessee is known as the Volunteer State because of its high number of volunteers during the War of 1812, specifically at the Battle of New Orleans.
- Greeneville, TN has the only monument in the country dedicated to both Union and Confederate soldiers.
- Nashville, Tennessee’s capital, is home to the longest-running live radio program in the world. The Grand Ole Opry has been broadcasting every weekend since 1925.
- Oak Ridge, TN is known as the Energy Capital of the World for its work on the atomic bomb and continuing research into energy usage.
- Tennessee has the 16th largest cattle inventory and the 13th largest beef cow inventory in the United States.
- Ober Gatlinburg boasts a huge five-acre artificial skiing surface, making this winter sport possible year-round.
- A replica of The Parthenon, the famous ancient Greek building in Athens, Greece, stands in Nashville’s Centennial Park.
- The three stars on the Tennessee flag are meant to represent the three Grand Divisions of the state: East Tennessee, Middle Tennessee, and West Tennessee. The white circle that surrounds them represents the unity of the divisions.
- The Memphis Cotton Exchange handles roughly one-third of the United States’ entire cotton crop.
- Graceland, Elvis’s home in Memphis, is the second most visited home in the country.
- Hattie Caraway, a Tennessee native, was the first woman ever to be named a United States Senator.
- Tennessee’s state flower is the iris and its state bird is the Mockingbird.
- Nashville, TN is known as Music City and is the country music capital of the world.
- Tennessee was admitted as a state on June 1, 1796, making it the 16th state.
- Andrew Johnson, a Tennessee native, held every local, state and federal level elective office – including President of the United States. He was also the first president to be impeached.
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed outside the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. The motel has now been preserved as the American Civil Rights Museum.
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