The Reasons Why Sullivan County Rocks

Rolling out to the famous Ridgewood Barbeque, between Bluff City and Elizabethton, I glanced at my map and discovered I was in a place called Rock Hill, Tenn.
Looking around, though, that made sense.
After all, I was in Sullivan County.
And this is the home of Rocky Mount, the territorial capital of the United States South of the River Ohio – known simply as “The Southwest Territory.”
The original log home of the Cobb family – “Rocky Mount” – sits here in Piney Flats on a rocky-topped perch not far from “The Forks,” where the Watauga River joins the South Fork of the Holston River.
Rocky Mount is, indeed, rocky.
Like so much of Sullivan County, including Rock Hill, outcrops are scattered all over the countryside.
And, yet, they are not only here. The abundance of rocky soil in Northeast Tennessee has also given us a place on the map called Rock City, located not far from Orebank.
Yes, Rock City.
But, no, it’s not the same as the one near Chattanooga, as advertised on so many “See Rock City” barns.
Yet, in carefully studying more maps, I came to a simple conclusion: You could say Sullivan County rocks.
This is not only the home of Rock Hill, Rocky Mount and Rock City, it is also where you’ll find specks on the map called Rock Springs and Rocky Springs.
Certainly, these places are repetitive – copycats of each other – and, yes, easily confused.
Rock Springs, for one, lies on the outskirts of Kingsport. It was once the site of elaborate agricultural fairs sponsored by its community club in the 1950s. Why, just take a stop at the Colonial Heights Branch Library, and you can gander at fantastically preserved scrapbooks showing off the Rock Springs of yesteryear.
But don’t go looking for “Rocky Springs.”
That place lies on the outskirts of Piney Flats, not too far from Rocky Mount, and is the home of Rocky Springs Missionary Baptist Church, constructed a century ago with bricks made on site.
At the church, you’ll find elaborate stained-glass windows. Outside, an old abandoned schoolhouse stands among the rocky landscape.
Taking a visit to either Rock Springs or Rocky Springs, it would seem easy to guess the origins of names across Sullivan County – or neighboring Southwest Virginia.
But, use caution.
It is easy to see how Rockdell took its name along the base of Clinch Mountain in Russell County. This valley – or “dell” – is simply stuffed with rocks.
Yet that’s not the same with “Rocktown,” a tiny place in Washington County, Va., between Bristol and Benhams.
Oh, rocks are scattered everywhere here.
But a clue to the origin comes from a gravestone at the nearby Fleenors Memorial Church: The Rocktown name likely originated from Samuel J. Rock (1871-1962), a general store owner at Rocktown for more than 50 years.