Visitor directory
Bledsoe County directory
Pikeville’s 1909 courthouse and its walk of National Register homes, churches and schools in the upper Sequatchie Valley, Bledsoe State Forest on the Cumberland Plateau, Fall Creek Falls just over the Van Buren County line, and the farm valley between the plateau and Walden Ridge — on Central time, an hour behind Knoxville and Chattanooga.
Cities: Pikeville (county seat)
Communities: Brayton · Hendon · Lees Station · Summer City
Official tourism, parks & attractions
Tourism
- Visit Pikeville (City of Pikeville tourism) ↗The city’s visitor site — things to do, lodging, places to eat and shop, and the downtown events calendar (Cruise-Ins and Summer Nights on Main Street, the fall festival, the Christmas parade and Light Up Pikeville).
Parks & outdoors
- Fall Creek Falls State Park (TN State Parks) ↗On the plateau west of Pikeville (about 17 miles, county site) · the park’s heart — 256-foot Fall Creek Falls, the lodge, the Betty Dunn Nature Center and its suspension bridge — is just over the line in Van Buren County, and the park and its wildlife management area reach into western Bledsoe · park office 2009 Village Camp Rd, Spencer · still closed since the August 2023 tornado: the Piney Falls Trail and the Millikan’s Overlook Trail (the overlook is open) · golf course closed Nov 2–3 for aeration · reservations 1-888-867-2757.
- Bledsoe State Forest (TN Division of Forestry) ↗On the Cumberland Plateau northwest of Pikeville, about three miles northeast of Fall Creek Falls State Park · state land since 1907, set aside as a state forest in 1933 · hiking, horseback riding, hunting and fishing; roads and trails are marked for all traffic, hiking only or non-motorized use (updated September 2026) · fire towers are closed to climbing · free firewood permits from the Division of Forestry, (931) 319-6959, Mon–Fri 8 AM–4:30 PM CT.
Museums & history
- Bledsoe County Courthouse (National Register) ↗3150 Main St, downtown Pikeville · a red-brick Classical Revival courthouse completed in 1909 to a design by W. K. Brown & Brothers of Chattanooga, on the site of Pikeville’s first courthouse, finished by 1821; on the National Register since 1995 · the Bledsoe County Veterans Memorial stands on the grounds · county offices open Mon–Wed and Fri 8 AM–4 PM CT, Thu 8 AM–noon CT.
- Bledsoe County History Museum — Dr. James A. Ross House ↗Frazier St, near the courthouse square in Pikeville · the circa-1872 Folk Victorian home of Dr. James A. Ross, a physician who saw patients in the small office building behind the house; in the 1940s the house served as the county’s second hospital · run by the Bledsoe County Historical and Genealogical Society · hours vary — check before you go.
- Pikeville National Register sites (City of Pikeville) ↗The city’s Historic Sites page lays out a walk past the South Main Street homes, the John Bridgman House (1815) on E. Spring St, the Lincoln Consolidated Rosenwald School on Grove St, the Pikeville Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church on East Valley Rd (about 1870; it was also the town’s school for Black children until 1925), the old county jail on Frazier St and the James B. Frazier marker at Spring and Grove streets.
Government
- Bledsoe County government ↗County Mayor’s Office, Bledsoe County Courthouse, 3150 Main St, Pikeville · (423) 447-6855 · Mon–Wed and Fri 7:30 AM–4 PM CT, Thu 7:30 AM–noon CT · the County Commission meets quarterly on the third Monday at 7 PM CT at the courthouse.
- City of Pikeville (county seat) ↗City Hall, 25 Municipal Dr · (423) 447-2919 · city services, the Historic Sites walk and the Calendar of Events.
- Bledsoe County Public Library ↗478 Cumberland Ave, Pikeville · (423) 447-2817 · Mon, Tue and Fri 10 AM–5 PM CT, Wed 10 AM–6 PM CT, Thu 10 AM–1 PM CT; closed weekends (state library directory).
Shared with neighboring counties
- Cumberland Trail State Park (TN State Parks) — shared with other counties; listed under East Tennessee (general)
Local resources
- Emergency (police · fire · EMS)911Call 911 for any emergency.
- Bledsoe County Sheriff’s Office(423) 447-2197235 Allen P. Deakins Rd, Pikeville · non-emergency dispatch (Bledsoe County 9-1-1) (423) 447-5555 · Sheriff Jimmy Morris ⓘ source
- Erlanger Bledsoe Hospital (ER)(423) 447-211271 Wheelertown Ave, Pikeville · hospital emergency department · for emergencies call 911 ⓘ source
- Bledsoe County Health Department(423) 447-2149Pikeville · Tennessee Department of Health ⓘ source
- Bledsoe County Mayor’s Office(423) 447-6855Courthouse, 3150 Main St, Pikeville · County Mayor Kris Frady ⓘ source
- Bledsoe County Schools(423) 447-2914478 Spring St, Pikeville · calendars, closings ⓘ source
- Bledsoe County Election Commission(423) 447-2776Courthouse, 3150 Main St, Suite 700 (2nd floor), Pikeville · Election Day Tue Nov 3: polls open 9 AM–7 PM CT at your own precinct ⓘ source
- Highway emergency (cell)*THP (*847)Tennessee Highway Patrol ⓘ source
Checked Oct 28, 2026 · official sites only · phone numbers copied from each agency’s own page — tap ⓘ to confirm. In an emergency, call 911.
Area news
Headlines from local outlets · Bledsoe County
At its first meeting under County Mayor Kris Frady, the County Commission approved up to $70,000 for a satellite fire hall in the Hendon community and extended the Bledsoe County Historical and Genealogical Society’s lease on the Ross House museum for four more years.
Read at Bledsonian-Banner →Farmer and Bledsoe County High School agriculture teacher Ronny Collier received the Bledsoe County Farm Bureau’s Lifetime Agricultural Achievement Award; $3,000 also went to the county food bank and a church food pantry.
Read at Bledsonian-Banner →Former County Mayor Gregg Ridley was honored with a joint legislative resolution for his 20 years in office, including the TCAT campus, a medical office building for Erlanger Bledsoe and a new health department.
Read at Bledsonian-Banner →The state Division of Forestry reminds residents that burn permits are required from Oct. 15 through May 15; they are free at BurnSafeTN.org or by calling 877-350-BURN.
Read at Bledsonian-Banner →
Short summaries in our words — tap through to read the full story at the outlet. All area news → · Outlet requests: [email protected]
A short history
Cherokee hunting grounds until the Third Treaty of Tellico in 1805, the upper Sequatchie Valley drew explorers John McClellan and Charles McClung in 1795, and settlers followed after the treaty; several took valley land as payment for Revolutionary War service. In November 1807 the General Assembly created Bledsoe County from part of Roane County and Indian lands and named it for Anthony Bledsoe, a Revolutionary War soldier, surveyor and militia colonel who settled in Sumner County and was killed by Indians in 1788. The county takes in three regions — the Sequatchie Valley down the middle, the Cumberland Plateau to the west and Walden Ridge to the east.
The first county seat was at Madison. In 1816 Charles Love sold thirty acres on Sequatchie Creek to the commissioners for a new seat, Pikeville, which grew as a trade and supply town on the stage road from Knoxville to Huntsville, Alabama; the state authorized Lafayette Academy there in 1826. Bledsoe sent James Standifer to Congress, and James B. Frazier, born in Pikeville, was elected governor in 1902. The county voted against secession in 1861, but Confederate companies formed here after Tennessee left the Union while other men joined the Union army, and James G. Spears rose to brigadier general in the Union army. In August 1862, as Braxton Bragg’s army moved north from Chattanooga toward Kentucky, it used the Pikeville courthouse as a hospital, a Confederate veteran later recalled.
Pikeville has kept much of its early-twentieth-century look around the 1909 Classical Revival courthouse, and the National Register lists the courthouse, the town’s older residential district, the Pikeville Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church — built about 1870 to serve as a Freedmen’s Bureau school and church — and the Lincoln School, built in the mid-1920s with help from the Julius Rosenwald Fund. On the plateau, land the state bought in 1907 became Bledsoe State Forest in 1933, and the gulf that state geologist Gerard Troost visited in 1834 is now part of Fall Creek Falls State Park, just over the Van Buren County line.
Towns & communities
- Pikeville — county seat and the county’s only incorporated town; the 1909 courthouse, the Dr. James A. Ross House museum, the South Main Street historic homes and Erlanger Bledsoe Hospital
- Brayton (community) — on Walden Ridge in the south of the county; the Brayton Volunteer Fire Department
- Hendon (community) — on Walden Ridge at the south end of the county, near the Sequatchie and Hamilton county lines; a satellite fire hall was approved in October 2026
- Lees Station (community) — on US 127 in the valley south of Pikeville
- Summer City (community) — on Walden Ridge east of Pikeville, near the Rhea County line
Our place stories in and near Bledsoe County
Go deeper
Neighboring counties: Cumberland County · Hamilton County · Rhea County · Sequatchie County · All counties →
Official visitor links
Checked Oct 27, 2026 · hours, fees and events live on these pages.
Videos
Sources
Checked Oct 27, 2026 · We summarize; follow these for the full history. No hours or fees on this page — check official sites before you go.