My East Tennessee East Tennessee Guides
Home › By county › Polk County › Benton

Benton, Tennessee

Polk County’s seat since 1840, on the Old Federal Road route now called U.S. 411: the 1937 Art Deco courthouse on the square, the grave of the Cherokee Beloved Woman Nancy Ward just south of town, and the closest town to Sugarloaf Mountain Park, the Ocoee gorge, the Hiwassee and the Cherokee National Forest.

City · county seatSeat of Polk County →Pop. 1,523 (2020)Eastern time (ET)Things to do ↓Eat & drink ↓Places to stay ↓Events ↓A short history ↓City offices & resources ↓

Checked Oct 29, 2026 · all times Eastern (ET) · sources at the bottom

In 30 seconds
  • Why stop: see the 1937 courthouse on the square, then drive a few minutes south on U.S. 411 to Nancy Ward’s hilltop grave above the Ocoee. From town, U.S. 64 leads east to Sugarloaf Mountain Park, the Ocoee gorge and the Olympic whitewater course; the Hiwassee and the Fort Marr blockhouse are north at Delano.
  • Before you go: Benton is on Eastern time (ET). City Offices are open weekdays 8 AM–4:30 PM ET. Early voting ends today, Oct. 29 (8:30 AM–4 PM ET), and on Election Day, Tue Nov 3, polls are open 9 AM–8 PM ET. The Benton Christmas Parade is Sat Dec 12 at 1 PM ET. Polk County has no open hospital, so in an emergency call or text 911.
  • Don’t confuse: this is Benton, Tennessee, the Polk County seat in East Tennessee. It is not Benton County, Tennessee (its seat is Camden, in West Tennessee), and not Benton, Kentucky. Many places with a Benton mailing address, like the Nancy Ward Gravesite, Sugarloaf Mountain Park and the chamber office on U.S. 64, are outside the town limits.

Visitor directory

Things to do in and around Benton

In town

  • Polk County Courthouse ↗6239 U.S. 411, on the courthouse square · a two-story Art Deco courthouse of cream brick, designed by R. H. Hunt and Company of Chattanooga and finished in 1937 with federal Public Works funds after the 1897 courthouse burned on Dec. 2, 1935. It is the fourth courthouse on the square and is on the National Register (1993). A marble memorial to the veterans of the two World Wars (1949) stands at the southeast corner, and a Civil War Trails marker on the grounds tells the county’s wartime story (Polk County Chamber) · county offices (423) 338-4527. ⓘ source
  • West Polk Public Library ↗126 Polk St., just off U.S. 411 at Main St. · Mon, Tue & Thu 10 AM–7 PM ET; Wed, Fri & Sat 10 AM–4 PM ET; closed Sunday · (423) 338-4536. ⓘ source
  • Polk County Historical & Genealogical Society Library140 Commerce St., on the courthouse square · Nancy Ward and Trail of Tears material, Cherokee enrollments and family records. Its website was down on Oct. 29, 2026, and the only posted hours are from a 2018 regional guide, so call the county or check locally first. ⓘ source
  • Courthouse square festivals ↗The square hosted this year’s Benton Arts & Heritage Day on Sat Oct 24, 10 AM–4 PM ET, a free fall festival with local crafts, barbecue, a petting zoo and bounce houses. ⓘ source

Eat & drink

  • Ruby’s Diner5790 Old U.S. 411, inside the town limits · homemade biscuits at breakfast and home-cooked lunch. It gave gift certificates to this year’s Arts & Heritage Day raffle. Check hours before you go. ⓘ source
  • Cloer Mill Coffee6553 U.S. 411, inside the town limits · coffee, sandwiches, soups and homemade desserts. Listings give two different phone numbers, so we print none; check hours before you go. ⓘ source

U.S. 411 through town has more places to eat and a grocery. Small-town hours change, so call ahead. More restaurants across the county: Polk County shopping & dining ↗.

Places to stay

Benton itself has few places to stay. More hotels are in Cleveland, in Bradley County. Lodging list: Polk County lodging & camping ↗.

Nearby: Nancy Ward, the Ocoee & the Hiwassee

  • Nancy Ward Gravesite ↗Outside city limits — 5550 U.S. 411, south of town · the hilltop grave of Nanyehi, the Cherokee “Beloved Woman,” beside her son Five Killer and her brother Long Fellow, overlooking the Ocoee. The Daughters of the American Revolution placed the monument in 1923; it is on the National Register (1973) and the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail, managed by the state park · open 9 AM–8 PM ET daily (Polk County Chamber). ⓘ source
  • Sugarloaf Mountain Park · Ocoee River State Park ↗Outside city limits — 2144 TN-40, Benton mailing address, by Ocoee Dam No. 1 and Parksville Lake · wheelchair-friendly picnic tables around a short paved loop with a view of Dam No. 1, and bank fishing for trout, bass and catfish. Ocoee River State Park, Tennessee’s newest (2025), is open year-round; rafting releases run March through October · park office (423) 616-3711. ⓘ source
  • Ocoee Scenic Byway & Ocoee Whitewater Center ↗Not in Benton — east on U.S. 64 through the Ocoee River Gorge, past the dams and the 4.7-mile wooden flume line, to the site of the 1996 Olympic canoe and kayak slalom at 4400 U.S. 64 · $3 parking. ⓘ source
  • Chilhowee Recreation Area ↗Not in Benton — U.S. Forest Service, up Forest Road 77 on Chilhowee Mountain (7 miles east of the U.S. 64/411 junction, then 7.5 miles up) · McKamy Lake, about 25 miles of hiking and biking trails and a waterfall trail. The campground usually closes in late October; day use is open year-round, $3 per vehicle. ⓘ source
  • Fort Marr Blockhouse & Hiwassee Scenic River State Park ↗Not in Benton — 404 Spring Creek Rd., Delano, at the Gee Creek ranger station · the one surviving blockhouse of Fort Marr (Fort Morrow), built in 1814 and garrisoned again in 1837 to hold Cherokee people before the 1838 removal. It stood in Benton for decades before the state moved it to the park. Open daily, sunrise to sunset · (423) 263-0050. ⓘ source
  • Hiwassee Loop train rides ↗Not in Benton — the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum’s trains leave Delano through the Hiwassee River Gorge and over the spiral loop near Farner. The 2026 Hiwassee Loop season runs through Nov. 22, with holiday departures in December. ⓘ source
  • Ocoee Valley Farms ↗Outside city limits — 1371 U.S. 64 · a working farm with a fall festival, pumpkin patch and 8-acre corn maze. The 2026 season ends Sun Nov 1 · farm $14, farm + maze $20 (age 3+) · 423-650-0710. ⓘ source

Not in Benton: the Ducktown Basin Museum at the Burra Burra Mine site in Ducktown posts a renovation-closure notice, so check its website ↗ before you drive over.

Checked Oct 29, 2026 · in or out of town checked against Census town limits. Call ahead — hours change. All hours Eastern (ET).

Coming up in Benton

  • Thu Oct 29 — Last day of early voting8:30 AM–4 PM ET at the Polk County Election Commission, 6050 U.S. 411, in town. ⓘ source
  • Fri Oct 30–Sun Nov 1 — Last weekend of fall at Ocoee Valley FarmsOutside city limits — 1371 U.S. 64 · Fri 5–9 PM ET, Sat 11 AM–8 PM ET, Sun 1–5 PM ET. Gate sales end 30 minutes before closing. ⓘ source
  • Sat Oct 31 — Halloween Float on the OcoeeNot in Benton — 4–6 PM ET · a ranger-led costume float from Big Creek to Parksville Lake Campground. Bring your own boat and life jacket. ⓘ source
  • Mon Nov 2 — Benton city board meetingRegular meeting on the first Monday, 10 AM ET at the City Offices, 6496 U.S. 411. ⓘ source
  • Tue Nov 3 — Election DayPolls are open 9 AM–8 PM ET at your assigned precinct. Benton has no city race this year (its next city election is Nov. 7, 2028, per MTAS); the countywide ballot is the November general election. ⓘ source
  • Sun Nov 15 — Pelt Petting Zoo at Sugarloaf Mountain ParkOutside city limits — 1–2 PM ET under the pavilion by the restrooms · a ranger shows native mammal pelts. Free. ⓘ source
  • Thu Nov 19 — Polk County CommissionAt the courthouse in Benton, 6239 U.S. 411. The county schedule does not list a start time, so check the meeting notices. ⓘ source
  • Sun Nov 22 — Rhododendron Trail HikeNot in Benton — 12–1:30 PM ET · an easy 3-mile ranger hike along the Ocoee, from the Olympic-section parking on U.S. 64 ($3 parking). ⓘ source
  • Fri Nov 27 — Day After Thanksgiving HikeNot in Benton — 2–5 PM ET · the Old Copper Road Trail, meeting at the Ocoee Whitewater Center, 4400 U.S. 64 ($3 parking, cash). ⓘ source
  • Mon Dec 7 — Benton city board meetingFirst-Monday meeting, 10 AM ET at the City Offices. ⓘ source
  • Sat Dec 12 — Benton Christmas Parade1 PM ET · this year’s theme is “A Christmas of Many Colors.” Hosted by the Polk County Chamber of Commerce, 423-338-5040; the route has not been posted, so call the chamber. ⓘ source

More Polk County happenings are on the Polk County Chamber site ↗.

Checked Oct 29, 2026 · times Eastern (ET) · dates from MTAS, Polk County, the Polk County Election Commission, Tennessee State Parks, the Polk County Chamber of Commerce and Ocoee Valley Farms. More Polk County events are on the county guide.

Area news

Headlines · Benton & Polk County

  • NewsChannel 9 · Oct 28, 2026

    Ducktown asked the state to keep the former Copper Basin Medical Center, closed since 2017, licensed as an inactive hospital for two more years so a new provider could reopen it. Polk County has no open hospital today.

    Read at NewsChannel 9 →
  • Tennessee State Parks · Oct 2026

    Gee Creek Campground at Hiwassee Scenic River State Park will close in early spring 2027 for a bathhouse and infrastructure renovation, reopening about summer 2028.

    Read at Tennessee State Parks →
  • Chattanooga Times Free Press · Oct 24, 2026

    A $5.5 million estate of about 54 acres along the Ocoee River in Benton, with a 9,000-square-foot riverfront hall and an amphitheater, is back on the market.

    Read at Chattanooga Times Free Press →
  • Local 3 News · Oct 15, 2026

    A cut fiber line knocked out internet, landlines and some cell towers in the Copper Basin. A dispatcher at the Benton 911 center took over calls, and Polk County 911 reminds residents they can text 911.

    Read at Local 3 News →
  • Polk County Chamber of Commerce · Oct 2026

    The chamber announced the Benton Christmas Parade for Sat Dec 12 at 1 PM ET, themed “A Christmas of Many Colors.”

    Read at Polk County Chamber of Commerce →

Short summaries in our words — tap through to read the full story at the source. All area news → · Outlet requests: [email protected]

A short history

For generations this was Cherokee country. The Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto camped near the Hiwassee River trading town of Columbus in 1540, and the Treaty of 1819 opened the land north of the Hiwassee to settlers (Tennessee Encyclopedia). That same Hiwassee Purchase forced Nancy Ward, Nanyehi, the last Beloved Woman of the Cherokees, to leave Chota. She settled on the Ocoee River near present-day Benton and kept an inn on the Federal Road until her death in 1822 (Tennessee Encyclopedia). In 1837 Fort Marr, first built in 1814 as a supply depot for the Creek War, was garrisoned again, and its troops took Cherokee people from their homes to the camps at Fort Cass before the forced removal of 1838 (Polk County Chamber).

The General Assembly created Polk County on Nov. 28, 1839, from parts of Bradley and McMinn counties and named it for newly elected Governor James K. Polk. In the election of Feb. 4, 1840, voters chose McKamy’s stock stand on the Old Federal Road as the county seat and named it Benton, for U.S. Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri. James McKamy and John F. Hannah laid out 223 lots, which sold at auction for $11,386 (Tennessee Encyclopedia). Source conflict: the courthouse’s 1993 National Register nomination says the county seat sat at Columbus for a year and that the law creating the county had already named the seat Benton; it says the McKamy farm was picked for its springs.

The first county court met in a temporary courthouse on the square in August 1840. A two-story brick courthouse followed in 1851 and burned in 1894; its Colonial Revival successor of 1897 burned on Dec. 2, 1935, and the present Art Deco courthouse opened in 1937 at a cost of $100,000 (National Register nomination). No battles were fought in the county during the Civil War, but it sent five companies to the Confederacy and two to the Union, and a raid by the guerrilla John P. Gatewood on Nov. 29, 1864, left at least sixteen dead (Tennessee Encyclopedia).

Benton was incorporated on Nov. 1, 1915 (MTAS). The last Fort Marr blockhouse was given to the county school board in 1922 and moved to the high school in Benton, then in 1965 to the east entrance of town on U.S. 64 (Times Free Press, 2010); it now stands at the Gee Creek ranger station in Delano. In 1996 the Ocoee hosted the Olympic canoe and kayak slalom, and in 2025 the river became Ocoee River State Park, with Sugarloaf Mountain Park as its day-use area (Tennessee State Parks). Source conflict: the 2020 Census counted 1,523 people in Benton; the state’s certified 2026 estimate is 1,476 (MTAS), and the Polk County Chamber lists 1,423. The Census also names the place “Benton town,” while MTAS and the county call it the City of Benton.

Read more: Polk County (Tennessee Encyclopedia) ↗ · Nancy Ward (Tennessee Encyclopedia) ↗ · Polk County Courthouse nomination (National Register) ↗

Polk County’s history → · How the World Was Made — a Cherokee account → · How Tennessee came from North Carolina → · East Tennessee history hub →

City offices & local resources

  • Emergency (police · fire · EMS)911Call or text 911 for any emergency. ⓘ source
  • Benton City Offices(423) 338-57336496 U.S. 411 · Mon–Fri 8 AM–4:30 PM ET · police (option 1), city recorder (option 3), water, sewer and garbage billing. Source names differ: MTAS lists a mayor and two commissioners meeting at the Benton Municipal Building; the county’s City Offices page calls the same board the City Council and gives the City Offices building at 6496 U.S. 411. Both give the first Monday at 10 AM ET. ⓘ source
  • Polk County 911 non-emergency (West Polk / Benton)(423) 338-8215County-wide dispatch; also the Sheriff’s report line. ⓘ source
  • Polk County Sheriff’s Office423-338-4540164 Industrial Access Circle, in town. ⓘ source
  • Polk County Courthouse · County Executive’s office(423) 338-45276239 U.S. 411. ⓘ source
  • Polk County Election Commission423-338-45316050 U.S. 411 · office Mon–Fri 8:30 AM–4:30 PM ET · Election Day Tue Nov 3, polls 9 AM–8 PM ET. ⓘ source
  • Polk County Emergency Management(423) 338-10906034 U.S. 411 · sign up for emergency alerts. ⓘ source
  • Polk County Health Department(423) 338-45332279 Parksville Rd. · Mon–Fri 8 AM–4:30 PM ET. ⓘ source
  • Polk County Schools423-299-0471District office, 131 Stephens St. ⓘ source
  • West Polk Public Library(423) 338-4536126 Polk St. ⓘ source
  • Polk County Veterans Services(423) 338-4557Courthouse, Room 207 · Mon–Fri 8:30 AM–4:30 PM ET. ⓘ source
  • Polk County Chamber of Commerce (visitor information)423-338-50401857 U.S. 64, south of town (outside the town limits). ⓘ source
  • Ocoee River State Park office(423) 616-3711Shares the Hiwassee Scenic River State Park visitor center, 404 Spring Creek Rd., Delano. ⓘ source

City of Benton (MTAS directory) ↗ — charter, meeting schedule and contacts · Polk County’s City Offices page ↗. The city’s old web address was not working on Oct. 29, 2026, so we link these instead. Benton has a mayor and two commissioners. They meet on the first Monday of each month at 10 AM ET at the City Offices. The city provides police, a volunteer fire department, water, wastewater, garbage pickup and street upkeep. Polk County government is based at the courthouse, 6239 U.S. 411.

Checked Oct 29, 2026 · official sites only · numbers copied from each agency’s own page — tap ⓘ to confirm. Times Eastern (ET). Emergencies: call or text 911.

Around Polk County

← Polk County guide — the Ocoee, the Hiwassee, the Copper Basin, the Cherokee National Forest and county resources.

Other Polk County cities: Copperhill · Ducktown. Communities: Delano · Ocoee · Reliance · Old Fort · Turtletown · Farner · Conasauga · Greasy Creek · Parksville. Census places: Benton town · Copperhill city · Ducktown city, plus the Conasauga, Delano, Farner and Ocoee CDPs. Next door: Bradley · McMinn · Monroe county guides, plus Georgia to the south and North Carolina to the east.

Other county-seat guides: Wartburg (Morgan County) · Kingston (Roane County) · Huntsville (Scott County) · Jamestown (Fentress County) · Crossville (Cumberland County) · Clinton (Anderson County) · Dayton (Rhea County) · Decatur (Meigs County) · Athens (McMinn County) · Cleveland (Bradley County) · Madisonville (Monroe County) · Loudon (Loudon County) · Maryville (Blount County) · Sevierville (Sevier County) · Knoxville (Knox County) · Newport (Cocke County) · Tazewell (Claiborne County).

Sources

Checked Oct 29, 2026