Visitor directory
Hawkins County directory
Rogersville’s 18th-century Main Street on the old Great Wilderness Road, Laurel Run Park on the Holston, Bulls Gap’s railroad and Archie Campbell museums, and the Hawkins County shore of Cherokee Lake.
Cities: Rogersville (county seat) · Church Hill · Mount Carmel · Surgoinsville · Bulls Gap · Kingsport (also Sullivan) · Bean Station (also Grainger)
Communities: Mooresburg · Whitesburg (also Hamblen) · Eidson · St. Clair · Persia · Alum Well · Striggersville · Carters Valley · Stanley Valley · Goshen Valley · McPheeters Bend · Lee Valley · Choptack · Okolona
Official tourism, parks & attractions
Tourism
- Rogersville/Hawkins County Chamber of Commerce ↗Visitor information, events and the chamber directory · 110 E Kyle St, Rogersville · (423) 272-2186.
Parks & outdoors
- Laurel Run Park (Hawkins County) ↗440-acre county park on the Holston River where the 1984 film “The River” was shot: a one-mile paved riverside path, ballfields, shelters, and trails that join Bays Mountain Park’s for 37.5 miles · 364 Laurel Run Park Rd, Church Hill · 423-293-8140 · open year-round except Thanksgiving and Dec 24–25.
- Crockett Spring Park (Hawkins County) ↗Spring park and gazebo in Rogersville · rentals through Hale Springs Inn, 423-272-5171.
Attractions
- Historic Downtown Rogersville (Rogersville Main Street) ↗National Register district laid out in 1789 on the Great Wilderness Road, with Federal-era brick buildings and the Hawkins County Courthouse.
- Hale Springs Inn ↗Downtown Rogersville inn built in 1824, with nine guest rooms.
Museums & history
- Bulls Gap museums (Town of Bulls Gap) ↗The Archie Campbell Museum (the Hee Haw star’s hometown, 138 S Main St) and the Bulls Gap Railroad Museum (153 S Main St). Check hours with the town before you go.
Government
- Hawkins County Library System ↗H.B. Stamps Memorial Library, Rogersville (423) 272-8710 · Church Hill (423) 357-4591 · Surgoinsville (423) 345-4805.
- Hawkins County government ↗County mayor, commission and offices · Mayor’s office 150 E Washington St, Rogersville · (423) 272-7359.
- Town of Rogersville ↗County seat · City Hall, 106 E Kyle St · (423) 272-7497.
- City of Church Hill ↗300 E Main Blvd · (423) 357-6161.
- Town of Mount Carmel ↗100 Main St E · (423) 357-7311.
- Town of Surgoinsville ↗1735 Main St · (423) 345-2213.
- Town of Bulls Gap ↗139 S Main St · (423) 235-5216.
Shared with neighboring counties
- Cherokee Lake (TVA) — shared with other counties; listed under East Tennessee (general)
Local resources
- Emergency (police · fire · EMS)911Call 911 for any emergency.
- Hawkins County 9-1-1 non-emergency dispatch423-272-7121Emergency Communications District, 2291 E Main St, Rogersville ⓘ source
- Hawkins County Sheriff’s Office(423) 272-4848117 Justice Center Dr, Rogersville · Sheriff Scott Stewart ⓘ source
- Hawkins County EMS423-272-4713Office, 101 N Depot St, Rogersville · for emergencies call 911 ⓘ source
- Hawkins County Memorial Hospital (Ballad Health)(423) 921-7000851 Locust St, Rogersville · 24/7 emergency room ⓘ source
- Hawkins County Health Department(423) 272-7641201 Park Blvd, Rogersville · Church Hill office (423) 357-5341 · Mon–Fri 8–4:30 ⓘ source
- Hawkins County Mayor’s Office(423) 272-7359150 E Washington St, Rogersville · Mayor David Linkous ⓘ source
- Hawkins County Schools423-272-7629200 N Depot St, Rogersville — calendars, closings (Rogersville City School: 423-272-7651) ⓘ source
- Hawkins County Election Commission(423) 272-8061110 E Main St, Room 301, Rogersville · Election Day Tue Nov 3 ⓘ source
- Emergency Management Agency(423) 272-8059Storm and disaster information · 407 E Main St, Suite 2 ⓘ 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 · Hawkins County
The Homeplace Bed & Breakfast in Mooresburg marks 30 years in business, in a 19th-century house that has always stayed in the owner's family.
Read at Rogersville Review →More than 5,200 Hawkins County ballots were cast by Oct. 24, with the Church Hill site outpacing Rogersville as four towns hold contested board races.
Read at Rogersville Review →Mount Carmel is getting $3.8 million in Helene-relief wastewater money — $2.8 million as a grant and $1 million repaid over 20 years — enough to upgrade all 11 of its pump stations.
Read at Rogersville Review →Fall color is building along US-11W in western Hawkins County; ETSU's arborist expects the best color from the last week of October into the first week of November.
Read at Rogersville Review →News 5 broadcast its evening newscasts from Volunteer High School in Church Hill as part of a week of Hawkins County stories for the station's 70th anniversary.
Read at WCYB 5 →Bulls Gap's hunt for a new garbage truck hit a snag when a recycling-focused grant turned out to be off-limits for the town.
Read at Rogersville Review →Rogersville will hold its first-ever Veterans Parade down Main Street on Nov. 7 at 11 a.m.; veterans are invited to march or ride.
Read at WCYB 5 →
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
Hawkins County is one of Tennessee’s oldest counties. North Carolina created it from Sullivan County and named it for Benjamin Hawkins; before that the area had been Spencer County in the State of Franklin. The first county stretched southwest along the Holston as far as the “Big Suck” near present-day Chattanooga, and parts of Hancock, Grainger, Jefferson, Knox, Roane, Meigs and Hamilton counties were later carved from it.
In June 1787 the county commissioners met at Thomas Gibbons’ home on Big Creek and chose Joseph Rogers’ land on Crockett’s Creek for the county seat. A courthouse, jail and stocks went up that summer at “Hawkins Court House,” and in 1789 North Carolina approved Thomas Amis’s petition to lay out the town of Rogersville. Its Main Street followed the Great Wilderness Road, carrying settlers toward Bean Station, the Cumberland Gap and Kentucky, and in 1791 George Roulstone and Robert Ferguson printed Tennessee’s first newspaper, the Knoxville Gazette, here before moving it to Knoxville.
Bulls Gap grew up around John Bull’s 1792 stage stand at a pass through Bays Mountain, then around the railroad that arrived in 1858; the town saw repeated fighting in the Civil War and later became a Southern Railway yard. From the 1840s to the 1870s, Hawkins County’s pink and red marble was quarried and shipped down the Holston, and some of it went into the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol. From 1911 to 1967 the printing pressmen’s union ran Pressmen’s Home, a 2,700-acre farm, sanitarium, retirement home and trade school in the county.
Towns & communities
- Rogersville — county seat, laid out in 1789; Tennessee’s first newspaper was printed here
- Church Hill — largest town wholly in the county, near Laurel Run Park on the Holston
- Mount Carmel — town between Church Hill and Kingsport
- Surgoinsville — western Holston valley town, home of the county airport
- Bulls Gap — railroad town and Archie Campbell’s hometown
- Kingsport — Sullivan County city whose western neighborhoods reach into Hawkins
- Bean Station — Grainger County town with a sliver inside Hawkins
- Mooresburg (community) — western Hawkins on US-11W near Cherokee Lake
Our place stories in and near Hawkins County
Go deeper
Neighboring counties: Grainger County · Greene County · Hamblen County · Hancock County · Sullivan County · Washington 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.