Visitor directory
Pickett County directory
Dale Hollow Lake’s coves and marinas around Byrdstown, Cordell Hull’s birthplace cabin and museum, and the sandstone arches, CCC trails and dark night skies of Pickett CCC Memorial State Park and Pickett State Forest on the Kentucky line. Pickett is a Middle Tennessee county on Central time, an hour behind Knoxville — like Fentress County next door, while Scott County, across the Big South Fork, keeps Eastern time.
Cities: Byrdstown (county seat)
Communities: Moodyville · Chanute · Travisville · Boom · Oak Hill · Star Point · Eastport
Official tourism, parks & attractions
Tourism
- Byrdstown–Pickett County Chamber of Commerce ↗1005 Livingston Hwy, Byrdstown · the county’s visitor guide to Dale Hollow Lake — marinas, places to stay and eat, and a local events calendar · (931) 864-7195.
Parks & outdoors
- Pickett CCC Memorial State Park ↗4605 Pickett Park Hwy (Jamestown mailing address; the park is in Pickett County) · sandstone natural bridges and rock shelters, paddling on Arch Lake and the Civilian Conservation Corps Museum · the first state park in the Southeast certified for dark night skies · visitor center and gift shop 8 AM–4:30 PM CT · the campground is closed for bathhouse and campground renovations · (931) 879-5821.
- Pickett State Forest (Tennessee Division of Forestry) ↗Forest land in Pickett and Fentress counties around the state park, next to the Big South Fork · hiking trails, hunting, horseback riding on certain forest roads, rock climbing and bird watching · fire towers are closed to the public · (931) 319-4498.
- Dale Hollow Lake — marinas and resorts ↗The Corps of Engineers lake made by damming the Obey River in 1943 spreads over the west end of the county and is shared with Clay and Overton counties and Kentucky · marinas, resorts and fishing around Byrdstown — see the Chamber’s marina list.
Museums & history
- Cordell Hull Birthplace State Park ↗1300 Cordell Hull Memorial Dr, Byrdstown · a replica of the log cabin where Cordell Hull was born in 1871, a museum and the Cordell Hull Library and Archives, and the Bunkum Cave Trail · the cave itself is open only May 1–Aug 31, with a permit · 9 AM–4:30 PM CT · (931) 864-3247.
Government
- Pickett County government ↗County Executive Stephen Bilbrey · P.O. Box 280, Byrdstown · (931) 864-3798 · the County Commission meets at 6 PM CT on the third Monday of each month.
- Town of Byrdstown (county seat) ↗Town services, water and sewer · Town Hall Mon–Fri 7 AM–4:30 PM CT.
Shared with neighboring counties
- Big South Fork NRRA (NPS) — shared with other counties; listed under East Tennessee (general)
Local resources
- Emergency (police · fire · EMS)911Call 911 for any emergency.
- Pickett County Sheriff’s Office(931) 864-3210Byrdstown · Sheriff Dana Dowdy. ⓘ source
- Pickett County Health Department(931) 864-31781013 Woodlawn Dr, Byrdstown · clinics, vaccinations, vital records. ⓘ source
- Pickett County Schools(931) 864-3123Central office, 141 Skyline Dr, Byrdstown. ⓘ source
- Pickett County Election Commission(931) 864-3583105 S Main St, Community Center Room 2, Byrdstown · Election Day Tue Nov 3, 9 AM–7 PM CT at your own precinct; early voting ends Thu Oct 29 at the election office. ⓘ 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 · Pickett County
Pickett County Schools’ new TISA accountability plan targets reading and math after gains in English, math and social studies and better K-8 attendance last year.
Read at UCNow →Byrdstown finished a $3.8 million water-treatment project with new sediment basins and flocculation chambers that cut chemical use and improve water quality.
Read at UCNow →A $100,000 state SPARK grant for high-distress counties will give Pickett County students hands-on training with agricultural drones for livestock production.
Read at UCNow →Artist Ron Sweeney painted an America 250 mural on a building at the entrance to Byrdstown, his mother’s hometown, and invited Pickett County veterans to sign it in honor of their service.
Read at NewsChannel 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
The General Assembly created Pickett County in 1879 from parts of Fentress and Overton counties, after Lem Wright and Howell L. Pickett, legislators from Wilson County, led the move to organize it. The county is named for Pickett, an attorney who later moved to Arizona and continued his career in law and politics. The county seat was to be called Wrightsville, for Wright, but at the last minute it was named Byrdstown for Colonel Richard Byrd of Kingston, who had worked to keep Tennessee in the Union and then joined the Union army. Byrdstown was incorporated in 1917, and the Pickett County Courthouse on its square, built of Crab Orchard stone to a design by the Nashville firm of Marr and Holman, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
No railroad ever crossed the county, so it lived by farming and timber. From the 1870s to the 1930s Pickett Countians cut logs in the hills, hauled them to the riverbanks with mules or oxen and rafted them down the Cumberland River to Nashville, and steamboats on the Cumberland let towns as far east as Byrdstown ship goods to market. In 1933 the Stearns Coal and Lumber Company gave the state the cut-over land that became Pickett State Forest, and in the 1930s the Civilian Conservation Corps restored the forest and built Pickett State Park, still one of the best-preserved CCC landscapes in Tennessee. In 1943 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dammed the Obey River to make Dale Hollow Lake, and the county lost most of its best farmland and a fourth of its people.
Pickett County’s most famous son is Cordell Hull, born in a log cabin here in 1871, who served in Congress and the U.S. Senate and as Secretary of State under Franklin D. Roosevelt, led the planning for the United Nations and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1945. The Pickett County area was also home to Tennessee Lead, a black-and-tan hound of the 1850s that became the foundation sire of the Walker, Trigg and Goodman foxhounds. Today Pickett, the least populous county in this guide, is a Middle Tennessee county on Central time, and its state park was the first in the Southeast certified for dark night skies.
Towns & communities
- Byrdstown — county seat; the Crab Orchard stone Pickett County Courthouse on the square, and Cordell Hull Birthplace State Park just west of town
- Star Point (community) — on Dale Hollow Lake west of Byrdstown; a lake resort and campground
- Eastport (community) — south of Byrdstown, where the East and West forks of the Obey River meet the lake; the site of the old Eastport ferry
- Chanute (community) — on US 127 in the east of the county, with a Pall Mall mailing address
Our place stories in and near Pickett County
Go deeper
Neighboring counties: Fentress County · Scott 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.