Long Island of the Holston
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Long Island of the Holston
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Aerial view of the island
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| Location | S. Branch Holston River, Kingsport, Tennessee |
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| Coordinates | 36°31′49″N 82°33′39″W / 36.53028°N 82.56083°WCoordinates: 36°31′49″N 82°33′39″W / 36.53028°N 82.56083°W |
| Area | 840 acres (340 ha) |
| Built | 1760 |
| NRHP reference # | 66000733 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | October 15, 1966 |
| Designated NHLD | October 9, 1960 |
Long Island, also known as Long Island of the Holston, is an island in the Holston River at Kingsport in eastern Tennessee. Important in regional history since pre-colonial times, the island is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and is designated as a U.S. National Historic Landmark District.
Long Island is located across the main channel of the South Branch Holston River from downtown Kingsport. It is about 4 miles (6.4 km) in length, and has a maximum width of about 0.5 miles (0.80 km). A secondary channel, known locally as the Sluice, forms the southern border of the island. Bridges carry Tennessee State Route 126 across both channels about 2/3 of the way south on the island, and a third bridge carries Jared Drive to the mainland near its southern tip. The area south of SR 126 is mostly occupied by a large chemical plant.
The Long Island of the Holston River was an important site for the Cherokee, colonial pioneers, and early settlers of the region. The site was used as a staging ground for people following the Wilderness Road into Kentucky. It was a sacred council and treaty site among the Cherokee people. The Timberlake Expedition of 1761–1762 used it as its point of origin and return. It was from here that Daniel Boone, in 1775, began to clear the Wilderness Road, which extended through the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky.
A long-standing settlement built at the site was chartered as the town of Kingsport in 1822, and became an important regional shipping port on the Holston River in the early nineteenth century. Goods brought in from the surrounding countryside were loaded onto barges for transport downstream to the Holton's confluence with the Tennessee River (at Knoxville). The young town lost its charter, however, after a downturn in its fortunes precipitated by the Civil War.
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