Hiwassee Island, also known as Jollys Island and Benham Island, is located in Meigs County, Tennessee,[1] at the confluence of the Tennessee and Hiwassee Rivers. It is about 35 mi (56 km) northeast of Chattanooga.[2] The island was the second largest land mass on the Tennessee River at 781 acres before the Tennessee Valley Authority created the Chickamauga Lake as a part of the dam system on the Tennessee River in 1940. Much of the island is now submerged, leaving 400 acres above the waterline.[3]
The island has been inhabited as early as the Archaic and Woodland periods. A Mississippian culture village was inhabited by people of the Hiwassee Island and Dallas phases beginning in the 11th century. It was a Cherokee village of about 300 people in the 19th century.[4][5] The village was led by Chief John Jolly, and Sam Houston lived there for three years.
When the state of Tennessee grew corn nearby to attract Canada geese, they attracted up to 20,000 sandhill cranes. Now there are fewer than 1,000 cranes and a few hundred pelicans that stopover on their seasonal treks.
- ^ "GNIS Detail - Hiwassee Island". geonames.usgs.gov. Retrieved 2021-07-26.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Lundaywas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "History on Hiwasse Island" (PDF). The Center for Historic Preservation, Middle Tennessee State University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-11-08. Retrieved 2021-07-26.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Meigs Countywas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cordell et al. 2008, pp. 283–286.