McNairy County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,866.^[3] Its county seat and largest city is Selmer.^[4] McNairy County is located along Tennessee's border with the state of Mississippi.

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McNairy County
County
McNairy County Courthouse in Selmer
Location within the U.S. state of Tennessee
Tennessee's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 35°11′N 88°34′W
Country	United States
State	Tennessee
Founded	October 8, 1823
Named for	John McNairy[1]
Seat	Selmer
Largest city	Selmer
Government
• Mayor	Larry Smith [2]
Area
• Total	564 sq mi (1,460 km2)
• Land	563 sq mi (1,460 km2)
• Water	0.8 sq mi (2 km2)  0.1%
Population  (2020)
• Total	25,866
• Density	46/sq mi (18/km2)
Time zone	UTC−6 (Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Congressional district	8th
Website	www.mcnairycountytn.com

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Sheriff Buford Pusser, whose story was told in the Walking Tall series of movies, was the sheriff of McNairy County from 1964 to 1970.^[5]

McNairy County is the location of the Coon Creek Science Center, a notable fossil site that preserves Late Cretaceous marine shells and vertebrate remains (such as mosasaurs).

The postwar musical environment of the county played a pivotal role in the development of popular music. Influential disc jockey Dewey Phillips hailed from Adamsville, Tennessee. Carl Perkins made the first recordings of his career in the home studio of Stanton Littlejohn at Eastview, Tennessee.^[6] Perkins and Elvis Presley had their first meeting at one of Presley's earliest road performances in Bethel Springs, Tennessee.

McNairy County was formed in 1823 from parts of Hardin County, and was named for Judge John McNairy.^[1]

Purdy was the county seat of McNairy County until 1890.^[7] Since then, Selmer has been the county seat.

During the Civil War, McNairy County was among the most divided counties in Tennessee. In Tennessee's Ordinance of Secession referendum on June 8, 1861, McNairy County voted to secede by a margin of 1,318 to 586.^[8] However, earlier on February 9, 1861, McNairy County voters had voted against holding a secession convention by a margin of 916 to 811.^[9] Despite the strong overall support for secession, there was a strong Unionist minority in the northern half adjacent to solidly pro-Union Henderson County.^[10]

The history of McNairy County also includes a very small, almost-unheard-of school. The Trantham School, listed on the 1940 census, operated from 1922 through 1948, with a single teacher serving grades 1 through 8.

The oldest existing business in McNairy County is its newspaper, the Independent Appeal, which was founded as the McNairy County Independent in 1902.^[12][13][14] It is located in Selmer.^[13][14]

In 2008, Tom Evans, a former reporter and photographer for the Independent Appeal, formed his own weekly newspaper, The McNairy County News.^[15]

The schools fall under the McNairy County School District. The superintendent is Greg Martin^[16] The district is a public school district, serving students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. It serves over 4,000 student with 8 schools.^[17]

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 564 square miles (1,460 km²), of which 563 square miles (1,460 km²) is land and 0.8 square miles (2.1 km²) (0.1%) is water.^[30]

The major highways U.S. Route 64 (east-west) and U.S. Route 45 (north-south) pass through McNairy County and intersect in Selmer. Between the late 1990s and mid 2010s, both highways were upgraded to four lane divided highways, giving the county quicker access to the surrounding areas. McNairy County's position on Route 64 places it on the historic Lee Highway, which stretches from New York to San Francisco.

State Highways 22 and 57 also pass through the county. SR 22 along the eastern portion intersecting with US 64 in Adamsville, and SR 57 through the southern portion intersecting with US 45 in Eastview.

McNairy County is the site of 5,000-acre (20 km²) Big Hill Pond State Park, which is forested with timberland and hardwood bottomland. The county is also the location of the Coon Creek Science Center,^[39] a notable fossil site, located in Leapwood over the Coon Creek Formation, which preserves Late Cretaceous marine shells and vertebrate remains (such as mosasaurs) left there 70 million years ago.

McNairy County is currently overwhelmingly Republican. Even before the rapid trend of the upland South away from the Democratic Party, McNairy County – though not to the same extent as nearby Wayne, Henderson and Hardin Counties – was a Unionist Republican enclave in historically Democratic West Tennessee. Research in the 1910s suggested that Republicanism in Southern states tended to be associated with areas having less productive soils.^[41]: 672 In west central Tennessee, which includes McNairy County, soils are shallow, humus-poor and easily erodible Highland Rim soils, which were much less suitable for plantation farming than the rest of Middle and West Tennessee.^[41]

• National Register of Historic Places listings in McNairy County, Tennessee