Unicoi County (/ˈjuːnɪˌkɔɪ/) is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,928.^[2] Its county seat is Erwin.^[3] Unicoi is a Cherokee word meaning "white," "hazy," "fog-like," or "fog draped," and refers to the mist often seen in the foothills and mountains of this far northeast county.^[1] Unicoi County is part of the Johnson City Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is a component of the Johnson City–Kingsport–Bristol, TN-VA Combined Statistical Area, commonly known as the "Tri-Cities" region.

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Unicoi County
County
Unicoi County Courthouse in Erwin
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Location within the U.S. state of Tennessee
Tennessee's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 36°06′N 82°26′W
Country	United States
State	Tennessee
Founded	March 23, 1875
Named for	Cherokee word for "fog-draped" or "hazy"[1]
Seat	Erwin
Largest town	Erwin
Area
• Total	186 sq mi (480 km2)
• Land	186 sq mi (480 km2)
• Water	0.3 sq mi (0.8 km2)  0.2%
Population  (2020)
• Total	17,928
• Density	98/sq mi (38/km2)
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Congressional district	1st
Website	www.unicoicountytn.gov

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This area was long inhabited by indigenous peoples, including the historic Cherokee who encountered European and English traders and settlers. The mountainous terrain made it less attractive to subsistence farmers.

Unicoi County was created in 1875 from portions of Washington and Carter counties. Its first European-American settlers had arrived more than a century earlier but the population had been small.^[1] The county remained predominantly agrarian until the railroads were constructed in the area in the 1880s.^[1]

During the 1910s, the Clinchfield Railroad established a pottery in Erwin, which eventually incorporated under the name, "Southern Potteries." This company produced a popular brand of dishware, commonly called Blue Ridge China, which featured hand-painted underglaze designs. While the company folded in the 1950s, Blue Ridge dishes remain popular with antique collectors.^[1]

In 1916, a circus elephant, Mary, was hanged on September 13, 1916, in Erwin for killing her trainer in nearby Kingsport. The elephant was hanged by the neck from a railcar-mounted industrial derrick between four o'clock and five o'clock that afternoon. The first attempt resulted in a snapped chain, causing Mary to fall and break her hip as dozens of children fled in terror. The severely wounded elephant died during a second attempt and was buried beside the tracks. The hanging was the subject of a book, The Day They Hung the Elephant (1992), by Charles Edwin Price.

Hear it spoken (Voice of Unicoi County Mayor Greg Lynch, 2010)

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 186 square miles (480 km²), of which 186 square miles (480 km²) is land and 0.3 square miles (0.78 km²) (0.2%) is water.^[4] It is the fifth-smallest county in Tennessee by total area. The Nolichucky River, which enters Unicoi County from North Carolina, is the county's primary drainage.

Unicoi County is situated entirely within the Blue Ridge Mountains,^[5] specifically the Bald Mountains (south of the Nolichucky) and the Unaka Range (north of the Nolichucky). Big Bald, which at 5,516 feet (1,681 m) is the highest mountain in the Balds, is also Unicoi County's high point.^[6] Traversed by the Appalachian Trail, the mountain is topped by a grassy bald, allowing a 360-degree view of the surrounding mountains.

Voters of Unicoi County, like most of eastern Tennessee, have been strongly affiliated with the Republican Party since before the Civil War, when it was a Unionist enclave. Since its founding, it has supported the Republican presidential candidate in all but one election (1912, when it backed Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive Party campaign).

At the state level, Unicoi County has historically been slightly more receptive to Democratic candidates, generally when they win by landslides. It often supported Democratic candidates for governor in the Solid South era, when white conservatives largely were affiliated as Democrats. More recently, it backed Democrat Ned McWherter in the 1986 and 1990 gubernatorial elections and Phil Bredesen in 2006, when he won every county in the state.

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