Hilham, Tennessee

Hilham
—  Unincorporated community  —
Hilham, Tennessee
Hilham
Location within the state of Tennessee
Coordinates:
Country United States
State Tennessee
County Overton
Time zone Central (CST) (UTC-6)
 • Summer (DST) CDT (UTC-5)
ZIP codes
FIPS code
GNIS feature ID

Hilham is an unincorporated community in Overton County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The community is centered around the junction of Tennessee State Route 136 (which runs north-to-south) and Tennessee State Route 85 (which runs east-to-west). Although not a census-designated place, Hilham is part of a Zip Code Tabulation Area (38568) that covers most of rural northwest Overton County. As of the 2000 census, the population of this entire area was less than 2000.[1]

Hilham was established in 1797 by an idealistic Dartmouth graduate named Moses Fisk (1759-1840), who believed the site was the geographic center of the United States (at the time, the Mississippi River was still the nation's western boundary). Fisk laid out Hilham so that roads radiated out from the center of the community to the north, south, east and west, believing that Hilham would eventually be the ultimate crossroads of the new nation. In 1806, Fisk established one of the first female academies in the southeast at Hilham.[2][3]

The 11,000-acre (45 km2) Standing Stone State Park and Forest is located just 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Hilham along TN-136.

References

  1. ^ U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, "Zip Code Tabulation Area 38568 Fact Sheet." Retrieved: 17 July 2008.
  2. ^ Michael Birdwell, "Overton County." The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture, 2002. Retrieved: 17 July 2008.
  3. ^ Michael Birdwell, "Moses Fisk: Dreamer or Visionary?" Upper Cumberland Business Journal. Retrieved: 5 November 2008.