Retire to Tennessee

Counties

Morgan County:

In 1805, the Cherokee ceded what is now Morgan County to the United States by signing the Third Treaty of Tellico. The first settlers arrived in the area shortly thereafter.

Morgan County was formed in 1817 from portions of Anderson and Roane counties. It was named in honor of Daniel Morgan (1736-1802), American Revolutionary War officer who commanded the troops that defeated the British at the Battle of Cowpens and who later served as a U.S. congressman from Virginia.

Wartburg was founded in the 1840s by George Gerding, a land speculator who bought up large tracts of land in what is now Morgan County with plans to establish a series of German colonies in the Cumberland region. German and Swiss immigrants arrived at the site by traveling from New Orleans up the Mississippi, Tennessee, and Emory rivers. They named the settlement after Wartburg Castle in Germany. Wartburg was officially incorporated in 1851.

In 1870, Morgan County elected to move its county seat from the now-defunct town of Montgomery to Wartburg. The arrival of the railroad in 1880 expanded logging and coal mining operations in the Cumberland region, moving Morgan County away from an economy based on subsistence agriculture to a wage-based economy.

Today, Morgan County is home to Frozen Head State Park, the headquarters of the Obed Wild and Scenic River, Lone Mountain State Forest, Catoosa Wildlife Management Area, Historic Rugby Tennessee, the Historic Brushy Mountain Penitentiary and also part of the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area.

Morgan County Statistics:
Average year-round temperature/weather:
Rainfall (in.) 52.6

Snowfall (in.) 4.7

Avg. July High 84.6

Avg. Jan. Low 25.7

Median price of homes: $71,500

Cost of living:
Morgan County's cost of living is 27.96% lower than the U.S. average.

2008 cost of living index in Morgan County: 78.6 (low, U.S. average is 100)

Population of city/county and/or median age:
20,365

Median resident age: 36.5

Recreational and Cultural:
Parks and Wildlife Areas
Frozen Head State Park: Camping, hiking and backpacking, biking, nature trails, kids’ playgrounds and wildflowers.

Obed Wild and Scenic River: Canoeing, kayaking, rafting, whitewater rafting, rock and boulder climbing, fishing.

Catoosa Wildlife Management Area: Hunting, fishing, backpacking, and whitewater rafting

Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area: Camping, hiking, horseback riding, mountain biking, paddling, hunting, fishing, and astronomy

Lone Mountain State Forest: horseback riding, hiking, backpacking, and mountain biking

Historic areas
Historic Rugby

Education:
Coalfield School

Morgan County Career and Technical Center

Oakdale School

Petros Joyner School

Sunbright School

Wartburg Central Elementary School

Wartburg Central Middle School

Wartburg Central High School

Colleges and Universities
Roane State Community College

University of Tennessee

Tennessee Technology Center

Tennessee Tech Crossville Center

Medical Facilities:
Life Care Center of Morgan County

Crime Rate: VERY LOW

Additional Information:
Cities and towns
* Coalfield (unincorporated)

* Deer Lodge (unincorporated)

* Joyner (unincorporated)

* Lancing (unincorporated)

* Oakdale

* Petros (unincorporated)

* Rugby (unincorporated)

* Sunbright

* Wartburg