Jonesborough Historic Downtown - Tennessee, USA
Last updated October 12, 2026Main Street in Jonesborough, in the hills of northeast Tennessee, runs between brick storefronts, old churches and the Washington County courthouse, in a town that was founded in 1779, about 17 years before Tennessee became a state.
That makes it Tennessee's oldest town. In 1784 it became the capital of the short-lived State of Franklin, and in 1788 a young Andrew Jackson practiced law here for a few months. The Chester Inn, built in 1797, still stands downtown.
Today Jonesborough is best known as the home of the National Storytelling Festival, which draws storytellers and listeners from across the country every October, and its historic district has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1969.
Did You Know? In 1820 Elihu Embree published The Emancipator in Jonesborough, the first American periodical devoted entirely to ending slavery.
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location_on Main Street, Jonesborough, Tennessee, USA
