Sign reads:
"Bean Station
One of Tennessee's earliest settlements. The valley you see was a warpath for the Cherokees, led by Daniel Boone to Cumberland Gap and was traveled by Davy Crockett. Across Highway 11W to the right stood Bean Fort, built by William Bean, first permanent white settler in Tennessee. in front of the fort stood Bean Station Tavern, the largest tavern between Washington, D.C. and New Orleans. It housed Presidents Polk, Johnson and Jackson. During the Civil War, the Battle of Bean Station was fought around the tavern."
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A Brief History of Bean Station
Contrary to some opinions, Bean Station was not named for legumes, but rather for the pioneering Bean family who settled here in the late 1700s, when this still wild and largely unexplored territory was part of North Carolina.
William Bean and Daniel Boone were the first white men known to have viewed the land around what is now Bean Station. They camped in the area in 1775, following the Cherokee’s Great War Path on their way to Ken-tuck.
The first permanent settlement is believed to have been established in 1776 by Robert Bean and William Bean II. The Beans were captains in the Revolutionary War, and were granted 3,000 acres of land along German Creek for their services.
Other settlers followed. James Ore, Robert Patterson, Robert Blair, and James McFarland are a few of the people who purchased land from the Bean family. Back then, as today, real estate prices varied widely, with land selling for 44 cents to $1.50 an acre.
Sometime between 1787 and 1789, a fort was constructed at the intersection of the Kentucky Road and the Cherokee’s Great War Path to protect settlers from attacks by Indians, who were trying to push the white men from the territory.
Located on what was then a major road for frontiersmen heading west, and travelers heading north and south, Bean’s Station attracted many merchants and businessmen.
By the early 1800s, three taverns/inns had been licensed to operate at Bean’s Station. The most notable of these was a two-story log tavern built by Thomas and Jenkins Whiteside sometime between 1811 and 1814. As the community continued to grow, so did the tavern. In 1825, the Whiteside brothers built a 40-room red brick addition to the tavern, bringing the total number of rooms to 52. With a spacious parlor and ballroom, and extensive wine cellar, the tavern was the largest inn between Washington D.C and New Orleans and was, for a short time, one of the most well-known places in Tennessee.
While the community was largely self sufficient, twice each year residents traveled by wagon to Knoxville. They bought seeds in the spring and sold their crops in the fall and purchased supplies for winter. The 45 mile journey took three days.
In December 1863, during the Civil War, Bean’s Station was the scene of a fierce three-day battle between Union and Confederate forces. Both sides suffered heavy casualties. Records list 290 soldiers killed, 1,243 wounded, and 455 missing. As many as a quarter of the Union soldiers who died were killed inside the tavern.
After the war, in 1865, Samuel Tate bought 2,500 acres of land surrounding a nearby spring and built a grand Victorian-style hotel that could house as many as 500 guests. Eleven years later, Captain Thomas Tomlinson bought the property and transformed the hotel into a world class luxury resort, aided in part by the completion of the Peavine Railroad in 1896 and some dubious advertising claims concerning the healing properties of the springs' mineral-rich waters.
Tate Epson Water, as it was called, was touted to cure a variety of stomach, kidney, and liver ailments. Sold as a tonic, it was prescribed by leading physicians and shipped all over the world. Mind you, this is the same water that a Confederate soldier, only a few years earlier, described as being the worst tasting water he’d ever drunk in his life.
In the early 1900s, during its prime, Tate Springs Resort encompassed 35 to 40 out-buildings as well as an elegant ballroom, riding stables, swimming pool, billiards room, tennis courts, a 100 acre park, and an 18-hole golf course that was kept trimmed by a herd of sheep as was the old Scottish custom. The resort’s upscale amenities and gracious southern hospitality attracted wealthy American families including the Fords, Rockefellers, Firestones, Studebakers and Mellons, most of whom arrived in luxury in their private rail cars. A stay at the hotel, with three meals, cost the then extravagant sum of $25 a day.
In addition to bringing tourists, the railroad opened the county to the timber industry. Logs from Grainger County were hauled out on rail cars, cut into boards, and shipped all over the world. It also reduced what was then a three-day trip to the city to a single day. The Peavine brought jobs, faster mail, and even the county’s first automobile, a Ford Model T.
Another industry that prospered during this time was “moonshining.” With stringent laws against the sale of alcoholic beverages in many counties, moonshiners operated in the hills and hollows scattered throughout East Tennessee. For those so inclined, one needed only to leave a Mason jar in the knot hole of certain tree, and the next morning the jar would be filled with potent white lightning.
But the boom times didn’t last.
The advent of automobile travel and the bad economic times that came with the Great Depression marked a sad end to both the railroad and the resort. The train stopped running in 1928. The original hotel was finally closed in 1936 and, five years later, the property was sold to Kingswood School. The school used the hotel for classrooms and a dormitory until it was destroyed by fire in 1963. Today, a gazebo at the spring stands as a monument to what was once the south’s premier luxury resort.
During the early20th century, money was so hard to come by, Bean Station had its own currency. H.E. Beets, who operated a general store near Tate Springs, began issuing tokens to his customers in denominations of 5¢, 10¢, 25¢, 50¢, and $1.00, so they could continue to buy goods. The coins are extremely rare and, today, only one complete set is known to exist.
The establishment of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in 1931 brought many positive changes to East Tennessee but none had a bigger impact on the community than the widespread distribution of affordable electric service.
But, as with all progress, a piece of history was lost.
In 1940, before the Holston River was dammed and Cherokee Lake created, the historic Bean’s Station tavern was torn down with the intention of relocating it to higher ground. Unfortunately, before the structure could be rebuilt, it was destroyed by fire. Today, the site of the tavern and battlefield lies buried beneath the lake most of the year.
The mid-twentieth century saw steady growth and progress as U.S. Highways 25E and 11W became major transportation routes for the trucking industry. As the regional economy diversified, factories slowly replaced farming as the principal source of income.
In 1967, five men organized a volunteer fire department and purchased a fire truck–a 1949 Ford–for $2,500. Eight years later, in 1975, the Bean Station Volunteer Rescue Squad was organized with 15 members. Their first office was in the basement of Stetzer’s Funeral Home.
During this period, Bean Station was perhaps best known as a truck stop. The heart of Bean Station was Harris Motor Court and the adjoining restaurant at the intersection of Highways 11W and 25E. People came from as far away as Kentucky and Virginia for Sunday dinner. Smoked ham and red eye gravy were the restaurant’s speciality. What most diners didn’t know was that the salty country ham was cured in a smokehouse attached to the motel owner’s home across the street.
In 1995, U.S. Highways 11W and 25E were rerouted and widened to four lanes, bypassing the “center of town,” and prompting several businesses to relocate along the new highway.
Residents concerned about the future of their community and fearful that neighboring Hamblen County was about to annex parts of the community, launched a drive to incorporate Bean Station as a city. Their hard work paid off and, on November 4, 1996, after more than 200 years of history, the City of Bean Station was officially incorporated.
Today, many motorists who pass through Bean Station see only fireworks stores, furniture outlets, and gas station quick marts. They may smile when they see the name on the sign, or gaze in wonderment at the natural beauty of the mountains and lake. They may even stop for lunch or buy a souvenir, but they don’t understand.