Sharps Chapel, Tennessee

Sharps Chapel is an unincorporated community in Union County, Tennessee.[2]

Sharps Chapel, Tennessee
Unincorporated community
Sharps Chapel
Sharps Chapel Sharps Chapel
Coordinates: 36°20′37″N 83°48′15″W
Country	United States
State	Tennessee
County	Union
Settled	1770s[1]
Elevation [2]	1,040 ft (317 m)
Time zone	UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP code	37866
Area code	865
FIPS code[3]	47-47173
GNIS feature ID[3][2]	1647534

History

American Revolutionary War veteran Henry Sharp settled in the area on a 700-acre (280 ha) land grant.[1] According to another source, the community's namesake may be Peter Sharp, the son of Henry Sharp.[4]

A post office was established in the area in 1866 and has operated continuously since that time. Initially the post office was called "Clinch River," but in 1869, the name was changed to Sharps Chapel.[5] Sharps Chapel is assigned zip code 37866.

The Bait Ousley house in Sharps Chapel has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places since 1978. This brick Federal style house wbas uilt by Jacob Sharp, a son of Henry Sharp, in 1835. The house was sold to Jacob Ousley in 1874 and remained in his family for 132 years, but it was unoccupied for almost 30 years beginning in the 1970s, and was considered to be a haunted house. In 2006 the house was purchased from one of Ousley's descendants, and the new owners began an extensive restoration.[1]

Geography

Sharps Chapel is the site of the administrative office for Chuck Swan State Forest and Wildlife Management Area, a forested tract of more than 24,000 acres (9,800 ha) located between the Clinch River and Powell River arms of Norris Lake, that is jointly managed by the Tennessee Forestry Division and Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency for wildlife habitat and forest stand improvement.[6][7]

Economy

Sharps Chapel being located on the shores of Norris Lake, it is the site of many waterfront communities and subdivisions.[8][9] It is also the location of a marina and campground.[10]

Education

Sharps Chapel is the site of Sharps Chapel Elementary School, operated by the Union County Schools District. In the 2009-2010 school year, Sharps Chapel Elementary School enrolled 141 students in kindergarten through grade 5.[11]

Notable people

• Florence Reece - songwriter[12]

References

1. Kim Trent, Resurrection in Sharps Chapel, Metro Pulse, March 27, 2009
2. "Sharps Chapel (Union County, Tennessee)". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved August 6, 2020.
3. "FIPS55 Data: Tennessee". United States Geological Survey. February 23, 2006. Archived from the original on June 18, 2006.
4. Miller, Larry L. (2001). Tennessee Place-names. Indiana University Press. p. 187. ISBN 0-253-21478-5.
5. Union County Post Offices and Postmasters, A-L Archived 2010-06-20 at the Wayback Machine and M-Z Archived 2002-11-02 at the Wayback Machine
6. Chuck Swan State Forest, Tennessee Forestry Division, accessed December 4, 2009
7. Chuck Swan Wildlife Management Area map, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, accessed December 4, 2009
8. "Homepage". Sunset Bay. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
9. "Norris History". Ellison.
10. "Lakeview Marina". Norris Lake Marinas. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
11. Sharps Chapel Elementary School, Union County Schools website, accessed August 1, 2010
12. Florence Reece, Recovered history, The Progressive Review website, accessed December 4, 2009