over 3,000 acres in the German Creek valley where he surveyed and camped at previously with Boone in 1776. In the same year, Bean constructed a four-room cabin with the assistance of his sons. The cabin served as his family's home, and as an inn for prospective settlers, fur traders, and longhunters, named Bean Station, establishing the first reportedly permanent settled community in present-day Tennessee. In 1780, Bean served in his position of captain in the Battle of Kings Mountain. Death and legacy In May 1782, Bean died of unknown causes at the age of 60 in his cabin at Bean Station. Bean’s settlement of Bean Station grew substantially following his death in 1782. By 1787, Bean’s sons constructed a fort, blacksmiths shop, and a trading outpost at the community’s crossroads of the Wilderness Road and the Great Indian Warpath. Bean Station emerged as an important stopover, due to its strategic location on the crossroads of present day U.S. Route 25E and U.S. Route 11W, between Washington, D.C. and New Orleans for early travelers through Tennessee into the 18th century. The town and cabin established by Bean were lost following the flooding of the Holston River valley for the construction of the Cherokee Dam by the Tennessee Valley Authority in 1942. Bean Station unofficially relocated to the new crossroads of US 25E and US 11W, and incorporated into a town in 1996. References Further reading Carolyn Sakowski; Touring the East Tennessee Backroads; J.F. Blair, pub.; Winston-Salem, N.C.; 1993; pp. 86–87. 1721 births 1782 deaths People from Northumberland County, Virginia People of pre-statehood Tennessee American people of Scottish descent People from Bean Station, Tennessee