Prior to the arrival of white settlers in present-day Sevier County in the mid-18th century , the area had been inhabited for as many as 20,000 years by nomadic and semi-nomadic Native Americans . In the mid-16th century , Spanish expeditions led by Hernando de Soto ( 1540 ) and Juan Pardo ( 1567 ) passed through what is now Sevier County , reporting that the region was part of the domain of Chiaha , a minor Muskogean chiefdom centered around a village located on a now-submerged island just upstream from modern Douglas Dam . By the late 17th-century , however , the Cherokee &mdash; whose ancestors were living in the mountains at the time of the Spaniards ' visit &mdash; had become the dominant tribe in the region . Although they used the region primarily as hunting grounds , the Chicakamauga faction of the Cherokee vehemently fought white settlement in their territory , frequently leading raids on households , even through the signing of various peace treaties , alternating short periods of peace with violent hostility , until forcibly marched from their territory by the U.S. government on the " Trail of Tears "
Trail of Tears
Trail of Tears
Sevier County, Tennessee