The land was originally the home of the Cherokee Nation , who were mostly displaced to Oklahoma along the Trail of Tears in 1838 . A grant of was made to Daniel D. Foute in 1837 . This included the area now covered by Top of the World , which was purchased by a developer in the early 1960s . Construction of the Top of World Estates by Roy and Charles Headrick was reported by the '' Knoxville News Sentinel '' in June 1965 . The community surrounds Lake in the Sky , a artificial lake formed by a dam built in 1966
Trail of Tears
Trail of Tears
Top of the World, Tennessee