Some of the earliest European pioneers in Tennessee settled in the vicinity of Watauga in the mid-18th century. William Bean, traditionally recognized as Tennessee's first white settler, built his cabin at the mouth of Boone Creek, downstream from modern Watauga, in 1769.Paul Hellman, Historical Gazetteer of the United States (Taylor and Francis, 2005), p. 1016. The Watauga Association, an early frontier government, operated out of nearby Elizabethton in the 1770s.
Some of the earliest European pioneers in Tennessee settled in the vicinity of Watauga in the mid-18th century. William Bean, traditionally recognized as Tennessee's first white settler, built his cabin at the mouth of Boone Creek, downstream from modern Watauga, in 1769.Paul Hellman, Historical Gazetteer of the United States (Taylor and Francis, 2005), p. 1016. The Watauga Association, an early frontier government, operated out of nearby Elizabethton in the 1770s.