Tennessee Maps

Maps and atlases are used to locate the places where your ancestors lived. They identify political boundaries, names of places, geographical features, cemeteries, churches, and migration routes.

Historical maps often show communities that no longer exist. The Tennessee State Department of Archives and Libraries has the largest collection of Tennessee maps. They are accessible through a card file in the Manuscript Reading Room. The Tennessee State Library and Archives(TSLA) is in the beginning stages of posting digital copies of historical maps on their website, http://www.state.tn.us/tsla From the TSLA hompage, access TEVA, the Tennessee Virtual Archive. Then browse "historical maps". Among the collection is a 1907 historical map showing Davidson County civil districts and the plotted residences of families living within those districts. Other maps from 1795 and 1806 show early waterways and settlements. The Department of Transportation in Nashville also has a large collection of maps and atlases for the state.

Maps and atlases for Tennessee at the Family History Library include the following:

Puetz, C. J. Tennessee County Maps. Lyndon Station, Wisconsin: County Maps, 1980?. (FHL book Q 976.8 E7p.) Contains detailed maps of each county with towns, roads, points of interest, and major rivers and creeks.

A New Map of Tennessee: With its Roads and Distances from Place to Place along the Stage &amp; Steamboat Routes. N.p., 1900's. Photocopy of original published by Thomas, Cowperthwait and Company (FHL map 976.8 E7n). This map shows land distances, steamboat routes, and railroads that were in progress or proposed. There are inserts for the areas of Nashville and Knoxville.

Rand, McNally &amp; Company’s Indexed Atlas of the World. 1885. Reprint, Searcy, Arkansas: Presley Research, 1978. (FHL book 976.8 E7rm 1885.) This shows railroads, major and minor waterways, county boundaries, and county seats of Tennessee.

See the “Gazetteers” section of this outline and the “Gazetteers” and “Maps” sections of the United States Research Outline for more resources regarding places in Tennessee. Also check the Place Search of the Family History Library Catalog under:

TENNESSEE - MAPS

TENNESSEE, [COUNTY] - MAPS

TENNESSEE, [COUNTY], [TOWN] - MAPS

TENNESSEE - GAZETTEERS

TENNESSEE - MIGRATION, INTERNAL

TENNESSEE - NAMES, GEOGRAPHICAL

Web Sites
http://www.state.tn.us/tsla/

http://www.tdot.state.tn.us/

http://www.tennesseeanytime.org/about/maps.html