Pocket field guides · Preview
DeKalb County & Smithville: A Pocket History
The county seat, Liberty, Alexandria, the square, and the lake country
5 pages · $8 · Independent Just Duck It PDF
Watermarked cover preview. The full PDF is delivered after purchase.
A short, sourced history of DeKalb County, Smithville, Liberty, Alexandria, the Fiddlers’ Jamboree, and the Craft Center. Where two public sources disagree on a date, the guide says so. Independent Just Duck It publication — not affiliated with the county, the festival, or Tennessee Tech.
Buy for $8After payment you will be sent to a private download page. This preview does not include the full guide.
What’s in the guide
- How to use this guide
- 1. How the county and the county seat were named
- 2. Liberty, the oldest town
- 3. Alexandria and the county fair
- 4. The war in the county, in brief
- 5. The Smithville square and the Fiddlers’ Jamboree
- 6. The Joe L. Evins Appalachian Center for Craft
- 7. The lake, and what it covered
- A loose order of places, not a timed itinerary
- Sources
A short sample
From the opening pages — not the full chapter
This is a short pocket history, not a chamber brochure and not an official county publication. It is meant to be read before you walk the Smithville square, drive out to Liberty or Alexandria, or stop at the Craft Center above the lake, so the places have a story behind them. Every historical claim below is tied to a source listed at the end. Where two public sources do not agree on a date, this guide says so instead of picking a favorite number.
The basic founding story comes from Thomas G. Webb’s entry “Dekalb County” in the Tennessee Encyclopedia, published by the Tennessee Historical Society. Webb writes that the Tennessee General Assembly established DeKalb County in December 1837 and named it for Johann DeKalb, a German general who died while serving in the American Revolution. The county seat, he writes, was located on fifty acres donated by Bernard Richardson and named Smithville by the General Assembly in honor of Samuel Granville Smith of Jackson County, a state senator and Tennessee’s secretary of state.
Sources cited in the PDF
Every historical claim in the paid guide is tied to a source. The list below is the same source list printed at the back of the PDF.
- •Thomas G. Webb, “Dekalb County,” Tennessee Encyclopedia (read 14 November 2026)
- •Carroll Van West, “Edgar Evins State Park,” Tennessee Encyclopedia (read 14 November 2026)
- •Smithville Fiddlers’ Jamboree official site (read 14 November 2026)
- •Tennessee Technological University, Appalachian Center for Craft, contact page (read 14 November 2026)
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5 pages, sources cited, delivered as a PDF after checkout.